Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Sixth Commission of the EZLN
Mexico
September 11, 2008
To the compañeras and compañeros and
compañeroas adherents of the Sixth Declaration,
the Other Campaign, and the Zezta Internazional:
To whomever feels addressed by these words:
Compas:
How about this "compañeroa" term? For our part
here we are thinking that this way we can resolve
that problem of the @ sign, and go a little further.
Because, as the deceased Elias Contreras
always said, it turns out that... Well, I'm starting off
a little muddled. Here we go again:
Compas:
First of all, receive zapatista greetings. We are
writing you all (todos, todas, y todoas) in order to
talk a bit about what we're thinking, as comrades
in struggle.
It is not one single thought, however, but rather
several. Well, it is one thought but it carries many,
that is, it's a complex thought. Mixed up, you could
say. And talking about it and writing about it and
discussing it with you all is how we accommodate
it, how it comes out clear in the end. So we
thought that we'd start first things first.
And the first thing is our compañer@s who were
unjustly taken prisoner those first days of May,
2006, in the savage repression against the people
of San Salvador Atenco. While some have been
freed, others remain unjustly imprisoned, among
them the compañero Ignacio del Valle, of the
People's Front in Defense of the Land. And we
name him not because we are forgetting or
ignoring the rest, but rather because his case is
emblematic of the injustice that is a law and an
institution in this suffering Mexico.
Well then, you all know more or less what
happened, so what we want to talk about now is
what we are going to do, as zapatistas and with
other compas that aren't zapatistas but are part of
the Other Campaign, that is, compañeras,
compañeros and compañeroas.
As of the first days after our compañer@s of the
Other Campaign and the People's Front in
Defense of the Land were taken hostage by the
federal government (then and now the National
Action Party) and the State of Mexico (the PRI),
and unjustly imprisoned, a small group of men and
women of the Other Campaign set up a small
encampment in front of the prison at Santiaguito.
Since then, with perseverance and without any
recognition whatsoever, this encampment has
maintained itself, first in front of the Santiaguito
prison and later, when our prisoners were
transferred, in front of the prison Molino de las
Flores (also in the state of Mexico). Their demand
is and has been that of all of us in the Other
Campaign: freedom and justice for Atenco.
But there is more. Over the course of these more
than two years, and in adverse conditions, this
encampment has accompanied our prisoners and
their families, assuring them that they weren't and
aren't alone, that we have not forgotten.
In these more than two years, dozens of our
compas-prisoners have been set free. According
to our thinking, this has been thanks to the
mobilizations carried out in Mexico and around the
world, to the committed work of their legal
defenders, and to the tenacity of this small group
of compañer@s that, without any attention from
the media (though with substantial attention from
the federal, state, and municipal police that have
not ceased to harass and threaten them), day and
night they have raised the call for freedom and
justice for Atenco.
In these more than two years, it's true that some
have withdrawn or vacated their presence at the
encampment. But there is a nucleus that has
remained constant and it is this nucleus that is the
assurance to our prisoners that our movement has
not and will not abandon them.
As you all know, a few weeks ago that tragic farce
that is Mexican legal justice dictated a new and
outrageous sentence against our compas in
Molino de las Flores and in the high security prison
La Palma (Almoloya), in the state of Mexico,
adding a link to the already long chain of injustices
weighing down our compañer@s.
As of this moment, the EZLN made contact with
the compañer@s that have remained firm at the
encampment, with some groups, collectives, and
organizations who are adherents of the Sixth
Declaration, and with some of those who were
prisoners and have been released. We have had
and have now the goal of re-launching the National
and International Campaign demanding liberty and
justice for Atenco, and of maintaining a constant
bridge to our compas who are still prisoner so that
they feel and know that here among us they are
not forgotten.
We are speaking of, therefore, not just a few
actions, as fleeting as the few lines that were
written about this injustice, but rather something
longer lasting, constant, and effective.
Among other things, and as a result of these
contacts and counsels, a variety of individuals,
groups, collectives, and organizations that belong
to the Other Campaign, have convened the
REINFORCEMENT, IN QUALITY AND QUANTITY,
OF THE ENCAMPMENT AT MOLINA DE LAS
FLORES, CONVERTING IT INTO A SPACE OF
ENCOUNTER OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGN, IN
ADDITION TO CONVOKING, AT NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL LEVELS, THE RENEWING OF
THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE OUR PRISONERS.
We suggest that we rotate attendance at the
encampment, promoting and participating in
political-cultural activities in that space, and taking
up the contacts that we had made in Mexico and
the world to coordinate new activities in demand of
justice.
With the National Network against Repression and
for Solidarity (made up fundamentally by
individuals, groups, collectives, and organizations
of the Other Campaign), with the National
Independent Union of Popular Organizations of the
Left (UNOPII), and with Labor and Socialist Unity
(UNIOS), and with various libertarian groups and
collectives, as well as with compañeras and
compañeros that have supported the Sixth
Commission of the EZLN in the Other Campaign,
we have agreed upon a calendar of participation
and activities that are to begin this September
16th, 2008, on the third anniversary of our
movement.
That is why we are writing you. To invite you to
attend the encampment at Molino de las Flores,
and to participate in the activities to take place
there, and to, in your own groups, collectives, and
organizations, and in the local, regional, and state
work units of the Other Campaign, to propose and
carry out actions in demand of liberty and justice
for Atenco.
Compañeroas, compañeras, and compañeros:
With this small effort we invite you to say, along
with us, and to remind ourselves and everyone
else, that WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN... not our
prisoners nor those who have imposed this
injustice upon them.
That is all, compañeros, compañeras and
compañeroas. Soon we will send you, on the Third
Anniversary of the Other Campaign (that is,
September 16 of this year), another convocation
for an activity that perhaps will interest you.
Vale. Cheers and may the other reaffirm its
existence.
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ATENCO!
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Mexico, September of 2008.
Translation El Kilombo Intergaláctico
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/varios/994/
