9th anniversary of armed uprising marked by biggest mobilisation so far

BY RAMOR RYAN
San Cristobal de las Casas, MEXICO, 1 January 2003



Defying their critics, who charge they are divided and disintegrating, the Zapatistas mobilised their forces today, mustering the largest and most militant demonstration seen in San Cristobal since the armed uprising nine years ago. As many as 20,000 masked militants of the EZLN descended on the town from all corners of Chiapas, armed with machetes and lighting huge bonfires around the central plaza and surrounding streets. There were no injuries, and little damage to property, but the feisty rebels demonstrated in no uncertain terms that, on the ninth anniversary of the uprising, they are still organised, still militant and still enraged.

A night to remember

"I am very proud we have peace in Mexico, with Marcos, with the Zapatistas," said Mexican President Vincente Fox a few weeks ago, while visiting Europe.

"Fox says we have peace in Chiapas, that there is no conflict," said Comandante David from the podium. " Is the conflict settled in Chiapas? he asked.

"NOOOO!" was the emphatic reply from the multitude, banging their machetes and sticks, holding up burning torches, as the black smoke from the multiple bonfires engulfed the town centre. The masked insurgents packed the expansive central plaza and still thousands more were left chanting in the surrounding streets. The mood was combative and the chants, banners and speeches from the stage were uncompromising - Fox Is The Same As Zedillo, PAN Equals PRI, No Evictions From Montes Azules, Globalise Rebellion And Dignity!

The rebellion in Argentina was lauded, and the actions of Bush and Bin Laden were condemned. "We came to say that here we are still, stronger than ever and we resist," said Comandante Mister. " Before a globalisation of death imposed by the powerful, we proclaim a globalisation of freedom..."

"Are we here to surrender?" shouted Commandante Tacho, and the crowd responded with such a hell-raising clamour that a lady next to me was prompted to mutter " Oh Lord, I think they´re going to burn down the town!"

Betrayal and oblivion

This is the first public mass mobilisation of the Zapatista Comandancia and rank-and-file in almost two years. The last Zapatista event was the hugely popular Caravan to the Capital in February of 2001, bringing out Mexicans in their hundreds of thousands in support of Indigenous demands, as Sub-Comandante Marcos and the EZLN command journeyed up to Mexico City.

The crowning achievement of that odyssey was presenting an Indigenous Law granting a form of autonomy for ratification through Congress. But as soon as the Zapatistas turned their backs and returned home to Chiapas, that Law was modified and watered down by government legislators, amidst charges of betrayal. Appeals to reinstate the original Law before the Supreme Court were rejected.

With this constitutional rejection of Indigenous Reform, Congress, the Federal government and the Supreme Court of the nation was seen to negate the legitimacy of the San Andres Accords, signed between government and rebels in 1996. Recognition of the San Andres Accords is the principle demand in order to restart dialogue between the EZLN and the Federal government. With this failure, it seemed the legal and political means to resolve the Chiapas conflict had been exhausted.

The Zapatistas seemed exhausted too, and lapsed into a long silence lasting 20 months. The Fox government worked hard to provoke divisions within the base communities, offering numerous financial incentives. The Mexican army remained, if a little less visible, encircling the Zapatistas areas, and paramilitaries upped the ante, murdering four Zapatista leaders in August 2002. The EZLN did not respond to these provocations, remaining silent throughout the wave of killings, prompting rumours of impotence and inner turmoil. Marcos had fallen out with the Clandestine Committee, ran the rumour-mongering and had been sent into exile. Rank and file were deserting the ranks in floods. President Fox, ever the opportunist, attempted a public relations coup amid the silence, claiming the conflict had been resolved. "We have brought peace to Chiapas," he boasted. A peace of military occupation, continuing extreme poverty and slow death by strangulation of the land. The peace of oblivion?

A Spectre Haunts Chiapas

Chiapas is on the brink of profound structural change, a change that will not be wrought by a triumphant Zapatista return, but by a series of mega-projects financed by global capital called Plan Puebla Panama (PPP). Envisaging a series of colossal dams, construction of super-highways and the development of a vast sweatshop area, the planners intend to develop southern Mexico and Central America into a manufacturing hub and production corridor. "The Plan Puebla Panama is a thousand times more important than any indigenous Zapatista community" according to President Fox.

Plan Puebla Panama has three goals - a) increase the transit and industrial infrastructure of the region, improving the capacity for export industries, b) catalyze a shift of the region's economy from agriculture to assembly plant manufacturing, and c) expand private control over the vast natural resources in the region.

The process is already underway. The first sweatshop has opened in Huixtla. Road construction is currently a boom industry. Land ownership is changing - 11% of land in Chiapas is held communally (in Ejidos) and most of the ejidos are in the strategically important Jungle region under control of the Zapatistas. A government programme Procede offers incentives to communities to divide their land and individualise holdings. Once it is privatised, the land can be sold on to investors, or agents for foreign companies, thereby opening up the process of capitalist development.

The battle between bio-prospectors and the indigenous inhabitants of the jungle region has already intensified. Bio-piracy, ie. patenting plants that can be turned into pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides or other marketable products, has become highly profitable - prompting the title Green Gold, and the current rush to patent rights the Bio-gold rush.

Influenced by the Zapatista struggle, communities of small farmers are organising across southern Mexico and all the way down Central America, forming international coalitions and coordinating their protests like the Day of Action last 12 October (Colombus Day) against the PPP and capitalist globalisation. A masked protester from the Regional Co-ordination of Civil Society organisation, blocking a highway in Chiapas last October, articulated their demands, linking them with those of the Zapatistas.

"We have seen that all Fox and Salazar ( State Governor of Chiapas) have done is for the benefit of the rich and in favour of the owners of money,... with little benefit for us, the farmers. We are against the PPP, NAFTA and ALCA, and as you can see from the banners, in favour of honouring the San Andres Accords."

In all Mexico about a quarter of the population, 25 million, live off the land, and 80% of them in extreme poverty. Approximately 600 campesinos are forced to abandon the land for the cities every single day. The agriculture sector is in severe decline, and NAFTA is one of the chief reasons. The influx of cheap corn and wheat from the giant commercial farms of the US is driving small farmers to ruin.

Rather than promote a sustainable agriculture sector, the Fox government, firmly committed to NAFTA, and ALCA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) , encourages the desertion of the land. Migration is rife. Official figures quote 150,000 migrants from Chiapas to the US each year, but the growth industry in bus companies running to the US border - 80 new companies registered in the last three years, suggest an even greater number. Alongside the internal migration to work in Cancun and the oil fields of Tabasco, a whole way of rural life and indigenous culture is in danger of disappearing.

"The PPP will respect the territorial integrity of the communities and promote a sustainable development," says Fox, which flies in the face of the events on the ground. Thirty indigenous communities on Montes Azules in the Lacandon Jungle are currently facing violent eviction. This local struggle has become the front line for widespread resistance against the Plan Puebla Panama. The Zapatistas have sworn to fight eviction in Montes Azules to the death.

"This traitorous government and the voracious capitalists know that this land is ours, and we won't abandon it," says Rosa, a fiery Zapatista Chol from Tumbala, "and its wealth belongs to those who have lived here and worked these lands for centuries. We resist their globalisation in the same way the indigenous people resisted the Conquest, and our corn will resist their transgenic corn!"


The ninth anniversary


The nine years of struggle of the Zapatistas has, on the ground, been both beneficial and circuitous. The initial armed uprising opened up vast swathes of occupied land taken from the finqueros. Thousands of campesinos continue to occupy and work these territories, a de-facto rebel zone under the authority of the 38 Autonomous Municipalities. This is the one great achievement for the bases of support of the Zapatistas. On the other hand, the autonomous zones are constantly under threat, surrounded by the army and menaced by paramilitaries.

The government's attempts to buy off the rebel communities has been successful in some areas, and traditional pre-1994 Zapatista strongholds are often the focus for the most persistent counter-insurgency programmes. The historical Zapatista village of Morelia, for example, has seen the level of support for the insurgents fall to below 50% of the populace. Support in another Aguascalientes, Roberto Barrios, has fallen to less than 25%. However, the younger communities on occupied land remain staunch, and Zapatista numbers swell as children of the rebellion grow up and form their own communities.

"We are united here," says Don Anselmo of the 100% Zapatista village 10 de Abril,

"although I do worry about some of the other communities." Five or six of the surrounding smaller villages have dropped out of the struggle. Ex-Zapatista Esteban explains why he dropped out and left 10 de Abril to live in one of the other non-Zapatista villages - " I got tired, and I needed to feed my kids. The (Zapatista) Organisation takes up a lot of time and you get little in return." Taking advantage of a government scheme, he received some construction materials and his children receive state schooling. (It's true, the autonomous school in 10 de Abril was not functioning well.) Is he finished with the Zapatistas? "No," says Esteban, "I'm taking a rest."

Renewal of struggle

And this is the importance of the strong, militant demonstration on 1 January. As rumours of significant desertion of the ranks, internal division and impotency abound, such a powerful manifestation of hardcore allegiance rallies the troops and demonstrates that the Zapatistas are still the only show in town. As the constitutional path - marked by betrayal, seems exhausted and the enemy takes a more global face, the Zapatistas appear to be changing their tactical direction, renewing the spirit of resistance and pursuing a more confrontational strategy.

At midnight on 1 January 2003, the night sky above San Cristobal is thick with pungent smoke and the old colonial streets are jam-packed with hordes of spirited masked Zapatistas, taking control of the town, deserted of locals and security forces. As Chiapas faces an uncertain future regarding the Plan Puebla Panama, one thing is sure from this insurgent demonstration - the conflict has entered into a new phase. The Zapatistas have returned from their forays into national constitutional reform to once more address the needs and demands of their base constituency. From the stage, Comandante Bruce Lee (no, really) directed the cadre to build bigger bonfires to warm the cool night air. "This struggle has hardly begun. Let the fires shine bright so that the people can see how we have maintained our rebellion!"