| July
30, 2007
Brainstorming in the Lacandon
Zapatista
Intergalatica Lands on Earth
By JOHN
ROSS
Ejido
Morelia, Chiapas
In
the annals of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN),
the 1996 "Intergalactica "was a high water mark of international
solidarity. Formally dubbed a "Forum In Defense of Humanity
and Against Neo-liberalism", the conclave drew 6,000 activists
from five continents to the wilds of Chiapas's Lacandon jungle to
brainstorm on the growing menace of the corporate globalization
of the Planet Earth (the World Trade Organization had just been
formulated the previous year). The event is often considered to
have been the seedbed for historic demonstrations against the WTO
in Seattle 1999 from which the anti-globalization movement blossomed.
The
gathering in a jungle clearing on a Zapatista ejido with the haunting
name of La Realidad ("The Reality") 11 years ago was nicknamed
the "Intergalactica" because in his convocation the rebels'
spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos invited all sentient life forms
from other planets in the galaxy to participate in the event. "We
don't know if they actually came to the first Intergalactica"
Zapatista Lieutenant Colonel Moises mused recently, "at least
they never identified themselves."
After
more than a decade of anti-globalization struggles and World Social
Forums, the Intergalactica has literally returned to earth. The
scaled-down version of the event pitched as an "Encounter of
the Peoples of the World with the Peoples of the Zapatista Communities"
to defend indigenous territories throughout the Americas staged
July 20-28 at three rebel "caracoles" or public political/cultural
centers in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, zeroed in on
the land and those who work and live upon it.
Whereas
Intergalactica I attracted such literary luminaries as Eduardo Galeano
and European intellectuals Yvon Lebot, Danielle Mitterand, and Alain
Touraine (Nobelist Jose Saraamgo and Susan Sontag would soon follow),
the 2007 edition brought together representatives of poor farmers
from 13 mostly-southern countries to swap experiences with Zapatista
base communities in the highlands, the canyons, and the jungle of
Chiapas, and develop mechanisms for mutual self-defense against
the ravages of neo-liberalism.
The
privatization of communal lands, the destruction of native crops,
and the forced migration of millions of poor farmers constitutes
a declaration of "the fourth world war again humanity",
Marcos charged in welcoming 3000 activists and Zapatista bases to
the caracol "Resistance and Rebellion Before The World"
at Oventik in Los Altos of Chiapas.
Much
as at last New Year when the EZLN celebrated its 13th year on public
display, the interchanges at Oventik, on the Ejido Morelia (the
Caracol "Whirlwind of Our Word") and La Realidad ("The
Mother of the Sea of Our Dreams") featured presentations by
civil Zapatismo (as opposed to the rebels' political-military structure)
as local health and education promoters laid out the nuts and bolts
of building autonomous communities. Other lay Zapatista leaders
delineated the rebels' justice system and how land is distributed
and cultivated in the autonomous zones.
In
response, farmers invited under the aegius of Via Campesina, an
international grouping of millions of poor farmers with affiliates
in over 70 nations, spoke to the struggle for land and justice in
their own countries. Among the participants: Yudhmir Singh of India's
Bartya Kissan Union who described Ghandian civil disobedience by
poor farmers to resist neo-liberal agrarian policies foisted on
those who work the land, and representatives of the Thai Assembly
of the Poor who farm the jungle along the Cambodian border.
First
world farmers were represented by George Naylor, outgoing director
of the U.S. Family Farm Association, who told the Zapatistas of
the resistance of small corn farmers in Iowa to the dissemination
of genetically modified seed. Dong Uk Min of the Korean farmers
union, invoked the memory of the campesino Lee Kwang Hai who committed
suicide at the 2003 World Trade Organization assembly in Cancun.
From
further south, Soraya Soriana, a leader of Brazil's militant Movimento
Sem Terras (MST) and speakers from Venezuela's Wayuu nation cautioned
encounter-goers against the "neo-imperialist" policies
of such left-wing leaders as Lula and Hugo Chavez. The Zapatistas
share a similar distrust of Latin America's social democratic left.
The
colloquy between farmers in defense of indigenous lands unfolded
against an appropriate backdrop of spiring "milpas" (cornfields)
and the deep green of surrounding hills at the height of Mexico's
bountiful rainy season - uniformed militia men and women in their
green and black uniforms seemed almost to organically blend into
the abundant vegetation.
The
encampments in the caracoles thrummed with conviviality. Nightly
cultural presentations brought the campers together under the stars.
Nuns chatted with ski-masked rebels and rangy Nordic punksters danced
in the mud with pint-sized Mayan companeras while horses grazed
placidly in nearby pastures. In contrast to the 1996 Intergalactica
when Mexican immigration authorities sought to prevent foreign activists
from attending the encounter under threat of deportation, access
to the Zapatista zone was unrestricted.
In
a world where five live shooting wars dominate front pages with
daily doses of death and destruction, and in a country where an
infuriated underclass's demands for justice are met by brutal government
repression, the Zapatista caracoles for once seem to be pockets
of peace.
It
wasn't always that way.
During
the first days of the rebellion in January 1994, the Mexican military
invaded the Ejido Morelia. They forced the men to lie flat on the
basketball court, kicking and torturing them for hours under the
jungle sun. Three of the community's leaders were taken away and
never seen alive again. Their bones were found by hunters months
later. No one has ever been prosecuted for the murders.
In
classic Zapatista fashion, these gristly events were depicted on
a mural painted on the schoolhouse wall here while 13 years later,
inside the school, Zapatista women told of how they organize their
autonomy.
It
has been eight years since the last armed confrontation between
the Mexican government and the EZLN but the peace that seems to
thrive in the Zapatista autonomous zone, is an uneasy one. Skirmishes
over land taken in the 1994 rebellion between Zapatistas and other
Mayan Indian campesinos (the rebels characterize them as "paramilitaries")
are endemic and thousands of troops continue to occupy sprawling
bases at strategic points in the EZLN geography.
A
just-issued study by the San Cristobal-based Center for Political
Analysis and Socio-Economic Investigation (CAPISE), "The Face
of War", indicates that the nature of the occupation has changed
in recent years with elite brigades now stationed in the conflict
zone reporting directly to Mexico City rather than regional commands.
As Mexico joins the U.S.-directed War on Terror, the border region
with Guatemala where many key Zapatista autonomous municipalities
are located, attract enhanced attention from security forces.
Despite
the "Santa Paz" (Sainted Peace) the "Mal Gobierno"
(Bad Government) claims to reign in Chiapas, the EZLN remains an
armed organization. Certainly, of its two weapons - "El Fuego"
(The Fire) and "La Palabra" (The Word) - the latter now
predominates. But the fire is not forgotten. "We will never
give up our arms or remove our pasamontanas (ski masks) until our
demands for justice are satisfied" Comandante David pledged
to a packed auditorium to close the Oventik segment of Intergalactica
II as the rain fell in sheets outside from the bountiful southern
sky.
Note:
Intergalactica II was only one of several upcoming international
events to be programmed by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
and The Other Campaign in 2007. Indigenous peoples from throughout
the Americas will gather next October at Vicam Sonora in the heart
of Yaqui Indian Territory, and an all-woman's international gathering
is being planned for next December in Chiapas.
John
Ross is in Mexico City, plotting a new novella. If you
have further information contact johnross@igc.org
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