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BoCa En BoCa #32 – English- May 2015 –
BoCa En BoCa is an independent newssheet that aims to disseminate what happens in the organized communities in Chiapas. The aim is to generate solidarity among communities, through summaries or extracts of their publications transmitting their words.
BOCA EN BOCA 32, MAY 2015
SUMMARIES
Police attack stall-holders in Arriaga Market
The CDH Digna Ochoa of Tonalá reported on 07/04 the arrival of “3 individuals in plain clothes aboard a white truck with the municipal government logo and accompanied by the municipal police; they headed for the Salón Corona to break the locks and welding on the gate, acting on instructions from the mayor Noé López Duque; those rooms are used by the stall-holders as economical kitchens and as a store room to keep some items to sell.”
They said that later, “the stall-holders organised themselves to demand that the mayor return their locks and repair the welding.” In the mayor’s office they were told that “the lock and the welding had been restored but as they left the office, members of the municipal police verbally and physically assaulted” a minor slapping him, hitting a man below the ribs, and assaulting two ladies. All were threatened with being taken to jail.
The CDH pointed out that “More than two years ago, the state and municipal governments demolished the old market and to date, the work remains unfinished. This caused inconvenience to and protests by the 700 tenants.”
http://espoirchiapas.blogspot.fr/2015/04/agresion-en-contra-de-locatarios-del.html
Agreement between PRI and government to finish off Bachajón
The comp@s of Bachajón released a new communiqué on 10/04. After a text in Tseltal the comp@s explained the new strategies of the bad government to put an end to their organization.
The previous day, “on 9/04 the Agrarian Procurator of Ocosingo, with the Lic. Juan René and the Undersecretary of Yajalón whose surname is Alpuche, adviser to the paramilitaries of Paz y Justicia, came to the community of Xanil where they had a meeting with the members of the PRI-green party, followers of Alejandro Moreno Gomez, to seek agreement on how to put an end to our organization because they say they no longer want there to be organizing in the community, because they like to be with the government and its lackeys and minions, handing over the land, despising autonomy and the life of the peoples.”
They denounced that the government is “looking for ways to divide, murder and imprison us, for the benefit of big business. The people will not remain silent and we will defend whatever the cost.”
Finally they announced that “the Third Collegiate Court of Tuxtla Gutierrez denied our amparo 274/2011, which was begun in March 2011. Because value was given to the agreement signed by the PRI with the thief Juan Sabines Guerrero and the judges of the court said that the agreement respects the human rights of the community and that it is for their benefit. These judges are traitors to the fatherland, corrupt and racist, they sold themselves to the government so as to continue sitting on their arses in their big offices, with their big cars and white houses like the one peña nieto has, because they do not care about the people.”
Migrants against Crime
On 5/04 in Tenosique, various organizations signed a declaration in solidarity with migrants, refugees and those who defend them, “… alarmed by the increase in hostilities and attacks against migrants and against those who defend them, perpetrated by the National Migration Institute and police from the 3 levels of government, who take part in such violent operations that they have even caused the death of people in circumstances that may involve culpable homicide, but have not been properly investigated, as happened on March 6 near Palenque.” They denounced the “Southern Border Plan as a mechanism of persecution that contradicts the principles of hospitality, respect for humanitarian and human rights that should regulate the actions of the authorities in dealing with migrants who pass through our country.”
“In their communiqué, the signatories, CDH Frayba, Innocent Voices, Serapaz, Indignation Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, demanded the dissolution of the Southern Border Plan and “an immediate and thorough investigation to identify officials who have been involved in any abuse, extortion or aggression against migrants and even to investigate possible cases of culpable homicide in which they might have been involved; they demanded the “Right to Free Movement Now!, and we also say: we are ashamed of the authorities of our country.” They called for “an investigation and punishment of employees of the National Migration Institute who impede the work and harass those who accompany migrants or defend their rights”, and finally they affirmed their solidarity with “the actions taken on these days by the 72, and we make a strong and firm call to the authorities to immediately implement the necessary actions to protect life, stop the persecution, refrain from impeding the actions taken by the 72 and fully respect the human rights of migrants and people who defend them.”
http://espoirchiapas.blogspot.fr/2015/04/migracion-declaracion-en-solidaridad.html
IN BRIEF
16/03- Villagers of the Communal Lands of Venustiano Carranza, Casa del Pueblo announced “…we have the right to regain all of the 46 plots” invaded. http://lafoja.com/?p=529
28/03- Zoque Artists denounce the State Centre of Literature, Art and Indigenous Language (CELALI) for supporting “a cultural dictatorship.” http://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2015/03/artistas-zoques-se-inconforman-por-politica-cultural-oficialista/
29/03- Catholic members of the Parish of Chenalhó expressed their concern and sadness about the situation of alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution that are destroying families. http://chiapasdenuncia.blogspot.mx/2015/03/basta-ya-la-situacion-del-alcoholismo.html
09/04- Neighbours of Tlaxcala, San Cristobal de las Casas, are asking local authorities to suspend road works due to the damage they may cause.
09/04- After agreements on mutual respect, Indigenous from the Community of Communal Lands of the Lacandon Area denounced the government’s campaign for trying to divide and turn them against the different communities. http://vocesmesoamericanas.org/2015/04/08/conferencia-de-prensa-bienes-comunales-zona-lacandona/
09/04- Prisoner unjustly imprisoned from San Sebastian Bachajón, Esteban Gomez Jimenez, says, “I was imprisoned for organising for training in the defence of Mother Earth”. https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/denuncia-from-companero-esteban-gomez-jimenez-political-prisoner-from-bachajon-in-el-amate/
09/04- Members of the Movement in Defence of Life and Territory, and Believing People from eleven municipalities reject the construction of the San Cristobal-Palenque highway. http://www.maderasdelpueblo.org.mx/?q=manifestantes-de-11-municipios-de-chiapas-se-oponen-al-corredor-palenque-san-crist%C3%B3bal
10/04- Members of LaklumalIxim-Northern Jungle Tumbala and Tila took action in defence of their lands and territories, and for a fair rate on electricity, and against the San Cristobal-Palenque highway https://www.facebook.com/miradasurchiapas/posts/812566665497150
18 / 04- San Cristobal citizens gathered at the Forum in Defence of the Wetlands of the Valley of Jovel, expressing their concern about a development that neglects their environment. http://regeneracion.mx/causas-justas/chiapas-san-cristobal-crean-red-en-defensa-de-humedales/
23/ 04- Following 60 days of displacement in inhumane conditions, Tojolabal families from Primero de Agosto reported robberies and threats, and demanded compliance with the agreement for the return to their lands. https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/communique-from-forcibly-displaced-families-from-primero-de-agosto-denounce-threats/
FOLLOW-UP
06/04 Luisa Margareth Castillo Mora ended her hunger strike after an undertaking to fulfill the agreed minutes. http://www.cdmch.org/luisa-margareth-levanta-huelga-de-hambre-y-pide-cese-a-las-detenciones-y-desapariciones-forzadas/
13/04 Death threats continue against the believing people of Simojovel and Father Marcelo. https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/rise-in-threats-against-the-priest-and-members-of-the-believing-people-in-simojovel/
16/04 After nearly two months of forced displacement, Tojolabal women and children testify and demand their prompt return. https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/new-threats-against-residents-of-primero-de-agosto/
EZLN Bulletin: “The storm, the sentry and vigilance syndrome”
Sup Galeano issued a new bulletin on 1 April covering four points: the challenge, the sentry, the vigilance syndrome and the storm. The bulletin set out some reflections on the forthcoming seminar, with the following questions: what are we seeing? why? where is this taking us? from where? for what purpose? “It’s as if we were thinking about the world, musing on its slow gyration, thinking about its destination, questioning its history, disputing the rationality of its evidence.”
The sentry reminds us of the work at the “look-out posts,” where “the task is to keep watch on the surrounding area and the access points, and to raise the alarm.” “According to us, the Zapatistas, theoretical reflection and critical thought have this job as sentry. Whoever undertakes this analytical reflection has to take their turn at the look-out post”.
“The vigilance syndrome is not a scientific study, but the product of ’empirical observation’.” It explains the wearing down “over time of the capacity for vigilance,” which leads to a “kind of thinking in a loop, or constancy of perception.” To overcome the sentry’s fatigue the Sup says “the important thing is to be on the watch for any sign of danger. It’s not about warning of the danger when it’s already arrived, but of watching for the signs, evaluating and interpreting them, and thinking about them critically”.
The storm is that which “we, the Zapatistas, watch and listen for; the catastrophe in all senses of the word that can arrive”…“what we think is that we have to ask others, from other calendars, from other geographies, what it is that they see. We know the world is large and that others are also thinking about it, analysing, watching, considering, and that we do these things better through the discussion of ideas. Not, as it were, an exchange of goods, as happens in capitalism, but as an exchange of me sharing my thoughts and you doing the same. In other words, a meeting of thinking.”
Finally, he said, with respect to the seminar being held at Cideci, “we are making a seed-bed of ideas, of analysis, of critical thinking of what is happening in the capitalist system. So this seminary, or seed-bed is not a single place nor for a single moment. It is something that will last, and something that happens in many places.”
On 9/04, in relation to a cyber-attack, Sup Galeano issued a bulletin entitled “Why so serious?”
https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/ezln-why-so-serious/
Brazil: Our struggle has no borders!
“On 12/07/14, the day before the final of the World Cup, the civil police in Rio de Janeiro accused 23 activists of organizing “violent acts” in demonstrations, of these 18 were detained in maximum security prisons, in an operation that included violations of the privacy of the homes and the dignity of the prisoners and their families,” declared the Group for Popular Education from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which invites organizations and individuals from below and to the left from around the world to make statements and acts of solidarity with the persecuted compas and to demand the release of Igor Mendes and Rafael Braga.
“Dozens of activists and their families have had their phones tapped for months, including those of lawyers, whose conversations with their clients have also been listened to. In the days following, these activists have remained in prison, suffering abuse and torture. Particularly critical was the situation of an underage compañera who was subjected to torture every day of her captivity by state agents.”
“The 23 are teachers who were active in the strike for public education, educators working with popular education in favelas, students active in the student movement, or simply frequent demonstrators in protests against the World Cup”. “All are persecuted by the state, which accuses them of “forming an armed gang” […] “We know in fact that the only crime they committed was fighting against the powerful, seeking to build another world from below and to the left.”
On 8th April, “the prosecution has asked for the sentencing of 18 of the 23 compañeros. We are keeping very alert, because there is a good chance that the judge will try to arrest them in the next month, so we need all your solidarity.”
“There is also the case of Rafael Braga, arrested on 20/06/13 during the huge popular demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro […]; Rafael Braga, poor and black, is the first political prisoner convicted in Brazil for the June demonstrations.”
“It is clear that the proposal of the judiciary and the State is to silence the voices of those who struggle. Of those who said NO to the abusive expenditure on the World Cup, defending education and health for the people. Of those who will continue in the streets protesting against evictions in the favelas (poor communities) and against the cost of the Olympics in 2016.”
http://radiozapatista.org/?p=12660
Eduardo Galeano
On 08/07/1996, the late Eduardo Galeano wrote “The Zapatistas come from the furthest point in time and from the deepest point in the earth. When the year 94 smelled of a new-born baby, the Zapatistas spoiled the celebrations of the Mexican government, who were mad with the joy of declaring the freedom of money. Though the mouths of their guns they echoed the voices of those who had never been heard, so they were listened to. But the guns of the Zapatistas want to be useless. This is not a movement in love with death; it gets no pleasure from firing shots or slogans, neither does it intend to take power. It comes from the furthest point in time and from the deepest point in the earth: it has a lot to denounce, but it also has a lot to celebrate. At the end of the day, five centuries of horror have not managed to annihilate these communities or their ancient way of working and living in human solidarity and communion with nature. The Zapatistas want to accomplish their task in peace, which in a nutshell means to help awaken the secret muscles of human dignity. Against horror, humour: we must laugh a lot to make a new world, says Marcos, otherwise, the new world is going to be square, and will not go round. Chiapas wants to be a centre of resistance against infamy and stupidity, and is working on it. And we are working on it, or would like to do so, those of us who have entered into the discussions of these days. Here in this community called La Realidad, where everything but desire is missing, and where the rain falls in full flow.”
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/1996/08/07/CRONICA2-063.html
+ => Letter from Sup Marcos to Eduardo Galeano: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/1995/05/02/a-eduardo-galeano-me-enseno-el-viejo-antonio-que-uno-es-tan-grande-como-el-enemigo-que-escoge-para-luchar/
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