"The Slaves of Money -- And Our Rebellion"

Subcomandante Marcos, EZLN, September 11, 2003

Brothers and sisters of Mexico and the world, who are
gathered in Cancun in a mobilisation against neo-
liberalism, greetings from the men, women, children and
elderly of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. It
is an honour for us that, amid your meetings,
agreements and mobilisations, you have found time and
place to hear our words.The world movement against the globalisation of death
and destruction is experiencing one of its brightest
moments in Cancun today. Not far from where you are
meeting, a handful of slaves to money are negotiating
the ways and means of continuing the crime of
globalisation.

The difference between them and all of us is not in the
pockets of one or the other, although their pockets
overflow with money while ours overflow with hope.

No, the difference is not in the wallet, but in the
heart. You and we have in our hearts a future to build.
They only have the past which they want to repeat
eternally. We have hope. They have death. We have
liberty. They want to enslave us.

This is not the first time, nor will it be the last,
that the people who think themselves the owners of the
planet have had to hide behind high walls and their
pathetic security forces in order to put their plans in
place.

As if at war, the high command of the multinational
army that wants to conquer the world in the only way
possible, that is to say, to destroy it, meets behind a
system of security that is as large as their fear.

Before, the powerful met behind the backs of the world
to scheme their future wars and displacements. Today
they have to do it in front of thousands in Cancun and
millions around the world.

That is what this is all about. It is war. A war
against humanity. The globalisation of those who are
above us is nothing more than a global machine that
feeds on blood and defecates in dollars.

In the complex equation that turns death into money,
there is a group of humans who command a very low price
in the global slaughterhouse. We are the indigenous,
the young, the women, the children, the elderly, the
homosexuals, the migrants, all those who are different.
That is to say, the immense majority of humanity.

This is a world war of the powerful who want to turn
the planet into a private club that reserves the right
to refuse admission. The exclusive luxury zone where
they meet is a microcosm of their project for the
planet, a complex of hotels, restaurants, and
recreation zones protected by armies and police forces.

All of us are given the option of being inside this
zone, but only as servants. Or we can remain outside of
the world, outside life. But we have no reason to obey
and accept this choice between living as servants or
dying. We can build a new path, one where living means
life with dignity and freedom. To build this
alternative is possible and necessary. It is necessary
because on it depends the future of humanity.

This future is up for grabs in every corner of each of
the five continents. This alternative is possible
because around the world people know that liberty is a
word which is often used as an excuse for cynicism.

Brothers and sisters, there is dissent over the
projects of globalisation all over the world. Those
above, who globalise conformism, cynicism, stupidity,
war, destruction and death. And those below who
globalise rebellion, hope, creativity, intelligence,
imagination, life, memory and the construction of a
world that we can all fit in, a world with democracy,
liberty and justice.

We hope the death train of the World Trade Organisation
will be derailed in Cancun and everywhere else.

[Subcomandante Marcos is the leading voice of the
Zapatista movement, which fights for the rights of
Mexico's 10 million indigenous people. This is the
transcript of a message -- Marcos's first international
communiqué for four years -- delivered on Wednesday to
the anti-globalisation conference taking place
alongside the WTO global trade negotiations in Cancun.]