Today we say: We will not surrender!
". . . Those who bear swords aren't the only ones who lose blood or
who shine with the fleeting light of military glory. They aren't
the only ones who should have a voice in designating the leaders of
the government of a people who want democracy; this right to choose
belongs to every citizen who has fought in the press or in the
courts. It belongs to every citizen who identifies with the ideals
of the Revolution and who has fought against the despotism that has
ignored our laws. Tyranny isn't eliminated just by fighting on the
battlefield; dictatorships and empires are also overthrown by
launching cries of freedom and terrible threats against those who
are executing the people. . . Historical events have shown us that
the destruction of tyranny and the overthrow of all bad government
are the work of ideas together with the sword. It is therefore an
absurdity, an aberration, an outrageous despotism to deny the
people the right to elect their government. The people's
sovereignty is formed by all those people in society who are
conscience of their rights and who, be they civilians or armed,
love freedom and justice and who work for the good of the country."
- Paulino Marti'nez, Zapatista delegate to the Revolutionary
Sovereignty Convention, Aguascalientes, Mexico, on behalf of
Emiliano Zapata. October 27, 1914.
To the people of Mexico:
To the peoples and governments of the world:
Brothers:
The Eje'rcito Zapatista de Liberacio'n Nacional (EZLN), on a
war footing against the government since January First, 1994,
addresses itself to you in order to make known its opinion:
Brother Mexicans:
In December, 1993, we said, "Enough!" On January First, 1994,
we called on the Legislative and Judicial powers to assume their
constitutional responsibility and to restrain the genocidal
policies that the Federal Executive imposes upon our people. We
base our constitutional right in the application of Article 37 of
the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States:
"National Sovereignty essentially and originally resides in the
people. All political power emanates from the people and its
purpose is to help the people. The people have, at all times, the
inalienable right to alter or modify their form of government."
The government responded to this call with a policy of
extermination and lies. The powers within Mexico ignored our just
demand and permitted a massacre. However, this massacre only lasted
twelve days. Another force, a force superior to any political or
military power imposed its will upon the parties involved in the
conflict. Civil society assumed the duty of preserving our country.
It showed its disapproval of the massacre and it obligated us to
dialogue with the government. We understand that the ascendancy of
the political party that has been in power for so long cannot be
allowed to continue. We understand that this party, a party that
has kept for itself the fruits of every Mexican's labor, cannot be
allowed to continue. We understand that the corruption of the
presidential elections that sustains this party impedes our freedom
and should not be allowed to continue. We understand that the
culture of fraud is the method with which this party imposes and
impedes democracy. We understand that justice only exists for the
corrupt and the powerful. We understand that we must construct a
society in which those who lead do so with the will of the people.
There is no other path.
This is understood by every honest Mexican in civil society.
Only those who have based their success in the theft of the public
trust, those who protect criminals and murderers by prostituting
justice, those who resort to political murder and electoral fraud
in order to impose their will, are opposed to our demands.
These antiquated politicians plan to roll back history and
erase from the national consciousness the cry that was taken up by
the country after January First, 1994: "Enough already!"
We will not permit this. Today we don't call upon those weak
powers within Mexico who refuse to assume their constitutional
duties and who permit themselves to be controlled by the Federal
Executive. If the legislature and the judges have no dignity, then
others who do understand that they must serve the people and not
the individual will step forward. Our call transcends the question
of presidential terms or the upcoming election. Our sovereignty
resides in civil society. Only the people can alter or modify our
form of government. It is to them that we address this Second
Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle.
First: We have respected the international conventions of warfare
while we have carried out our military actions. These conventions
have allowed us to be recognized as a belligerent force by national
and foreign forces. We will continue to respect these conventions.
Second: We order all of our regular and irregular forces, both in
national territory and outside the country, to continue to obey the
unilateral offensive cease-fire. We will continue to respect the
cease-fire in order to permit civil society to organize, in
whatever forms they consider pertinent, toward the goal of
achieving a transition to democracy in our country.
Third: We condemn the threats against civil society brought about
by the militarization of the country, both in terms of personal and
modern repressive equipment, during this time leading up to the
Federal elections. Without a doubt, the Salinas government is
trying to impose its will by fraud. We will not permit this.
Fourth: We propose to all independent political parties that are
suffering from intimidation and repression of political rights -
the same intimidation and repression that our people have suffered
for the last 65 years - that they declare themselves in favor of a
government of transition toward democracy.
Fifth: We reject the manipulation and the attempts to separate our
just demands from the demands of the Mexican people. We are
Mexicans, and we will not put aside our demands nor our arms until
we have democracy, freedom and justice for all.
Sixth: We reiterate our disposition towards finding a political
solution to the transition to democracy in Mexico. We call upon
civil society to re-take the protagonist's role that it first took
up in order to stop the military phase of the war. We call upon
civil society to organize itself in order to direct the peaceful
efforts towards democracy, freedom and justice. Democratic change
is the only alternative to war.
Seventh: We call on all honest sectors of civil society to attend
a National Dialogue for Democracy, Freedom and Justice.
For this reason we say:
Brothers:
After the start of the war in January, 1994, the organized cry
of the Mexican people stopped the fighting and called for a
dialogue between the contending forces. The Federal government
responded to the just demands of the EZLN with a series of offers
that didn't touch on the essential problem: the lack of justice,
freedom and democracy in Mexican territory.
The offers with which to the Federal government responded to
the demands of the EZLN are limited by the system of the political
party in power. This system has made possible the continuation of
certain sectors in the Mexican countryside that have superseded the
power of the constitution and whose roots have maintained the party
in power. It is this system of complicity that has made possible
the existence and belligerence of the caciques, the omnipotent
power of the ranchers and businessmen and the spread of drug-
trafficking. Just the fact that the government offered us the so-
called Proposals for a Dignified Peace in Chiapas provoked
tremendous agitation and an open defiance by these sectors. The
single-party political system is trying to maneuver within this
reduced horizon. It can't alienate these sectors without attacking
itself, yet it can't leave things as they are without having to
face the anger of the peasants and indigenous peoples. In other
words, to go through with the proposals would necessarily mean the
death of the state party system. By suicide or execution, the death
of the current Mexican political system is a necessary
precondition, although not sufficient, for the transition to
democracy in our country. There will be no real solutions in
Chiapas until the situation in Mexico as a whole is resolved.
The EZLN understands that the problem of poverty in Mexico
isn't due just to a lack of resources. Our fundamental
understanding and position is that whatever efforts that are made
will only postpone the problem if these efforts aren't made within
the context of new local, regional and national political
relationships - relationships marked by democracy, freedom and
justice. The problem of power is not a question of who rules, but
of who exercises power. If it is exercised by a majority of the
people, the political parties will be obligated to put their
proposals forward to the people instead of merely relating among
themselves.
Looking at the problem of power within the context of
democracy, freedom and justice will create a new political culture
within the parties. A new type of political leader will be born
and, without a doubt, new types of political parties will be born
as well.
We aren't proposing a new world, but something preceding a new
world: an antechamber looking into the new Mexico. In this sense,
this revolution will not end in a new class, a faction of a class
or group in power. It will end in an free and democratic space for
political struggle. This free and democratic space will be born on
the fetid cadaver of the state party system and the tradition of
fixed presidential succession. A new political relationship will be
born, a relationship based not in the confrontation of political
organizations among themselves, but in the confrontation of their
political proposals with different social classes. Political
leadership will depend on the support of these social classes, and
not in the mere exercise of power. In this new political
relationship, different political proposals (socialism, capitalism,
social democracy, liberalism, christian democracy etc.) will have
to convince a majority of the nation that their proposal is the
best for the country. The groups in power will be watched by the
people in such a way that they will be obligated to give a regular
accounting of themselves and the people will be able to decide
whether they remain in power or not. The plebiscite is a regulated
form of confrontation between the nation, political parties and
power and it merits a place in the highest law of the country.
Current Mexican law is too constricting for these new
political relationships between the governed and those who govern.
A National Democratic Convention is needed from which a provisional
or transitional government can emerge, be it by the resignation of
the Federal Executive or by an electoral route.
This National Democratic Convention and transitional
government should lead to the creation of a new constitution, and
in the context of this new constitution, new elections should be
held. The pain that this process will bring to the country will be
less than the damage that would be caused by a civil war. The
prophecy of the southeast is valid for the entire country. We can
learn from what has already occurred so that there is less pain
during the birth of the new Mexico.
The EZLN has its idea of what system and proposal are best for
the country. The political maturity of the EZLN as a representative
of a sector of the nation is shown by the fact that it doesn't want
to impose its proposal upon the country. The EZLN demands what is
shown by their example: the political maturity of Mexico and the
right for all to decide, freely and democratically, the course that
Mexico must take. Not only will a better and more just Mexico
emerge from this historic synthesis, but a new Mexican as well.
This is why we are gambling our lives: so that the Mexicans of the
future can inherit a country in which it isn't shameful to live. .