International Consultation about the Second Intercontinental Gathering for Humanity and against Neoliberalism

During the summer of 96 the First Intercontinental Gathering for Humanity and against Neoliberalism, called by the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation), took place in the Lacandona Jungle (Chiapas). 3 000 of us from 43 countries were there and in the Second Declaration of Reality we decided to create a Network of Resistance and a Network of Alternative Communication and to call a second gathering in Europe in 97.

The European solidarity groups supporting the Zapatista rebellion came together, first in Zurich and then in Barcelona, and we decided to organise the second gathering. And so the gathering has already begun. It will be a process with a main event which will happen in the Spanish state from the 26th of July to the 2nd of August 1997. There will be five venues in five different places and common opening and closing meetings. We are inviting members of the leadership of the EZLN to attend the Gathering and to do a tour of the continent. They have already said that, whether there is peace or war, Zapatista commandants will visit us this summer.

In order to involve everyone in making the decisions about all of this, we are doing what the indigenous peoples of Chiapas do. We are consulting all the men, women and children of the world about the objectives and contents we suggest for the Gathering.

HOW THE CONSULTATION WORKS

The consultation is for everyone, in an organisation or not, who is fighting and resisting neoliberalism.

You take part by answering the questions we are sending you. If you are doing this as a group, say how many people answered each question.

Please send your answers to the centre in Barcelona:

Col.lectiu de Solidaritat amb la Rebel.lio Zapatista c/. de la Cera 1 bis 08001 Barcelona
Telephone +34-3-442 21 01 and 329 06 43
=46ax +34-3-329 08 58
E-mail ellokal@pangea.org

by the 15th of Marh 1997 (in special cases and outside Europe by the 25th of March at the latest).

The organising groups are going to meet in Prague (Czech Republic) from the 25th to the 30th of March 1997. There we will evaluate the international consultation and send the final decisions to all who took part.

We have a month and a half to do the consultation. We need every group or person in this Network of Resistance agaist Neoliberalism and Humanity to make it their own . By our own efforts, without big subsidies or political godfathers, we will unite the struggles and resistances of the whole planet. We must make contact with all the peoples and struggles there are in the world. We invite everyone to make a special effort so that the event becomes something unique and new: a real challenge to power. Where all groups, genders and identities find their own spaces and share spaces to talk and to listen.

CONSULTATION

THE OBJECTIVES

1. We want it to be a gathering of all the struggles against neoliberalism. A gathering of all peoples, in organisations or not, who do not accept the sort of life that system imposes. YES..... NO.....

2. We want the Gathering to open up spaces for the exchange of ideas, ways of doing things and desires. YES...... NO......

3.We want the Gathering to be self-organising and the people taking part to make it their own. The process of organising isas important as the Gathering itself. YES.... NO....

4. We want the Gathering to be an opportunity to develop new ways of organising politics. We want to break the cultural, political and media barriers that keep us apart. YES... NO.....

5. We want women and men to walk together, promoting the real participation of women. YES..... NO......

6. We want to move forward in the creation and co-ordination of new ways of organising, to stand up to the ways in which capitalism is organised nowadays. YES..... NO.....

7. We reject the dominant values of this system of death rooted in money, to open up new ways of life. YES..... NO.....

8. Others. Write down any other objectives you think of.

What do you think is the best way of promoting and recognising the theme of women as a gender?

1. Should it be a specific theme of the Gathering, with its own space? YES..... NO...... (a) for women only? YES..... NO..... (b) for all participants? YES.... NO.....

2. Should it be present in all the themes? YES..... NO...... (a) for women only? YES..... NO..... (b) for all participants? YES.... NO.....

3. Others. Write down any other criteria you think of.

CONTENTS

1. Do you want the Gathering divided into big themes, each one then divided into small themes, like at the First Gathering in Chiapas ? (a) What politics do we have, and what politics do we need? (b) Economy. Horror stories. (c) Culture. From potatoes to cyberspace. (d) Social movements. (e) This world has room for many worlds. YES..... NO.....

2. Do you want a different division by big themes and small themes? What big themes do you suggest? What small themes?

3. How should the big themes be discussed? (a) Like at the First Gathering in Chiapas, one theme in each venue? YES..... NO..... (b) All the themes in each venue? YES..... NO..... (c) Some themes in all the venues? YES..... NO..... Which themes should these be?

4. Other possibilities you think of.

There will be other events in the process of the Second Intercontinental Gathering before and after the main event (26th of July to 2nd of August in the Spanish state). Which would you be interested in taking part in?

1. Ship to Chiapas (A sailing boat leaving Marseilles for Chiapas at the end of March). YES..... NO.....

2. Marches against unemployment and exclusion in Europe (from March on) which will finish with a Gathering against the Maastricht Europe in Amsterdam in June. YES..... NO.....

3. Gathering for Humanity in Brittany, from the 10th to the 17th of August YES..... NO.....

4. Zapatistas on tour around Europe (before or after the Gathering) YES..... NO.....

5. Children of the world invited to take part in the Second Gathering and talk about their experiences and desires (tour). YES..... NO.....

6. Other events you are willing to organise or would like to take part in......................

Col.lectiu de Solidaritat amb la Rebel.lio Zapatista c/. de la Cera 1 bis 08001 Barcelona
Telephone +34-3-442 21 01 and 329 06 43
=46ax +34-3-329 08 58
E-mail ellokal@pangea.org

Translated by the Irish Mexico Group