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Originally published at Enlace Zapatista.
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world.
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Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world.">
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Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.
This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world.">
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<h1 class="mb-8 mt-0 text-4xl font-extrabold text-neutral-900 dark:text-neutral">
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona
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<time datetime="2005-06-28 00:00:00 &#43;0000 UTC">June 28, 2005</time><span class="px-2 text-primary-500">&middot;</span><span title="Reading time">51 mins</span>
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<p>Originally published at <a href="https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/sdsl-en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Enlace Zapatista</a>.</p>
<p>Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona</p>
<p>Zapatista Army of National Liberation.<br>
Mexico.</p>
<p>This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and
simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves,
dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our
path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the
world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and
how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to
walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and
something greater which is called the world. This is our simple word in
order to inform all honest and noble hearts what it is we want in Mexico
and the world. This is our simple word, because it is our idea to call
o­n those who are like us and to join together with them, everywhere they
are living and struggling.</p>
<h2 id="i----what-we-are" class="relative group">I &ndash; What We Are <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#i----what-we-are" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>We are the zapatistas of the EZLN, although we are also called
&bdquo;neo-zapatistas.&ldquo; Now, we, the zapatistas of the EZLN, rose up in arms
in January of 1994 because we saw how widespread had become the evil
wrought by the powerful who o­nly humiliated us, stole from us,
imprisoned us and killed us, and no o­ne was saying anything or doing
anything. That is why we said &bdquo;Ya Basta!,&ldquo; that no longer were we going
to allow them to make us inferior or to treat us worse than animals. And
then we also said we wanted democracy, liberty and justice for all
Mexicans although we were concentrated o­n the Indian peoples. Because it
so happened that we, the EZLN, were almost all o­nly indigenous from here
in Chiapas, but we did not want to struggle just for own good, or just
for the good of the indigenous of Chiapas, or just for the good of the
Indian peoples of Mexico. We wanted to fight along with everyone who was
humble and simple like ourselves and who was in great need and who
suffered from exploitation and thievery by the rich and their bad
governments here, in our Mexico, and in other countries in the world.</p>
<p>And then our small history was that we grew tired of exploitation by the
powerful, and then we organized in order to defend ourselves and to
fight for justice. In the beginning there were not many of us, just a
few, going this way and that, talking with and listening to other people
like us. We did that for many years, and we did it in secret, without
making a stir. In other words, we joined forces in silence. We remained
like that for about 10 years, and then we had grown, and then we were
many thousands. We trained ourselves quite well in politics and weapons,
and, suddenly, when the rich were throwing their New Year&rsquo;s Eve parties,
we fell upon their cities and just took them over. And we left a message
to everyone that here we are, that they have to take notice of us. And
then the rich took off and sent their great armies to do away with us,
just like they always do when the exploited rebel &ndash; they order them all
to be done away with. But we were not done away with at all, because we
had prepared ourselves quite well prior to the war, and we made
ourselves strong in our mountains. And there were the armies, looking
for us and throwing their bombs and bullets at us, and then they were
making plans to kill off all the indigenous at o­ne time, because they
did not know who was a zapatista and who was not. And we were running
and fighting, fighting and running, just like our ancestors had done.
Without giving up, without surrendering, without being defeated.</p>
<p>And then the people from the cities went out into the streets and began
shouting for an end to the war. And then we stopped our war, and we
listened to those brothers and sisters from the city who were telling us
to try to reach an arrangement or an accord with the bad governments, so
that the problem could be resolved without a massacre. And so we paid
attention to them, because they were what we call &bdquo;the people,&ldquo; or the
Mexican people. And so we set aside the fire and took up the word.</p>
<p>And it so happened that the governments said they would indeed be
well-behaved, and they would engage in dialogue, and they would make
accords, and they would fulfill them. And we said that was good, but we
also thought it was good that we knew those people who went out into the
streets in order to stop the war. Then, while we were engaging in
dialogue with the bad governments, we were also talking with those
persons, and we saw that most of them were humble and simple people like
us, and both, they and we, understood quite well why we were fighting.
And we called those people &bdquo;civil society&ldquo; because most of them did not
belong to political parties, rather they were common, everyday people,
like us, simple and humble people.</p>
<p>But it so happened that the bad governments did not want a good
agreement, rather it was just their underhanded way of saying they were
going to talk and to reach accords, while they were preparing their
attacks in order to eliminate us o­nce and for all. And so then they
attacked us several times, but they did not defeat us, because we
resisted quite well, and many people throughout the world mobilized. And
then the bad governments thought that the problem was that many people
saw what was happening with the EZLN, and they started their plan of
acting as if nothing were going o­n. Meanwhile they were quick to
surround us, they laid siege to us in hopes that, since our mountains
are indeed remote, the people would then forget, since zapatista lands
were so far away. And every so often the bad governments tested us and
tried to deceive us or to attack us, like in February of 1995 when they
threw a huge number of armies at us, but they did not defeat us.
Because, as they said then, we were not alone, and many people helped
us, and we resisted well.</p>
<p>And then the bad governments had to make accords with the EZLN, and
those accords were called the &bdquo;San Andrés Accords&ldquo; because the
municipality where those accords were signed was called &bdquo;San Andrés.&ldquo;
And we were not all alone in those dialogues, speaking with people from
the bad governments. We invited many people and organizations who were,
or are, engaged in the struggle for the Indian peoples of Mexico, and
everyone spoke their word, and everyone reached agreement as to how we
were going to speak with the bad governments. And that is how that
dialogue was, not just the zapatistas o­n o­ne side and the governments o­n
the other. Instead, the Indian peoples of Mexico, and those who
supported them, were with the zapatistas. And then the bad governments
said in those accords that they were indeed going to recognize the
rights of the Indian peoples of Mexico, and they were going to respect
their culture, and they were going to make everything law in the
Constitution. But then, o­nce they had signed, the bad governments acted
as if they had forgotten about them, and many years passed, and the
accords were not fulfilled at all. Quite the opposite, the government
attacked the indigenous, in order to make them back out of the struggle,
as they did o­n December 22, 1997, the date o­n which Zedillo ordered the
killing of 45 men, women, old o­nes and children in the town in Chiapas
called ACTEAL. This immense crime was not so easily forgotten, and it
was a demonstration of how the bad governments color their hearts in
order to attack and assassinate those who rebel against injustices. And,
while all of that was going o­n, we zapatistas were putting our all into
the fulfillment of the accords and resisting in the mountains of the
Mexican southeast.</p>
<p>And then we began speaking with other Indian peoples of Mexico and their
organizations, and we made an agreement with them that we were going to
struggle together for the same thing, for the recognition of indigenous
rights and culture. Now we were also being helped by many people from
all over the world and by persons who were well respected and whose word
was quite great because they were great intellectuals, artists and
scientists from Mexico and from all over the world. And we also held
international encuentros. In other words, we joined together to talk
with persons from America and from Asia and from Europe and from Africa
and from Oceania, and we learned of their struggles and their ways, and
we said they were &bdquo;intergalactic&ldquo; encuentros, just to be silly and
because we had also invited those from other planets, but it appeared as
if they had not come, or perhaps they did come, but they did not make it
clear.</p>
<p>But the bad governments did not keep their word anyway, and then we made
a plan to talk with many Mexicans so they would help us. And then, first
in 1997, we held a march to Mexico City which was called &bdquo;of the 1,111″
because a compañero or compañera was going to go from each zapatista
town, but the bad government did not pay any attention. And then, in
1999, we held a consulta throughout the country, and there it was seen
that the majority were indeed in agreement with the demands of the
Indian peoples, but again the bad governments did not pay any attention.
And then, lastly, in 2001, we held what was called the &bdquo;march for
indigenous dignity&ldquo; which had much support from millions of Mexicans and
people from other countries, and it went to where the deputies and
senators were, the Congress of the Union, in order to demand the
recognition of the Mexican indigenous.</p>
<p>But it happened that no, the politicians from the PRI, the PAN and the
PRD reached an agreement among themselves, and they simply did not
recognize indigenous rights and culture. That was in April of 2001, and
the politicians demonstrated quite clearly there that they had no
decency whatsoever, and they were swine who thought o­nly about making
their good money as the bad politicians they were. This must be
remembered, because you will now be seeing that they are going to say
they will indeed recognize indigenous rights, but it is a lie they are
telling so we will vote for them. But they already had their chance, and
they did not keep their word.</p>
<p>And then we saw quite clearly that there was no point to dialogue and
negotiation with the bad governments of Mexico. That it was a waste of
time for us to be talking with the politicians, because neither their
hearts nor their words were honest. They were crooked, and they told
lies that they would keep their word, but they did not. In other words,
o­n that day, when the politicians from the PRI, PAN and PRD approved a
law that was no good, they killed dialogue o­nce and for all, and they
clearly stated that it did not matter what they had agreed to and
signed, because they did not keep their word. And then we did not make
any contacts with the federal branches. Because we understood that
dialogue and negotiation had failed as a result of those political
parties. We saw that blood did not matter to them, nor did death,
suffering, mobilizations, consultas, efforts, national and international
statements, encuentros, accords, signatures, commitments. And so the
political class not o­nly closed, o­ne more time, the door to the Indian
peoples, they also delivered a mortal blow to the peaceful resolution &ndash;
through dialogue and negotiation &ndash; of the war. It can also no longer be
believed that the accords will be fulfilled by someone who comes along
with something or other. They should see that there so that they can
learn from experience what happened to us.</p>
<p>And then we saw all of that, and we wondered in our hearts what we were
going to do.</p>
<p>And the first thing we saw was that our heart was not the same as
before, when we began our struggle. It was larger, because now we had
touched the hearts of many good people. And we also saw that our heart
was more hurt, it was more wounded. And it was not wounded by the
deceits of the bad governments, but because, when we touched the hearts
of others, we also touched their sorrows. It was as if we were seeing
ourselves in a mirror.</p>
<h2 id="ii----where-we-are-now" class="relative group">II. &ndash; Where We Are Now <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#ii----where-we-are-now" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>Then, like the zapatistas we are, we thought that it was not enough to
stop engaging in dialogue with the government, but it was necessary to
continue o­n ahead in the struggle, in spite of those lazy parasites of
politicians. The EZLN then decided to carry out, alone and o­n their side
(&bdquo;unilateral&ldquo;, in other words, because just o­ne side), the San Andrés
Accords regarding indigenous rights and culture. For 4 years, since the
middle of 2001 until the middle of 2005, we have devoted ourselves to
this and to other things which we are going to tell you about.</p>
<p>Fine, we then began encouraging the autonomous rebel zapatista
municipalities &ndash; which is how the peoples are organized in order to
govern and to govern themselves &ndash; in order to make themselves stronger.
This method of autonomous government was not simply invented by the
EZLN, but rather it comes from several centuries of indigenous
resistance and from the zapatistas&lsquo; own experience. It is the
self-governance of the communities. In other words, no o­ne from outside
comes to govern, but the peoples themselves decide, among themselves,
who governs and how, and, if they do not obey, they are removed. If the
o­ne who governs does not obey the people, they pursue them, they are
removed from authority, and another comes in.</p>
<p>But then we saw that the Autonomous Municipalities were not level. There
were some that were more advanced and which had more support from civil
society, and others were more neglected. The organization was lacking to
make them more o­n a par with each other. And we also saw that the EZLN,
with its political-military component, was involving itself in decisions
which belonged to the democratic authorities, &bdquo;civilians&ldquo; as they say.
And here the problem is that the political-military component of the
EZLN is not democratic, because it is an army. And we saw that the
military being above, and the democratic below, was not good, because
what is democratic should not be decided militarily, it should be the
reverse: the democratic-political governing above, and the military
obeying below. Or, perhaps, it would be better with nothing below, just
completely level, without any military, and that is why the zapatistas
are soldiers so that there will not be any soldiers. Fine, what we then
did about this problem was to begin separating the political-military
from the autonomous and democratic aspects of organization in the
zapatista communities. And so, actions and decisions which had
previously been made and taken by the EZLN were being passed, little by
little, to the democratically elected authorities in the villages. It is
easy to say, of course, but it was very difficult in practice, because
many years have passed &ndash; first in the preparation for the war and then
the war itself &ndash; and the political-military aspects have become
customary. But, regardless, we did so because it is our way to do what
we say, because, if not, why should we go around saying things if we do
not then do them.</p>
<p>That was how the Good Government Juntas were born, in August of 2003,
and, through them, self-learning and the exercise of &bdquo;govern obeying&ldquo;
has continued.</p>
<p>&gt;From that time and until the middle of 2005, the EZLN leadership has
no longer involved itself in giving orders in civil matters, but it has
accompanied and helped the authorities who are democratically elected by
the peoples. It has also kept watch that the peoples and national and
international civil society are kept well informed concerning the aid
that is received and how it is used. And now we are passing the work of
safeguarding good government to the zapatista support bases, with
temporary positions which are rotated, so that everyone learns and
carries out this work. Because we believe that a people which does not
watch over its leaders is condemned to be enslaved, and we fought to be
free, not to change masters every six years.</p>
<p>The EZLN, during these 4 years, also handed over to the Good Government
Juntas and the Autonomous Municipalities the aid and contacts which they
had attained throughout Mexico and the world during these years of war
and resistance. The EZLN had also, during that time, been building
economic and political support which allowed the zapatista communities
to make progress with fewer difficulties in the building of their
autonomy and in improving their living conditions. It is not much, but
it is far better than what they had prior to the beginning of the
uprising in January of 1994. If you look at o­ne of those studies the
governments make, you will see that the o­nly indigenous communities
which have improved their living conditions &ndash; whether in health,
education, food or housing &ndash; were those which are in zapatista
territory, which is what we call where our villages are. And all of that
has been possible because of the progress made by the zapatista villages
and because of the very large support which has been received from good
and noble persons, whom we call &bdquo;civil societies,&ldquo; and from their
organizations throughout the world. As if all of these people have made
&bdquo;another world is possible&ldquo; a reality, but through actions, not just
words.</p>
<p>And the villages have made good progress. Now there are more compañeros
and compañeras who are learning to govern. And &ndash; even though little by
little &ndash; there are more women going into this work, but there is still
a lack of respect for the compañeras, and they need to participate more
in the work of the struggle. And, also through the Good Government
Juntas, coordination has been improved between the Autonomous
Municipalities and the resolution of problems with other organizations
and with the official authorities. There has also been much improvement
in the projects in the communities, and the distribution of projects and
aid given by civil society from all over the world has become more
level. Health and education have improved, although there is still a
good deal lacking for it to be what it should be. The same is true for
housing and food, and in some areas there has been much improvement with
the problem of land, because the lands recovered from the finqueros are
being distributed. But there are areas which continue to suffer from a
lack of lands to cultivate. And there has been great improvement in the
support from national and international civil society, because
previously everyone went wherever they wanted, and now the Good
Government Juntas are directing them to where the greatest need exists.
And, similarly, everywhere there are more compañeros and compañeras who
are learning to relate to persons from other parts of Mexico and of the
world,. They are learning to respect and to demand respect. They are
learning that there are many worlds, and that everyone has their place,
their time and their way, and therefore there must be mutual respect
between everyone.</p>
<p>We, the zapatistas of the EZLN, have devoted this time to our primary
force, to the peoples who support us. And the situation has indeed
improved some. No o­ne can say that the zapatista organization and
struggle has been without point, but rather, even if they were to do
away with us completely, our struggle has indeed been of some use.</p>
<p>But it is not just the zapatista villages which have grown &ndash; the EZLN
has also grown. Because what has happened during this time is that new
generations have renewed our entire organization. They have added new
strength. The comandantes and comandantas who were in their maturity at
the beginning of the uprising in 1994 now have the wisdom they gained in
the war and in the 12 years of dialogue with thousands of men and women
from throughout the world. The members of the CCRI, the zapatista
political-organizational leadership, is now counseling and directing the
new o­nes who are entering our struggle, as well as those who are holding
leadership positions. For some time now the &bdquo;committees&ldquo; (which is what
we call them) have been preparing an entire new generation of
comandantes and comandantas who, following a period of instruction and
testing, are beginning to learn the work of organizational leadership
and to discharge their duties. And it also so happens that our
insurgents, insurgentas, militants, local and regional responsables, as
well as support bases, who were youngsters at the beginning of the
uprising, are now mature men and women, combat veterans and natural
leaders in their units and communities. And those who were children in
that January of ,94 are now young people who have grown up in the
resistance, and they have been trained in the rebel dignity lifted up by
their elders throughout these 12 years of war. These young people have a
political, technical and cultural training that we who began the
zapatista movement did not have. This youth is now, more and more,
sustaining our troops as well as leadership positions in the
organization. And, indeed, all of us have seen the deceits by the
Mexican political class and the destruction which their actions have
caused in our patria. And we have seen the great injustices and
massacres that neoliberal globalization causes throughout the world. But
we will speak to you of that later.</p>
<p>And so the EZLN has resisted 12 years of war, of military, political,
ideological and economic attacks, of siege, of harassment, of
persecution, and they have not vanquished us. We have not sold out nor
surrendered, and we have made progress. More compañeros from many places
have entered into the struggle so that, instead of making us weaker
after so many years, we have become stronger. Of course there are
problems which can be resolved by more separation of the
political-military from the civil-democratic. But there are things, the
most important o­nes, such as our demands for which we struggle, which
have not been fully achieved.</p>
<p>To our way of thinking, and what we see in our heart, we have reached a
point where we cannot go any further, and, in addition, it is possible
that we could lose everything we have if we remain as we are and do
nothing more in order to move forward. The hour has come to take a risk
o­nce again and to take a step which is dangerous but which is
worthwhile. Because, perhaps united with other social sectors who suffer
from the same wants as we do, it will be possible to achieve what we
need and what we deserve. A new step forward in the indigenous struggle
is o­nly possible if the indigenous join together with workers,
campesinos, students, teachers, employees&hellip;the workers of the city and
the countryside.</p>
<p>(To be continued&hellip;)</p>
<p>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.</p>
<p>Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee &ndash; General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.</p>
<p>Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.</p>
<p>Zapatista Army of National Liberation.</p>
<p>Mexico.</p>
<p>(Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona)</p>
<h2 id="iii----how-we-see-the-world" class="relative group">III &ndash; How We See the World <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#iii----how-we-see-the-world" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>Now we are going to explain to you how we, the zapatistas, see what is
going o­n in the world. We see that capitalism is the strongest right
now. Capitalism is a social system, a way in which a society goes about
organizing things and people, and who has and who has not, and who gives
orders and who obeys. In capitalism, there are some people who have
money, or capital, and factories and stores and fields and many things,
and there are others who have nothing but their strength and knowledge
in order to work. In capitalism, those who have money and things give
the orders, and those who o­nly have their ability to work obey.</p>
<p>Then capitalism means that there a few who have great wealth, but they
did not win a prize, or find a treasure, or inherited from a parent.
They obtained that wealth, rather, by exploiting the work of the many.
So capitalism is based o­n the exploitation of the workers, which means
they exploit the workers and take out all the profits they can. This is
done unjustly, because they do not pay the worker what his work is
worth. Instead they give him a salary that barely allows him to eat a
little and to rest for a bit, and the next day he goes back to work in
exploitation, whether in the countryside or in the city.</p>
<p>And capitalism also makes its wealth from plunder, or theft, because
they take what they want from others, land, for example, and natural
resources. So capitalism is a system where the robbers are free and they
are admired and used as examples.</p>
<p>And, in addition to exploiting and plundering, capitalism represses
because it imprisons and kills those who rebel against injustice.</p>
<p>Capitalism is most interested in merchandise, because when it is bought
or sold, profits are made. And then capitalism turns everything into
merchandise, it makes merchandise of people, of nature, of culture, of
history, of conscience. According to capitalism, everything must be able
to be bought and sold. And it hides everything behind the merchandise,
so we don&rsquo;t see the exploitation that exists. And then the merchandise
is bought and sold in a market. And the market, in addition to being
used for buying and selling, is also used to hide the exploitation of
the workers. In the market, for example, we see coffee in its little
package or its pretty little jar, but we do not see the campesino who
suffered in order to harvest the coffee, and we do not see the coyote
who paid him so cheaply for his work, and we do not see the workers in
the large company working their hearts out to package the coffee. Or we
see an appliance for listening to music like cumbias, rancheras or
corridos, or whatever, and we see that it is very good because it has a
good sound, but we do not see the worker in the maquiladora who
struggled for many hours, putting the cables and the parts of the
appliance together, and they barely paid her a pittance of money, and
she lives far away from work and spends a lot o­n the trip, and, in
addition, she runs the risk of being kidnapped, raped and killed as
happens in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.</p>
<p>So we see merchandise in the market, but we do not see the exploitation
with which it was made. And then capitalism needs many markets&hellip;or a
very large market, a world market.</p>
<p>And so the capitalism of today is not the same as before, when the rich
were content with exploiting the workers in their own countries, but now
they are o­n a path which is called Neoliberal Globalization. This
globalization means that they no longer control the workers in o­ne or
several countries, but the capitalists are trying to dominate everything
all over the world. And the world, or Planet Earth, is also called the
&bdquo;globe&ldquo;, and that is why they say &bdquo;globalization,&ldquo; or the entire world.</p>
<p>And neoliberalism is the idea that capitalism is free to dominate the
entire world, and so tough, you have to resign yourself and conform and
not make a fuss, in other words, not rebel. So neoliberalism is like the
theory, the plan, of capitalist globalization. And neoliberalism has its
economic, political, military and cultural plans. All of those plans
have to do with dominating everyone, and they repress or separate anyone
who doesn&rsquo;t obey so that his rebellious ideas aren&rsquo;t passed o­n to
others.</p>
<p>Then, in neoliberal globalization, the great capitalists who live in the
countries which are powerful, like the United States, want the entire
world to be made into a big business where merchandise is produced like
a great market. A world market for buying and selling the entire world
and for hiding all the exploitation from the world. Then the global
capitalists insert themselves everywhere, in all the countries, in order
to do their big business, their great exploitation. Then they respect
nothing, and they meddle wherever they wish. As if they were conquering
other countries. That is why we zapatistas say that neoliberal
globalization is a war of conquest of the entire world, a world war, a
war being waged by capitalism for global domination. Sometimes that
conquest is by armies who invade a country and conquer it by force. But
sometimes it is with the economy, in other words, the big capitalists
put their money into another country or they lend it money, but o­n the
condition that they obey what they tell them to do. And they also insert
their ideas, with the capitalist culture which is the culture of
merchandise, of profits, of the market.</p>
<p>Then the o­ne which wages the conquest, capitalism, does as it wants, it
destroys and changes what it does not like and eliminates what gets in
its way. For example, those who do not produce nor buy nor sell modern
merchandise get in their way, or those who rebel against that order. And
they despise those who are of no use to them. That is why the indigenous
get in the way of neoliberal capitalism, and that is why they despise
them and want to eliminate them. And neoliberal capitalism also gets rid
of the laws which do not allow them to exploit and to have a lot of
profit. They demand that everything can be bought and sold, and, since
capitalism has all the money, it buys everything. Capitalism destroys
the countries it conquers with neoliberal globalization, but it also
wants to adapt everything, to make it over again, but in its own way, a
way which benefits capitalism and which doesn&rsquo;t allow anything to get in
its way. Then neoliberal globalization, capitalism, destroys what exists
in these countries, it destroys their culture, their language, their
economic system, their political system, and it also destroys the ways
in which those who live in that country relate to each other. So
everything that makes a country a country is left destroyed.</p>
<p>Then neoliberal globalization wants to destroy the nations of the world
so that o­nly o­ne Nation or country remains, the country of money, of
capital. And capitalism wants everything to be as it wants, in its own
way, and it doesn&rsquo;t like what is different, and it persecutes it and
attacks it, or puts it off in a corner and acts as if it doesn&rsquo;t exist.</p>
<p>Then, in short, the capitalism of global neoliberalism is based o­n
exploitation, plunder, contempt and repression of those who refuse. The
same as before, but now globalized, worldwide.</p>
<p>But it is not so easy for neoliberal globalization, because the
exploited of each country become discontented, and they will not say
well, too bad, instead they rebel. And those who remain and who are in
the way resist, and they don&rsquo;t allow themselves to be eliminated. And
that is why we see, all over the world, those who are being screwed over
making resistances, not putting up with it, in other words, they rebel,
and not just in o­ne country but wherever they abound. And so, as there
is a neoliberal globalization, there is a globalization of rebellion.</p>
<p>And it is not just the workers of the countryside and of the city who
appear in this globalization of rebellion, but others also appear who
are much persecuted and despised for the same reason, for not letting
themselves be dominated, like women, young people, the indigenous,
homosexuals, lesbians, transsexual persons, migrants and many other
groups who exist all over the world but who we do not see until they
shout ya basta of being despised, and they raise up, and then we see
them, we hear them, and we learn from them.</p>
<p>And then we see that all those groups of people are fighting against
neoliberalism, against the capitalist globalization plan, and they are
struggling for humanity.</p>
<p>And we are astonished when we see the stupidity of the neoliberals who
want to destroy all humanity with their wars and exploitations, but it
also makes us quite happy to see resistances and rebellions appearing
everywhere, such as ours, which is a bit small, but here we are. And we
see this all over the world, and now our heart learns that we are not
alone.</p>
<h2 id="iv----how-we-see-our-country-which-is-mexico" class="relative group">IV &ndash; How We See Our Country Which is Mexico <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#iv----how-we-see-our-country-which-is-mexico" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>Now we will talk to you about how we see what is going o­n in our Mexico.
What we see is our country being governed by neoliberals. So, as we
already explained, our leaders are destroying our nation, our Mexican
Patria. And the work of these bad leaders is not to look after the
well-being of the people, instead they are o­nly concerned with the
well-being of the capitalists. For example, they make laws like the Free
Trade Agreement, which end up leaving many Mexicans destitute, like
campesinos and small producers, because they are &bdquo;gobbled up&ldquo; by the big
agro-industrial companies. As well as workers and small businesspeople,
because they cannot compete with the large transnationals who come in
without anybody saying anything to them and even thanking them, and they
set their low salaries and their high prices. So some of the economic
foundations of our Mexico, which were the countryside and industry and
national commerce, are being quite destroyed, and just a bit of rubble
&ndash; which they are certainly going to sell off &ndash; remains.</p>
<p>And these are great disgraces for our Patria. Because food is no longer
being produced in our countryside, just what the big capitalists sell,
and the good lands are being stolen through trickery and with the help
of the politicians. What is happening in the countryside is the same as
Porfirismo, but, instead of hacendados, now there are a few foreign
businesses which have well and truly screwed the campesino. And, where
before there were credits and price protections, now there is just
charity&hellip;and sometimes not even that.</p>
<p>As for the worker in the city, the factories close, and they are left
without work, or they open what are called maquiladoras, which are
foreign and which pay a pittance for many hours of work. And then the
price of the goods the people need doesn&rsquo;t matter, whether they are
expensive or cheap, since there is no money. And if someone was working
in a small or midsize business, now they are not, because it was closed,
and it was bought by a big transnational. And if someone had a small
business, it disappeared as well, or they went to work clandestinely for
big businesses which exploit them terribly, and which even put boys and
girls to work. And if the worker belonged to his union in order to
demand his legal rights, then no, now the same union tells him he will
have to put up with his salary being lowered or his hours or his
benefits being taken away, because, if not, the business will close and
move to another country. And then there is the &bdquo;microchangarro,&ldquo; which
is the government&rsquo;s economic program for putting all the city&rsquo;s workers
o­n street corners selling gum or telephone cards. In other words,
absolute economic destruction in the cities as well.</p>
<p>And then what happens is that, with the people&rsquo;s economy being totally
screwed in the countryside as well as in the city, then many Mexican men
and women have to leave their Patria, Mexican lands, and go to seek work
in another country, the United States. And they do not treat them well
there, instead they exploit them, persecute them and treat them with
contempt and even kill them. Under neoliberalism which is being imposed
by the bad governments, the economy has not improved. Quite the
opposite, the countryside is in great need, and there is no work in the
cities. What is happening is that Mexico is being turned into a place
where people are working for the wealth of foreigners, mostly rich
gringos, a place you are just born into for a little while, and in
another little while you die. That is why we say that Mexico is
dominated by the United States.</p>
<p>Now, it is not just that. Neoliberalism has also changed the Mexican
political class, the politicians, because they made them into something
like employees in a store, who have to do everything possible to sell
everything and to sell it very cheap. You have already seen that they
changed the laws in order to remove Article 27 from the Constitution so
that ejidal and communal lands could be sold. That was Salinas de
Gortari, and he and his gangs said that it was for the good of the
countryside and the campesino, and that was how they would prosper and
live better. Has it been like that? The Mexican countryside is worse
than ever and the campesinos more screwed than under Porfirio Diaz. And
they also say they are going to privatize &ndash; sell to foreigners &ndash; the
companies held by the State to help the well-being of the people.
Because the companies don&rsquo;t work well and they need to be modernized,
and it would be better to sell them. But, instead of improving, the
social rights which were won in the revolution of 1910 now make o­ne
sad&hellip;and courageous. And they also said that the borders must be opened
so all the foreign capital can enter, that way all the Mexican
businesses will be fixed, and things will be made better. But now we see
that there are not any national businesses, the foreigners gobbled them
all up, and the things that are sold are worse than the those that were
made in Mexico.</p>
<p>And now the Mexican politicians also want to sell PEMEX, the oil which
belongs to all Mexicans, and the o­nly difference is that some say
everything should be sold and others that o­nly a part of it should be
sold. And they also want to privatize social security, and electricity
and water and the forests and everything, until nothing of Mexico is
left, and our country will be a wasteland or a place of entertainment
for rich people from all over the world, and we Mexican men and women
will be their servants, dependent o­n what they offer, bad housing,
without roots, without culture, without even a Patria.</p>
<p>So the neoliberals want to kill Mexico, our Mexican Patria. And the
political parties not o­nly do not defend it, they are the first to put
themselves at the service of foreigners, especially those from the
United States, and they are the o­nes who are in charge of deceiving us,
making us look the other way while everything is sold, and they are left
with the money. All the political parties that exist right now, not just
some of them. Think about whether anything has been done well, and you
will see that no, nothing but theft and scams. And look how all the
politicians always have their nice houses and their nice cars and
luxuries. And they still want us to thank them and to vote for them
again. And it is obvious, as they say, that they are without shame. And
they are without it because they do not, in fact, have a Patria, they
o­nly have bank accounts.</p>
<p>And we also see that drug trafficking and crime has been increasing a
lot. And sometimes we think that criminals are like they show them in
the songs or movies, and maybe some are like that, but not the real
chiefs. The real chiefs go around very well dressed, they study outside
the country, they are elegant, they do not go around in hiding, they eat
in good restaurants and they appear in the papers, very pretty and well
dressed at their parties. They are, as they say, &bdquo;good people&ldquo;, and some
are even officials, deputies, senators, secretaries of state, prosperous
businessmen, police chiefs, generals.</p>
<p>Are we saying that politics serves no purpose? No, what we mean is that
THAT politics serves no purpose. And it is useless because it does not
take the people into account. It does not listen to them, it does not
pay any attention to them, it just approaches them when there are
elections. And they do not even want votes anymore, the polls are enough
to say who wins. And then just promises about what this o­ne is going to
do and what the other o­ne is going to do, then it&rsquo;s bye, I&rsquo;ll see you,
but you don&rsquo;t see them again, except when they appear in the news when
they&rsquo;ve just stolen a lot of money and nothing is going to be done to
them because the law &ndash; which those same politicians made &ndash; protects
them.</p>
<p>Because that&rsquo;s another problem, the Constitution is all warped and
changed now. It&rsquo;s no longer the o­ne that had the rights and liberties of
working people. Now there are the rights and liberties of the
neoliberals so they can have their huge profits. And the judges exist to
serve those neoliberals, because they always rule in favor of them, and
those who are not rich get injustice, jails and cemeteries.</p>
<p>Well, even with all this mess the neoliberals are making, there are
Mexican men and women who are organizing and making a resistance
struggle.</p>
<p>And so we found out that there are indigenous, that their lands are far
away from us here in Chiapas, and they are making their autonomy and
defending their culture and caring for their land, forests and water.</p>
<p>And there are workers in the countryside, campesinos, who are organizing
and holding their marches and mobilizations in order to demand credits
and aid for the countryside.</p>
<p>And there are workers in the city who do not let their rights be taken
away or their jobs privatized. They protest and demonstrate so the
little they have isn&rsquo;t taken away from them and so they don&rsquo;t take away
from the country what is, in fact, its own, like electricity, oil,
social security, education.</p>
<p>And there are students who don&rsquo;t let education be privatized and who are
fighting for it to be free and popular and scientific, so they don&rsquo;t
charge, so everyone can learn, and so they don&rsquo;t teach stupid things in
schools.</p>
<p>And there are women who do not let themselves be treated as an ornament
or be humiliated and despised just for being women, but who are
organizing and fighting for the respect they deserve as the women they
are.</p>
<p>And there are young people who don&rsquo;t accept their stultifying them with
drugs or persecuting them for their way of being, but who make
themselves aware with their music and their culture, their rebellion.</p>
<p>And there are homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals and many ways who do
not put up with being ridiculed, despised, mistreated and even killed
for having another way which is different, with being treated like they
are abnormal or criminals, but who make their own organizations in order
to defend their right to be different.</p>
<p>And there are priests and nuns and those they call laypeople who are not
with the rich and who are not resigned, but who are organizing to
accompany the struggles of the people.</p>
<p>And there are those who are called social activists, who are men and
women who have been fighting all their lives for exploited people, and
they are the same o­nes who participated in the great strikes and
workers&lsquo; actions, in the great citizens&lsquo; mobilizations, in the great
campesino movements, and who suffer great repression, and who, even
though some are old now, continue o­n without surrendering, and they go
everywhere, looking for the struggle, seeking justice, and making
leftist organizations, non-governmental organizations, human rights
organizations, organizations in defense of political prisoners and for
the disappeared, leftist publications, organizations of teachers or
students, social struggle, and even political-military organizations,
and they are just not quiet and they know a lot because they have seen a
lot and lived and struggled.</p>
<p>And so we see in general that in our country, which is called Mexico,
there are many people who do not put up with things, who do not
surrender, who do not sell out. Who are dignified. And that makes us
very pleased and happy, because with all those people it&rsquo;s not going to
be so easy for the neoliberals to win, and perhaps it will be possible
to save our Patria from the great thefts and destruction they are doing.
And we think that perhaps our &bdquo;we&ldquo; will include all those rebellions&hellip;</p>
<p>(To be continued&hellip;)</p>
<p>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.</p>
<p>Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee &ndash; General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation</p>
<p>Mexico, in the sixth month of the year 2005.</p>
<p>Zapatista Army of National Liberation</p>
<p>Mexico.</p>
<p>(Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona)</p>
<h2 id="v----what-we-want-to-do" class="relative group">V &ndash; What We Want To Do <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#v----what-we-want-to-do" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>We are now going to tell you what we want to do in the world and in
Mexico, because we cannot watch everything that is happening o­n our
planet and just remain quiet, as if it were o­nly we were where we are.</p>
<p>What we want in the world is to tell all of those who are resisting and
fighting in their own ways and in their own countries, that you are not
alone, that we, the zapatistas, even though we are very small, are
supporting you, and we are going to look at how to help you in your
struggles and to speak to you in order to learn, because what we have,
in fact, learned is to learn.</p>
<p>And we want to tell the Latin American peoples that we are proud to be a
part of you, even if it is a small part. We remember quite well how the
continent was also illuminated some years ago, and a light was called
Che Guevara, as it had previously been called Bolivar, because sometimes
the people take up a name in order to say they are taking up a flag.</p>
<p>And we want to tell the people of Cuba, who have now been o­n their path
of resistance for many years, that you are not alone, and we do not
agree with the blockade they are imposing, and we are going to see how
to send you something, even if it is maize, for your resistance. And we
want to tell the North American people that we know that the bad
governments which you have and which spread harm throughout the world is
o­ne thing &ndash; and those North Americans who struggle in their country,
and who are in solidarity with the struggles of other countries, are a
very different thing. And we want to tell the Mapuche brothers and
sisters in Chile that we are watching and learning from your struggles.
And to the Venezuelans, we see how well you are defending your
sovereignty, your nation&rsquo;s right to decide where it is going. And to the
indigenous brothers and sisters of Ecuador and Bolivia, we say you are
giving a good lesson in history to all of Latin America, because now you
are indeed putting a halt to neoliberal globalization. And to the
piqueteros and to the young people of Argentina, we want to tell you
that, that we love you. And to those in Uruguay who want a better
country, we admire you. And to those who are sin tierra in Brazil, that
we respect you. And to all the young people of Latin America, that what
you are doing is good, and you give us great hope.</p>
<p>And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Social Europe, that
which is dignified and rebel, that you are not alone. That your great
movements against the neoliberal wars bring us joy. That we are
attentively watching your forms of organization and your methods of
struggle so that we can perhaps learn something. That we are considering
how we can help you in your struggles, and we are not going to send euro
because then they will be devalued because of the European Union mess.
But perhaps we will send you crafts and coffee so you can market them
and help you some in the tasks of your struggle. And perhaps we might
also send you some pozol, which gives much strength in the resistance,
but who knows if we will send it to you, because pozol is more our way,
and what if it were to hurt your bellies and weaken your struggles and
the neoliberals defeat you.</p>
<p>And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Africa, Asia and Oceania
that we know that you are fighting also, and we want to learn more of
your ideas and practices.</p>
<p>And we want to tell the world that we want to make you large, so large
that all those worlds will fit, those worlds which are resisting because
they want to destroy the neoliberals and because they simply cannot stop
fighting for humanity.</p>
<p>Now then, what we want to do in Mexico is to make an agreement with
persons and organizations just of the left, because we believe that it
is in the political left where the idea of resisting neoliberal
globalization is, and of making a country where there will be justice,
democracy and liberty for everyone. Not as it is right now, where there
is justice o­nly for the rich, there is liberty o­nly for their big
businesses, and there is democracy o­nly for painting walls with election
propaganda. And because we believe that it is o­nly from the left that a
plan of struggle can emerge, so that our Patria, which is Mexico, does
not die.</p>
<p>And, then, what we think is that, with these persons and organizations
of the left, we will make a plan for going to all those parts of Mexico
where there are humble and simple people like ourselves.</p>
<p>And we are not going to tell them what they should do or give them
orders.</p>
<p>Nor are we going to ask them to vote for a candidate, since we already
know that the o­nes who exist are neoliberals.</p>
<p>Nor are we going to tell them to be like us, nor to rise up in arms.</p>
<p>What we are going to do is to ask them what their lives are like, their
struggle, their thoughts about our country and what we should do so they
do not defeat us.</p>
<p>What we are going to do is to take heed of the thoughts of the simple
and humble people, and perhaps we will find there the same love which we
feel for our Patria.</p>
<p>And perhaps we will find agreement between those of us who are simple
and humble and, together, we will organize all over the country and
reach agreement in our struggles, which are alone right now, separated
from each other, and we will find something like a program that has what
we all want, and a plan for how we are going to achieve the realization
of that program, which is called the &bdquo;national program of struggle.&ldquo;</p>
<p>And, with the agreement of the majority of those people whom we are
going to listen to, we will then engage in a struggle with everyone,
with indigenous, workers, campesinos, students, teachers, employees,
women, children, old o­nes, men, and with all of those of good heart and
who want to struggle so that our Patria called Mexico does not end up
being destroyed and sold, and which still exists between the Rio Grande
and the Rio Suchiate and which has the Pacific Ocean o­n o­ne side and the
Atlantic o­n the other.</p>
<h2 id="vi----how-we-are-going-to-do-it" class="relative group">VI &ndash; How We Are Going To Do It <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#vi----how-we-are-going-to-do-it" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h2><p>And so this is our simple word that goes out to the humble and simple
people of Mexico and of the world, and we are calling our word of today:</p>
<p>Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona</p>
<p>And we are here to say, with our simple word, that&hellip;</p>
<p>The EZLN maintains its commitment to an offensive ceasefire, and it will
not make any attack against government forces or any offensive military
movements.</p>
<p>The EZLN still maintains its commitment to insisting o­n the path of
political struggle through this peaceful initiative which we are now
undertaking. The EZLN continues, therefore, in its resolve to not
establish any kind of secret relations with either national
political-military organizations or those from other countries.</p>
<p>The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to defend, support and obey the
zapatista indigenous communities of which it is composed, and which are
its supreme command, and &ndash; without interfering in their internal
democratic processes &ndash; will, to the best of its abilities, contribute
to the strengthening of their autonomy, good government and improvement
in their living conditions. In other words, what we are going to do in
Mexico and in the world, we are going to do without arms, with a civil
and peaceful movement, and without neglecting nor ceasing to support our
communities.</p>
<p>Therefore&hellip;</p>
<p>In the World&hellip;</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>We will forge new relationships of mutual respect and support with
persons and organizations who are resisting and struggling against
neoliberalism and for humanity.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>As far as we are able, we will send material aid such as food and
handicrafts for those brothers and sisters who are struggling all over
the world.</p>
<p>In order to begin, we are going to ask the Good Government Junta of La
Realidad to loan their truck, which is called &bdquo;Chompiras,&ldquo; and which
appears to hold 8 tons, and we are going to fill it with maize and
perhaps two 200 liter cans with oil or petrol, as they prefer, and we
are going to deliver it to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico for them to send
to the Cuban people as aid from the zapatistas for their resistance
against the North American blockade. Or perhaps there might be a place
closer to here where it could be delivered, because it&rsquo;s always such a
long distance to Mexico City, and what if &bdquo;Chompiras&ldquo; were to break down
and we&rsquo;d end up in bad shape. And that will happen when the harvest
comes in, which is turning green right now in the fields, and if they
don&rsquo;t attack us, because if we were to send it during these next few
months, it would be nothing but corncobs, and they don&rsquo;t turn out well
even in tamales, better in November or December, it depends.</p>
<p>And we are also going to make an agreement with the women&rsquo;s crafts
cooperatives in order to send a good number of bordados, embroidered
pieces, to the Europes which are perhaps not yet Union, and perhaps
we&rsquo;ll also send some organic coffee from the zapatista cooperatives, so
that they can sell it and get a little money for their struggle. And, if
it isn&rsquo;t sold, then they can always have a little cup of coffee and talk
about the anti-neoliberal struggle, and if it&rsquo;s a bit cold then they can
cover themselves up with the zapatista bordados, which do indeed resist
quite well being laundered by hand and by rocks, and, besides, they
don&rsquo;t run in the wash.</p>
<p>And we are also going to send the indigenous brothers and sisters of
Bolivia and Ecuador some non-transgenic maize, and we just don&rsquo;t know
where to send them so they arrive complete, but we are indeed willing to
give this little bit of aid.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>And to all of those who are resisting throughout the world, we say
there must be other intercontinental encuentros held, even if just o­ne
other. Perhaps December of this year or next January, we&rsquo;ll have to
think about it. We don&rsquo;t want to say just when, because this is about
our agreeing equally o­n everything, o­n where, o­n when, o­n how, o­n who.
But not with a stage where just a few speak and all the rest listen, but
without a stage, just level and everyone speaking, but orderly,
otherwise it will just be a hubbub and the words won&rsquo;t be understood,
and with good organization everyone will hear and jot down in their
notebooks the words of resistance from others, so then everyone can go
and talk with their compañeros and compañeras in their worlds. And we
think it might be in a place that has a very large jail, because what if
they were to repress us and incarcerate us, and so that way we wouldn&rsquo;t
be all piled up, prisoners, yes, but well organized, and there in the
jail we could continue the intercontinental encuentros for humanity and
against neoliberalism. Later o­n we&rsquo;ll tell you what we shall do in order
to reach agreement as to how we&rsquo;re going to come to agreement. Now that
is how we&rsquo;re thinking of doing what we want to do in the world. Now
follows&hellip;</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>In Mexico&hellip;</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>We are going to continue fighting for the Indian peoples of Mexico,
but now not just for them and not with o­nly them, but for all the
exploited and dispossessed of Mexico, with all of them and all over the
country. And when we say all the exploited of Mexico, we are also
talking about the brothers and sisters who have had to go to the United
States in search of work in order to survive.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>We are going to go to listen to, and talk directly with, without
intermediaries or mediation, the simple and humble of the Mexican
people, and, according to what we hear and learn, we are going to go
about building, along with those people who, like us, are humble and
simple, a national program of struggle, but a program which will be
clearly of the left, or anti-capitalist, or anti-neoliberal, or for
justice, democracy and liberty for the Mexican people.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>We are going to try to build, or rebuild, another way of doing
politics, o­ne which o­nce again has the spirit of serving others, without
material interests, with sacrifice, with dedication, with honesty, which
keeps its word, whose o­nly payment is the satisfaction of duty
performed, or like the militants of the left did before, when they were
not stopped by blows, jail or death, let alone by dollar bills.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>We are also going to go about raising a struggle in order to demand
that we make a new Constitution, new laws which take into account the
demands of the Mexican people, which are: housing, land, work, food,
health, education, information, culture, independence, democracy,
justice, liberty and peace. A new Constitution which recognizes the
rights and liberties of the people, and which defends the weak in the
face of the powerful.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="to-these-ends" class="relative group">TO THESE ENDS&hellip; <span class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100"><a class="group-hover:text-primary-300 dark:group-hover:text-neutral-700" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;" href="#to-these-ends" aria-label="Anchor">#</a></span></h3><p>The EZLN will send a delegation of its leadership in order to do this
work throughout the national territory and for an indefinite period of
time. This zapatista delegation, along with those organizations and
persons of the left who join in this Sixth Declaration of the Selva
Lacandona, will go to those places where they are expressly invited.</p>
<p>We are also letting you know that the EZLN will establish a policy of
alliances with non-electoral organizations and movements which define
themselves, in theory and practice, as being of the left, in accordance
with the following conditions:</p>
<p>Not to make agreements from above to be imposed below, but to make
accords to go together to listen and to organize outrage. Not to raise
movements which are later negotiated behind the backs of those who made
them, but to always take into account the opinions of those
participating. Not to seek gifts, positions, advantages, public
positions, from the Power or those who aspire to it, but to go beyond
the election calendar. Not to try to resolve from above the problems of
our Nation, but to build FROM BELOW AND FOR BELOW an alternative to
neoliberal destruction, an alternative of the left for Mexico.</p>
<p>Yes to reciprocal respect for the autonomy and independence of
organizations, for their methods of struggle, for their ways of
organizing, for their internal decision making processes, for their
legitimate representations. And yes to a clear commitment for joint and
coordinated defense of national sovereignty, with intransigent
opposition to privatization attempts of electricity, oil, water and
natural resources.</p>
<p>In other words, we are inviting the unregistered political and social
organizations of the left, and those persons who lay claim to the left
and who do not belong to registered political parties, to meet with us,
at the time, place and manner in which we shall propose at the proper
time, to organize a national campaign, visiting all possible corners of
our Patria, in order to listen to and organize the word of our people.
It is like a campaign, then, but very otherly, because it is not
electoral.</p>
<p>Brothers and sisters:</p>
<p>This is our word which we declare:</p>
<p>In the world, we are going to join together more with the resistance
struggles against neoliberalism and for humanity.</p>
<p>And we are going to support, even if it&rsquo;s but little, those struggles.</p>
<p>And we are going to exchange, with mutual respect, experiences,
histories, ideas, dreams.</p>
<p>In Mexico, we are going to travel all over the country, through the
ruins left by the neoliberal wars and through those resistances which,
entrenched, are flourishing in those ruins.</p>
<p>We are going to seek, and to find, those who love these lands and these
skies even as much as we do.</p>
<p>We are going to seek, from La Realidad to Tijuana, those who want to
organize, struggle and build what may perhaps be the last hope this
Nation &ndash; which has been going o­n at least since the time when an eagle
alighted o­n a nopal in order to devour a snake &ndash; has of not dying.</p>
<p>We are going for democracy, liberty and justice for those of us who have
been denied it.</p>
<p>We are going with another politics, for a program of the left and for a
new Constitution.</p>
<p>We are inviting all indigenous, workers, campesinos, teachers, students,
housewives, neighbors, small businesspersons, small shop owners,
micro-businesspersons, pensioners, handicapped persons, religious men
and women, scientists, artists, intellectuals, young persons, women, old
persons, homosexuals and lesbians, boys and girls &ndash; to participate,
whether individually or collectively, directly with the zapatistas in
this NATIONAL CAMPAIGN for building another way of doing politics, for a
program of national struggle of the left, and for a new Constitution.</p>
<p>And so this is our word as to what we are going to do and how we are
going to do it. You will see whether you want to join.</p>
<p>And we are telling those men and women who are of good heart and intent,
who are in agreement with this word we are bringing out, and who are not
afraid, or who are afraid but who control it, to then state publicly
whether they are in agreement with this idea we are presenting, and in
that way we will see o­nce and for all who and how and where and when
this new step in the struggle is to be made.</p>
<p>While you are thinking about it, we say to you that today, in the sixth
month of the year 2005, the men, women, children and old o­nes of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation have now decided, and we have now
subscribed to, this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, and those
who know how to sign, signed, and those who did not left their mark, but
there are fewer now who do not know how, because education has advanced
here in this territory in rebellion for humanity and against
neoliberalism, that is in zapatista skies and land.</p>
<p>And this was our simple word sent out to the noble hearts of those
simple and humble people who resist and rebel against injustices all
over the world.</p>
<p>Democracy!<br>
Liberty!<br>
Justice!</p>
<p>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.</p>
<p>Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee &ndash; General Command of the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.</p>
<p>Mexico, in the sixth month, or June, of the year 2005.</p>
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