From a spark to a wildfire

On Jan. 1, 1994, the world was awakened to a new era of struggle, personified by the uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) on the day that the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect between Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The Zapatistas—an army of people from the Indigenous community of Chiapas, Mexico—correctly predicted that NAFTA would be a catastrophe for working and poor people.

Under the euphemism of “free trade,” labor laws would be shaved down to the bone, virtually eliminating a minimum wage and creating a level of impunity for the bosses with regard to health codes and human rights abuses.

Farmers would see the value of their livelihood destroyed as cheap agricultural imports from subsidized U.S. agribusiness flooded the country. Lands once communally owned would be broken up and privatized for the benefit of multinational corporations.

The Zapatistas also expressed concern about the plight of Indigenous people throughout the country—who make up some 30 percent of the population and daily face repression, discrimination and substandard living conditions.

In the 12 years since that fateful day in 1994, the United States and the rest of the imperialist countries have continued their neoliberal attack on working and poor people throughout the world. The United States is desperately trying to impose the Free Trade Area of the Americas—which would amount to an extension of NAFTA throughout the entire Western Hemisphere. And yet, at every turn, this agreement is facing a wall of resistance.

Enter the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela, with a president of Indigenous heritage, Hugo Chávez Frías, at the helm. Chávez, with the undying support and collaboration of the people of his country, is implementing a turnaround in Venezuela’s poverty, illiteracy, health care and more. Moreover, Venezuela has been a driving force in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), an agreement based on cooperation and integration of the region rather than imperialist dominance.

When Chávez arrived last November at the Third Summit of the Americas at Mar del Plata, Argentina, with a shovel to symbolically bury the FTAA, he was accompanied by tens of thousands of FTAA protesters, as well as representatives of Cuba and other Latin American countries.

Most recently, the world has seen the election of Evo Morales in Bolivia, the first Indigenous president in a country with a 62 percent Indigenous population. Like Chávez, Morales has denounced the FTAA, calling it “an agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas,” and has pledged his resistance to it.

In the Fifth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle, released in July 1998, the EZLN stated, “We have seen men and women born in other lands join the fight for peace. We have seen some, in their own lands, start building the long bridge that says, ‘You are not alone.’ We have seen them take action and cry out their ‘Ya basta!’”

As we enter the new year, we commemorate the anniversary of a spark that still continues throughout Mexico, despite attempts to crush it, and a spark that has spread and continues to spread, like wildfire, throughout Latin America and the entire world. The imperialists are starting to tremble at the prospects of a fire they might not be able to contain, a fire that warms the hearts and provides fuel and energy to the rest of the world, the majority.

While one cannot predict the future of 2006, one thing is certain: the struggle against the FTAA, and capitalism as a whole, will continue. Happy New Year.