Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
********************************
Translated by irlandesa
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, Part 3 of 3
V - What We Want To Do
We are now going to tell you what we want to do in the world and in Mexico,
because we cannot watch everything that is happening on our planet and just
remain quiet, as if it were only we were where we are.
What we want in the world is to tell all of those who are resisting and
fighting in their own ways and in their own countries, that you are not alone,
that we, the zapatistas, even though we are very
small, are supporting you, and we are going to look at how to help you in your
struggles and to speak to you in order to learn, because what we have, in fact,
learned is to learn.
And we want to tell the Latin American peoples that we are proud to be a part
of you, even if it is a small part. We remember quite well how the continent
was also illuminated some years ago, and a light was called Che
Guevara, as it had previously been called Bolivar, because sometimes the people
take up a name in order to say they are taking up a flag.
And we want to tell the people of Cuba, who have now been on their path of
resistance for many years, that you are not alone, and we do not agree with the
blockade they are imposing, and we are going to see how to send you something,
even if it is maize, for your resistance. And we want to tell the North American
people that we know that the bad governments which you have and which spread
harm throughout the world is one thing - and those North Americans who struggle
in their country, and who are in solidarity with the struggles of other
countries, are a very different thing. And we want to tell the Mapuche brothers and sisters in
And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Social Europe, that which is
dignified and rebel, that you are not alone. That your
great movements against the neoliberal wars bring us
joy. That we are attentively watching your forms of
organization and your methods of struggle so that we can perhaps learn
something. That we are considering how we can help you in your
struggles, and we are not going to send euro because then they will be devalued
because of the European Union mess. But perhaps we will send you crafts and
coffee so you can market them and help you some in the tasks of your struggle.
And perhaps we might also send you some pozol, which
gives much strength in the resistance, but who knows if we will send it to you,
because pozol is more our way, and what if it were to
hurt your bellies and weaken your struggles and the neoliberals
defeat you.
And we want to tell the brothers and sisters of Africa, Asia and
And we want to tell the world that we want to make you large, so large that all
those worlds will fit, those worlds which are resisting because they want to
destroy the neoliberals and because they simply
cannot stop fighting for humanity.
Now then, what we want to do in Mexico is to make an agreement with persons and
organizations just of the left, because we believe that it is in the political
left where the idea of resisting neoliberal globalization
is, and of making a country where there will be justice, democracy and liberty
for everyone. Not as it is right now, where there is justice only for the rich,
there is liberty only for their big businesses, and there is democracy only for
painting walls with election propaganda. And because we believe that it is only
from the left that a plan of struggle can emerge, so that our Patria, which is
And, then, what we think is that, with these persons and organizations of the
left, we will make a plan for going to all those parts of
And we are not going to tell them what they should do or give them orders.
Nor are we going to ask them to vote for a candidate, since we already know
that the ones who exist are neoliberals.
Nor are we going to tell them to be like us, nor to rise up in arms.
What we are going to do is to ask them what their lives are like, their
struggle, their thoughts about our country and what we should do so they do not
defeat us.
What we are going to do is to take heed of the thoughts of the simple and
humble people, and perhaps we will find there the same love which we feel for
our Patria.
And perhaps we will find agreement between those of us who are simple and
humble and, together, we will organize all over the country and reach agreement
in our struggles, which are alone right now, separated from each other, and we
will find something like a program that has what we all want, and a plan for how
we are going to achieve the realization of that program, which is called the
“national program of struggle.”
And, with the agreement of the majority of those people whom we are going to
listen to, we will then engage in a struggle with everyone, with indigenous,
workers, campesinos, students, teachers, employees,
women, children, old ones, men, and with all of those of good heart and who
want to struggle so that our Patria called Mexico does not end up being
destroyed and sold, and which still exists between the Rio Grande and the Rio Suchiate and which has the Pacific Ocean on one side and
the Atlantic on the other.
VI - How We Are Going To Do It
And so this is our simple word that goes out to the humble and simple people of
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona
And we are here to say, with our simple word, that…
The EZLN maintains its commitment to an offensive ceasefire, and it will not
make any attack against government forces or any offensive military movements.
The EZLN still maintains its commitment to insisting on the path of political
struggle through this peaceful initiative which we are now undertaking. The
EZLN continues, therefore, in its resolve to not establish any kind of secret
relations with either national political-military organizations or those from
other countries.
The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to defend, support and obey the zapatista indigenous communities of which it is composed,
and which are its supreme command, and - without interfering in their internal
democratic processes - will, to the best of its abilities, contribute to the
strengthening of their autonomy, good government and improvement in their
living conditions. In other words, what we are going to do in
Therefore…
In the World…
1 - We will forge new relationships of mutual respect and support with persons
and organizations who are resisting and struggling
against neoliberalism and for humanity.
2 - As far as we are able, we will send material aid such as food and
handicrafts for those brothers and sisters who are struggling all over the world.
In order to begin, we are going to ask the Good Government Junta of La Realidad to loan their truck, which is called “Chompiras,” and which appears to hold 8 tons, and we are
going to fill it with maize and perhaps two 200 liter cans with oil or petrol,
as they prefer, and we are going to deliver it to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico
for them to send to the Cuban people as aid from the zapatistas
for their resistance against the North American blockade. Or perhaps there
might be a place closer to here where it could be delivered, because it’s
always such a long distance to
And we are also going to make an agreement with the women’s crafts cooperatives
in order to send a good number of bordados,
embroidered pieces, to the Europes which are perhaps
not yet
And we are also going to send the indigenous brothers and sisters of Bolivia
and Ecuador some non-transgenic maize, and we just don’t know where to send them
so they arrive complete, but we are indeed willing to give this little bit of
aid.
3 - And to all of those who are resisting throughout the world, we say there
must be other intercontinental encuentros held, even
if just one other. Perhaps December of this year or next January, we’ll have to
think about it. We don’t want to say just when, because this is about our
agreeing equally on everything, on where, on when, on how, on who. But not with
a stage where just a few speak and all the rest listen, but without a stage,
just level and everyone speaking, but orderly, otherwise it will just be a
hubbub and the words won’t be understood, and with good organization everyone
will hear and jot down in their notebooks the words of resistance from others,
so then everyone can go and talk with their compańeros
and compańeras in their worlds. And we think it might
be in a place that has a very large jail, because what if they were to repress
us and incarcerate us, and so that way we wouldn’t be all piled up, prisoners,
yes, but well organized, and there in the jail we could continue the
intercontinental encuentros for humanity and against neoliberalism. Later on we’ll tell you what we shall do in
order to reach agreement as to how we’re going to come to agreement. Now that
is how we’re thinking of doing what we want to do in the world. Now follows…
In
1 - We are going to continue fighting for the Indian peoples of
2 - We are going to go to listen to, and talk directly with, without
intermediaries or mediation, the simple and humble of the Mexican people, and,
according to what we hear and learn, we are going to go about building, along
with those people who, like us, are humble and simple, a national program of
struggle, but a program which will be clearly of the left, or anti-capitalist,
or anti-neoliberal, or for justice, democracy and
liberty for the Mexican people.
3 - We are going to try to build, or rebuild, another way of doing politics,
one which once again has the spirit of serving others, without material
interests, with sacrifice, with dedication, with honesty, which keeps its word,
whose only payment is the satisfaction of duty performed, or like the militants
of the left did before, when they were not stopped by blows, jail or death, let
alone by dollar bills.
4 - We are also going to go about raising a struggle in order to demand that we
make a new Constitution, new laws which take into account the demands of the
Mexican people, which are: housing, land, work, food, health, education,
information, culture, independence, democracy, justice, liberty and peace. A new Constitution which recognizes the rights and liberties of the
people, and which defends the weak in the face of the powerful.
TO THESE ENDS…
The EZLN will send a delegation of its leadership in order to do this work
throughout the national territory and for an indefinite period of time. This zapatista delegation, along with those organizations and
persons of the left who join in this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, will go to those
places where they are expressly invited.
We are also letting you know that the EZLN will establish a policy of alliances
with non-electoral organizations and movements which define themselves, in
theory and practice, as being of the left, in accordance with the following
conditions:
Not to make agreements from above to be imposed below, but to make accords to
go together to listen and to organize outrage. Not to raise movements which are
later negotiated behind the backs of those who made them, but to always take
into account the opinions of those participating. Not to seek gifts, positions,
advantages, public positions, from the Power or those who aspire to it, but to
go beyond the election calendar. Not to try to resolve from above the problems
of our Nation, but to build FROM BELOW AND FOR BELOW an alternative to neoliberal destruction, an alternative of the left for
Mexico.
Yes to reciprocal respect for the autonomy and independence of organizations,
for their methods of struggle, for their ways of organizing, for their internal
decision making processes, for their legitimate representations. And yes to a
clear commitment for joint and coordinated defense of national sovereignty,
with intransigent opposition to privatization attempts of electricity, oil,
water and natural resources.
In other words, we are inviting the unregistered political and social
organizations of the left, and those persons who lay claim to the left and who
do not belong to registered political parties, to meet with us, at the time,
place and manner in which we shall propose at the proper time, to organize a
national campaign, visiting all possible corners of our Patria, in order to
listen to and organize the word of our people. It is like a campaign, then, but
very otherly, because it is not electoral.
Brothers and sisters:
This is our word which we declare:
In the world, we are going to join together more with the resistance struggles
against neoliberalism and for humanity.
And we are going to support, even if it’s but little, those struggles.
And we are going to exchange, with mutual respect, experiences, histories,
ideas, dreams.
In
We are going to seek, and to find, those who love these lands and these skies
even as much as we do.
We are going to seek, from La Realidad to
We are going for democracy, liberty and justice for those of us who have been
denied it.
We are going with another politics, for a program of the left and for a new
Constitution.
We are inviting all indigenous, workers, campesinos,
teachers, students, housewives, neighbors, small businesspersons, small shop
owners, micro-businesspersons, pensioners, handicapped persons, religious men
and women, scientists, artists, intellectuals, young persons, women, old
persons, homosexuals and lesbians, boys and girls – to participate, whether
individually or collectively, directly with the zapatistas
in this NATIONAL CAMPAIGN for building another way of doing politics, for a
program of national struggle of the left, and for a new Constitution.
And so this is our word as to what we are going to do and how we are going to
do it. You will see whether you want to join.
And we are telling those men and women who are of good heart and intent, who
are in agreement with this word we are bringing out, and who are not afraid, or
who are afraid but who control it, to then state publicly whether they are in
agreement with this idea we are presenting, and in that way we will see once
and for all who and how and where and when this new step in the struggle is to
be made.
While you are thinking about it, we say to you that today, in the sixth month
of the year 2005, the men, women, children and old ones of the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation have now decided, and we have now subscribed to, this
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona,
and those who know how to sign, signed, and those who did not left their mark,
but there are fewer now who do not know how, because education has advanced
here in this territory in rebellion for humanity and against neoliberalism, that is in zapatista
skies and land.
And this was our simple word sent out to the noble hearts of those simple and
humble people who resist and rebel against injustices all over the world.
Democracy!
Justice!
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General
Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.