HUGO BLANCO - FOR THOSE SEEKING A FREE WORLD - IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE ZAPATISTAS

acknowledgements to http://www.ecosocialistsunite.com/ 8/20/2012 Hugo Blanco, issues this important  statement as part of e “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés  and Sántiz López” Campaign.  "The central task of the first phase of this campaign is to educate and raise  consciousness at the international  level  regarding the severe repression and violence being carried out against our Zapatista sisters and brothers. In this letter addressed to “A quienes buscan un mundo libre” – or  “To those who search for a free world” – our compañero Hugo consummates  this task by offering us the gift of memory, as he throws light on the historical,  economic, and political context in which this nightmare unfolds. With  impassioned words, he makes clear the true reasons and forces which  seek to do away with, what he calls, this “zone liberated from neoliberalism,  where the people govern themselves.”  For those seeking a free world In 1994, at the full glorious height of the neoliberal system that oppresses us,  a voice of rebellion arose, the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. Naturally  Salinas, the then president, launched a bloody military offensive thinking to rapidly  crush the rebellion. Not so, the indigenous fighters resisted. The people of Mexico  were outraged at the bloodshed and demanded an end to the attack. The U.S. government was alarmed, because with the number of Mexicans and  Chicanos who had been and were being oppressed in their territory, there was a  danger that the Zapatista armed uprising might spread to the seat of the empire.  Therefore they ordered the Mexican government to stop the attack, an order which,  of course, their subject obeyed. The rebels announced that they were obeying the people of Mexico, who were ordering  the war to stop, and suspended the armed conflict. The government offered talks, the Zapatistas accepted. With the democratic spirit  they have, they would not wish to be the ones to speak on behalf of the indigenous  Mexicans; they called on indigenous and indigenists from across the country to set out  the indigenous demands. This task was completed, and their arguments were so  convincing that the government commission had to accept many of them. Both parties signed what were called the "San Andrés Accords." As these had to be in  the form of a law to be approved by parliament, a commission was appointed with the  task of putting them into the appropriate format. The commission completed its work  and submitted it to both parties; the Zapatistas accepted, but the government did not. Instead they filed another document, thus betraying the agreements they had signed.  The members of the chamber [of deputies] gave in to this outrage and agreed to discuss  and approve the government document. Therefore, the Executive, supported by  parliament, betrayed the agreement. The military government made a treacherous attack on the Zapatistas, trying to liquidate  the leadership of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).  They failed. But,  (whoever is the current president), they do not abandon their intention of making this  island of freedom that exists in the world disappear. Do not forget that the first international gathering of those oppressed by the neoliberal  system which is crushing the world was called by the indigenous Zapatistas, and took  place in the mud of Chiapas, years before the World Social Forum Recently the attacks on Zapatista communities have been increasing, the chief and  fiercest ones are those being suffered by the Zapatista autonomous community of San  Marcos Avilés. The Good Government Junta ‘Towards Hope’ and the Good Government  Junta ‘Heart of the Rainbow of Hope’ have also reported attacks. These attacks and the continued detention of Francisco Sántiz López and Alberto Patishtán Gómez, are the spearhead of the attack to crush the zone liberated from neoliberalism,  where the people govern themselves through the Good Government Juntas. This is seen as  the great enemy by the transnational corporations (the 1% of humanity that crushes  the 99%), as they are a living example of the fact that "Another World is Possible",  "A World where Many Worlds Fit". We hope that the insurgent rebel movement in Mexico,  understands that their essential  task is to defend the island of freedom that is in their own country; if they crush the  Zapatistas,  will be easily crushed. Let us fight in the defense of San Marcos Avilés and  against other attacks in the area. Let us fight for the freedom of Francisco Sántiz López  and Alberto Patishtán Gómez. It is in the direct interests of humanity to defend the island of freedom that is the  Zapatista area.