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From: "Mexico Solidarity Network" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: The March 21 Consulta
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 16:42:01 -0600
ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ZAPATISTA CONSULTA BUT WERE ASHAMED
TO ASK.
A guide for all Mexicanos / Chicanos who learned about "verguenza" from
their abuelas by Cecilia Rodriguez, EZLN representative in the U.S.
Below are questions and comments which we know Mexicanos/ Chicanos have in
their heads but are a little too ashamed to ask. Remember how your Granma
would tell you about "verguenza"? It was supposed to be something akin to a
clamp on your mouth when you wanted to ask a question which would
demonstrate a lack of good manners and/or understanding. In those days your
Granma would conk you on the head or pull on your ear to keep the question
from coming out of your mouth. These days of war in Mexico, however,
require a new definition of "verguenza". Better to hear all the questions
necessary rather than carry the "verguenza" of the inept government which
rules Mexico today. We hope the following answers all your questions and
inspires you and charges you up to participate and help with the consulta.
We look forward to partiendolela madre al PRI [please, don't show that
language to your Granma].
1.. MR. [because of course the men would want to ask these questions
first]POLITICALLY CORRECT MEXICANO / CHICANO [herewith known as Mr.
PCM]:What is the Zapatista consulta? It is a mass mobilization designed to
encourage Mexicans all over the world to organize themselves for a popular
vote. A consulta is a plebiscite, a "direct vote in which the entire people
is invited to express an opinion, exercise the right of national
self-determination". Anyone who is of Mexican descent regardless of their
status of citizenship or location outside of Mexico, can vote. The consulta
will take place on March 21of1999. It is being organized by ordinary
Mexicans like yourself [well, maybe they're a little crazy to spend their
weekends this way, but they dream big dreams, these ones] and coordinated
in the United States by the NCDM at (323) 261-9574, emailed at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] There will be absentee voting allowed and anyone can
help organize the voting by registering themselves as a "!
!
brigade". The NCDM in the States will send you all the relevant info you
need in order to become a Brigadista.
2.. MR. PCM: Why is the Zapatista consulta important? Because it will
generate international pressure, public awareness and concern. The Mexican
government, for all its weaponry and power has been unable to move against
the Zapatistas, because there are too many eyes still watching. The
consulta is a grassroots effort, organized by people with no money, power,
or agenda�other than a deep desire for peace and the construction of an
alternative for Mexico. If this grassroots effort is successful it will
send a very powerful message to the Mexican government to hold its fire. It
will hold up its actions for international scrutiny�and that is the best
deterrent to continued armed attacks against the Zapatista villages.
3.. MR. PCM: How many brigades can there be in a city? Is there
specific organizing territory like the Zapatistas have assigned in Mexico?
There can be as many brigades as people want in a city. Organize yourselves
block by block, if necessary and wise. There exists no standard plan for
the organization of this consulta for a variety of reasons: a) it has never
been done before, b) Mexicanos are now spread all over the country in the
farm labor stream and other places and there are no easily accessible
networks to reach them, c) the people in a city will be the ones most
familiar with the needs, possibilities, and problems involved in getting
other Mexicanos to participate. It would be silly for someone outside the
city to decide how it will be done, d) we will however be assisting
brigades in different cities, and make sure that enough materials,
information, and structure is developed in order that the consulta be
successful. If you organize a brigade, communicate regula!
!
rly with other brigades in your city and with the national office. If the
national office does not get back to you immediately with results and
information, call them up and yell at them. Their abuelas can't do everything.
4.. MR. PCM: We have enough problems here in the States. We are being
poisoned by environmental racism, excluded by the cancellation of
affirmative action, bilingual education, impoverished by the loss of wages,
jobs, and social benefits. Why should we participate in a vote about a
situation far away in Chiapas? Because many of our problems here in the
States are directly related to the exploited status of Mexico. Why should
Hollywood throw away the stereotype of the Mexican thug, when that's who is
still running the show in Mexico? How can we demand respect when we don't
stand up for our brothers and sisters in Mexico? ALL of our problems ALSO
require a "new way of making politics". The 60'sand the 70's may have been
interesting, but they had a lot of shortcomings which we must move past in
order to deal effectively with today's reality. We also need to get
organized in a different way in order to confront globalization. The
Consulta is a very clear and specific way of er!
!
asing the border between us, of uniting a voice they hoped to silence with
exile and brutality. Think about it. Millions of our people are here
without papers, working for those slave wages, living in those poisoned
neighborhoods�don't you think it would scare the hell out of both
government to learn that the "invisible" have a voice that does not
necessarily speak the Democratic or Republican language? What?! Is Ross
Perot, the only one with the right to express the need for an alternative?
5.. MR. PCM: The questions on the Consulta are stupid. Why are they
asking such stupid questions? The Mexican government exists in a sea of
stupidity. It does NOT remember the San Andres agreements. It denies that
there are ANY troops in Chiapas, much less any problems. It has completely
ignored and violated the Mexican Constitution as it militarizes the
country. And it has completely forgotten that it signed a set of peace
agreements three years ago. This is the way in which Mexico has been
governed for 70years�with amnesia, and a constant re-writing of history.
Mexico has invested millions of dollars in public relations campaigns, it
has organized special meetings of its ambassadors and consular officers to
"polish" Mexico's image, by combating the "bad press" caused by the
Zapatistas. It has done so specifically because the constant public
pressure is not allowing them to move forward with their plans. The same
message must be repeated over and over again to the Mexican!
!
government: uphold the agreements you signed, sit down and negotiate, give
Indian people, our abuelos, the rights they deserve, stop killing people.
The message must be repeated and constant, like water wearing away at a
stone. That is why the questions are pointed and simple.
6.. The EZLN is armed, why don't they just shoot back and defend their
own people? Why are they afraid to go to war? As evidenced by their
enormous capacity for mobilization the EZLN is not a traditional armed
movement. It is a movement of families, of entire villages, made up of
elderly, women and children. "Our greatest pride and political strength"
the EZLN once said "is our mass base�but it is also our greatest military
weakness. "It would be easy to be "chingon" and shoot back. Not so easy to
watch the children die. Not so easy to hold your fire and continue to ask
civilians to act, to mobilize, to organize while your people are jailed,
kidnapped, burned out of their homes, tortured and killed. But this war is
a decision those villages made 15 years ago, clearly aware what it would
cost them. When the EZLN decided to fight, it decided to fight to win, not
to fight just for its own sake. The victory the EZLN seeks is not a
military one, but a profound political change !
!
on a national level which is the result of a national consciousness and
engagement. When the EZLN states its respect for civil society, it is not
posturing�it is indeed civil society which will give birth to a mass
democratic movement capable of achieving that change. The EZLN will be the
first to admit to you that it does not have the military capacity to defeat
the Mexican Army. The Army will be defeated when its political rationale
for action against its own people is destroyed. Only a mass democratic
movement can achieve that. The Consulta is one of many steps in fomenting
such a movement.
7.. Zedillo will never listen. It's a useless exercise. We agree that
Zedillo can only hear the sound of his own voice and the jingling of the
cash register. But Zedillo does not call the shots. Wall Street does. Those
tailored, manicured men whose nerves get jittery when they see their
"investment climate" shaken are the ones who are watching and listening
closely. They are responsible for militarizing Mexico, because it's
impossible to reap the kind of profits they seek unless the population
readily accepts a high level of misery. They truly believe that the present
form of government, is the best for Mexico, because it has served them
well. They do not understand that to continue to support authoritarianism
is to destroy Mexican society. We, the voiceless ones, have to teach the
mother wise. There can be no business as usual when there is war. Change
does not happen as a result of one single action. It does not happen
overnight. It is not the result of one heroic move. !
!
Change is the result of a hundred small heroic actions by thousands of
people over a period of time that begins to wear away at the old until it
is gone.
8.. We are Chicanos. That is a Mexican problem. Why should Chicanos
care? Let's ask another question. Is being "chicano" about talking the talk
dressing the style, listening to the music, and howling and pounding your
chest at public functions about "Chicano power"? If that's what "Chicano"
is about, then it is little more than a fashion preference and has little
to do with a people's identity, much less their future. If being Chicano is
about walking the walk, then the responsibility for the homeland comes with
that identity. Our indigenous brothers are not fabled heroes of the past
with rippling muscles and elaborate headdresses frozen onto velvet
backgrounds. They are breathing and living people who are Tojolabal,
Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Mam, Chol, Huichol, Purepecha, Mixteco�andthe list goes
on and on. They need to live in dignity, they are in danger now because
they have decided to fight for it. We need to be at their side. That is why
Chicanos should care.
9.. What difference will it make if the Consulta is successful or not?
At this point in time, the military situation is very difficult and
dangerous. The Zapatistas have resisted for three years now under these
conditions. They undertake the Consulta because it is vital that their
voice be heard loud and clear, that they shake the world awake once again
to remind everyone that the war is ever-present. Because they know that the
government will silence the media as much as possible, they have chosen to
send out representatives all over Mexico. Imagine that you are indigenous
in Chiapas. You do not speak Spanish well. You leave all that you love and
know behind. You go to places you have never been in your life, in
situations which are completely beyond your control and extremely
dangerous. The Zapatistas are willing to make that level of sacrifice
because their struggle now demands they take that additional risk. If the
Consulta is successful it will energize civilians ever!
!
ywhere in Mexico, it will open up new possibilities and shake the power
structure to its core. If the Consulta fails it will strengthen the
government's hand by reinforcing the silence. The Army and the Mexican
government understand this. We need to be loud, and present and insistent
on the international level for these reasons.
10.. MR. PCM is thinking now about these questions, and lacks the
energy to ask the tenth one. Meanwhile Ms. Civil Society grabs the
microphone and asks: We are not Mexicanos or Chicanos. We are recently
arrived from Venus. But we care a lot about the Zapatistas. I know we can't
vote, so does that mean we can't be involved in supporting the Consulta?
What difference will that make? There is nothing that prevents you from
doing a hundred things.1) You can pass out information about the consulta
and invite people to become involved. Our biggest struggle is to reach
people because we have no access to the media. We are completely dependent
on networks of willing human beings, no matter what their national origin
is. The difference you will make is to contribute one more willing pair of
hands in getting the information out. a) You can organize a brigade so that
Mexicanos CAN vote in your area, or you can assist Mexicanos in the work of
their brigade. b) You can publish a lette!
!
r in your local newspaper supporting the consulta and denouncing the war.
c) You can contribute financially to people in the city organizing
brigades. Someone has to help pay for the leaflets. d) You can organize a
press conference, a vigil, or a protest on the day of the Consulta in
support of what is going on in Mexico and in different parts of the world.
e) You can contribute your recommendations, criticism, and observations to
the National Office. We sure need the input and especially good ideas.
___________________________________________________
NUEVO AMANECER PRESS-N.A.P.To know about us visit:
http://www.nap.cuhm.mx/nap0.htm (spanish)
*******************
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107,this material is distributed
without profit or
payment to those who have expressed a prior interest. This information is
for non-profit research and
education purpuses only. **We encourage you to reproduce this information
giving credit to NAP.**
General Director:Roger Maldonado-Mexico Director Europe: Darrin Wood-Spain
Advisor and Special Correspondent:Guillermo Michel-Mexico.
NAP Coordinator:Susana Saravia
*************[EMAIL PROTECTED]*************
"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. . .But if you have
come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together."
--Aboriginal Woman
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