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/* Written 2:24 PM Jun 8, 1995 by moonlight in igc:reg.mexico */ /* ---------- "EZLN calls for plebiscite" ---------- */ Communique of the Clandestine Indigenous Revolutionary Committee- General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation- Mexico June of 1995
TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO;
BROTHERS [and sisters], A year ago in the month of June of 1994, we responded NO to
the government proposal for the signing of a fake peace. A year
ago, the supreme government after responding to our demands for
democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicanos, with a stack of
papers, with the offering of "generous" alms and with the
arrogance which took the country to the worst crisis in its
history, received the dignified voice of the Zapatistas, the "NO"
which indicated we were not willing to exchange our dignity for
money and promises. A year ago the Zapatista Army of National Liberation took
the initiative of speaking to the Mexican Nation to demand a
national dialogue with all the people, groups and organizations
who found common cause in the struggle for democracy, liberty and
justice. Acknowledging that a great social force had manifested itself in the beginning of the year 1994, first to stop the war and next to propel a dialogue, the EZLN acknowledges the power and voice of that social force, civil and peaceful, and called it to dialogue in order to seek and raise a banner, the national banner, and to struggle together for a transition to democracy in Mexico. This call we made in our 'SECOND DECLARATION OF THE LACANDON JUNGLE" and we called this first encounter of the national dialogue:
Two months later, the aspirations of ample sectors of the
country to achieve the peaceful transition to democracy led to
the birth, on the 8th of August of 1994 and in rebel territory
against the bad government, of the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC
CONVENTION. In the Convention different organized efforts converged,
citizens' groups, intellectuals and honest artists, political
organizations of the center and the left, and a great number of
citizens without a party. We recognized one another before a
common enemy, the State-Party system, and in the call of the
faceless men and women of the EZLN, and agreed on the demand for
democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicanos. We agreed, but
we did not unite. The lack of a program and a plan of common
action, allowed the electoral horizon to be converted in an
obstacle for the development of the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC
CONVENTION. The dialogue among different forces was and has been
difficult. There have been many obstacles and points of
stagnation. But the fundamental platform of the NATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION continues to be viable; the peaceful civil
struggle against the party system of the State. Once the electoral fraud of August 21st was past and the
ceremony of neoliberalism continued in our country on December 1
of 1994, the economy burst in crisis, the treacherous war masked
in legality continued , as did the obsessive government
resistance to a democratic opening and a profound reform of the
State, and the shameful sale of national sovereignty and the
repressive blows to the popular movements. In the city and in the Mexican countryside, the popular
demands found the same response: lies, jail, death. Contrary to what was expected and desired by the bad
government, the post-electoral miasma was overcome, and to each
new blow, the democratic forces responded with rapidity,
creativity and decisiveness. New forms of organization have developed since then; Popular
fronts, coordinators, civil associations, citizen's committees,
organizational alliances. Nevertheless, the different initiatives are limited, and
waste away in the horizon which produces them. For each blow an
organized response develops, For each organized response, the
system prepares another blow. We think that an initiative with a national character is lacking which UNITES and MAKES COHESIVE all the organizational forms which have been until now diffuse. We believed, we pointed out in our "THIRD DECLARATION OF THE LACANDON JUNGLE, a
NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT
The discussion about the characteristics of this great
national opposition movement postponed its creation. The
National Democratic Convention, called to head this ample
opposition front, gave in to discussion about whether the front
should be based on class or should be broad-based. As though
these concepts were mutually exclusive, as though the formation
of an ample multi-class movement impeded the generation of a
class movement, the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION avoided making
a decision in this regard. The economic and repressive blows of February, March, and
April, the widespread popular discontent, the lack of
organizational alternatives and the awakening of the workers in
the republic, made it clear that it was an error to have
postponed the call which, days later, the people of Mexico
awaited. Nevertheless, new actors and new organizational forms began
to point anew to the urgency and necessity of an initiative the
nature of which could be a Movement for National Liberation. Today we think it continues to be necessary to form this
ample opposition front to the politics of the government. Today we find ourselves at the beginning of a new effort at
a dialogue with the supreme government. Today we renew our
demands for democracy, liberty and justice for all Mexicans. Today we offer, as we did 18 months ago our blood, our voice
so that all may speak, our cry so that all may cry, our demands
so that all may demand. Today we demand Everything for Everyone! Today we demand a national dialogue between those who are
opposed to the democratic change and those who struggle to make
it a reality. Between the government, on one side, and all the
democratic forces on the other. National dialogue in order to dialogue with the government. We Zapatistas see this as necessary. We do not want to make decisions without listening to all those who have helped us so much in the search for a peace with justice and dignity. We cannot do what the bad government does, that is, make decisions without asking those who, supposedly, support them.
Brothers [and sisters]; We have demonstrated before, every time that war seemed to
engulf our lands, that we know how to listen. Today we want to
demonstrate anew and re-orient our path. That is why we are directing ourselves to the people of
Mexico, to the Democratic National Convention, to the different
independent social organizations, to the political parties of
opposition, to the citizens' organizations, to the non-
governmental organizations, to the unions, to the students, to
the squatters, to the workers of the fields and the cities, to
the indigenous Mexicans, to the housewives, to the intellectuals
and artists, to the religious community, to the elderly, to the
women, to the men and the children. And we are also calling upon
those solidarity committees in the international community, to
our brothers and sisters of North America, of Europe, of Asia of
South America. We call upon everyone, legal and clandestine, armed and
peaceful, civil and military, to all those who struggle, in all
forms, on all levels and in all parts for democracy, liberty and
justice in the world. For us, for the Zapatistas, the voice of civil society is
important. The voice of all of you has value and power for the
Zapatistas. We want to hear your word and know your thoughts in
order to continue ahead. We are directing ourselves to all our brothers in order to propose a national and international consultation [plebiscite] which will give direction to all of us in order to find the steps we should take and the direction we should follow in this historic moment.
Brothers [and sisters]: We make a respectful request to the brothers of the NATIONAL
CIVIC ALLIANCE to contribute to this peaceful and civic effort in
the struggle for democracy, providing their experience in the
organization of such citizen consultations. We make an urgent call to those different groups who make up
the Democratic National Convention to suspend their internal
purges and take into their hands the organization and realization
of this large national consultation. We call upon the National Convention of Workers to organize
the consultation in unions, labor centers and workers'
organizations. We call upon the National Convention of Indigenous Peoples
to organize the consultation in the indigenous and peasant
communities of the nation, and in the independent organizations
of indigenous people and peasants. We call upon the National Student Convention to organize the
consultation in the middle and upper educational centers of the
country. We call upon the National Women's Convention to organize a
consultation in the independent organizations of women, in the
neighborhoods and with the housewives. We call upon the National convention of Artists to organize
a consultation among cultural workers and to collaborate, with
their labor and production, with the realization of this
consultation in all the country. We call upon the solidarity organizations which sympathize with the just cause of the EZLN in the United States, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Chile, Holland, Sweden, Norway, England, Argentina, Venezuela, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and Russia, and in all the world to organize this consultation in their respective countries.
Brothers [and sisters]; This is our word. We ask that we organize ourselves in
order to ask, that we organize ourselves in order to respond,
that we organize ourselves in order to act. We propose that the
consultation announce its results by August 8th of 1995 at the
latest, first anniversary of the beginning of the national
dialogue for a transition to democracy. The EZLN confirms, with this proposal for a great citizen
consultation, its commitment to "command by obeying". It gives a
demonstration of its seriousness and its true commitment in the
search for a political solution to the war, and calls to a new
national dialogue among the democratic forces of the country.
--From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,
TRANSLATED BY: Cecilia Rodriguez, National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA. t/f/(915)532-8382, e-mail: moonlight@ igc.apc.org |
