Justice for Galeano; Stop the war against the Zapatista communities
Week of action: May 18th-24th, 2014
(Day of remembrance May 24th, 2014)
Summary of recent events:
On May 2, 2014, in the Zapatista territory of La Realidad, Chiapas, Mexico, the group CIOAC-Histórica [with the participation of the Green Ecological Party and the National Action Party (PAN)], planned and executed a paramilitary attack on unarmed Zapatista civilians. An autonomous Zapatista school and clinic was destroyed, 15 people were ambushed and injured and Jose Luis Solis Lopez (Galeano), teacher at the Zapatista Little School, was murdered. The mainstream media is falsely reporting this attack on the Zapatistas as an intra-community confrontation, but in fact this attack is the result of a long-term counterinsurgency strategy promoted by the Mexican government.
Given the experience of the 1997 massacre at Acteal, we are concerned about the mounting paramilitary activity against Zapatista bases of support. It is clear that if we do not take action now, the current situation in Chiapas may also lead to an even more tragic end.
Why this matters to us:
Since 1994, the Zapatistas have shown us the bankruptcy of the world that dominates us and, most importantly, the ability to organize ourselves into self-determining communities autonomous from the political class and capitalism. It is this capacity to show that another world is possible in the here and now, one not rooted in exploitation, dispossession, repression and de-valorization, but rather in liberty, democracy and justice, that has inspired us all. An attack on the Zapatistas is an attack on the other world that we have all tried to build along with them for the past 20 years.
What we should do:
We strongly denounce the murder of Compañero Galeano and the attacks against our Zapatista brothers and sisters. We denounce the deliberate destruction of the Zapatista clinic and school. We denounce the disinformation from the press regarding these attacks.
To denounce these aggressions and in support of our Zapatista brothers and sisters, the signatories below call on all Zapatista supporters, students, anti-prison activists, artists, workers, intellectuals, teachers, academics, LGBTQ groups, anarchists, communities of faith, prisoners, communities and organizations of color, indigenous peoples, Chicanos, migrants and all those seeking a more just, non-capitalist world, to pronounce themselves against these attacks by the Mexican government on the Zapatistas and to hold events starting Sunday May 18th (e.g. demonstrations at Mexican consulates and Embassies, corporate subsidiaries, and banks supporting the Mexican government, teach-ins, discussion groups, concerts, informational sessions, or other civil actions that people deem appropriate for their city) and culminating with a day of remembrance on May 24th called by the Zapatistas in honor of the late Compañero Galeano.
Let’s make our dignified pain and rage another building block towards a movement that will directly participate, along with the Zapatistas, in creating this new world.
#ZapatistasNoEstanSolxs
For a full list of signatories click here
Mumia Abu Jamal
Noam Chomsky
Angela Davis
Junot Díaz
Ozomatli
Alice Walker
Cornel West
Mike Davis
Emory Douglas
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW-ISC)
Rosa Clemente
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Chris Hedges
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)
David Harvey
Prison Radio
Robin D. G. Kelley
Tom Hayden
Rebel Diaz
Olmeca
Bocafloja
Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui
Michael Albert
A.R.M.A. Collective
Iris Morales
David Graeber
Karla Quiñonez
El Kilombo Intergaláctico
James and Grace Lee Boggs Center
Take Back the Land
Glen Ford
Silvia Federici
Vijay Prashad
Schools for Chiapas
Mexico Solidarity Network
Rick Rowley
Peter Brown
Fred Moten
Michael Hardt
Henry A. Giroux
Michael Taussig
Greg Ruggiero
Midnight Notes Collective
George Caffentzis
Laura Gottesdiener
Catherine Walsh
Arturo Escobar
Rebecca Solnit
Harry Cleaver
Angel Luis Lara
Andrej Grubacic
Zuccotti Park Press
Marco Amador
Brian Holmes
Andrew Ross
J. Kehaulani Kauanui
Bill Mullen
Peter Linebaugh
Antonia Darder
Richard Stahler-Sholk
Peter McLaren
Hans Widmer
Joseph Nevins
Annemarie Jacir
Johanna Fernandez
Anthony Arnove
Jeff Perlstein
Steven Salaita
David Riker
Michel Khleifi
Samia Halaby
RJ Maccani of The Foundry Theatre
Bikesan@s del Valle
Bay Area Intifada
Alumno@s de la Escuelita
Adherentes a la Sexta
Decolonial Food For Thought
Shades of Silence
Los Angeles Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee
Mujeres De Maiz
Chandan Reddy
Acción Zapatista de Humboldt
Acción Zapatista South Bay
Universidad de la Tierra Califas
Chiapas Support Committee/Comité de Apoyo a Chiapas Oakland
Dorset Chiapas Solidarity Group
CODEPINK
Plataforma de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Guatemala de Madrid