Sexta Grietas del Norte congratulates the indigenous peoples of Mayan roots (Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Tzotzil, Chol, Mam) and Zapatistas, for their 27 years of resistance and rebellion since the historic uprising of January 1, 1994. Your insurrection now belongs to everyone, for it has left a profound mark on the calendar of people in Mexico, in the Americas, and throughout the world.
We will never forget that outcry of January 1, 1994 that ruined the party for a Neoliberalism that had arrogantly claimed its triumph in Mexico and the world. Enough!, you shouted against the capitalism of exploitation and dispossession that thought itself invincible as it proclaimed the end of history. At a time when others were defeated and confused , having given up hope and dreams of another possible world, you came forth to offer a world where many worlds could fit; you restored the memory, dusted it off to weave a future, not only for you but for everyone. Your uprising occurred at the very moment that the elite, in its moment of glory, smilingly initiated the rapacious pact called NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). And you, with your machetes, your rifles and your true word, ruined the party for the neoliberals, exposing their cynical and criminal intentions. Furious, they tried to exterminate you with everything they had: military, paramilitaries, narcos, counterinsurgency, bribes and paltry handouts , but your rebellious dignity, your intelligence, your sensitivity towards struggle, your profound look into the past and towards the future allow you to say, 27 years later, that “as Zapatista peoples: we are here, we resist, we live, we struggle.”
It is impossible to recount here all your teachings and experiences, the importance of your autonomous communities (“caracoles”), your ceaseless weaving of networks and solidarity: with the CNI , with communities and collectives in Mexico and the world. With you we have marched together many times, and from you we have learned so much! From the Other Campaign to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, from the March of the Color of the Earth to the resistance against megaprojects, from Marichuy’s walk with the representatives of the National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Governing Council to your generous donation of coffee for our struggles as migrants in the United States, among many other experiences.
Today, 27 years after that Enough!, you, Zapatistas, indigenous peoples of Mayan roots, are preparing to extend the resistance beyond borders, to spread seeds of rebellion on the five continents, to illuminate the world with that little light that the Zapatista women offered to women who struggle around the world. Today, when those from above tear down bridges and close borders, you invite us to navigate rivers and oceans to meet each other. In short, to prepare a new Enough!, this time worldwide. Because, as you say, in the face of the capitalist hydra and its civilization of death, in the face of the storm that sickens Mother Earth and devastates peoples and communities, “the cure, if there is one, is global, it is the color of the earth, of the work that lives and dies in the streets and the barrios, in the oceans and skies, in the mountains and valleys.”
Brothers and sisters of the EZLN, we want to express our respect and admiration for your extraordinary experience, your wisdom and sensitivity, your ability to weave memories from the past with those of the future, and for encouraging us not to get tired, not to give up, and not to sell out. Today, 27 years later, we reaffirm our commitment to the Zapatista struggle; we try to follow your path from our own geographies, learning from your vision, and, with careful consideration, trying to sow it and weave it with those who, in this land, also resist and rebel in order to create a world where those who rule, rule by obeying.
January 03, 2021
Sexta Grietas del Norte Network