Mexico. Guillermo: On the road with the Zapatistas

[sipila]

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from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
subject: Guillermo: On the road with the Zapatistas


Subj:    [Zapatismo] On the Road With the Zapatistas
Date:   3/19/01 8:34:03 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

I'm sending all of you the articles posted by Rachel of the Village
Voice.   She travelled with the MSN delegation, for the most part.

On the Road With the Zapatistas  -  by Rachel Neumann
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0109/zap1.shtml
The Zapatistas Hit the Road on a March for Indigenous Rights
         Part 1: Mexico City or Bust

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico’Last Sunday, after years in
their
Chiapas stronghold, the Zapatistas hit the road. With 20,000
indigenous people gathered in San Cristobal de Las Casas to send
them
off.

Subcomandate Marcos and 24 other ski-masked Zapatista leaders
boarded
a bus and began the Zap  Tour’a two-week journey to Mexico City
where
they will press the Mexican  Congress to pass a bill protecting the
rights of indigenous peoples. The Zap Tour’a caravan of
Zapatistas,
several thousand Mexican and international  supporters, and
hundreds
of federal police’Äîis a cross between a rock concert  tour and
the
Freedom Rides of the American South.

As the delegation left San Cristobal early Sunday morning,
indigenous
men,  women, and children filled the streets, touching the hands
of
each member of  the caravan. Traditional rainbow-colored hats
sat
atop ski masks, and  well-wishers pressed fruit and flowers into
the
hands of the travelers. As  the 50 vehicles made their way to
Tuxtla
Gutiˆ©rrez, the capital of Chiapas,  the road was lined with
supporters waving white flags, holding up peace signs, and
sending
prayers for a safe journey.

The Zapatistas first came to world attention when they seized the
colonial  city of San Cristobal and five surrounding villages on
January 1, 1994, the  day that the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. In  the past seven years, the
Zapatistas have grown from around 50 people to  several
hundreds of
thousands. They have created five autonomous regions in
 Chiapas. In
each, land use, health care, education, and all aspects of
 community
life are run without government intervention. Through Marcos's
 communiques, published in books and newspapers worldwide,
they have
built an  international support base and helped inspire the
protests
against corporate  globalization in Seattle, Prague, and Davos,
Switzerland.

In the plaza of San Cristobal, foreign observers gather. Three
hundred  Italians in white jumpsuits from Ya Basta!, a Zapatista-
inspired protest  movement are here, they say, because the
Zapatistas
have given them hope for  change in their own country. "As the
Zapatistas wear their ski masks, we wear  these white suits, as
symbols of the invisibility of the poor," says Luca Casarini.

For Mercedes Marquez, a Mexican American from Los Angeles,
Marcos's
words and  the caravan resonate with her experience as a civil
rights
lawyer for farm  workers. "What most inspires me is that instead
of
coming to the United  States to be exploited, these people are
staying on their own land and  creating change," she says.

But as the caravan leaves Chiapas and heads north, it is likely to
face  opposition. While the majority of Mexicans have said they
support the  caravan, many see it as a direct challenge, not just
to
President Vicente  Fox's new government, but to the international
free-trade policies that the  Zapatistas say have had a devastating
effect on poor people worldwide. The  governor of the State of
Morelia has vowed to stop them before they reach  Mexico City.
Already, as they enter Oaxaca, the first shouts of "Go Home!"
 can be
heard among the cheers. "We will respond to their insults with
 dignity," says Lorenzo, a delegate from the Zapatista community
of
Tenexapa.  "We don't need to argue. Our presence is the best
answer
we have."

Next: the press wars between Marcos and Fox; Subcomandante
Marcos's
 notoriety; cheers and jeers from the communities in Juchitin,
Oaxaca, and Puebla.

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subj:    FW: Zapatismo listserve
Date:   3/13/01 12:19:28 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:   [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mexico Solidarity Network)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 2:03 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Zapatismo listserve

Hi known friends and unknown ones in the struggle,

The Zapatour listserve that was set up to talk about experiences
during the Zapastista march to Mexico City has changed in order
to
talk further about the march, experiences of people on the
caravan,
interviews, articles, current news, and discussion on what next?
in
this worldwide movement that was in part inspired by the
Zapatista
uprising in 1994.  If you would like to join this open listserve,
send a blank message to: Zapatismo-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike
Saltz

PS I would especially like caravan veterans of all groups and
organizations to join to in order to share. PSS To MSN and Tom
Hansen: could you send this out to people on the MSN
delegation? 
              **********

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