Report from EZLN caravan
Broad congress demands Indigenous rights
By Gloria La
Riva
Nurio, Michoacán, Mexico
As the March for Indigenous Rights winds its way through
southern Mexico, thousands of Mexican people--Indigenous and
mestizo--are turning out in town after town to salute the
guerrilla commanders of the Zapatista Army for National
Liberation (EZLN), who are leading the historic caravan. The
caravan includes representatives from many of Mexico's 60
Indigenous ethnic groups and hundreds of other Mexican and
international supporters.
The highlight so far has been the National Indigenous
Congress, which was convened here in Michoacán by
3,383 Indigenous delegates representing 41 dif ferent groups
from 27 Mexican states. They were joined by 5,000 national
and international observers, including other Indigenous
delegations from the U.S., Canada, Ecuador, Bolivia and
Guatemala.
The Congress passed broad resolutions at many workshops,
called mesas. They agreed on a "unified, national Indigenous
peaceful uprising" and declared unanimous support of the EZLN
and its caravan to Mexico City.
Demand Indigenous rights
be added to Constitution
It also created a commission of representatives from all
the other Indigenous groups to accompany the EZLN to Mexico's
capital. And the delegates agreed to develop a front with
social and civil organizations and unions to push to include
Indigenous rights in the Mexican Constitution, calling on
non-Indigenous people to join them in this struggle
The caravan has traveled through nine states so far on its
way to Mexico City, holding public rallies in scores of
villages and gathering forces to back the demand for
Indigenous rights. Whether Huichol or Tarahumara Indian,
Zapoteco or Tzeltal, they are calling for unity to win social
justice.
In this highland village of Nurio, home of
Purépecha Indians in the state of Michoacán,
the Zapatista caravan helped inaugurate the third National
Indigenous Congress after a rousing nighttime welcome by
thousands of villagers in the town plaza.
The march and congress are also calling for the federal
government to implement the San Andres Larrainzar accords.
That agreement was negotiated between the EZLN guerrillas and
the previous president, Ernesto Zedillo, but was never
honored by the government. Instead, thousands of army troops
were deployed to occupy Indian villages in Chiapas in an
effort to rout the Zapatistas. The occupation continues
today.
Enthusiasm for the caravan is growing and a huge turnout
is expected for a mass rally on March 11 in the Zócalo
central square of Mexico City. There the marchers will
present their demands to the Mexican National Congress.
Gov't tries to co-opt
mass sentiment
The sentiment is so great that the new president, Vicente
Fox, has found himself forced to recognize the march and
declare himself in favor of peace.
Of course, the recognition from this right-wing president
is not out of respect for Indigenous rights or the Zapatistas
but fear of a mass movement that is gaining momentum. In the
midst of this march, the government has launched a major
campaign to try to co-opt the mass sentiment. Slick
television ads speaking of peace and love are now showing
constantly on television, and Saturday night a mass rock
concert featuring Mexico's two top rock groups and organized
by the government was aired on all channels.
But the public looks at this government effort with a
great deal of skepticism. The militant student movement at
the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which
was brutally repressed by the police during a student strike
one year ago, organized a counter concert.
The opening rally of the National Indigenous Congress was
held on a hillside outside Nurio, on the grounds of a
secondary school where the caravanistas and supporters are
camped out.
Juan Chávez, Purépecha elder and delegate,
spoke of the need for unity among the Indigenous peoples and
an end to the struggles that have sometimes divided them.
Pablo González Casanova spoke on behalf of Mexico's
"civil society," which refers to the independent social and
political movements of the country. He said, "Brothers and
sisters, compañeros of EZLN, it is a great honor to be
invited on behalf of civil society. What can we say before
this very important gathering of Mexicans, where the Indian
peoples have united to continue struggling, each time with
more firmness, for the rights that have been denied for so
many years and so many centuries.
"Those who are afraid of this struggle are afraid
precisely because it is no longer just of the Mexican people,
but for all those who, near or far, are struggling. Those
Indigenous people who are fighting the mestizo are steadily
uniting the people and the poorest to fight for the workers
of the world." The crowd broke into enthusiastic applause
after this last pronouncement.
Zapatista women
demand freedom and justice
Twenty-four commanders of the EZLN are leading the march,
and they take turns speaking at the rallies. Today Comandante
Esther was cheered for her tribute to the women who struggle
against their oppressors.
She said, "For more than 500 years thousands of our
brothers and sisters have died from exploitation and
marginalization, especially the women. We die during
childbirth because we have no clinics to treat us. The bad
government says they have built clinics in the communities,
but it is a lie. There are no doctors to attend us, no
medicines for our health.
"We suffer this sacrifice in blood and live lives without
hope. Because of this great desperation we took the decision
to organize ourselves with our rebellion. ... We as Zapatista
women will continue forward with our struggle, no more
deception! From here on we are telling the government we will
not accept our Indigenous dignity to be placed in shame any
longer. We will not rest until we win democracy, freedom and
justice. No more a Mexico without the women!"
The important issue of nationalities and Indigenous rights
in Mexico was brought to center stage by the Zapatista
uprising in 1994. The rebellion was prompted by the economic
crisis exacerbated by NAFTA and longstanding oppression that
hit the Indigenous communities brutally.
Of the 100 million Mexicans, the overwhelming majority
have strong Indian roots. A smaller percentage have remained
on their historic lands and maintained their Indigenous
languages and cultures. It is estimated that some 10 to 20
million people from about 60 distinct Indian ethnicities
strongly identify as a specific Indigenous group and retain
their language.
While the majority of Mexicans are suffering economic
hardship, the rural Indigenous communities are hit the
hardest by the growing monopoly of land and wealth in Mexico.
In addition, the Indigenous suffer from longstanding racism
and oppression, the lack of education and jobs, and the
denial of bilingual education, all of which put their
communities at risk.
NAFTA brought
greater poverty
In interviews, many of the Indigenous expressed
desperation about the poverty that has inundated their
communities because there are few jobs and they can't sell
their corn or other crops. When asked why, virtually all of
them said, "El tratado de libre comercio," referring to the
North American Free Trade Agreement that was orchestrated by
the United States imperialist government.
NAFTA marked the abandonment of the Mexican government's
decades-long policy of supporting national agriculture and
industry against imperialist competition. Before, Mexican
farmers would receive fertilizer, seed and other implements
at subsidized prices, and their products were bought by the
government at a guaranteed price.
In turn, the poor of Mexico could depend for their daily
sustenance on subsidized corn tortillas and beans that were
kept at a low price.
With NAFTA, all protective barriers to U.S. and other
international agriculture were eliminated. Imports were no
longer taxed to favor Mexican goods produced within the
country. Mexico stopped all subsidies to farmers, driving
peasants into disastrous conditions.
In one meeting after another the Indigenous peasants spoke
of being gripped by economic ruin.
Juan, a Purépecha Indian from the Nurio region,
said he can no longer grow corn on his small plot of land
because there are no buyers.
"The government sells us fertilizer and seed very high"
said Juan, "and we can't even sell our corn. Now we're told
the wool from our sheep is no good, because Australia
produces it cheaper.
He pointed to his clothes and said, "The only way we
survive is because our children send us money and clothes
from the U.S. Anyone who doesn't have family in the U.S. is
starving."
Everyone interviewed had close family members in the
United States. More than one person remarked that almost all
the men have left the villages to move to Chicago, St. Louis,
San Jose, Palo Alto, Jersey City, every corner of the
U.S.
Further from the Indigenous congress, near Morelia, an old
man sat with his father and friends by the roadside.
Francisco González's years of hard labor were evident
in his rough hands. He said, "I have land but it costs me
5,000 pesos for the seed and fertilizer and I can't get
anything for my corn and alfalfa.
"That's why I'm going to the United States Wednesday. I'm
joining my sons in Chicago because I have to find work."
It was hard to imagine this 64-year-old man risking his
life to cross the border illegally and find work, but it is a
phenomenon repeated thousands of times a day as Indigenous
and other Mexican peasants and workers are driven from their
land.
The Zapatista struggle for the Indigenous people of
Chiapas, with this new national mobilization and campaign for
Indigenous rights, has awakened a movement among the most
oppressed of Mexico that only promises to grow.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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