Recently, many organisations involved in the struggle for liberty, justice, democracy, and human rights in Mexico, including us, received a communication from the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" of "Central America-Mexico-Aztlan-Canada-Spain-Cuba." We feel that this communication is a direct challenge, not only to a position against terrorism that we took after the events of September 11, 1991 (not without a great deal of debate, discussion, and soul-searching on the part of ourselves and our base communities), and the EZLN adopted, but to the EZLN in general and Insurgent Subcommander Marcos in particular. Therefore, we stand by the antiterrorist position of we Villistas and Zapatistas, and offer this analysis of this communication in the uses to which terrorism can be put by the counterinsurgency.
First, we look at the context of communications that must be understood by the reader. To begin with, the Zapatistas ceased to communicate when it became clear that the new Mexican government, following the leadership of President Vincente Fox, intended to impose laws substituted for the peace agreements of Saint Andres Larranzar, thus invalidating the peace process: they pledged to renew the dialogue whenever the government indicated that it would build on those accords rather than violate, repudiate, and abrogate them.
Second, the terrible events of September 11, 2001 took place, and we of the CCDN/FVLN, after much discussion, took a position condemning terrorism, either by governments or by individuals or non-governmental organisations. The EZLN/FZLN, true to its principles, refrained from comment.
Later, when Insurgent Subcommander Marcos was permitted by the CCRI of the EZLN to express his solidarity, and that of the EZLN, for the Basque struggle for national self-determination, this was interpreted as support of the ETA by the EZLN, and Marcos, with the full support of the EZLN, adopted our unconditional condemnation of state and non-state terrorism. As such, if there is "blame" to be laid, lay it not only upon Insurgent Subcommander Marcos, but upon the CCRI, the entire EZLN/FZLN, and the Zapatista bases of support, as well as upon the CCDN/FVLN and its bases of support, which initially took the stand against all forms of terrorism, that we stand by today, together with the Zapatistas and with all others of like minds and hearts.
We stand guilty as charged. Guilty of wanting to avoid terror and destruction to the extent the activities of our opponents makes that possible. Guilty of never seeking to descend into terrorism ourselves. Guilty of seeking a real advance, not of ourselves alone, but of everyone. Guilty of commanding obediently. Guilty of proposing, not of imposing.
We make our proposals known chiefly through this website. The Zapatistas aren't in the position to do this, relying instead on posting by "irlandesa," an Irishman who faithfully and unselfishly posts their word, and the word of their supporters, on a well-known website.
The Zapatistas have done far more than this, however. The Zapatistas have concretely demonstrated to the world their courage, first in taking up arms against their oppressors, then, at the earliest opportunity, bringing their most formidable arms - their word and their example - relentlessly to bear against those oppressors. Not only against their sworn enemies: against all modes of thinking that formerly oppressed them. They started out at the same points that the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" claim as its own: class analysis and class struggle on the one hand (certainly of the Marxist-Leninist variety, as their combat experience attests,) and indigenous thinking and practice on the other hand. They didn't stop there, however: thoughtful criticism and self-criticism stripped away all racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and other ideological baggage that both the indigenous and nonindigenous comrades inevitably brought with them, giving birth to a new outlook, Zapatismo. It has deep roots indeed in both scientific socialism and indigenous ideology, but has branches that far outstrip its roots. Our Villismo is but one branch, with different roots in different experiences. One world of many.
We have no great combat experience, but we stand upon the shoulders of those who went before us. Upon the shoulders of the great Mexican, Russian, Irish, and other revolutionaries who went boldly forth before us at the beginning of the twentieth century. Upon the shoulders of subsequent great revolutionaries, both peaceful and armed, who went after them. And, of course, upon the shoulders of the Zapatistas.
We stand upon their shoulders, and what do we see? Great achievements, but at great cost, and with great limitations. Both peaceful revolutionaries, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., have run into these limitations, as have armed revolutionaries, such as Michael Collins, Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and V.I. Lenin, to name a few. Even revolutionaries who have been reluctantly forced into violence, such as Nelson Mandela and, of course, Insurgent Subcommander Marcos and the EZLN, have run into these same limitations. These are the economic limitations that have curtailed the ability of revolutionaries to deliver the revolution, compounded by the limitations imposed by international capital, the power behind the governments the revolutionaries have struggled against.
We will need all our courage and intelligence to think and to act against the powers arrayed against us. What we will not need is to carry within us the ideological baggage which actually holds us back and defeats us. Terrorism, practiced by our enemies as a matter of course, is a prime example of such useless, destructive baggage. Between thought and action is the word, which enables us to forge our disparate thoughts into powerful weapons. We do not always have a choice to avoid violence when it is imposed upon us as a matter of life and death. But we need never choose, must never choose, death over life. That way lies nihilism. And, when violence is imposed upon us, we must never aim to terrorise the people, which will make us yet another enemy of the people, and therefore yet another tool of international capital. We must act to remove rather than impose fear, to remove fear of the oppressor from the hearts and minds of the people. Then, and only then, can we begin to achieve our aims. We are anti - terrorists, and we seek to follow the example of Zapatista anti - terrorism: not mechanically, but as it applies to our own situation. Notice that Marcos, true to form, faulted the means of the ETA, not the justice of the cause. He questioned whether the practice of the ETA truly served the cause of the Basque people.
Now the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" has questioned whether the Zapatistas truly serve the cause they profess to, and, by direct implication, ask the same question of us and all like - minded and - hearted insurgents. We redirect the question to the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" . Do you question the Zapatista assertion that the ETA has committed terrorism? Certainly you agree with both the EZLN and the ETA that the Spanish State has committed terrorism. The Mexican State has committed terrorism, too, but the EZLN has negotiated with them, achieved a ceasefire, helped bring about the changes that toppled the rule of the PRI, and now is struggling to make it impossible for them not to honour the Agreements of Saint Andres Larranzar. Would Zapatista terrorism make this goal draw near or distant? What else can the Zapatistas do? What else can we do? How can we fight the terrorism of the Mexican State and of international capital? How can those of us who find ourselves under the jurisdiction of the United States of America fight US terrorism? The efforts of Al Qaeda underscore the futility of fighting terror with terror. The US efforts will underscore that point even further. We must fight, not to inspire fear in the people, but to remove fear. We don't have to resort to terrorism in order to inspire fear in our oppressors: they oppress us because they live in constant fear of losing their power. We must do all we can to justify that fear, because, at the same time, we remove the fear of the oppressor from the oppressed, at which point they are oppressed no longer. This is not terrorism. This is anti - terrorism. All terrorists will be crushed by the people whom they terrorise. Not terrorised, but crushed. Extinguished. The people don't need to terrorise, they need to extinguish terrorism, and we intend to help them do that. We unambiguously make that known as our intention, as do the Zapatistas, and we invite the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" to do the same.
Meanwhile, we welcome the critique initiated by the EZLN/FZLN, and would much rather read the ETA response than that of the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" . The EZLN/FZLN have critiqued the PRD, the EPR/PDPR, FAC/MLN, and others in our movement, challenging us to "be Zapatistas wherever we are." The "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" seem to be saying that the EZLN/FZLN in general, and that Insurgent Subcommander Marcos in particular, are no insurgents, but, in fact, are acting as counterinsurgents by criticising the ETA. The Zapatista critique of the ETA is easy to follow, and therefore easy to test. An ETA response would be helpful. What we are treated to instead is a response by the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" which, when we compare it to the lies the Mexican State and its catspaws have told about the Zapatistas, sounds all to familiar. Marcos is an outside agitator, and the EZLN is but his instrument. The EZLN is sectarian. And so on, etc. Most individuals and organisations that the Zapatistas have criticised have been much more careful than the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" not to sound too much like the Mexican State in their responses, when they have even responded. That would be bad counterinsurgent tactics. The "cadre" of the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" claim to have combat experience in Central America, Vietnam, Cuba, the former USSR, etc. Visit any of these places. Savour the triumph of the peoples' revolution, if you can stand the stench of its decay. Then ask yourself: Whither is their way up out of these cesspools, every bit as vile as those against which we struggle? They all have real, revolutionary achievements to their credit, yet they could no more escape the contradictions of their way forward than could their capitalist foe. Now they lie in ruins. We predict that international capital will also lie in ruins. We must not lie in ruin with it, but must instead rise up from the ruins. That is our way forward. The criticism and self-criticism we engage in in order to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us must be straightforward and testable, not self - contradictory. This is what the Zapatistas have done, and again, we invite the "International Native American Movement of Continental Liberation" to do likewise.
From the Mexican Northwest, Insurgent Subcommander Angeles, Branch of Liaison, Communications, and Investigations, Clandestine Commando "Division of the North" (Villista National Liberation Front).
© 1997 villista@iname.com
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