-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Dave Hartley http://www.asheville-computer.com/dave Originally published in Spanish by La Jornada http://unam.netgate.net/jornada/ _____________________________ Translated by irlandesa La Jornada February 5, 2000. US Senator Asks for Indigenous to be Protected from Destructive Effects of Capitalism Hermann Bellinghausen, correspondent. Amador Hernandez, Chiapas February 4 "Free trade, investment and human rights are three in one,"said Tom Hayden, Democratic Senator from California, after visiting this morning the indigenous camp established in order to protest against the military protest and to observe the advance facilities the Mexican Army has here. According to the United States Senator, "in California we want to renegotiate the commercial agreements with Mexico in order to put the greatest emphasis on poverty and human and indigenous rights." Consequently, "the Free Trade Agreement and other North American bilateral or trilateral accords should be rewritten in order to protect the indigenous from the destructive effects of corporate capitalism." A passionate supporter for changing much of NAFTA' s contents, Hayden said it "should make reference to the San Andres Accords, and it should insist they be carried out and serve as an example for future negotiations." A veteran defender of the rights of Mexican immigrants, Hayden has also developed a great concern of late that Californians "have the same right to travel to Chiapas as to any other place in Mexico." This is in reference to the expulsions and immigration pressures that numerous US citizens have been subjected to for having committed the crime of visiting Chiapas and expressing their support for human rights. Visibly moved by the zapatista protest in this distant Sedena enclave - and after having accompanied 200 indigenous, EZLN support bases, who were today surrounding the two helicopters and the military camp, speaking and singing protest songs - the state senator said: "Amador Hernandez seems to be a stark demonstration of the conflict' s origins." He is the US Senator who, on January 4, 1994, sent a letter to President Bill Clinton demanding that he support justice and human rights in Chiapas and deter President Carlos Salinas from trying to exterminate the indigenous uprising. Clinton answered the letter two months later, telling his "dear Tom"that he was committed to doing whatever possible to prevent injustices from being committed against the Mexican indigenous. THE METHOD OF THE MASK A witness to the protests in Seattle last November, Hayden told the Tzeltal men women and children who, with their faces covered, have been confronting, every day for more than five months, the military occupation of their lands: "This kind of peaceful protest can work. It is very important to save the lives of those who are struggling." Nonetheless, "everything seems to indicate that the Mexican government refuses to be receptive to the demands of the Municipal Autonomy,"he added. "One can look at the Autonomous Municipalities as a threat against the State or as a path to democracy. They can be seen as subversive or as free will. The government wants to consider something which represents an opportunity for peace only as a threat. "We have just witnessed how the soldiers avoid any contact with the indigenous. They are on the other side of the barbed wire, far away, making noise so they don' t hear. They are following the method of the mask, which is interesting, because it' s something they say they hate the most." For Hayden, "in the fight for self-determination, there should be a space for peace." The express purpose of Hayden' s visit is to discuss his observations with California legislators, among whom the issue of expulsions is a matter of growing concern. The legislator said he shares the Mexican government' s desire for constructive relations in trade, investment, culture, immigration and human rights. "During the time of Governor Pete Wilson, California and Mexico had a bad relationship." Now, with Democratic Governor Gray Davis, "there are better opportunities for cooperation." Hayden made it clear that he was convinced that what he was doing for the chiapanecos is the same that he has done, and will be doing, with Mexicans in the United States: defending their rights. TODAY CHIAPAS, TOMORROW LA "Mexicans have every right to go to the United States to observe, discuss and criticize the bad treatment of immigrants by police,"he noted, with an ironic gesture. "For us, the displaced of Chiapas are like the immigrants of Los Angeles: we are defending them equally." An enemy of the evil effects brought about by NAFTA, he referred to the transgenetic maize, "Monsanto' s seeds, which are brought by the Mexican government to the campesinos of Chiapas, who then lose control of their organic, natural maize. NAFTA, by favoring agribusiness, is destroying the campesinos' existence. Everything is connected, and it' s a mistake to call it modernity. It' s not modern to destroy the indigenous culture for economic reasons." Closely guarded, filmed and photographed by members of the Mexican Army - and with a helicopter overhead - Hayden' s visit to the Amador Hernandez ejido led him to reiterate what he has said at other times: "We need to globalize the consciousness of justice." A critic of NAFTA since before it was signed between Mexico, the United States and Canada, and a defender since the first moment of the indigenous uprising in Chiapas, this is the first time he has visited the conflict zone. "I was at the Seattle demonstrations,"he send in ending. "That was a turning point for the discussion about globalization. The demonstrators nonviolently stopped the WTO operations. The expressions by civil society, as they call it in Mexico, were very positive. It intervened in Seattle in opposition to the governments of the world. The demands of the indigenous of Chiapas were very important in the spirit of Seattle." ================================= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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