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<h1 id="reader-title">Words of the Zapatistas on the 22nd
Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion</h1>
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<h2><span><span>Source: <a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/">Enlace
Zapatista</a></span></span></h2>
<h2><span><span>WORDS OF THE EZLN ON THE 22ND ANNIVERSARY
OF THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AGAINST OBLIVION</span></span></h2>
<p><span><span><strong>WORDS OF THE EZLN ON THE 22<sup>ND</sup>
ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AGAINST
OBLIVION</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>January 1, 2016</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>GOOD EVENING, GOOD DAY <em>COMPAÑERO</em>
AND <em>COMPAÑERA</em> BASES OF SUPPORT FROM THE
ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION, <em>COMPAÑERO/AS</em>
<em>MILICIANOS</em> AND <em>MILICIANAS</em>,<a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn1"
name="_ednref1">[i]</a> INSURGENTS, LOCAL AND
REGIONAL <em>RESPONSABLES,</em><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn2"
name="_ednref2"><em>[ii]</em></a> AUTHORITIES FROM
THE THREE LEVELS OF AUTONOMOUS GOVERNMENT, <em>COMPAÑERO/AS</em>
<em>PROMOTORES </em>AND<em> PROMOTORAS</em><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn3"
name="_ednref3"><em>[iii]</em></a> OF THE
DIFFERENT WORK AREAS, <em>COMPAÑEROS</em> AND <em>COMPAÑERAS</em>
OF THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SIXTH, AND ALL WHO
ARE PRESENT.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Compañeras</em> and <em>compañeros</em>,
today we are here to celebrate the 22nd anniversary
of the beginning of the war against oblivion.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>For more than 500 years we have endured the
war that the powerful from different nations,
languages, colors, and beliefs have made against us
in order to annihilate us.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They wanted to kill us, be it through
killing our bodies or killing our ideas.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But we resist.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>As original peoples, as guardians of mother
earth, we resist.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Not only here and not only our color, which
is the color of the earth.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In all of the corners of the earth that
suffered in the past and still suffer now, there
were and there are dignified and rebellious people
who resisted, who resist against the death imposed
from above.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>January 1, 1994, 22 years ago, we made
public the “ENOUGH!” that we had prepared in
dignified silence for a decade.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In silencing our pain we were preparing its
scream.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Our word, at that time, came from fire.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In order to wake those who slept.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>To raise the fallen.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>To incense those who conformed and
surrendered.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>To rebel against history</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>To force it to tell that which it had
silenced.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>To reveal the history of exploitations,
murders, dispossessions, disrespect and forgetting
that it was hiding behind the history of above.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This history of museums, statues, textbooks
– monuments to the lie.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>With the death of our people, with our
blood, we shook the stupor of a world resigned to
defeat.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It was not only words. The blood of our
fallen <em>compañeros</em> in these 22 years was
added to the blood of those from the preceding
years, lustrums, decades, and centuries.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We had to choose then and we chose life.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why, both then and now, in order to
live, we die.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Our word then was as simple as our blood
painting the streets and walls of the cities where
they disrespect us now as they did then.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>And it continues to be:</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The banner of our struggle was our 11
demands: land, work, food, health, education,
dignified housing, independence, democracy, freedom,
justice, and peace.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>These demands were what made us rise up in
arms because these were the things that we, the
original people and the majority of people in this
country and in the entire world, need.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In this way, we began our struggle against
exploitation, marginalization, humiliation,
disrespect, oblivion and all of the injustices we
lived that were caused by the bad system.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because we are only of service to the rich
and powerful as their slaves, so that they can
become richer and richer and we can become poorer
and poorer.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>After living for such a long time under
this domination and plunder we said:</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>ENOUGH! THIS IS WHERE OUR PATIENCE ENDS!</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>And we saw that we had no other choice then
to take up our arms to kill or to die for a just
cause.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But we were not alone.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Nor are we alone now.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In Mexico and the World dignity took to the
streets and asked for a space for the word.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We understood.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>From that moment on, we changed our form of
struggle. We were and we are an attentive ear and
open word, because from the beginning we knew that a
just struggle of the people is for life and not for
death.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But we have our arms at our sides, we have
not gotten rid of them, they will be with us until
the end.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because we see that where our ear was an
open heart, the Ruler used his deceptive word, and
ambitious and lying heart against us.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We saw that the war from above continued.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Their plan and objective was and is to make
war against us until they exterminate us. That is
why instead of meeting our just demands, they
prepared and prepare, made and make war with their
modern weapons, form and finance paramilitaries,
provide and distribute crumbs taking advantage of
some people’s ignorance and poverty.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>These rulers above are stupid. They think
that those who were willing to listen would also be
willing to sell out, surrender, and give up.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They were wrong then.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They are wrong now.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because we Zapatistas know full well that
we are not beggars or good-for-nothings who hope
that everything will simply resolve itself.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We are people with dignity, determination,
and consciousness to fight for true freedom and
justice for all.<a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn4"
name="_ednref4">[iv]</a> Regardless of one’s
color, race, gender, belief, calendar or geography.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why our struggle is not local,
regional, or even national. It is universal.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because the injustices, crimes,
dispossessions, disrespect, and exploitations are
universal.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But so are rebellion, rage, dignity, and
the desire to be better.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why we understood that it was
necessary to build our life ourselves, with
autonomy.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In the midst of the major threats, military
and paramilitary harassment, and the bad
government’s constant provocations, we began to form
our own system of governing—our autonomy—with our
own education system, our own health care, our own
communication, our way of caring for and working on
mother earth; our own politics as a people and our
own ideology about how we want to live as
communities, with an other culture.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Where others hope that those above will
solve the problems of those below, we Zapatistas
began to build our freedom as it is sown, how it is
constructed, where it grows, that is to say, from
below.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But the bad government tries to destroy and
bring an end to our struggle and resistance with a
war that changes in intensity as it changes its
deceptive politics, with its bad ideas, with its
lies, using the media to spread them, and by handing
out crumbs in the indigenous communities where
Zapatistas live in order to divide and to buy off
people’s consciences, thus implementing their
counterinsurgency plan.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But the war that comes from above, <em>compañeras,
compañeros</em>, brothers and sisters, is always
the same: it only brings destruction and death.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The ideas and flags may change with whoever
is in office, but the war of above always destroys,
always kills, never sows anything other than terror
and hopelessness.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In the middle of this war, we have had to
walk toward what we want.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We could not sit and wait for the
understanding of those who don’t even understand
that they don’t understand.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We could not sit and wait for the criminal
to repudiate himself and his history and convert
himself, repentant, into a good person.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We could not sit and wait for a large and
useless list of promises that will be forgotten a
few minutes after they are made.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We could not wait for the other, different,
but with the same pain and rage, to look at us and
in looking at us, see.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We did not know how to do it.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There was no book, manual, or doctrine that
told us what to do in order to resist, and
simultaneously, to build something new and better.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Maybe not perfect, maybe different, but
always ours, our people’s, the women, men, children
and elders who, with their collective heart, cover
the black flag with a red star with five points and
the letters that give them not only a name, but also
a commitment and destiny: <strong>EZLN.</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>And so we searched in our ancestral
history, in our collective heart, and through the
stumbles, through flaws and mistakes, we have been
building that which we are and that which not only
keeps us going with life and resistance, but also
raises us up dignified and rebellious.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>During these 22 years of struggle of
Resistance and Rebellion, we have continued to build
another form of life, governing ourselves as the
collective peoples that we are, according to the
seven principles of lead by obeying, building a new
system and another form of life as original peoples.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>One where the people command and the
government obeys.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>And we see, from our simple heart, that
this is the healthiest way, because it is born and
grows from the people themselves. It is the people
themselves who give their opinions, discuss, think,
analyze, make proposals, and decide what is best for
them, following the example of our ancestors.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>As we will be explaining in more detail
later, we see that neglect and poverty reign in the
<em>partidista</em> [political party followers]
communities, they are run by laziness and crime and
community life is broken, now fatally torn apart.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Selling out to the bad government not only
did not resolve their basic problems, but gave them
more horrors to deal with. Where before there was
hunger and poverty, now there is hunger, poverty,
and desperation. The <em>partidista</em>
communities have become crowds of beggars who don’t
work, who only wait for the next government aid
program, that is, the next electoral season.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This doesn’t of course show up in any
federal, state, or municipal government report, but
it is the truth and can be seen in the <em>partidista</em>
communities: peasant farmers who don’t know how to
work the land anymore; concrete block houses with
aluminum roofs that are empty because one can eat
neither concrete nor tin; communities that only come
together to receive government crumbs.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Perhaps in our communities there aren’t
cement houses, or digital televisions, or brand new
trucks, but our people know how to work the land.
The food on their tables, the clothes they wear, the
medicine they take, the knowledge they learn, the
life they live is THEIRS, the product of their work
and their knowledge. It isn’t a handout from anyone.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We can say this without shame: the
Zapatista communities are not only better off than
they were 22 years ago; their quality of life is
better than those who sold out to political parties
of all colors and stripes.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Before, in order to know if someone was
Zapatista, you checked to see if they had a red
handkerchief or a balaclava.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Now it is enough to see if they work the
land, if they take care of their culture, if they
study science and technology, if they respect the
women that we are, if their gaze is straight and
clear, if they know that it is the collective that
rules, if they see the job of the autonomous
Zapatista government in rebellion as a service and
not a business; if when you ask them something they
don’t know they respond “I don’t know…yet”; if when
someone mocks them saying that the Zapatistas no
longer exist or are very few they respond, “don’t
worry, there will be more of us, it may take awhile,
but there will be more”; if their gaze reaches far
in calendars and geographies; if they know that
tomorrow is planted today.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We recognize of course that there is much
left to do, we must organize ourselves better and
organize ourselves more.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why we must make an even greater
effort to prepare ourselves to more effectively and
more extensively carry out the work of governing
ourselves, because the worst of the worst, the
capitalist system, will come back at us again.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We have to know how to confront it. We have
32 years of experience already in our struggle of
rebellion and resistance.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>And we have become what we are.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We are the Zapatista Army for National
Liberation.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This is what we are although they do not
name us.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This is what we are although through
silence and slander they forget us.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This is what we are although they don’t see
us.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>This is what we are through our step, on
our path, in our origin and our destiny.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We look at what was before, and what is
now.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>A bloody night, worse than before if that
is possible, extends over the world.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The Ruler is not only set on continuing to
exploit, repress, disrespect, and dispossess, but is
determined to destroy the entire world if in doing
so it can create profits, money, pay.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It is clear that the worst is coming for
all of us.<a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn5"
name="_ednref5">[v]</a></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The rich multimillionaires of a few
countries continue with their objective to loot the
natural riches of the entire world, everything that
gives us life like water, land, forests, mountains,
rivers, air; and everything that is below the
ground: gold, oil, uranium, amber, sulfur, carbon,
and other minerals.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They don’t consider the land as a source of
life, but as a business where they can turn
everything into a commodity, and commodities they
turn into money, and in doing this they will destroy
us completely.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The bad and those who carry it out have a
name, history, origin, calendar, geography: the
capitalist system.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It doesn’t matter what color they paint it,
what name they give it, what religion they dress it
up as, what flag they raise; it is the capitalist
system.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It is the exploitation of humanity and the
world we inhabit.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It is disrespect and contempt for
everything that is different and that doesn’t sell
out, doesn’t give up, and doesn’t give in.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It is the system that persecutes,
incarcerates, murders.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It steals.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>At the head of this system there are
figures that emerge, reproduce, grow, and die:
saviors, leaders, <em>caudillos</em>, candidates,
governments, parties that offer their solutions.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They offer recipes, as one more commodity,
to resolve problems.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Perhaps someone out there still believes
that from above, where problems are made, will also
come solutions.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Perhaps there is still someone who believes
in local, regional, national, and global saviors.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Perhaps there are those who still hope that
someone who will do what we must do ourselves.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That would be nice, yes.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Everything would be so easy, comfortable,
not requiring too much effort. It would mean just
raising one’s hand, marking a ballot, filling out a
form, applauding, shouting a slogan, affiliating
oneself with a political party, and voting to throw
one out and let another in.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Perhaps, we Zapatistas say, perhaps, we
think, we who are what we are.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It would be nice if things were like that,
but they aren’t.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>What we have learned as Zapatistas, and
without anyone or anything except our own path as
teacher, is that no one, absolutely no one is going
to come and save us, help us, resolve our problems,
relieve our pain, or bring us the justice that we
need and deserve.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There is only what we do ourselves,
everyone in their own calendar and geography, in
their own collective name, in their own thinking and
action, their own origin and destiny.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We have also learned, as Zapatistas, that
this is only possible with organization.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We learned that it is good if one person<a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn6"
name="_ednref6">[vi]</a> gets angry.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But that if more people, many<a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_edn7"
name="_ednref7">[vii]</a> people get angry, a
light ignites in one corner of the world and its
glow can be seen, for a moment, across the entire
surface of the earth.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But we also learned that if these angers
organize themselves… Ah! Then we have not just a
momentary flash that illuminates the earth’s
surface.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Then what we have is a murmur, like a
rumor, a tremor that begins quietly and grows
stronger.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It is as if this world was about to birth
another, a better one, more just, more democratic,
more free, more human… or <em>humana</em>… or <strong><em>humanoa</em></strong>.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why today we begin our words with a
word from awhile ago already, but one that continues
to be necessary, urgent, vital: we have to organize
ourselves, prepare ourselves to struggle to change
this life, to create another way of living, another
way to govern ourselves as peoples.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because if we don’t organize, we will be
enslaved.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There is nothing to trust in capitalism.
Absolutely nothing. We have lived with this system
for hundreds of years, and we have suffered under
its 4 wheels: exploitation, repression,
dispossession, and disdain. Now all we have is our
trust in each other, in ourselves. And we know how
to create a new society, a new system of government,
the just and dignified life that we want.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Now no one is safe from the storm of the
capitalist hydra that will destroy our lives, not
indigenous people, peasant farmers, workers,
teachers, housewives, intellectuals, or workers in
general, because there are many workers who struggle
to survive daily life, some with a boss and others
without, but all caught in the clutches of
capitalism.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In other words, there is no salvation
within capitalism.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>No one will lead us; we must lead
ourselves, thinking together about how we will
resolve each situation.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Because if we think that there is someone
to lead us, well we have already seen how they lead
during the last several hundred years of the
capitalist system; it didn’t work for us, the poor,
at all. It worked for them, yes, because just
sitting there they earned money to live on.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They told everyone “vote for me,” “I will
fight for an end to exploitation,” and as soon as
they take office where they can earn money without
sweat, they automatically forget everything they
said and begin to create more exploitation, to sell
the little that is left of the riches of our
countries. Those sell-outs are useless hypocrites,
parasite good-for-nothings.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why, <em>compañeros</em> and <em>compañeras</em>,
the struggle is not over, we are just barely getting
started. We’ve only been at this for 32 years, 22 of
which were public.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why we must better unite ourselves,
better organize ourselves in order to construct our
boat, our house—that is, our autonomy. That is what
is going to save us from the great storm that looms.
We must strengthen our different areas of work and
our collective tasks.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We have no other possible path but to unite
ourselves and organize ourselves to struggle and
defend ourselves from the great threat that is the
capitalist system. Because the criminal capitalism
that threatens all of humanity does not respect
anyone; it will sweep aside all of us regardless of
race, party, or religion. This has been demonstrated
to us over many years of bad government, threats,
persecution, incarceration, torture, disappearances,
and murder of our peoples of the countryside and the
city all over the world.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why we say, <em>compañeros,
compañeras</em>, children, young people [<em>jóvenes</em>
and <em>jovenas</em>]: you new generations are the
future of our people, of our struggle and our
history. But you must understand that you have a
task and an obligation: to follow the example of our
first <em>compañeros</em>, of our elders, of our
parents and grandparents and all those who began
this struggle.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They have already laid a path; now it is
our job to follow and maintain it. But we can only
achieve this by organizing ourselves generation
after generation, understanding this task and
organizing ourselves to carry it out, and continuing
this until we reach the end of our struggle.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>You as young people are an important part
of our communities; that is why you must participate
in all levels of work in our organization and in all
areas of our autonomy. Let each generation continue
to lead us toward our destiny of democracy, freedom,
and justice, just as our first <em>compañeros</em>
and <em>compañeras</em> are teaching us now.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Compañeros</em> and <em>compañeras</em>,
all of you, we are sure that we will one day achieve
what we want: everything for everyone, nothing for
us—that is, our freedom. Today our struggle is
advancing little by little. Our weapons of struggle
are our resistance, our rebellion, and our honest
word, which no mountain nor border can block. It
will reach the ears and hearts of brothers and
sisters all over the world.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Every day there are more people who
understand that the cause of our struggle against
the grave situation of injustice we live is the
capitalist system in our country and in the world.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We also know that over the course of our
struggle there have been and will be threats,
repression, persecution, dispossession,
contradictions, and mockery from the three levels of
bad government. But we should be clear that the bad
government hates us because we are on a good path;
if it applauds us we have detoured from our
struggle.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>We must not forget that we are the heirs of
more than 500 years of struggle and resistance. The
blood of our ancestors runs through our veins, it is
they who have passed down to us the example of
struggle and rebellion, the role of guardian of our
mother earth, from whom we were born, from whom we
live, and to whom we will return.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>_*_</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Compañeros</em> and <em>compañeras</em>
Zapatistas</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Compañeros</em> and <em>compañeras</em>,
<strong><em>compañeroas</em></strong> of the Sixth:</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Brothers and sisters:</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>These are our first words for this year
that is beginning.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>More words will come, more thoughts.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Little by little we will show you once
again our gaze, our collective heart.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>For now we will finish by telling you that
to honor and respect the blood of our fallen <em>compañeros</em>,
it is not enough to remember, miss, cry, or pray,
rather we must continue the work that they left us,
to create in practice the change that we want.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>That is why, <em>compañeros</em> and <em>compañeras</em>,
this important day is the time to reaffirm our
commitment to struggle, to going forward at whatever
cost and whatever happens, without letting the
capitalist system destroy what we have won and the
little that we have been able to build with our work
and our efforts over more than 22 years: our
freedom!</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Now is not the time to retreat, to get
discouraged or to tire; we must be even firmer in
our struggle, to maintain the word and example that
our first <em>compañeros</em> left us: to not give
in, not sell out, and not give up.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>DEMOCRACY!</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>FREEDOM!</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>JUSTICE!</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>From the mountains of the Mexican
Southeast.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>For the Indigenous Revolutionary
Clandestine Committee—General Command of the
Zapatista Army for National Liberation.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Mexico, January 1, 2016.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>————</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref1"
name="_edn1">[i]</a> A member of the EZLN’s
civilian militia or reserves.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref2"
name="_edn2">[ii]</a> Literally “responsible,” but
used as a noun to refer to a person in charge of a
particular area of work.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref3"
name="_edn3">[iii]</a> Zapatista bases of support
chosen by their communities and trained to work in
the autonomous health and education systems.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref4"
name="_edn4">[iv]</a> The text uses “<em>todas,
todos, todoas</em>” to give a range of possible
plural gendered pronouns including male, female,
transgender and others.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref5"
name="_edn5">[v]</a> See iv.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref6"
name="_edn6">[vi]</a> The text uses “<em>uno, una,
unoa</em>” to give a range of possible versions of
“one,” including male, female, transgender and
others.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a
href="http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2016/01/02/words-of-the-ezln-on-the-22nd-anniversary-of-the-beginning-of-the-war-against-oblivion/#_ednref7"
name="_edn7">[vii]</a> The text uses “<em>muchos,
muchas, muchoas</em>” to give a range of possible
plural versions of “many” including male, female,
transgender and others.</span></span></p>
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