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January 27, 2020
To the adherents to the EZLN’s Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle in the US:
To the EZLN/CNI networks of Solidarity, Support, Resistance and Rebellion, or whatever you call yourselves:
To the Congreso Nacional Indígena (CNI) and Concejo Indígena de Gobierno (CIG) in Mexico:
To the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN):
To all those who resist capitalism from below, to the left, and feel inspired by the Zapatista struggle:
Compañeras, compañeros, compañeroas, compas, sisters, brothers, relatives:
The Sexta Grietas del Norte network invites you to the Sexta Encuentro in the US, “In, Against, and Beyond the Capitalist Hydra,” from where, we all know, the wheels of destruction churn towards every corner of the world.
Now more than ever it is necessary to organize collectively and, following the call of the EZLN, “to begin or continue our analysis and evaluation of the reality in which we live and to share with each other these analyses and evaluations as well as our subsequent proposals for coordinated action,” so that we may take action accordingly in our respective trincheras.
This call is for all the compañerxs who struggle and resist capitalist exploitation and patriarchal oppression within the US, especially to the adherents of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and those who identify with the Zapatista struggle and thought, as well as with the peoples of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI).
The times we are living demand that we collectively understand the changes in contemporary capitalism as a whole and what they look like in our own contexts. We propose working towards recovering our histories, traditions, and understanding our past and current struggles so we can envision and create autonomies constructed from our respective and collective analyses.
The Encuentro’s purpose is to find each other, to share our pains, our ways of confronting this civilization of death, and build and strengthen our autonomies. It is to share the paths we can walk together against and beyond the Hydra and to work together in solidarity with the communities in struggle in Chiapas, in Mexico, and the world. Furthermore, it is to organize a resistance against the multi-headed capitalist Hydra that destroys Mother Earth and attacks Indigenous communities. Our aim is to facilitate the development of collective knowledges and responses outside Western cartographies and calendars against the powers that seek to represses all communities of resistance and who displace millions of people worldwide.
The Encuentro will consist of a two-day gathering in Oakland, California (Ohlone territory), on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, 2020. It will consist of panels, dialogue circles, and conversation on key questions, including but not limited to the following:
How do we face capitalism from inside of the Hydra?
How can we build and strengthen the networks and Sexta organizations of which we are a part?
How do we build and support each others’ autonomies while respecting the respective contexts and ways of each of our regions, cities, communities, or otherwise?
And, how can we strengthen the political movement for life itself that the CNI and Zapatistas have articulated as the most pressing concern of our time?
We propose we not seclude ourselves but rather turn each of our little corners of the world into cracks, fissures, chasms, and fault lines that will in turn sweep the floor from under this world and turn it on its head. Our struggle will make the earth tremble at its core when each fault line encounters the next. This is how we envision a future where our only way to survive is by working collectively with one another.
Let’s break the cogs of the capitalist wheels that sustain this artificial world. Let’s embody the spirit, dignity, justice, and dignified rage of our Mother Earth, our past, our ancestors, and all forces of the natural world; this is our collective strength that no one will ever hand over to us nor can take from us. Put another way, we must continue to resist, to dream, to build and to love at all costs! That is what brings another world into being, indeed what life itself, demands of us! We invite all to participate, whether individually or collectively. To all adherents and to all who find themselves in these words and want to walk this path together, join us!
Sexta Grietas del Norte is a network of organizations and individuals in the United States that are adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle. We first came together as Grietas in 2017 to facilitate the transport and delivery of coffee from Zapatista communities to US-based organizations and collectives that, as per the EZLN calls, actively work to support migrant, persecuted and other displaced communities. We are committed to building collective self-organization and anti-capitalist struggle in the US, which includes resisting oppressive racial hierarchies and acting independently of the entrenched political party system. Our goals are to support each other’s struggles, to create a broad front of community based anti-capitalist struggle in the US, and to act in solidarity with our compañerxs of the EZLN, CNI, CIG, and the Sexta in Mexico and elsewhere.
Registration is now closed.
Any questions, please be in touch: grietasdelnorte00@gmail.com