[Peace-discuss] Zapatistas Celebrate 23 Years of Resistance, Forge New Strategy

[David Johnson]

 <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/section/news> News
<http://www.telesurtv.net/SubSecciones/en/news/latinaamerica/> > Latin
America 

Zapatistas Celebrate 23 Years of Resistance, Forge New Strategy

*	Description: The Zapatista National Liberation Army launched its
armed struggle declaring war on the Mexican state on Jan. 1, 1994.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army launched its armed struggle declaring
war on the Mexican state on Jan. 1, 1994. | Photo: teleSUR / Road to
Resistance

 

 

The Zapatistas have announced plans to put forward an Indigenous woman
candidate for Mexico's 2018 presidential elections, marking a break in
strategy.

The
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Zapatistas-Blast-Mainstream-Media-for
-Botched-Massacre-Coverage-20160731-0007.html> Zapatistas marked 23 years
Sunday of their iconic uprising against the Mexican state that has inspired
social movements around the globe as a leading example of autonomous
organizing and Indigenous resistance.

OPINION: 
 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-Zapatistas-Are-Building-The-Wo
rld-We-Ask-For-20161231-0012.html> The Zapatistas Are Building The World We
Ask For

The Zapatista National Liberation Army, known as the EZLN, commemorated the
anniversary with a private ceremony in Oventic, in the southern Mexican
state of Chiapas. The event was closed to the press and people outside the
Zapatista community.

The celebration also marked the 20th anniversary National Indigenous
Congress, an initiative the Zapatistas first launched as a rallying cry in
the early years after the movement emerged to bring together Indigenous
peoples from Mexico and other countries to advance their struggles through
solidarity.

On Sunday, the EZLN was also expected to announce its
<http://The%20Zapatistas%20have%20announced%20plans%20to%20put%20forward%20a
n%20Indigenous%20woman%20candidate%20for%20the%202018%20presidential%20elect
ions,%20marking%20a%20break%20in%20strategy.> presidential candidate for the
2018 elections - which the movement has already indicated will be an
Indigenous woman - after a process of community consultation. The decision
to put forward a candidate for the next election marks a break with more
than two decades of Zapatista strategy of rejecting the Mexican state and
electoral politics.

In a recent statement, Zapatista Subcomandante Galeano, formerly known as
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Zapatista-Subcomandante-Marcos-Free-o
f-Charges-After-20-Years-20160223-0040.html> Subcomandante Marcos, reflected
on the EZLN commitment to "fight to build freedom," saying it was a mission
that the community agreed to work toward collectively with the participation
of all.

RELATED: 
 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Road-to-Resistance-Zapatistas-Fight-f
or-a-World-Where-Many-Fit-20160208-0028.html> Road to Resistance: Zapatistas
Fight for a World Where Many Fit

"We agreed that, if it wasn't possible to do it in this world, then we would
make another world, a bigger, better one where all the possible worlds fit,"
he wrote. "The ones that already exist and the ones that we haven't yet
imagined."

The EZLN declared war against the Mexican state on January 1, 1994,
launching the Indigenous movement in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas into
the international spotlight as an example for autonomous social movements
around the globe.

The movement has seen victories, but also considerable challenges, including
intense repression and criminalization of the struggle at the hands of the
state, private landowners, and paramilitary forces.

But despite the hurdles, over two decades after the masked Indigenous army
emerged from Chiapas' Lacandon jungle and announced its resistance to the
Mexico and to the world, the EZLN struggle continues as an ongoing road to
self-determination and new alternatives to global capitalism.

 

 

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