[RTSNYC] 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona

[Michael Eisenmenger]

This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple
people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified
and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and
where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country,
in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of
doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something
very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the
world. This is our simple word in order to inform all honest and noble
hearts what it is we want in Mexico and the world. This is our simple word,
because it is our idea to call on those who are like us and to join together
with them, everywhere they are living and struggling.


I - What We Are

We are the zapatistas of the EZLN, although we are also called
³neo-zapatistas.² Now, we, the zapatistas of the EZLN, rose up in arms in
January of 1994 because we saw how widespread had become the evil wrought by
the powerful who only humiliated us, stole from us, imprisoned us and killed
us, and no one was saying anything or doing anything. That is why we said
³Ya Basta!,² that no longer were we going to allow them to make us inferior
or to treat us worse than animals. And then we also said we wanted
democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicans although we were
concentrated on the Indian peoples. Because it so happened that we, the
EZLN, were almost all only indigenous from here in Chiapas, but we did not
want to struggle just for own good, or just for the good of the indigenous
of Chiapas, or just for the good of the Indian peoples of Mexico. We wanted
to fight along with everyone who was humble and simple like ourselves and
who was in great need and who suffered from exploitation and thievery by the
rich and their bad governments here, in our Mexico, and in other countries
in the world.

And then our small history was that we grew tired of exploitation by the
powerful, and then we organized in order to defend ourselves and to fight
for justice. In the beginning there were not many of us, just a few, going
this way and that, talking with and listening to other people like us. We
did that for many years, and we did it in secret, without making a stir. In
other words, we joined forces in silence. We remained like that for about 10
years, and then we had grown, and then we were many thousands. We trained
ourselves quite well in politics and weapons, and, suddenly, when the rich
were throwing their New Year¹s Eve parties, we fell upon their cities and
just took them over. And we left a message to everyone that here we are,
that they have to take notice of us. And then the rich took off and sent
their great armies to do away with us, just like they always do when the
exploited rebel - they order them all to be done away with. But we were not
done away with at all, because we had prepared ourselves quite well prior to
the war, and we made ourselves strong in our mountains. And there were the
armies, looking for us and throwing their bombs and bullets at us, and then
they were making plans to kill off all the indigenous at one time, because
they did not know who was a zapatista and who was not. And we were running
and fighting, fighting and running, just like our ancestors had done.
Without giving up, without surrendering, without being defeated.

And then the people from the cities went out into the streets and began
shouting for an end to the war. And then we stopped our war, and we listened
to those brothers and sisters from the city who were telling us to try to
reach an arrangement or an accord with the bad governments, so that the
problem could be resolved without a massacre. And so we paid attention to
them, because they were what we call ³the people,² or the Mexican people.
And so we set aside the fire and took up the word.

And it so happened that the governments said they would indeed be
well-behaved, and they would engage in dialogue, and they would make
accords, and they would fulfill them. And we said that was good, but we also
thought it was good that we knew those people who went out into the streets
in order to stop the war. Then, while we were engaging in dialogue with the
bad governments, we were also talking with those persons, and we saw that
most of them were humble and simple people like us, and both, they and we,
understood quite well why we were fighting. And we called those people
³civil society² because most of them did not belong to political parties,
rather they were common, everyday people, like us, simple and humble people.

But it so happened that the bad governments did not want a good agreement,
rather it was just their underhanded way of saying they were going to talk
and to reach accords, while they were preparing their attacks in order to
eliminate us once and for all. And so then they attacked us several times,
but they did not defeat us, because we resisted quite well, and many people
throughout the world mobilized. And then the bad governments thought that
the problem was that many people saw what was happening with the EZLN, and
they started their plan of acting as if nothing were going on. Meanwhile
they were quick to surround us, they laid siege to us in hopes that, since
our mountains are indeed remote, the people would then forget, since
zapatista lands were so far away. And every so often the bad governments
tested us and tried to deceive us or to attack us, like in February of 1995
when they threw a huge number of armies at us, but they did not defeat us.
Because, as they said then, we were not alone, and many people helped us,
and we resisted well.

And then the bad governments had to make accords with the EZLN, and those
accords were called the ³San Andrés Accords² because the municipality where
those accords were signed was called ³San Andrés.² And we were not all alone
in those dialogues, speaking with people from the bad governments. We
invited many people and organizations who were, or are, engaged in the
struggle for the Indian peoples of Mexico, and everyone spoke their word,
and everyone reached agreement as to how we were going to speak with the bad
governments. And that is how that dialogue was, not just the zapatistas on
one side and the governments on the other. Instead, the Indian peoples of
Mexico, and those who supported them, were with the zapatistas. And then the
bad governments said in those accords that they were indeed going to
recognize the rights of the Indian peoples of Mexico, and they were going to
respect their culture, and they were going to make everything law in the
Constitution. But then, once they had signed, the bad governments acted as
if they had forgotten about them, and many years passed, and the accords
were not fulfilled at all. Quite the opposite, the government attacked the
indigenous, in order to make them back out of the struggle, as they did on
December 22, 1997, the date on which Zedillo ordered the killing of 45 men,
women, old ones and children in the town in Chiapas called ACTEAL. This
immense crime was not so easily forgotten, and it was a demonstration of how
the bad governments color their hearts in order to attack and assassinate
those who rebel against injustices. And, while all of that was going on, we
zapatistas were putting our all into the fulfillment of the accords and
resisting in the mountains of the Mexican southeast.

And then we began speaking with other Indian peoples of Mexico and their
organizations, and we made an agreement with them that we were going to
struggle together for the same thing, for the recognition of indigenous
rights and culture. Now we were also being helped by many people from all
over the world and by persons who were well respected and whose word was
quite great because they were great intellectuals, artists and scientists
from Mexico and from all over the world. And we also held international
encuentros. In other words, we joined together to talk with persons from
America and from Asia and from Europe and from Africa and from Oceania, and
we learned of their struggles and their ways, and we said they were
³intergalactic² encuentros, just to be silly and because we had also invited
those from other planets, but it appeared as if they had not come, or
perhaps they did come, but they did not make it clear.

But the bad governments did not keep their word anyway, and then we made a
plan to talk with many Mexicans so they would help us. And then, first in
1997, we held a march to Mexico City which was called ³of the 1,111² because
a compañero or compañera was going to go from each zapatista town, but the
bad government did not pay any attention. And then, in 1999, we held a
consulta throughout the country, and there it was seen that the majority
were indeed in agreement with the demands of the Indian peoples, but again
the bad governments did not pay any attention. And then, lastly, in 2001, we
held what was called the ³march for indigenous dignity² which had much
support from millions of Mexicans and people from other countries, and it
went to where the deputies and senators were, the Congress of the Union, in
order to demand the recognition of the Mexican indigenous.

But it happened that no, the politicians from the PRI, the PAN and the PRD
reached an agreement among themselves, and they simply did not recognize
indigenous rights and culture. That was in April of 2001, and the
politicians demonstrated quite clearly there that they had no decency
whatsoever, and they were swine who thought only about making their good
money as the bad politicians they were. This must be remembered, because you
will now be seeing that they are going to say they will indeed recognize
indigenous rights, but it is a lie they are telling so we will vote for
them. But they already had their chance, and they did not keep their word.

And then we saw quite clearly that there was no point to dialogue and
negotiation with the bad governments of Mexico. That it was a waste of time
for us to be talking with the politicians, because neither their hearts nor
their words were honest. They were crooked, and they told lies that they
would keep their word, but they did not. In other words, on that day, when
the politicians from the PRI, PAN and PRD approved a law that was no good,
they killed dialogue once and for all, and they clearly stated that it did
not matter what they had agreed to and signed, because they did not keep
their word. And then we did not make any contacts with the federal branches.
Because we understood that dialogue and negotiation had failed as a result
of those political parties. We saw that blood did not matter to them, nor
did death, suffering, mobilizations, consultas, efforts, national and
international statements, encuentros, accords, signatures, commitments. And
so the political class not only closed, one more time, the door to the
Indian peoples, they also delivered a mortal blow to the peaceful resolution
- through dialogue and negotiation - of the war. It can also no longer be
believed that the accords will be fulfilled by someone who comes along with
something or other. They should see that there so that they can learn from
experience what happened to us.

And then we saw all of that, and we wondered in our hearts what we were
going to do.

And the first thing we saw was that our heart was not the same as before,
when we began our struggle. It was larger, because now we had touched the
hearts of many good people. And we also saw that our heart was more hurt, it
was more wounded. And it was not wounded by the deceits of the bad
governments, but because, when we touched the hearts of others, we also
touched their sorrows. It was as if we were seeing ourselves in a mirror.


II. - Where We Are Now

Then, like the zapatistas we are, we thought that it was not enough to stop
engaging in dialogue with the government, but it was necessary to continue
on ahead in the struggle, in spite of those lazy parasites of politicians.
The EZLN then decided to carry out, alone and on their side (³unilateral²,
in other words, because just one side), the San Andrés Accords regarding
indigenous rights and culture. For 4 years, since the middle of 2001 until
the middle of 2005, we have devoted ourselves to this and to other things
which we are going to tell you about.

Fine, we then began encouraging the autonomous rebel zapatista
municipalities ­ which is how the peoples are organized in order to govern
and to govern themselves ­ in order to make themselves stronger. This method
of autonomous government was not simply invented by the EZLN, but rather it
comes from several centuries of indigenous resistance and from the
zapatistas¹ own experience. It is the self-governance of the communities. In
other words, no one from outside comes to govern, but the peoples themselves
decide, among themselves, who governs and how, and, if they do not obey,
they are removed. If the one who governs does not obey the people, they
pursue them, they are removed from authority, and another comes in.

But then we saw that the Autonomous Municipalities were not level. There
were some that were more advanced and which had more support from civil
society, and others were more neglected. The organization was lacking to
make them more on a par with each other. And we also saw that the EZLN, with
its political-military component, was involving itself in decisions which
belonged to the democratic authorities, ³civilians² as they say. And here
the problem is that the political-military component of the EZLN is not
democratic, because it is an army. And we saw that the military being above,
and the democratic below, was not good, because what is democratic should
not be decided militarily, it should be the reverse: the
democratic-political governing above, and the military obeying below. Or,
perhaps, it would be better with nothing below, just completely level,
without any military, and that is why the zapatistas are soldiers so that
there will not be any soldiers. Fine, what we then did about this problem
was to begin separating the political-military from the autonomous and
democratic aspects of organization in the zapatista communities. And so,
actions and decisions which had previously been made and taken by the EZLN
were being passed, little by little, to the democratically elected
authorities in the villages. It is easy to say, of course, but it was very
difficult in practice, because many years have passed ­ first in the
preparation for the war and then the war itself ­ and the political-military
aspects have become customary. But, regardless, we did so because it is our
way to do what we say, because, if not, why should we go around saying
things if we do not then do them.

That was how the Good Government Juntas were born, in August of 2003, and,
through them, self-learning and the exercise of ³govern obeying² has
continued.

>From that time and until the middle of 2005, the EZLN leadership has no
longer involved itself in giving orders in civil matters, but it has
accompanied and helped the authorities who are democratically elected by the
peoples. It has also kept watch that the peoples and national and
international civil society are kept well informed concerning the aid that
is received and how it is used. And now we are passing the work of
safeguarding good government to the zapatista support bases, with temporary
positions which are rotated, so that everyone learns and carries out this
work. Because we believe that a people which does not watch over its leaders
is condemned to be enslaved, and we fought to be free, not to change masters
every six years.

The EZLN, during these 4 years, also handed over to the Good Government
Juntas and the Autonomous Municipalities the aid and contacts which they had
attained throughout Mexico and the world during these years of war and
resistance. The EZLN had also, during that time, been building economic and
political support which allowed the zapatista communities to make progress
with fewer difficulties in the building of their autonomy and in improving
their living conditions. It is not much, but it is far better than what they
had prior to the beginning of the uprising in January of 1994. If you look
at one of those studies the governments make, you will see that the only
indigenous communities which have improved their living conditions ­ whether
in health, education, food or housing ­ were those which are in zapatista
territory, which is what we call where our villages are. And all of that has
been possible because of the progress made by the zapatista villages and
because of the very large support which has been received from good and
noble persons, whom we call ³civil societies,² and from their organizations
throughout the world. As if all of these people have made ³another world is
possible² a reality, but through actions, not just words.

And the villages have made good progress. Now there are more compañeros and
compañeras who are learning to govern. And ­ even though little by little ­
there are more women going into this work, but there is still a lack of
respect for the compañeras, and they need to participate more in the work of
the struggle. And, also through the Good Government Juntas, coordination has
been improved between the Autonomous Municipalities and the resolution of
problems with other organizations and with the official authorities. There
has also been much improvement in the projects in the communities, and the
distribution of projects and aid given by civil society from all over the
world has become more level. Health and education have improved, although
there is still a good deal lacking for it to be what it should be. The same
is true for housing and food, and in some areas there has been much
improvement with the problem of land, because the lands recovered from the
finqueros are being distributed. But there are areas which continue to
suffer from a lack of lands to cultivate. And there has been great
improvement in the support from national and international civil society,
because previously everyone went wherever they wanted, and now the Good
Government Juntas are directing them to where the greatest need exists. And,
similarly, everywhere there are more compañeros and compañeras who are
learning to relate to persons from other parts of Mexico and of the world,.
They are learning to respect and to demand respect. They are learning that
there are many worlds, and that everyone has their place, their time and
their way, and therefore there must be mutual respect between everyone.

We, the zapatistas of the EZLN, have devoted this time to our primary force,
to the peoples who support us. And the situation has indeed improved some.
No one can say that the zapatista organization and struggle has been without
point, but rather, even if they were to do away with us completely, our
struggle has indeed been of some use.

But it is not just the zapatista villages which have grown ­ the EZLN has
also grown. Because what has happened during this time is that new
generations have renewed our entire organization. They have added new
strength. The comandantes and comandantas who were in their maturity at the
beginning of the uprising in 1994 now have the wisdom they gained in the war
and in the 12 years of dialogue with thousands of men and women from
throughout the world. The members of the CCRI, the zapatista
political-organizational leadership, is now counseling and directing the new
ones who are entering our struggle, as well as those who are holding
leadership positions. For some time now the ³committees² (which is what we
call them) have been preparing an entire new generation of comandantes and
comandantas who, following a period of instruction and testing, are
beginning to learn the work of organizational leadership and to discharge
their duties. And it also so happens that our insurgents, insurgentas,
militants, local and regional responsables, as well as support bases, who
were youngsters at the beginning of the uprising, are now mature men and
women, combat veterans and natural leaders in their units and communities.
And those who were children in that January of ¹94 are now young people who
have grown up in the resistance, and they have been trained in the rebel
dignity lifted up by their elders throughout these 12 years of war. These
young people have a political, technical and cultural training that we who
began the zapatista movement did not have. This youth is now, more and more,
sustaining our troops as well as leadership positions in the organization.
And, indeed, all of us have seen the deceits by the Mexican political class
and the destruction which their actions have caused in our patria. And we
have seen the great injustices and massacres that neoliberal globalization
causes throughout the world. But we will speak to you of that later.

And so the EZLN has resisted 12 years of war, of military, political,
ideological and economic attacks, of siege, of harassment, of persecution,
and they have not vanquished us. We have not sold out nor surrendered, and
we have made progress. More compañeros from many places have entered into
the struggle so that, instead of making us weaker after so many years, we
have become stronger. Of course there are problems which can be resolved by
more separation of the political-military from the civil-democratic. But
there are things, the most important ones, such as our demands for which we
struggle, which have not been fully achieved.

To our way of thinking, and what we see in our heart, we have reached a
point where we cannot go any further, and, in addition, it is possible that
we could lose everything we have if we remain as we are and do nothing more
in order to move forward. The hour has come to take a risk once again and to
take a step which is dangerous but which is worthwhile. Because, perhaps
united with other social sectors who suffer from the same wants as we do, it
will be possible to achieve what we need and what we deserve. A new step
forward in the indigenous struggle is only possible if the indigenous join
together with workers, campesinos, students, teachers, employeesŠthe workers
of the city and the countryside.

III - How We See the World

Now we are going to explain to you how we, the zapatistas, see what is going
on in the world. We see that capitalism is the strongest right now.
Capitalism is a social system, a way in which a society goes about
organizing things and people, and who has and who has not, and who gives
orders and who obeys. In capitalism, there are some people who have money,
or capital, and factories and stores and fields and many things, and there
are others who have nothing but their strength and knowledge in order to
work. In capitalism, those who have money and things give the orders, and
those who only have their ability to work obey.

Then capitalism means that there a few who have great wealth, but they did
not win a prize, or find a treasure, or inherited from a parent. They
obtained that wealth, rather, by exploiting the work of the many. So
capitalism is based on the exploitation of the workers, which means they
exploit the workers and take out all the profits they can. This is done
unjustly, because they do not pay the worker what his work is worth. Instead
they give him a salary that barely allows him to eat a little and to rest
for a bit, and the next day he goes back to work in exploitation, whether in
the countryside or in the city.

And capitalism also makes its wealth from plunder, or theft, because they
take what they want from others, land, for example, and natural resources.
So capitalism is a system where the robbers are free and they are admired
and used as examples.

And, in addition to exploiting and plundering, capitalism represses because
it imprisons and kills those who rebel against injustice.

Capitalism is most interested in merchandise, because when it is bought or
sold, profits are made. And then capitalism turns everything into
merchandise, it makes merchandise of people, of nature, of culture, of
history, of conscience. According to capitalism, everything must be able to
be bought and sold. And it hides everything behind the merchandise, so we
don¹t see the exploitation that exists. And then the merchandise is bought
and sold in a market. And the market, in addition to being used for buying
and selling, is also used to hide the exploitation of the workers. In the
market, for example, we see coffee in its little package or its pretty
little jar, but we do not see the campesino who suffered in order to harvest
the coffee, and we do not see the coyote who paid him so cheaply for his
work, and we do not see the workers in the large company working their
hearts out to package the coffee. Or we see an appliance for listening to
music like cumbias, rancheras or corridos, or whatever, and we see that it
is very good because it has a good sound, but we do not see the worker in
the maquiladora who struggled for many hours, putting the cables and the
parts of the appliance together, and they barely paid her a pittance of
money, and she lives far away from work and spends a lot on the trip, and,
in addition, she runs the risk of being kidnapped, raped and killed as
happens in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.

So we see merchandise in the market, but we do not see the exploitation with
which it was made. And then capitalism needs many marketsŠor a very large
market, a world market.

And so the capitalism of today is not the same as before, when the rich were
content with exploiting the workers in their own countries, but now they are
on a path which is called Neoliberal Globalization. This globalization means
that they no longer control the workers in one or several countries, but the
capitalists are trying to dominate everything all over the world. And the
world, or Planet Earth, is also called the ³globe², and that is why they say
³globalization,² or the entire world.

And neoliberalism is the idea that capitalism is free to dominate the entire
world, and so tough, you have to resign yourself and conform and not make a
fuss, in other words, not rebel. So neoliberalism is like the theory, the
plan, of capitalist globalization. And neoliberalism has its economic,
political, military and cultural plans. All of those plans have to do with
dominating everyone, and they repress or separate anyone who doesn¹t obey so
that his rebellious ideas aren¹t passed on to others.

Then, in neoliberal globalization, the great capitalists who live in the
countries which are powerful, like the United States, want the entire world
to be made into a big business where merchandise is produced like a great
market. A world market for buying and selling the entire world and for
hiding all the exploitation from the world. Then the global capitalists
insert themselves everywhere, in all the countries, in order to do their big
business, their great exploitation. Then they respect nothing, and they
meddle wherever they wish. As if they were conquering other countries. That
is why we zapatistas say that neoliberal globalization is a war of conquest
of the entire world, a world war, a war being waged by capitalism for global
domination. Sometimes that conquest is by armies who invade a country and
conquer it by force. But sometimes it is with the economy, in other words,
the big capitalists put their money into another country or they lend it
money, but on the condition that they obey what they tell them to do. And
they also insert their ideas, with the capitalist culture which is the
culture of merchandise, of profits, of the market.

Then the one which wages the conquest, capitalism, does as it wants, it
destroys and changes what it does not like and eliminates what gets in its
way. For example, those who do not produce nor buy nor sell modern
merchandise get in their way, or those who rebel against that order. And
they despise those who are of no use to them. That is why the indigenous get
in the way of neoliberal capitalism, and that is why they despise them and
want to eliminate them. And neoliberal capitalism also gets rid of the laws
which do not allow them to exploit and to have a lot of profit. They demand
that everything can be bought and sold, and, since capitalism has all the
money, it buys everything. Capitalism destroys the countries it conquers
with neoliberal globalization, but it also wants to adapt everything, to
make it over again, but in its own way, a way which benefits capitalism and
which doesn¹t allow anything to get in its way. Then neoliberal
globalization, capitalism, destroys what exists in these countries, it
destroys their culture, their language, their economic system, their
political system, and it also destroys the ways in which those who live in
that country relate to each other. So everything that makes a country a
country is left destroyed.

Then neoliberal globalization wants to destroy the nations of the world so
that only one Nation or country remains, the country of money, of capital.
And capitalism wants everything to be as it wants, in its own way, and it
doesn¹t like what is different, and it persecutes it and attacks it, or puts
it off in a corner and acts as if it doesn¹t exist.

Then, in short, the capitalism of global neoliberalism is based on
exploitation, plunder, contempt and repression of those who refuse. The same
as before, but now globalized, worldwide.

But it is not so easy for neoliberal globalization, because the exploited of
each country become discontented, and they will not say well, too bad,
instead they rebel. And those who remain and who are in the way resist, and
they don¹t allow themselves to be eliminated. And that is why we see, all
over the world, those who are being screwed over making resistances, not
putting up with it, in other words, they rebel, and not just in one country
but wherever they abound. And so, as there is a neoliberal globalization,
there is a globalization of rebellion.

And it is not just the workers of the countryside and of the city who appear
in this globalization of rebellion, but others also appear who are much
persecuted and despised for the same reason, for not letting themselves be
dominated, like women, young people, the indigenous, homosexuals, lesbians,
transsexual persons, migrants and many other groups who exist all over the
world but who we do not see until they shout ya basta of being despised, and
they raise up, and then we see them, we hear them, and we learn from them.

And then we see that all those groups of people are fighting against
neoliberalism, against the capitalist globalization plan, and they are
struggling for humanity.

And we are astonished when we see the stupidity of the neoliberals who want
to destroy all humanity with their wars and exploitations, but it also makes
us quite happy to see resistances and rebellions appearing everywhere, such
as ours, which is a bit small, but here we are. And we see this all over the
world, and now our heart learns that we are not alone.


1V - How We See Our Country Which is Mexico

Now we will talk to you about how we see what is going on in our Mexico.
What we see is our country being governed by neoliberals. So, as we already
explained, our leaders are destroying our nation, our Mexican Patria. And
the work of these bad leaders is not to look after the well-being of the
people, instead they are only concerned with the well-being of the
capitalists. For example, they make laws like the Free Trade Agreement,
which end up leaving many Mexicans destitute, like campesinos and small
producers, because they are ³gobbled up² by the big agro-industrial
companies. As well as workers and small businesspeople, because they cannot
compete with the large transnationals who come in without anybody saying
anything to them and even thanking them, and they set their low salaries and
their high prices. So some of the economic foundations of our Mexico, which
were the countryside and industry and national commerce, are being quite
destroyed, and just a bit of rubble - which they are certainly going to sell
off - remains.

And these are great disgraces for our Patria. Because food is no longer
being produced in our countryside, just what the big capitalists sell, and
the good lands are being stolen through trickery and with the help of the
politicians. What is happening in the countryside is the same as Porfirismo,
but, instead of hacendados, now there are a few foreign businesses which
have well and truly screwed the campesino. And, where before there were
credits and price protections, now there is just charityŠand sometimes not
even that.

As for the worker in the city, the factories close, and they are left
without work, or they open what are called maquiladoras, which are foreign
and which pay a pittance for many hours of work. And then the price of the
goods the people need doesn¹t matter, whether they are expensive or cheap,
since there is no money. And if someone was working in a small or midsize
business, now they are not, because it was closed, and it was bought by a
big transnational. And if someone had a small business, it disappeared as
well, or they went to work clandestinely for big businesses which exploit
them terribly, and which even put boys and girls to work. And if the worker
belonged to his union in order to demand his legal rights, then no, now the
same union tells him he will have to put up with his salary being lowered or
his hours or his benefits being taken away, because, if not, the business
will close and move to another country. And then there is the
³microchangarro,² which is the government¹s economic program for putting all
the city¹s workers on street corners selling gum or telephone cards. In
other words, absolute economic destruction in the cities as well.

And then what happens is that, with the people¹s economy being totally
screwed in the countryside as well as in the city, then many Mexican men and
women have to leave their Patria, Mexican lands, and go to seek work in
another country, the United States. And they do not treat them well there,
instead they exploit them, persecute them and treat them with contempt and
even kill them. Under neoliberalism which is being imposed by the bad
governments, the economy has not improved. Quite the opposite, the
countryside is in great need, and there is no work in the cities. What is
happening is that Mexico is being turned into a place where people are
working for the wealth of foreigners, mostly rich gringos, a place you are
just born into for a little while, and in another little while you die. That
is why we say that Mexico is dominated by the United States.

Now, it is not just that. Neoliberalism has also changed the Mexican
political class, the politicians, because they made them into something like
employees in a store, who have to do everything possible to sell everything
and to sell it very cheap. You have already seen that they changed the laws
in order to remove Article 27 from the Constitution so that ejidal and
communal lands could be sold. That was Salinas de Gortari, and he and his
gangs said that it was for the good of the countryside and the campesino,
and that was how they would prosper and live better. Has it been like that?
The Mexican countryside is worse than ever and the campesinos more screwed
than under Porfirio Diaz. And they also say they are going to privatize ­
sell to foreigners ­ the companies held by the State to help the well-being
of the people. Because the companies don¹t work well and they need to be
modernized, and it would be better to sell them. But, instead of improving,
the social rights which were won in the revolution of 1910 now make one
sadŠand courageous. And they also said that the borders must be opened so
all the foreign capital can enter, that way all the Mexican businesses will
be fixed, and things will be made better. But now we see that there are not
any national businesses, the foreigners gobbled them all up, and the things
that are sold are worse than the those that were made in Mexico.

And now the Mexican politicians also want to sell PEMEX, the oil which
belongs to all Mexicans, and the only difference is that some say everything
should be sold and others that only a part of it should be sold. And they
also want to privatize social security, and electricity and water and the
forests and everything, until nothing of Mexico is left, and our country
will be a wasteland or a place of entertainment for rich people from all
over the world, and we Mexican men and women will be their servants,
dependent on what they offer, bad housing, without roots, without culture,
without even a Patria.

So the neoliberals want to kill Mexico, our Mexican Patria. And the
political parties not only do not defend it, they are the first to put
themselves at the service of foreigners, especially those from the United
States, and they are the ones who are in charge of deceiving us, making us
look the other way while everything is sold, and they are left with the
money. All the political parties that exist right now, not just some of
them. Think about whether anything has been done well, and you will see that
no, nothing but theft and scams. And look how all the politicians always
have their nice houses and their nice cars and luxuries. And they still want
us to thank them and to vote for them again. And it is obvious, as they say,
that they are without shame. And they are without it because they do not, in
fact, have a Patria, they only have bank accounts.

And we also see that drug trafficking and crime has been increasing a lot.
And sometimes we think that criminals are like they show them in the songs
or movies, and maybe some are like that, but not the real chiefs. The real
chiefs go around very well dressed, they study outside the country, they are
elegant, they do not go around in hiding, they eat in good restaurants and
they appear in the papers, very pretty and well dressed at their parties.
They are, as they say, ³good people², and some are even officials, deputies,
senators, secretaries of state, prosperous businessmen, police chiefs,
generals.

Are we saying that politics serves no purpose? No, what we mean is that THAT
politics serves no purpose. And it is useless because it does not take the
people into account. It does not listen to them, it does not pay any
attention to them, it just approaches them when there are elections. And
they do not even want votes anymore, the polls are enough to say who wins.
And then just promises about what this one is going to do and what the other
one is going to do, then it¹s bye, I¹ll see you, but you don¹t see them
again, except when they appear in the news when they¹ve just stolen a lot of
money and nothing is going to be done to them because the law ­ which those
same politicians made ­ protects them.

Because that¹s another problem, the Constitution is all warped and changed
now. It¹s no longer the one that had the rights and liberties of working
people. Now there are the rights and liberties of the neoliberals so they
can have their huge profits. And the judges exist to serve those
neoliberals, because they always rule in favor of them, and those who are
not rich get injustice, jails and cemeteries.

Well, even with all this mess the neoliberals are making, there are Mexican
men and women who are organizing and making a resistance struggle.

And so we found out that there are indigenous, that their lands are far away
from us here in Chiapas, and they are making their autonomy and defending
their culture and caring for their land, forests and water.

And there are workers in the countryside, campesinos, who are organizing and
holding their marches and mobilizations in order to demand credits and aid
for the countryside.

And there are workers in the city who do not let their rights be taken away
or their jobs privatized. They protest and demonstrate so the little they
have isn¹t taken away from them and so they don¹t take away from the country
what is, in fact, its own, like electricity, oil, social security,
education.

And there are students who don¹t let education be privatized and who are
fighting for it to be free and popular and scientific, so they don¹t charge,
so everyone can learn, and so they don¹t teach stupid things in schools.

And there are women who do not let themselves be treated as an ornament or
be humiliated and despised just for being women, but who are organizing and
fighting for the respect they deserve as the women they are.

And there are young people who don¹t accept their stultifying them with
drugs or persecuting them for their way of being, but who make themselves
aware with their music and their culture, their rebellion.

And there are homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals and many ways who do not
put up with being ridiculed, despised, mistreated and even killed for having
another way which is different, with being treated like they are abnormal or
criminals, but who make their own organizations in order to defend their
right to be different.

And there are priests and nuns and those they call laypeople who are not
with the rich and who are not resigned, but who are organizing to accompany
the struggles of the people.

And there are those who are called social activists, who are men and women
who have been fighting all their lives for exploited people, and they are
the same ones who participated in the great strikes and workers¹ actions, in
the great citizens¹ mobilizations, in the great campesino movements, and who
suffer great repression, and who, even though some are old now, continue on
without surrendering, and they go everywhere, looking for the struggle,
seeking justice, and making leftist organizations, non-governmental
organizations, human rights organizations, organizations in defense of
political prisoners and for the disappeared, leftist publications,
organizations of teachers or students, social struggle, and even
political-military organizations, and they are just not quiet and they know
a lot because they have seen a lot and lived and struggled.

And so we see in general that in our country, which is called Mexico, there
are many people who do not put up with things, who do not surrender, who do
not sell out. Who are dignified. And that makes us very pleased and happy,
because with all those people it¹s not going to be so easy for the
neoliberals to win, and perhaps it will be possible to save our Patria from
the great thefts and destruction they are doing. And we think that perhaps
our ³we² will include all those rebellionsŠ

V - What We Want To Do

We are now going to tell you what we want to do in the world and in Mexico,
because we cannot watch everything that is happening on our planet and just
remain quiet, as if it were only we were where we are.

What we want in the world is to tell all of those who are resisting and
fighting in their own ways and in their own countries, that you are not
alone, that we, the zapatistas, even though we are very small, are
supporting you, and we are going to look at how to help you in your
struggles and to speak to you in order to learn, because what we have, in
fact, learned is to learn.

And we want to tell the Latin American peoples that we are proud to be a
part of you, even if it is a small part. We remember quite well how the
continent was also illuminated some years ago, and a light was called Che
Guevara, as it had previously been called Bolivar, because sometimes the
people take up a name in order to say they are taking up a flag.

And we want to tell the people of Cuba, who have now been on their path of
resistance for many years, that you are not alone, and we do not agree with
the blockade they are imposing, and we are going to see how to send you
something, even if it is maize, for your resistance. And we want to tell the
North American people that we know that the bad governments which you have
and which spread harm throughout the world is one thing - and those North
Americans who struggle in their country, and who are in solidarity with the
struggles of other countries, are a very different thing. And we want to
tell the Mapuche brothers and sisters in Chile that we are watching and
learning from your struggles. And to the Venezuelans, we see how well you
are defending your sovereignty, your nation¹s right to decide where it is
going. And to the indigenous brothers and sisters of Ecuador and Bolivia, we
say you are giving a good lesson in history to all of Latin America, because
now you are indeed putting a halt to neoliberal globalization. And to the
piqueteros and to the young people of Argentina, we want to tell you that,
that we love you. And to those in Uruguay who want a better country, we
admire you. And to those who are sin tierra in Brazil, that we respect you.
And to all the young people of Latin America, that what you are doing is
good, and you give us great hope.

And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Social Europe, that which is
dignified and rebel, that you are not alone. That your great movements
against the neoliberal wars bring us joy. That we are attentively watching
your forms of organization and your methods of struggle so that we can
perhaps learn something. That we are considering how we can help you in your
struggles, and we are not going to send euro because then they will be
devalued because of the European Union mess. But perhaps we will send you
crafts and coffee so you can market them and help you some in the tasks of
your struggle. And perhaps we might also send you some pozol, which gives
much strength in the resistance, but who knows if we will send it to you,
because pozol is more our way, and what if it were to hurt your bellies and
weaken your struggles and the neoliberals defeat you.

And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Africa, Asia and Oceania
that we know that you are fighting also, and we want to learn more of your
ideas and practices.

And we want to tell the world that we want to make you large, so large that
all those worlds will fit, those worlds which are resisting because they
want to destroy the neoliberals and because they simply cannot stop fighting
for humanity.

Now then, what we want to do in Mexico is to make an agreement with persons
and organizations just of the left, because we believe that it is in the
political left where the idea of resisting neoliberal globalization is, and
of making a country where there will be justice, democracy and liberty for
everyone. Not as it is right now, where there is justice only for the rich,
there is liberty only for their big businesses, and there is democracy only
for painting walls with election propaganda. And because we believe that it
is only from the left that a plan of struggle can emerge, so that our
Patria, which is Mexico, does not die.

And, then, what we think is that, with these persons and organizations of
the left, we will make a plan for going to all those parts of Mexico where
there are humble and simple people like ourselves.

And we are not going to tell them what they should do or give them orders.

Nor are we going to ask them to vote for a candidate, since we already know
that the ones who exist are neoliberals.

Nor are we going to tell them to be like us, nor to rise up in arms.

What we are going to do is to ask them what their lives are like, their
struggle, their thoughts about our country and what we should do so they do
not defeat us.

What we are going to do is to take heed of the thoughts of the simple and
humble people, and perhaps we will find there the same love which we feel
for our Patria.

And perhaps we will find agreement between those of us who are simple and
humble and, together, we will organize all over the country and reach
agreement in our struggles, which are alone right now, separated from each
other, and we will find something like a program that has what we all want,
and a plan for how we are going to achieve the realization of that program,
which is called the ³national program of struggle.²

And, with the agreement of the majority of those people whom we are going to
listen to, we will then engage in a struggle with everyone, with indigenous,
workers, campesinos, students, teachers, employees, women, children, old
ones, men, and with all of those of good heart and who want to struggle so
that our Patria called Mexico does not end up being destroyed and sold, and
which still exists between the Rio Grande and the Rio Suchiate and which has
the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Atlantic on the other.


VI - How We Are Going To Do It

And so this is our simple word that goes out to the humble and simple people
of Mexico and of the world, and we are calling our word of today:

Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona

And we are here to say, with our simple word, thatŠ

The EZLN maintains its commitment to an offensive ceasefire, and it will not
make any attack against government forces or any offensive military
movements.

The EZLN still maintains its commitment to insisting on the path of
political struggle through this peaceful initiative which we are now
undertaking. The EZLN continues, therefore, in its resolve to not establish
any kind of secret relations with either national political-military
organizations or those from other countries.

The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to defend, support and obey the zapatista
indigenous communities of which it is composed, and which are its supreme
command, and - without interfering in their internal democratic processes -
will, to the best of its abilities, contribute to the strengthening of their
autonomy, good government and improvement in their living conditions. In
other words, what we are going to do in Mexico and in the world, we are
going to do without arms, with a civil and peaceful movement, and without
neglecting nor ceasing to support our communities.

ThereforeŠ

In the WorldŠ

1 - We will forge new relationships of mutual respect and support with
persons and organizations who are resisting and struggling against
neoliberalism and for humanity.

2 - As far as we are able, we will send material aid such as food and
handicrafts for those brothers and sisters who are struggling all over the
world.

In order to begin, we are going to ask the Good Government Junta of La
Realidad to loan their truck, which is called ³Chompiras,² and which appears
to hold 8 tons, and we are going to fill it with maize and perhaps two 200
liter cans with oil or petrol, as they prefer, and we are going to deliver
it to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico for them to send to the Cuban people as
aid from the zapatistas for their resistance against the North American
blockade. Or perhaps there might be a place closer to here where it could be
delivered, because it¹s always such a long distance to Mexico City, and what
if ³Chompiras² were to break down and we¹d end up in bad shape. And that
will happen when the harvest comes in, which is turning green right now in
the fields, and if they don¹t attack us, because if we were to send it
during these next few months, it would be nothing but corncobs, and they
don¹t turn out well even in tamales, better in November or December, it
depends.

And we are also going to make an agreement with the women¹s crafts
cooperatives in order to send a good number of bordados, embroidered pieces,
to the Europes which are perhaps not yet Union, and perhaps we¹ll also send
some organic coffee from the zapatista cooperatives, so that they can sell
it and get a little money for their struggle. And, if it isn¹t sold, then
they can always have a little cup of coffee and talk about the
anti-neoliberal struggle, and if it¹s a bit cold then they can cover
themselves up with the zapatista bordados, which do indeed resist quite well
being laundered by hand and by rocks, and, besides, they don¹t run in the
wash.

And we are also going to send the indigenous brothers and sisters of Bolivia
and Ecuador some non-transgenic maize, and we just don¹t know where to send
them so they arrive complete, but we are indeed willing to give this little
bit of aid.

3 - And to all of those who are resisting throughout the world, we say there
must be other intercontinental encuentros held, even if just one other.
Perhaps December of this year or next January, we¹ll have to think about it.
We don¹t want to say just when, because this is about our agreeing equally
on everything, on where, on when, on how, on who. But not with a stage where
just a few speak and all the rest listen, but without a stage, just level
and everyone speaking, but orderly, otherwise it will just be a hubbub and
the words won¹t be understood, and with good organization everyone will hear
and jot down in their notebooks the words of resistance from others, so then
everyone can go and talk with their compañeros and compañeras in their
worlds. And we think it might be in a place that has a very large jail,
because what if they were to repress us and incarcerate us, and so that way
we wouldn¹t be all piled up, prisoners, yes, but well organized, and there
in the jail we could continue the intercontinental encuentros for humanity
and against neoliberalism. Later on we¹ll tell you what we shall do in order
to reach agreement as to how we¹re going to come to agreement. Now that is
how we¹re thinking of doing what we want to do in the world. Now followsŠ

In MexicoŠ

1 - We are going to continue fighting for the Indian peoples of Mexico, but
now not just for them and not with only them, but for all the exploited and
dispossessed of Mexico, with all of them and all over the country. And when
we say all the exploited of Mexico, we are also talking about the brothers
and sisters who have had to go to the United States in search of work in
order to survive.

2 - We are going to go to listen to, and talk directly with, without
intermediaries or mediation, the simple and humble of the Mexican people,
and, according to what we hear and learn, we are going to go about building,
along with those people who, like us, are humble and simple, a national
program of struggle, but a program which will be clearly of the left, or
anti-capitalist, or anti-neoliberal, or for justice, democracy and liberty
for the Mexican people.

3 - We are going to try to build, or rebuild, another way of doing politics,
one which once again has the spirit of serving others, without material
interests, with sacrifice, with dedication, with honesty, which keeps its
word, whose only payment is the satisfaction of duty performed, or like the
militants of the left did before, when they were not stopped by blows, jail
or death, let alone by dollar bills.

4 - We are also going to go about raising a struggle in order to demand that
we make a new Constitution, new laws which take into account the demands of
the Mexican people, which are: housing, land, work, food, health, education,
information, culture, independence, democracy, justice, liberty and peace. A
new Constitution which recognizes the rights and liberties of the people,
and which defends the weak in the face of the powerful.

TO THESE ENDSŠ

The EZLN will send a delegation of its leadership in order to do this work
throughout the national territory and for an indefinite period of time. This
zapatista delegation, along with those organizations and persons of the left
who join in this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, will go to those
places where they are expressly invited.

We are also letting you know that the EZLN will establish a policy of
alliances with non-electoral organizations and movements which define
themselves, in theory and practice, as being of the left, in accordance with
the following conditions:

Not to make agreements from above to be imposed below, but to make accords
to go together to listen and to organize outrage. Not to raise movements
which are later negotiated behind the backs of those who made them, but to
always take into account the opinions of those participating. Not to seek
gifts, positions, advantages, public positions, from the Power or those who
aspire to it, but to go beyond the election calendar. Not to try to resolve
from above the problems of our Nation, but to build FROM BELOW AND FOR BELOW
an alternative to neoliberal destruction, an alternative of the left for
Mexico.

Yes to reciprocal respect for the autonomy and independence of
organizations, for their methods of struggle, for their ways of organizing,
for their internal decision making processes, for their legitimate
representations. And yes to a clear commitment for joint and coordinated
defense of national sovereignty, with intransigent opposition to
privatization attempts of electricity, oil, water and natural resources.

In other words, we are inviting the unregistered political and social
organizations of the left, and those persons who lay claim to the left and
who do not belong to registered political parties, to meet with us, at the
time, place and manner in which we shall propose at the proper time, to
organize a national campaign, visiting all possible corners of our Patria,
in order to listen to and organize the word of our people. It is like a
campaign, then, but very otherly, because it is not electoral.

Brothers and sisters:

This is our word which we declare:

In the world, we are going to join together more with the resistance
struggles against neoliberalism and for humanity.

And we are going to support, even if it¹s but little, those struggles.

And we are going to exchange, with mutual respect, experiences, histories,
ideas, dreams. 

In Mexico, we are going to travel all over the country, through the ruins
left by the neoliberal wars and through those resistances which, entrenched,
are flourishing in those ruins.

We are going to seek, and to find, those who love these lands and these
skies even as much as we do.

We are going to seek, from La Realidad to Tijuana, those who want to
organize, struggle and build what may perhaps be the last hope this Nation -
which has been going on at least since the time when an eagle alighted on a
nopal in order to devour a snake ­ has of not dying.

We are going for democracy, liberty and justice for those of us who have
been denied it.

We are going with another politics, for a program of the left and for a new
Constitution.

We are inviting all indigenous, workers, campesinos, teachers, students,
housewives, neighbors, small businesspersons, small shop owners,
micro-businesspersons, pensioners, handicapped persons, religious men and
women, scientists, artists, intellectuals, young persons, women, old
persons, homosexuals and lesbians, boys and girls ­ to participate, whether
individually or collectively, directly with the zapatistas in this NATIONAL
CAMPAIGN for building another way of doing politics, for a program of
national struggle of the left, and for a new Constitution.

And so this is our word as to what we are going to do and how we are going
to do it. You will see whether you want to join.

And we are telling those men and women who are of good heart and intent, who
are in agreement with this word we are bringing out, and who are not afraid,
or who are afraid but who control it, to then state publicly whether they
are in agreement with this idea we are presenting, and in that way we will
see once and for all who and how and where and when this new step in the
struggle is to be made.

While you are thinking about it, we say to you that today, in the sixth
month of the year 2005, the men, women, children and old ones of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation have now decided, and we have now
subscribed to, this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, and those who
know how to sign, signed, and those who did not left their mark, but there
are fewer now who do not know how, because education has advanced here in
this territory in rebellion for humanity and against neoliberalism, that is
in zapatista skies and land.

And this was our simple word sent out to the noble hearts of those simple
and humble people who resist and rebel against injustices all over the
world.

Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!

>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee ­ General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Mexico, in the sixth month, or June, of the year 2005.