Im super smart.
Sarah Walsh
7-13-05
Paper #2
ESP 300
In learning briefly about Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas of Chiapas,
Mexico, it came to my awareness that something for the greater good was going on in
this part of Latin America. Not only are these people part of a five hundred year quest to
stop repression and exploitation of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, these people are also
strong and willing to do whatever it takes to gain their rights back and the land that as
human beings deserve. No corporation or global conglomerate industry has the right to
kick people off of its land just because it feels like building a Wal-Mart in that specific
area, or in any case, has no right to kick the people off of their land to take natural
resources.
First, we’ll start off with some background on which this leader Subcomandante
Marcos is. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is the leading spokesman for the EZLN
otherwise known as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. According to the
government in Mexico, Subcomandante Marcos’ real name is Rafael Guillen. He was a
man with an education where he graduated from college and also taught with a Masters
degree in Philosophy at the University of Mexico.
After this, he left to join the Zapatistas as a revolutionary. In 2001, Marcos made
his speech at the University of Mexico during the Great March to Mexico City. Like
many, he became somewhat of an activist into all of the events that 1968 had brought
about in the world. This led him to become a part of the Maoist organization. Having
Maoist ideas in short express this specific reasoning: “A key concept that distinguishes
Maoism from other left-wing ideologies is the belief that the class struggle continues
throughout the entire socialist period (between capitalism and communism)…
Maoism emphasizes revolutionary mass mobilization…” (2 Maosim). Maoism also
emphasizes that peasants can be mobilized to create the “people’s war” and by
arming them to engage in guerilla warfare. This can in part be paired up with
Communism, but doesn’t fully entail that that’s what needs to happen. Because in
the book “Our Word is Our Weapon” Subcomandante Marcos states that he loves
democracy and there is no need for people to think they are fighting for a cause
other than what they have the right to do. He is implying that people who peasants
are fighting for land rights are not fighting in favor of communism exactly, but in
favor of a tried and true fair democracy. Something Mexico really has never seen,
not only in Chiapas, but all over the country.
Let us backtrack to the EZLN. The EZLN claims to represent the rights of the
indigenous peoples of Mexico. It is part of an anti-capitalist movement, but fighting
for democracy, peace and justice for all Mexicans and all oppressed people. This
group of people took its name from a passed Mexican revolutionary leader named
Emiliano Zapata. He fought in basic guerilla operations before and after the Mexican
revolution in 1911-17. The Zapatistas are trying to fight off 500 years worth of
indigenous persecution.
These revolutionaries are trying to dissuade each other from using any form
of weapons. Only in time of special need would they use such. Of course, they carry
the AK-47’s slung over their shoulders, but they try to use non-violence as the main
tactic of ending the peoples struggle. The march to Mexico City, in itself was a
peaceful march, without the presence of any weapons on hand. This group was
formed on November 17, 1983.
“They broke into the national and international scene on January 2, 1994, just
one day after the North American Free Trade Agreement...” (2 History). They finally
declared war against the Mexican government and announced their plans to march
towards Mexico City. With talks extending over three years between the President
Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Sub. Marcos finalized with the San Andres Agreement.
This was supposed to entail special rights (autonomy to indigenous peoples) by
modifying their constitution. This didn’t happen of course. When President Zedillo
said Congress had to decide the fate of this article (pass or no pass), the Zapatistas
had to go back to their old routine again until an unofficial truce was made for the
last 3 years of Zedillo’s term.
When people accused the army and paramilitary death squads of holding
Zapatistas or unlawfully prosecuting them, it led to Massacre of Acteal, where 45
people were massacred during a church mass. Many blame the army for this terrible
atrocity.
One thing that describes this scenario into perfect words would be something
Subcomandante Marcos said at the First Intercontinental Encuentro for Humanity
against Neoliberalism, “We were silenced. We were faceless. We were nameless. We
had no future. We did not exist... We were a cipher in the accounts of big capital…
We are you. Behind is, you are us. Behind our masks is the face of all excluded
women, Of all the forgotten indigenous, Of all the persecuted homosexuals, of all the
despised youth, Of all the beaten migrants, Of all those imprisoned for their words
and thoughts, Of all the humiliated workers, Of all those who died from neglect, Of
all the simple and ordinary men and women, Who don’t count, Who aren’t seen, Who
are nameless, Who have no tomorrow” (104 Our Word..).
For years this went on, and still goes on even today. This is what the
Zapatistas do. They fight for the rights of the people who deserve it. To track to
more present times, in 2003, Marcos and the Zapatistas sent “comunicados”
describing how Autonomous Municipalities (that have been gradually forming since
1994), have developed local governments or “juntas”, communitarian food-producing
programs among the indigenous peasants and free health care and school systems,
supported by the non-governmental organizations independent of government based
ones that never really paid attention to the people in the first place.
These Zapatistas communicated as well by satellite phones and the internet.
Sometimes even in the jungle, they communicate by CB radio. Chiapas, where the
EZLN are located, is very rich in terms of naturally resources especially petroleum
and electricity. “Chiapas also bleeds coffee. Thirty-five percent of the coffee
produced in Mexico comes from this area. The industry employs 87,000 people. 47%
is for the national consumption, and 53% is exported abroad, mainly in the US and
Europe. More than 100,000 tons of coffee is taken from this state to fatten the
beast’s bank accounts: in 1988 a kilo of pergamino coffee was sold abroad for 8,000
pesos. The Chiapaneco producers were paid 2,500 pesos or less” (23 Our Word).
Not only is coffee a main staple, but so is beef. People are kicked off their
land just so a foreign industry can take exports from Mexico to produce the beef.
Wood is also yet another source of money to fill the capitalists pocket and leave the
workers poor and the earth destroyed. Also, honey and corn are two of the other
main things that are being taken away from the Mexican population for profit.
This is why the EZLN fights for the rights of Mexicans. The US may have seen
this as Communism at one point, maybe it still does. The Mexican government also is
afraid they might be over thrown, but in the video about “Land of Plenty Full of Poor
People” he states that that isn’t the case. They just want the basic rights people deserve.
“In the past 10 years more than 150,000 indigenous have died of curable diseases” (17
Our Word). This shouldn’t have been the case, and it wouldn’t have been if they had
basic rights.
In the famous words of Emiliano Zapata in 1914,” It is not only by shooting
bullets in the battlefields that tyranny is overthrown, but also by hurling ideas of
redemption, words of freedom and terrible anathemas against the hangmen that people
bring down dictators and empires...” In this case, he was right. His people are leading a
revolution against their oppressors. This struggle will continue, until they are finally free
of thinking of life more as a burden, rather than as a gift.
7-13-05
Paper #2
ESP 300
In learning briefly about Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas of Chiapas,
Mexico, it came to my awareness that something for the greater good was going on in
this part of Latin America. Not only are these people part of a five hundred year quest to
stop repression and exploitation of Indigenous peoples of Mexico, these people are also
strong and willing to do whatever it takes to gain their rights back and the land that as
human beings deserve. No corporation or global conglomerate industry has the right to
kick people off of its land just because it feels like building a Wal-Mart in that specific
area, or in any case, has no right to kick the people off of their land to take natural
resources.
First, we’ll start off with some background on which this leader Subcomandante
Marcos is. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is the leading spokesman for the EZLN
otherwise known as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. According to the
government in Mexico, Subcomandante Marcos’ real name is Rafael Guillen. He was a
man with an education where he graduated from college and also taught with a Masters
degree in Philosophy at the University of Mexico.
After this, he left to join the Zapatistas as a revolutionary. In 2001, Marcos made
his speech at the University of Mexico during the Great March to Mexico City. Like
many, he became somewhat of an activist into all of the events that 1968 had brought
about in the world. This led him to become a part of the Maoist organization. Having
Maoist ideas in short express this specific reasoning: “A key concept that distinguishes
Maoism from other left-wing ideologies is the belief that the class struggle continues
throughout the entire socialist period (between capitalism and communism)…
Maoism emphasizes revolutionary mass mobilization…” (2 Maosim). Maoism also
emphasizes that peasants can be mobilized to create the “people’s war” and by
arming them to engage in guerilla warfare. This can in part be paired up with
Communism, but doesn’t fully entail that that’s what needs to happen. Because in
the book “Our Word is Our Weapon” Subcomandante Marcos states that he loves
democracy and there is no need for people to think they are fighting for a cause
other than what they have the right to do. He is implying that people who peasants
are fighting for land rights are not fighting in favor of communism exactly, but in
favor of a tried and true fair democracy. Something Mexico really has never seen,
not only in Chiapas, but all over the country.
Let us backtrack to the EZLN. The EZLN claims to represent the rights of the
indigenous peoples of Mexico. It is part of an anti-capitalist movement, but fighting
for democracy, peace and justice for all Mexicans and all oppressed people. This
group of people took its name from a passed Mexican revolutionary leader named
Emiliano Zapata. He fought in basic guerilla operations before and after the Mexican
revolution in 1911-17. The Zapatistas are trying to fight off 500 years worth of
indigenous persecution.
These revolutionaries are trying to dissuade each other from using any form
of weapons. Only in time of special need would they use such. Of course, they carry
the AK-47’s slung over their shoulders, but they try to use non-violence as the main
tactic of ending the peoples struggle. The march to Mexico City, in itself was a
peaceful march, without the presence of any weapons on hand. This group was
formed on November 17, 1983.
“They broke into the national and international scene on January 2, 1994, just
one day after the North American Free Trade Agreement...” (2 History). They finally
declared war against the Mexican government and announced their plans to march
towards Mexico City. With talks extending over three years between the President
Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Sub. Marcos finalized with the San Andres Agreement.
This was supposed to entail special rights (autonomy to indigenous peoples) by
modifying their constitution. This didn’t happen of course. When President Zedillo
said Congress had to decide the fate of this article (pass or no pass), the Zapatistas
had to go back to their old routine again until an unofficial truce was made for the
last 3 years of Zedillo’s term.
When people accused the army and paramilitary death squads of holding
Zapatistas or unlawfully prosecuting them, it led to Massacre of Acteal, where 45
people were massacred during a church mass. Many blame the army for this terrible
atrocity.
One thing that describes this scenario into perfect words would be something
Subcomandante Marcos said at the First Intercontinental Encuentro for Humanity
against Neoliberalism, “We were silenced. We were faceless. We were nameless. We
had no future. We did not exist... We were a cipher in the accounts of big capital…
We are you. Behind is, you are us. Behind our masks is the face of all excluded
women, Of all the forgotten indigenous, Of all the persecuted homosexuals, of all the
despised youth, Of all the beaten migrants, Of all those imprisoned for their words
and thoughts, Of all the humiliated workers, Of all those who died from neglect, Of
all the simple and ordinary men and women, Who don’t count, Who aren’t seen, Who
are nameless, Who have no tomorrow” (104 Our Word..).
For years this went on, and still goes on even today. This is what the
Zapatistas do. They fight for the rights of the people who deserve it. To track to
more present times, in 2003, Marcos and the Zapatistas sent “comunicados”
describing how Autonomous Municipalities (that have been gradually forming since
1994), have developed local governments or “juntas”, communitarian food-producing
programs among the indigenous peasants and free health care and school systems,
supported by the non-governmental organizations independent of government based
ones that never really paid attention to the people in the first place.
These Zapatistas communicated as well by satellite phones and the internet.
Sometimes even in the jungle, they communicate by CB radio. Chiapas, where the
EZLN are located, is very rich in terms of naturally resources especially petroleum
and electricity. “Chiapas also bleeds coffee. Thirty-five percent of the coffee
produced in Mexico comes from this area. The industry employs 87,000 people. 47%
is for the national consumption, and 53% is exported abroad, mainly in the US and
Europe. More than 100,000 tons of coffee is taken from this state to fatten the
beast’s bank accounts: in 1988 a kilo of pergamino coffee was sold abroad for 8,000
pesos. The Chiapaneco producers were paid 2,500 pesos or less” (23 Our Word).
Not only is coffee a main staple, but so is beef. People are kicked off their
land just so a foreign industry can take exports from Mexico to produce the beef.
Wood is also yet another source of money to fill the capitalists pocket and leave the
workers poor and the earth destroyed. Also, honey and corn are two of the other
main things that are being taken away from the Mexican population for profit.
This is why the EZLN fights for the rights of Mexicans. The US may have seen
this as Communism at one point, maybe it still does. The Mexican government also is
afraid they might be over thrown, but in the video about “Land of Plenty Full of Poor
People” he states that that isn’t the case. They just want the basic rights people deserve.
“In the past 10 years more than 150,000 indigenous have died of curable diseases” (17
Our Word). This shouldn’t have been the case, and it wouldn’t have been if they had
basic rights.
In the famous words of Emiliano Zapata in 1914,” It is not only by shooting
bullets in the battlefields that tyranny is overthrown, but also by hurling ideas of
redemption, words of freedom and terrible anathemas against the hangmen that people
bring down dictators and empires...” In this case, he was right. His people are leading a
revolution against their oppressors. This struggle will continue, until they are finally free
of thinking of life more as a burden, rather than as a gift.