Follows the process from the Red Alert to details of the new campaign
The EZLN declared a Red Alert in Chiapas in June taking a number of steps including closing down the Caracoles and the Good Government offices, evacuating the civilian delegates who make up the zapatista structures of regional self management and creating a clear distinction between the military side of the organisation and the civilian healthcare side. This looked a lot like preparation for war but a communique released the following day revealed that the red alert was just a precautionary measure to allow a consulta to take place.
The 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona was then released - it outlines the new strategy
and the communiques which follow it add more detail.
Anarkismo.net brought you news and analysis of this situation as it developed. Here we carry the Zapatista communiques and background materials and links that help explain who the Zapatistas are, what they stand for and what are the causes of the conflict in Chiapas.
Complete EZLN communique - 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona (English)This set of communiques includes the re-opening of the Caracoles and details of the "Sixth Committee" which is to meet with people or organizations who do not participate in elections to form 'the other campaign'. Meetings will then be held in Chiapas of various sectors with the aim of issuing a common statement agreed by all on September 16.
The communiques in this batch are
Marcos on responses to the 6th declarationZapatista Consultas are long processes that involve every community in discussions that frame questions that all will then vote on. The first article below written before the red alert perhaps gives some clues as to why this process is taking place. The articles 'What is it that is different about the Zapatistas?' includes an outline of the consulta process in more detail.
Zapatista's - 11 years on, a retreat and a consolidation
What has been happening in Chiapas in recent years?
This article was for publication in Red and Black Revolution, Autumn
2005. News has just come through through of a Zapatista communique
that appears to be a preparation for a return to war. At this stage
it is not clear what is about to happen so I am releasing the article
as I think it provides a useful background of events in the last
couple of years and the sort of reasons why the Zapatistas might have
decided to return to armed struggle.
EZLN communique -
The
reasons for the Red Alert
EZLN reveal that the reason for the Red Alert is to allow a consulta
to take place on the future direction of the organisation. During a
previous consulta the army attacked them so this is a precautionary
measure.
EZLN -
A letter of explanation...and/or, perhaps, farewell
A letter from Marcos
Marcos summarises the work of the Zapatistas to date and the betrayal
of the peace deal by all the political parties. He says the results
of the Consulta process should soon be known. "Now we shall decide
whether we are going to do something else, and we will make the
results public at the proper time. We are now making clear - in order
to end the speculations - that this "other thing" does not entail any
offensive military action on our part. We are not, on our part,
planning nor discussing reinitiating offensive military combat."
EZLN communique -Zapatista
Red Alert declared in Chiapas
Zapatistas preparing to go underground once more, requesting peace
observers to leave the communities, closing carocols and Goood
Government Councils. This appears to be preparation for war!
EZLN communique -
Zapatistas
can survive a decapatation attack
Communique from EZLN saying that they have put the structures in
place which would allow the organisation to survice even if the
government or its paramilitaries eliminate "some or all of its
publicly known current leadership."
What
is it that is different about the Zapatistas?
The EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) came briefly to the
worlds attention when they seized several towns in Chiapas on New
Years day in 1994. Since then most of the support the Zapatistas have
received is strongly based on the idea that the Zapatistas are
different. Different not just from the neoliberal world order they
oppose but, more fundamentally, different from the armed
revolutionary groups that exist and have existed elsewhere in the
world. This study on the Zapatistas written by an Irish anarchist in
2001 explains why they are different in more detail.
What
is happening with the Zapatistas?
The following piece explains in some detail what is happening with
the building of the Caracols ('Good Governement Councils') in
Chiapas. It looks in detail at the areas of education, health,
economy and justice.
Indigenous
Autonomy and Revolutionary Resistance
A text from the now defunct Mexican anarchist group Amor y Rabia
(Mexico) that analysis the indigenous basis of the Zapatistas
El Anarquismo Revolucionario y la Sexta Declaracion
Análisis por la Alianza de los Comunistas Libertarios
Mexican anarchist communists on the 6th declaration - in Spanish (translation required_