hydrarchist writes "

Zapatistas Renew Struggle with Anger and Fire.

9th Anniversary of Armed Uprising Marked by Biggest
Mobilization So Far.

by Ramor Ryan

San Cristobal de las Casas, January 1 2003.

Defying their critics who charge they are divided and disintegrating,
the Zapatistas mobilised their forces today, mustering the largest
and most militant demonstration seen in San Cristobal since the armed
uprising 9 years ago. As many as 20,000 masked militants of the EZLN
descended on the town from all corners of Chiapas armed with machetes
and lighting huge bonfires around the central plaza and surrounding
streets. There were no injuries, and little damage to property, but
the feisty rebels demonstrated in no uncertain terms that, on the 9th
anniversary of the uprising they are still organised, still militant
and still enraged.

A Night To Remember

"I am very proud we have peace in Mexico, with
Marcos, with the Zapatistas," said Mexican President Vincente Fox
a few weeks ago, while visiting Europe.

"Fox says we have peace in Chiapas, that there is no
conflict," said Comandante David from the podium. "Is the
conflict settled in Chiapas?" he asked.

"NOOOO!" was the emphatic reply from the multitude,
banging their machetes and sticks, holding up burning torches, as the
black smoke from the multiple bonfires engulfed the town centre. The
masked insurgents packed the expansive centre plaza and still
thousands more were left chanting in the surround streets. The mood
was combatitive and the chants, banners and speeches from the stage
were uncompromising - Fox Is The Same As Zedillo, PAN Equals PRI, No
Evictions From Montes Azules, Globalize Rebellion And Dignity! The
rebellion in Argentina was lauded, and terrorism of Bush and Bin
Laden condemned. "We came to say that here we are still, stronger
than ever and we resist," said Comandante Mister. "Before a
globalization of death imposed by the powerful, we proclaim a
globalization of freedom..."

"Are we here to surrender?!" shouted Commandante Tacho, and
the crowd responded with such a hell-raising clamor that a lady next
to me was prompted to mutter

Betrayal and Oblivion

This is the first public mass mobilization of the Zapatista
Comandancia and rank-and-file in almost 2 years. The last Zapatista
event was the hugely popular Caravan to
the Capital in February of 2001, bringing out Mexicans in their
hundreds of thousands in support of Indigenous demands, as
Sub-Comandante Marcos and the EZLN command journeyed up to Mexico
City..

The crowning achievement of that odyssey was presenting an
Indigenous Law granting a form of autonomy for ratification through
Congress. But as soon as the Zapatistas turned their backs and
returned home to Chiapas, that Law was modified and watered down by
government legislators, amidst charges of betrayal. Appeals to
re-instate the original the Law before the Supreme Court were
rejected.

With this constitutional rejection of Indigenous Reform, Congress,
the Federal government and the Supreme Court of the nation was seen
to negate the legitimacy of the San
Andres Accords, signed between government and rebels in 1996.
Recognition of the San Andres Accords is the principle demand in
order to re-start dialogue between the EZLN and the Federal
government. With this failure it seemed the legal and political means
to resolve the Chiapas conflict had been exhausted.

The Zapatistas seemed exhausted too, and lapsed into a long
piercing silence lasting 20 months. The Fox Government worked hard to
provoke divisions within the base communities, offering numerous
financial incentives. The Mexican army remained, if a little less
visible, encircling the Zapatistas areas, and paramilitaries upped
the ante, murdering 4 Zapatista leaders in August, 2002. The EZLN did
not respond to these provocations, remaining silent throughout the
wave of killings, prompting rumours of their impotence and
inner-turmoil. Marcos has fallen out with the Clandestine Committee,
ran the rumour mongering and has been sent into exile. Rank and file
are deserting the ranks in floods. President Fox , ever the
opportunist, attempted a public relations coup amidst the silence,
claiming the conflict had been resolved.

"We have brought peace to Chiapas," he boasted.

A peace of military occupation, continuing extreme poverty and
slow death by strangulation of the land. The peace of oblivion?

A Spectre Haunts Chiapas.

Chiapas is on the brink of profound structural change, a change
that will not be wrought by a triumphant Zapatista return, but by a
series of mega-projects financed by global capital called Plan Puebla
Panama (PPP). Envisaging a series of colossal dams, construction of
super-highways and the development of a vast sweat-shop area, the
planners intend to develop southern Mexico and Central America into a
manufacturing hub and production corridor. "The Plan Puebla Panama
is a thousand times more important than any indigenous Zapatista
community" according to President Fox.

Plan Puebla Panama has three goals -

a) increase the transit and industrial infrastructure of the region,
improving the capacity for export industries,

b) catalyze a shift of the regions economy from agriculture to
assembly plant maquiladoras and manufacturing, and

c) expand private control over the vast natural resources in the
region.

The process is already underway. The first sweat-shop has opened
in Huixtla. Road construction is currently a boom industry. Land
ownership is changing - 11% of land in Chiapas is held communally (in
Ejidos) and most of the ejidos are in the strategically important
Jungle region under control of the Zapatistas. A government programme
Procede offers incentives to communities to divide their land and
individualize holdings. Once it is privatized, the land can be sold
on to investors, or agents for foreign companies, thereby opening up
the process of capitalist development.

The battle between bio-prospectors and the indigenous inhabitants
of the jungle region has already intensified. Bio-piracy, i.e.
patenting plants that can be turned into pharmaceutical drugs,
pesticides or other marketable products, has become highly profitable
- prompting the title Green Gold, and the current rush to patent
rights the Bio-gold rush.

Influenced by the Zapatista struggle, communities of small farmers
are organising across southern Mexico and all the way down Central
America, forming international coalitions and coordinating their
protests like the Day of Action last October 12 (Colombus Day)
against the PPP and capitalist globalization. A masked protester
from the Regional Co-ordination of Civil Society organisation,
blocking a highway in Chiapas last October articulated their demands,
linking them with those of the Zapatistas.

"We have seen that all Fox and Salazar ( State Governor of
Chiapas) have done is for the benefit of the rich and in favour of
the owners of money,... with little benefit for us, the farmers. We
are against the PPP, NAFTA and ALCA, and as you can see from the
banners, in favour of honouring the San Andres Accords."

In all Mexico about a quarter of the population, 25 million, live
off the land, and 80% of them in extreme poverty. Approximately 600
campesinos are forced to abandon the land for the cities every single
day. The agriculture sector is in severe decline, and NAFTA is one of
the chief reasons. The influx of cheap corn and wheat from the giant
commercial farms of the US is driving small farmers to ruin.

And rather than promote a sustainable agriculture sector, the Fox
government, firmly committed to NAFTA, and ALCA (Free Trade Agreement
of the Americas) , encourages the desertion of the land. Migration is
rife. Official figures quote 150,000 migrants from Chiapas to the US
each year, but the growth industry in Bus Companies running to the US
border - 80 new companies registered in the last 3 years, suggest an
even greater number. Alongside the internal migration to work in
Cancun and the oil fields of Tabasco, a whole way of rural life and
indigenous culture is in danger of disappearing.

"The PPP will respect the territorial integrity of the
communities and promote a sustainable development" says Fox,
which flies in the face of the events on the ground. 30 indigenous
communities on Montes Azules in
the Lacandon Jungle are currently facing violent eviction. This local
struggle has become the front line for wide-spread resistance against
the Plan Puebla Panama. The Zapatistas have sworn to fight eviction
in Montes Azules to the death.

"This traitorous government and the voracious capitalists know
that this land are ours, and we wont abandon it," says Rosa, a
fiery Zapatista Chol from Tumbala, "and its wealth belongs to
those who have lived here and worked these lands for centuries. We
resist their globalisation in the same way the indigenous people
resisted the Conquest, and our corn will resist their transgenic
corn!"

The Ninth Anniversary.

The 9 years of struggle of the Zapatistas has, on the ground, been
both advantageous and circuitous. The initial armed uprising opened
up vast swathes of occupied land taken from the finqueros. Thousands
of campesinos continue to occupy and work these territories, a
de-facto rebel zone under the authority of the
38 Autonomous Municipalities. This
is the one great achievement for the bases of support of the
Zapatistas. On the other hand, the autonomous zones are constantly
under threat, surrounded by the army and menaced upon by
paramilitaries.

The governments attempts to buy off the rebel communities has been
successful in some areas, and traditional pre-1994 Zapatista
strongholds are often focus for the most persistent
counter-insurgency programmes. The historical Zapatista village of
Morelia, for example, has seen the level of support for the
insurgents fall to below 50% of the populace. Support in another
Aguascalientes, Roberto Barrios has fallen to less than 25%. However,
the younger communities on occupied land remain staunch, and
Zapatista numbers swell as children of the rebellion grow up and form
their own communities.

"We are united here," says Don Anselmo of the 100%
Zapatista village 10 de Abril,

"although I do worry about some of the other communities..". 5
or 6 of the surrounding smaller villages have dropped out of the
struggle. Ex-Zapatista Esteban explains why he dropped out and left
10 de Abril to live in one of the other non-Zapatista villages -
"I got tired, and I needed to feed my kids. The (Zapatista)
Organisation takes up a lot of time and you get little in
return." Taking advantage of a government scheme, he received
some construction materials and his children receive state schooling.
(It's true, the Autonomous school in 10 de Abril was not functioning
well.) Is he finished with the Zapatistas? "No," says Esteban,
"I'm taking a rest".

Renewal of Struggle

And this is the importance of the strong, militant demonstration
on Jan 1. As rumours of significant desertion of the ranks, internal
division and impotency abound, such a powerful manifestation of
hardcore allegiance rallies the troops and demonstrates that the
Zapatistas are still the only show in town. As the constitutional
path - marked by betrayal, seems exhausted and the enemy takes a more
global face, the Zapatistas appear to be changing their tactical
direction, renewing the spirit of resistance and pursuing a more
confrontational strategy.

Midnight, January 1, 2003, the night sky above San Cristobal is
thick with pungent smoke and the old colonial streets are jam-packed
with hordes of spirited masked Zapatistas, taking control of the town
deserted of locals, and security forces. As Chiapas faces an
uncertain future regarding the Plan Puebla Panama, one thing is sure
from this insurgent demonstration - the conflict has entered into a
new phase. The Zapatistas have returned from their forays into
national Constitutional reform to once more address the needs and
demands of their base constituency. From the stage, Comandante Bruce
Lee (no, really) commanded the cadre to build bigger bonfires to warm
the cool night air.

"This struggle has hardly begun. Let the fires shine bright so
that the people can see how we have maintained our rebellion! ".

• Speeches by
  the Commandancia of the EZLN on the ninth anniversary of the
  uprising
  
  Text of the speeches made by Zapatista commanders at San
  Cristo'bal anniversary protests"