[Nettime-bold] Three EZLN communiques (fwd)

["ricardo dominguez" <rdom@thing.net>]

>Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
>______________________
>Translated by irlandesa
>
>
>#1
>
>
>Zapatista Army of National Liberation
>Mexico.
>
>
>November of 2000.
>
>
>To the National and International Press:
>
>Ladies and Gentlemen:
>
>
>Here once again.  The letters are off, for the one who is now leaving
>(fortunately), and an invitation for you to a press conference. We will do
>everything we can to not get hung up on the time.
>
>Vale.  Salud, and, no, you don't have to worry, Martha Sahagu'n is not
going
>to be here.
>
>>From the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
>
>Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
>
>Mexico, November of 2000.
>
>(Zedillo's last moments!)
>
>Yepa!  Yepa!  Yepa!
>Andale!  Andale!  Andale!
>
>Arriba!  Arriba!  Arriba!
>
>
>PLAYWRIGHT's (ja!) PS WHICH SAYS WHAT IT SAYS. -
>
>First Act. -  Characters:  the political class, announcer, the headlines,
>the public.
>
>Place:  Mexico.  Date:  Prior to the elections of July 2, 2000.
>
>(The curtain goes up.  There are a television and a radio on the stage,
>turned up at full volume.  In the background, the headlines of a national
>newspaper.  The audio on the TV and the radio is the same:  commercial
>jingles.  The newspaper headlines are changing as they are signaled.)
>
>The political class:  "We are in the media, therefore we exist.  We should
>now confront our greatness with the most difficult test in the supreme art
>of governing:  the ratings.  Call for the image consultants! (clapping of
>hands)."
>
>The headlines:  "THE IFE IS CREATED, THE FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF POLLS.  The
>bother of going to the voting booths will be eliminated, says its boss."
>
>The consultant (entering from the right):  "Here I am (turning to the
>public).  Modern political science consists not just of discovering which
>product will have the best acceptance in the marketplace, but - and here I
>have the science - in converting anything into something which resembles
>that product as far as possible (he takes a complete makeup kit out of his
>briefcase)  (He painstakingly apples cosmetics to the face of the political
>class)."
>
>The headlines:  "CYBERNETIC CHALLENGE A DEMOCRATIC ADVANCE:  EZPL"
>
>The political class (sneezing):  "Achoo!  I think I'm allergic to this
>dust.  What is it?"
>
>Consultant (offering a handkerchief):  "Bless you!  It is the latest word
>in fashion, it is democratizing dust."
>
>The political class (sighing in resignation):  "Okay, anything to survive"
>
>The headlines:  "CANDIDATES' PRICES WILL BE GOING DOWN:  SECOFI."
>
>Announcer (entering hurriedly from the left):  "Quickly!  Hurry up!  The
>sponsors are getting anxious!  We have to tape the program."
>
>Consultant:  "The sponsors?  I thought the members of the audience would be
>the ones who were anxious..."
>
>Announcer:  "No, no, no.  The rhythm of politics is not set by clocks or
>calendars, but by program times.  Hurry up!  We don't have much time
>between the commercial breaks."
>
>The political class (fixing itself up in front of a mirror being held by
>the consultant):  "Good, how do I look?"
>
>Consultant (smiling in satisfaction):  "Magnificent!  You are
>unrecognizable..."
>
>The political class (to itself):  "Commercial breaks!  In the good old days
>there were no breaks other those produced by the happy sound of the rattles
>and slogans of "You can see it, you can feel it, the PRI is omnipotent."
>
>(The consultant moves to one side).
>
>Announcer:  "Lights!  Camera!  Action!"
>
>Announcer (turning to the public):  "Welcome to our program:  'The Modest
>Truth'!  Today, as a special guest, we have...the political class! (loud
>applause is heard, the public is still, but an audio tape is keeping them
>from the grueling task of having to applaud)."
>
>The political class (turning to the announcer):  "Is my tie okay?"
>
>Announcer:  "Tell us, political class, excuse me, can I call you 'tu'?"
>
>The political class (fixing a decal which looks like a smile on its mouth):
> "Of course."
>
>Announcer:  "Good, tell us, what can the audience expect from the upcoming
>election?"
>
>(The political class moves its lips, but no sounds at all come out).
>
>Announcer:  "Very interesting!  Almost as interesting as these commercial
>messages from our sponsors!"
>
>The political class (to the announcer):  "Are we still taping?"
>
>Announcer:  "No.  It went perfectly.  Now we're waiting for the consultant
>to send us the audio of your response after he's done his marketing
>studies."
>
>The political class:  "Then can I leave now?"
>
>Announcer:  "Yes."
>
>(The political class leaves.  Someone comes and turns off the radio and
>television.  The headlines disappear.  The curtain falls.  The audience
>yawns.  An audio breaks into enthusiastic applause.)
>
>
>Second Act -  Characters:  The political class, Se~ora X, a young man, Y;
>and Se~or Z.
>
>Place:  Mexico.   Date:  July 2, 2000.
>
>(The curtain rises.  There is only an empty street on the stage).
>
>The political class (to itself):  "We see faces, we do not know votes."
>
>Se~ora X:  "No."
>
>The young man, Y:  "No."
>
>Se~or Z:  "No."
>
>The political class (to the public):  "We see faces, we do not know votes."
>
>The public (breaking into the script, to everyone's shock):  "No!"
>
>This play is a problem.  Those directing it are making a huge effort to
>convince the audience that it's already over.  Not only is the public not
>leaving the premises, they're also insisting on getting up on the stage.
>The director and the actors are tearing their hair out.  It is no longer
>possible to know where the stage is and where the seats are.  Suddenly,
>apparently without an agreement having been reached, and with stern
>expressions on their faces, all the members of the public yell:  "Third
>act!  Third act!  Third!  Let's begin."
>
>Does the curtain fall?
>
>
>What?  You didn't like it?  Well, La Mar did.  Okay, at least she smiled.
>What?  Dari'o Fo, Carballido, Gurrola, Savariego and Le~ero are going to
>reprove me?  Let them do so.  They reproved Einstein for his hygiene (or
>was it for his mathematics?).
>
>
>The Sup in the box office.
>
>
>***************************************************
>
>#2
>
>Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
>Mexico.
>
>
>November of 2000.
>
>To Se~or Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon.
>
>Enroute to nowhere.
>
>Planet Earth.
>
>Se~or Zedillo:
>
>Six years ago I wrote to you in the name of all zapatistas, welcoming the
>nightmare.  Many now think we were right.  Throughout this administration,
>your term of office has been a long nightmare for millions of Mexican men
>and women:  assassinations, economic crises, massive impoverishment, the
>illicit and brutal enrichment of a few, the selling off of the national
>sovereignty, public insecurity, the strengthening of ties between the
>government and organized crime, corruption, irresponsibility, war...and bad
>jokes badly told.
>
>Throughout your administration you have striven to destroy the indigenous
>who rose up in defiance of everything that you represent.  You strove to
>destroy them.
>
>When you came to power you were free to choose how to confront the
>zapatista uprising.  What you chose and what you did is now history.  In
>your role as Commander-in-Chief of the federal army - and with all the
>power given to the head of the Executive - you could have chosen the path
>of dialogue and negotiation.  You could have given signals of de'tente.
You
>could have carried out what you signed in San Andre's.  You could have
>reached peace.
>
>You did not do so.
>
>You chose, rather, the double strategy of feigning a willingness to
>dialogue and of continuing the path of violence.  In order to achieve that,
>you tried to repeat the history of the Chinameca betrayal (February 9,
>1995), you squandered thousands of millions of pesos trying to buy the
>consciences of the rebels.  You militarized the indigenous communities (and
>not just in Chiapas).  You expelled international observers.  You trained,
>equipped, armed and financed paramilitaries.  You persecuted, jailed and
>summarily executed zapatistas (remember Unio'n Progreso, June 10, 1998) and
>non-zapatistas.  You destroyed the social fabric of the chiapaneco
>countryside.  And, following the slogan of your putative child, the Red
>Mask paramilitary group ("We will kill the zapatista seed"), you ordered
>the massacre of children and pregnant women in Acteal on December 22, 1997.
>
>We could understand why, being able to follow the path of dialogue, you
>opted to make war against us.  It could have been because they sold you the
>idea that you could take us prisoners, that you could defeat us militarily,
>that you could achieve our surrender, that you could buy us, that you could
>deceive us, that you could make the Mexicans forget us and our struggle,
>that you could make people from other countries give up their solidarity
>with the indigenous cause.  In short, that you could win the war against
>us.  That we could understand.  But, Se~or Zedillo, why Acteal?  Why did
>you order the assassination of children?  Why did you order your henchmen
>to finish pregnant women off with machetes who, wounded or terrified, were
>unable to escape the massacre?
>
>What, in fact, did you not do in order to finish off the zapatistas?
>
>But were they finished off?  They slipped through your ambush of February
>9, 1995.  They rebelled once more against your failure to fulfill the San
>Andre's Accords.  They escaped from your military siege as often as they
>wanted.  They resisted your ferocious offensive, directed by the
>'croquetas' Albores, against the Autonomous Municipalities.  Over and over
>again they demonstrated with mobilizations that their demands had the
>support of millions of Mexicans.  No, the zapatistas were not finished off.
>
>And not only were they not finished off.  In addition, they spread
>throughout the world.  Do you remember the times that you had to leave,
>surreptitiously, through emergency exits, events being held in other
>countries, while zapatista solidarity committees were protesting your
>Chiapas policies?  Is there any ambassador or consul who has not reported
>to you with desperation the actions carried out by international zapatistas
>at Mexican government events and buildings abroad?  How often was your
>foreign affairs service estranged because of the failure to carry out the
>San Andre's Accords, for the militarization of Chiapas and the lack of
>dialogue with the zapatistas?  And, when you ordered the expulsion of
>hundreds of international observers, did solidarity actions throughout the
>world diminish?
>
>And what do you have to say to me about Mexico?  Instead of remaining
>"limited to 4 chiapaneco municipalities," zapatismo spread to the 32 states
>of the federation.  It became worker, campesino, indigenous, teacher,
>student, employee, driver, fisherman, rocker, painter, actor, writer, nun,
>priest, sportsman, housewife, neighbor, independent unionist, homosexual,
>lesbian, transsexual, soldier, sailor, small and medium-sized business
>owner, street vendor, handicapped person, retiree, pensioner, people.
>
>Such were these 6 years, Se~or Zedillo.  Being able to choose between peace
>and war, you opted for war.  The results of this election are obvious:  you
>lost the war.
>
>You did everything you could to destroy us.
>
>We simply resisted.
>
>You are going into exile.
>
>We will still be here.
>
>
>Se~or Zedillo:
>
>You came to power through a crime which still continues unpunished.  And
>your administration has been filled with unpunished crimes.  In addition to
>carrying forward the privatization policies of your predecessor (and now
>open enemy), Salinas de Gortari, you disguised as law that other crime
>which is called FOBAPROA-IPAB, which involves not just poor Mexicans
>"rescuing" the rich and making them richer, but also causing that heavy
>burden to affect several future generations.
>
>For more than 70 million Mexicans, the country's purported economic
>solidity has meant poverty and unemployment.  While you have been
>scrupulously attending to the invasion of foreign capital, medium and small
>businesses were disappearing in the national market.  During your term of
>office, the borders which divide government and organized crime were
>erased, and the continuous scandals caused serious problems in the press:
>it was impossible to deduce which news stories belonged in the political
>section and which in the crime blotter:  "suicides," former governors on
>the run, prosperous businessmen who were "only" tortured, police officers
>"specialized" in fighting organized crime taking over universities.
>
>Today, the same as your predecessor, you are leaving with those who
>worshipped you, served you, and who served themselves, having now become
>your worst enemies, prepared to pursue you.  And so, Se~or Zedillo, you
>will know, beginning tomorrow, what it is to be pursued day and night.  And
>it will not last for only 6 years.  Because, beginning tomorrow, the line
>will be very long of those who want to make you pay for what you owe them
>and for insults.
>
>It is clear that we were right when, 6 years ago, the zapatistas told you
>welcome to the nightmare.  But, now that you are going, is it over yet?
>
>Yes and no.
>
>Because, for us, the nightmare with you is ending today.  Another could
>follow it, or the dawn could finally appear, we do not know, we shall do
>everything possible so that it will be the morning which flourishes.  But
>for you, Se~or Zedillo, the nightmare will only continue...
>
>Vale.  Salud, and it does not matter where you hide, there will be
>zapatistas there as well.
>
>>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
>
>Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
>
>Mexico,  November of 2000.
>
>PS -  By the way, before I forget:  a year ago, in September of 1999, you
>sent us an open letter thorough your Secretary of Government (and current
>candidate for the presidency of the PRI).  I believe the letter was called
>"One More Step To the Abyss," "A More Ignominious Step," "A More Cynical
>Step", or something like that.  In it, only 3 years late, your government
>was supposedly responding, with lies, to the conditions which we had set
>for the renewal of dialogue in September of 1996!  The open letter was an
>attempt, more than deceiving us, of tricking national and international
>opinion.  Something which it certainly did not achieve.  Whatever it was,
>the lying letter told us we would be pleased with what was stated there,
>and it invited us to return to dialogue.  It would be discourteous on our
>part to let it go without a response, especially now that you are leaving
>(finally!).  Excuse the delay, but allow me to take advantage of these
>lines in order to respond.  Our answer is:  NO!
>
>You are welcome.
>
>
>*****************************************
>
>#3
>
>
>Communique' from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee,
>General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
>Mexico.
>
>November of 2000.
>
>To the National and International Press:
>
>FIRST -  The Zapatista Army of National Liberation will publicly state its
>position regarding the new federal government, headed by Se~or Vicente Fox,
>and regarding the current situation of the war in the Mexican Southeast.
>
>SECOND -  For such purpose, the EZLN is calling a press conference for
>December 2, 2000, in the indigenous community of La Realidad, municipality
>of San Pedro de Michoaca'n, Chiapas, at 4:00 PM.
>
>THIRD -  In order to gain access to the site of the press conference,
>communication workers will not need any special accreditation.
>Identification from the media for which they work will be sufficient.
>
>FOURTH -  Police officers disguised as journalists may not enter, nor, by
>decision of the community, may those from the television station which
>destroys indigenous schools with their helicopters.
>
>DEMOCRACY, LIBERTY, JUSTICE!
>
>>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,
>By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee -
>General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
>
>Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
>
>Mexico, November of 2000.
>
>--
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>
>


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