Article written by Simon Walker
From the Editor, Simon Walker
The period of uncertainty and questioning that the EZLN’s red alert provoked was a time for all of us in the Peace House to step back and examine our work here in Chiapas, both as a group and as individuals. We consulted with NGOs and partner organizations here in San Cristóbal to gauge reactions, and see how we might be of assistance during the alert. For myself, it was a time of relative tranquility, as the red alert put a halt to the work I was doing at the Oventic bicycle workshop.
The flurry of EZLN communiques that was released in July set everything in motion once again. With the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, presented in three parts at the beginning of last month, the Zapatistas have launched an “Other Campaign” of non-electoral politics of the left in Mexico. In the declaration, they propose “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.”
On July 15, the red alert lifted and the caracoles opened once again. All are welcome once again to take up their labors and projects in Zapatista communities. As for those of us at the Peace House, we have been quite busy. Summer is high season for travelers here, and we’ve been working with several delegations, giving workshops, translating, and also visiting communities in the Chiapas highlands and at the border with Guatemala. This week I will once again travel to Oventic to work with the compañeros at the bike workshop, before moving on to other caracoles in the northern and jungle regions. These are busy days indeed. As the Zapatistas prepare to meet with indigenous peoples, NGOs and civil society groups from Mexico and the international community, we are all anxious to see what shape this “Other Campaign” will take, and how we can plug in.
In this edition of the newsletter, read about the celebration in Oventic after the red alert was lifted, a direct action carried out in Mexico City's zocalo, the resurgence of paramilitary groups in northern Chiapas, and traditional healing techniques practiced at the Museum of Mayan Medicine here in San Cristóbal.
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