THE BLOOD OF THE CHILDREN
THE BLOOD OF THE CHILDREN
by Cecilia Rodriguez
"To National and International Civil Society
Brothers and sisters;
Why?
How Many More?
Until When?
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast - Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos"
FROM COMMUNIQUE OF ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION
REGARDING MASSACRE IN ATEAL MEXICO, DECEMBER 22, 1997
In the wake of the massacre of 45 Indian men, women and children in the little village of Ateal, Chiapas, those of us who have worked for three years attempting to prevent just such an atrocity have been overwhelmed. We are overwhelmed by pain and sorrow at what most of us knew was coming. We knew it was coming because of the profile of low-intensity wars in general.
Everyone remembers the sense of helplessness and outrage as the wars against the people of Central America strangled their hopes . Aware of the virulent discrimination against Indian people in Mexico we also knew that a profound transformation of Mexico's political system had to occur if indigenous communities were ever to achieve the goals of the rebellion. We worked against a tide of indifference, cynicism and alienation.
Reports came out of Mexico at least once a week about disappearances, deaths, beatings. The blood trickled at the rate of 15 deaths per week. Death came so suddenly and quietly, that its trickle brought a complacency with it. People were under the impression that the conflict had been settled.
The media hammered away at the significance of the rebellion calling it "marginal" and "inconsequential", refusing coverage because, as they stated "no one is shooting...nothing is happening...". Columnists and intelligentsia picked the rebellion apart. They said it was heaving "its last breath". Others were frustrated because traditional forms of international pressure seemed to shrink in comparison to the juggernaut. Still others were bored and disillusioned that the Zapatistas were not more "radical". Burn-out befell many.
The Zapatista rebellion had lost its newness, and with it grew the boldness of the activities of the military and the paramilitary groups. The concrete demands of the indigenous communities which continued to organize themselves into autonomous zones were buried under a tide of indifference.
Some of us are now overwhelmed by rage. Rage at the mass media which suddenly returns calls, appears at press conferences, and demonstrates interest. Rage at some members of the activist community who suddenly reappear. Rage at the monstrous brutality of the paramilitary groups who hacked children out of their mothers' wombs with machetes, and chased them like game in order to shoot them in the back. Rage at the fact that these deaths could have easily been prevented.
Why was it necessary for those men, women and children to be slaughtered? How many more must die in order to burn away our passivity? What is it these communities must do in order to elicit a sustained human gesture from us?
We ride the tide of emotion. We ride it and keep our fingers crossed that in our dialogue we find the words to convince people that changing a society is not a product of a single dramatic action, or individual, much less a single organization. It is rather the product of a single collective will.
This collective will retains a hundred different political tendencies, styles of work, and ideologies. But it is a product of tactical wisdom. It nurtures the capacity to stand together against these monstrous forces. Changing a society is the product of lifelong actions-and the size of the action never lessens its importance. It achieves larger dimensions when it is combined with others and when they are consistent. Then it becomes a wave of resistance.
The Zapatistas carried out such a strategy for 11 years in clandestinity. They nurtured small actions, agreed to disagree, and accepted the laborious process of organization which is far from being the perfect process many demand and imagine. Their patience allowed them to challenge a monster. Their ability to fight that monster depends upon the ephemeral "civil society".
The blood of the children calls to all of us now. It calls upon us to search deep inside and to ask ourselves honestly about our responsibility to them. It reminds us with poignant clarity that we will never win as long as we allow ourselves to doubt that justice exists only when people are willing to defend it. It affirms the need for struggle at all times and in as many different forms as possible. May the lesson nourish the wisdom of resistance deep within our hearts.
Ms. Rodriguez is the official spokesperson for the Zapatistas in the United States.NEWSLETTER CONTENTS