Mothers, Fathers, and Family-members of our murdered
and disappeared brothers and sisters in Iguala, Guerrero:
Students of the “Raúl Isidro Burgos” Normal School in
Ayotzinapa, Guerrero:
Brothers and sisters:
We thank you with all our hearts for having given us
your word.
We know that to be able to bring us that direct word,
without intermediaries, without foreign interpretations, you had to travel many
hours and suffer weariness, hunger, sleep.
We also know that for you that sacrifice is part of the
duty that you feel.
The duty not to abandon the compañeros disappeared by
the evil governments, not to sell them, not to forget them.
Because of that duty you began your struggle even when
you were not paid even the least bit of attention and the brothers and sisters
today disappeared were cataloged as “cheats,” “amateurs,” “future criminals who
deserved it,” “oafs,” “radicals,” “scum,” “agitators.”
That is what many people called them who now rush to
the side of your dignified rage out of fashion or convenience, when then they
wanted to fault the Raúl Isidro Burgos Normal School for the disgrace.
Still there are those there above who continue trying,
wishing like so to distract and to hide the true culprit.
Because of that duty you began to speak, to cry out, to
explain, to tell, to use the word with anger, with dignified rage.
Today, in the mountain of hollow words which others
cast over your dignified cause, they now fight already over who made you be
known, heard, understood, embraced.
Maybe you have not been told, but you, the family
members and compañeros of the dead and disappeared students, have been the ones
who have achieved, with the force of your pain, and of that pain turned into
dignified and noble rage, many, in Mexico and the World, awaken, ask, question.
That is why we give you thanks.
Not only for having honored us by bringing your word to
our ears, as humble as we are: without media impact; without contacts in the
evil governments; without the ability or knowledge to accompany you, shoulder
to shoulder, in the incessant going and coming of searching for your loved ones
who now are beloved for millions who did not know them; without sufficient
words to give you comfort, relief, hope.
Also and above all, we give you thanks for your heroic
endeavor, your wise stubbornness to name the disappeared in front of those
responsible for their disgrace, to demand justice in the face of the powerful’s
arrogance, to teach rebellion and resistance in the face of conformism and
cynicism.
We want to give you thanks for the lessons which you
have given us and are giving us.
It is terrible and wonderful that family members and
poor and humble students who aspire to be teachers, have become the best
professors which the skies of this country have seen in recent years.
Brothers and sisters:
Your word was and is for us a force.
It is as if you have given us nourishment even if we
were far away, even if we did not know each other, even if calendars and
geographies separated us, that is to say, time and distance.
And we also thank you because now we see, hear, and
read that others try to cover that hard, strong word of yours, which is the
nucleus of pain and rage which made everything go.
And we see, hear, and read that now doors are spoken of
which mattered to no one before.
Forgetting that some time ago those doors were to
indicate to those from outside that they were not taken into account at all in
the decisions which those from inside made.
Forgetting that now those doors are only part of a
worthless shell, where sovereignty is simulated and there is only servility and
submission.
Forgetting that those doors open only to a great mall
where the people from outside do not enter and in which the broken pieces of
what once was the Mexican Nation are sold.
Those doors do not matter to us.
Nor does it matter to us if they burn them, nor if they
worship them, nor if they see them with rage, or with nostalgia, or with
desire.
To us your words matter more.
Your rage, your rebellion, your resistance.
Because there outside it is spoken, it is discussed, it
is alleged, that if violence or nonviolence, putting aside that violence is
felt every day on the tables of most, walks with them to work, to school,
returns with them to the home, sleeps with them, is made a nightmare which is
dream and reality without regard for age, race, gender, language, culture.
And we hear, see, and read that there outside the
right-wing and left-wing coup mentalities are discussed, that who are we going
to remove to see who is put in place.
And like so it is forgotten that the entire political
system is a rotten.
That it isn’t that it has relationships with organized
crime, with drug trafficking, with the harassment, the aggressions, the rapes,
the beatings, the prisons, the disappearances, the murders, but that all this
is already part of its essence.
Because it is no longer possible to talk about the
political class and distinguish it from the nightmares which millions suffer on
these soils.
Corruption, impunity, authoritarianism, organized or
disorganized crime, are already in the emblems, the statues, the declarations
of principles, and the practice of the entire Mexican political class.
To us the bickering does not matter, the agreements and
disagreements which those from above have in order to decide who is now in
charge of the machine of destruction and death which the Mexican State has
become, do not matter.
To us your words matter.
Your rage, your rebellion, your resistance.
And we see, read, and hear that there outside calendars
are discussed, always the calendars of above, with their deceptive dates which
hide oppressions which today we suffer.
Because it is forgotten that behind Zapata and Villa
those who remained are hidden: the Carranzas, Obregons, Calles, and the long
list of names which, on the blood of those who were like us, lengthened the
terror up to our days.
To us your words matter.
Your rage, your rebellion, your resistance.
And we read, hear, and see that there outside tactics
and strategies are discussed, the methods, the schedule, the what to do, who leads
who, who commands, to where it is oriented.
And it is forgotten that the demands are simple and
clear: all have to appear with life, not only those from Ayotzinapa; there has
to be punishment for the culprits from the entire political spectrum and from
all levels; and what is necessary must be done so that the horror is never
again repeated against anyone of this world, even if they are not a public
figure or someone of prestige.
To us your words matter.
Your rage, your rebellion, your resistance.
Because in your words we also hear ourselves.
In those words we hear ourselves say and tell ourselves
that no one thinks of us, the poor from below.
No one, absolutely no one thinks of us.
They only feign presence to see what to take, how much
to expand, how much to profit, what to charge, what to do, what to undo, what
to say, what to silence.
Some days ago, in the first days of October, when the
horror of what had happened was just beginning to be understood, we sent you
some words.
Small as our words inherently are since some time ago.
Few words because pain never finds sufficient words to
speak it, to explain it, to alleviate it, to listen to it.
So we told you that you are not alone.
But with that we were not only telling you that we
support you, that, although far away, your pain was ours, as is ours your
dignified rage.
Yes, we told you that but not only that.
We also were telling you that in your pain and in your
rage you were not alone because thousands of men, women, children, and elderly
know that firsthand.
You are not alone sisters and brothers.
Look for your word also in the family members of the boys
and the girls murdered in the ABC daycare in Sonora; in the organizations for
the disappeared in Coahuila; in the family members of the innocent victims of
the drug war, lost since its beginning; in the family members of thousands of
migrants eliminated throughout Mexican territory.
Look in the daily victims who, in all corners of our
country, know that the legal authority is the one who beats, annihilates,
steals, kidnaps, extorts, rapes, imprisons, murders, sometimes with the clothing
of the criminal organization and sometimes as the legally constituted government.
Look for the native peoples who, since before time was time,
have treasured knowledge to resist and next to whom there is no one who knows
more about pain and rage.
Look for the Yaqui and in you it will be found.
Look for the Nahua and you will see that your word is
welcome.
Look for the Ñahtó and the mirror will be mutual.
Look for those who raised up these lands and with their
blood gave birth to this Nation since before it was called “Mexico,” and you
will know that below the word is a bridge which spans without fear.
That is why your word has might.
In your word millions have been reflected.
Many say it, although the majority silence it but make
your cry theirs and within themselves repeat your words.
They identify with you, with your pain and with your
rage.
We know that many ask you, that they insist, that they
demand, that they want to take you toward one destination or toward another,
that they want to use you, that they want to order you.
We know that there is much noise which they throw at
you.
We do not want to be one more noise.
We only want to tell you not to let your word fall.
Do not let it fall.
Do not let it falter.
Make it grow so that it is raised above the noise and the
lie.
Do not abandon it because in it travels not only the
memory of your dead and disappeared, the rage also walks of those below who now
are so that those from above may be.
Sisters and brothers:
We think that maybe you already know that it may be
that you shall remain alone and that you shall be prepared.
That it may be that those who now pile on top of
you to use you for their own benefit, shall abandon you and run elsewhere to
seek another trend, another movement, another mobilization.
We tell you what we know because it is already a part
of our history.
Say that there are 100 who now accompany you in your
demands.
Of those 100, 50 will change you out for the trend
which is right around the corner.
Of those 50 who remain, 30 will purchase the
forgetfulness which is now already offered in installment payments and it will
be said of you that you no longer exist, that you did not do anything, that you
were a farce to distract from other things, that you were an invention of the
government for such party or for such political figure not to advance.
Of those 20 who remain, 19 will run off in panic after the
first broken window because the victims of Ayotzinapa, of Sonora, of Coahuila,
of any geography, remain in the media only for a moment and they can choose not
to see, not to listen, not to read, turning the page, changing the channel or
station, but a broken window is, on the other hand, a prophecy.
And then, of those 100 you will see that only one
remains.
But that one, has been discovered in your words; has
opened their heart, as we say, and in that heart the pain and the rage of your
indignation has been sown.
Not only for your dead and disappeared, also for that
one in a hundred, you have to continue forward.
Because that one, just like you, does not give up, does
not sell out, does not give in.
As a part of that one percent, perhaps the smallest, we
the Zapatistas are and will be here.
But not only.
There are many more.
Because it turns out that the few are few until they
find and discover each themselves in others.
So something terrible and wonderful will happen.
And those who thought themselves as few and alone, will
discover that we are majoritarian in all senses.
And that those from above are the ones who are few in
truth.
And so it will be necessary to go round the world
because it is not fair for the few to dominate the many.
Because it is not fair for there to be dominators and
dominated.
Sisters and brothers:
We say all this, according to our thoughts which are
our histories.
You, in your own histories, will hear many thoughts
more, just as now you give us the honor of listening to ours.
And you have the wisdom to take from those thoughts what
you find good and throw out what you find bad.
We as Zapatistas think that the changes which really
matter, those which are profound, those which make other histories, are those
which begin with the few and not with the many.
Because we know that you know that even if Ayotzinapa
passes out of fashion, that even if the great plans, the strategies, and the
tactics fail, that even if the circumstances pass and other interests and
forces become fashionable, that even if those leave who today crowd around you
like scavenging animals which thrive off of others’ pain; even if all this
happens, you and we know that there is in all corners a pain like ours, a rage
like ours, and a determination like ours.
We as the Zapatistas that we are invite you to go to
those pains and to those rages.
Look for them, find them, respect them, speak to them
and listen to them, exchange pains.
Because we know that when different pains find each
other they do not germinate into resignation, pity, and abandonment, but into
organized rebellion.
We know that in your heart, independent of your
religions and of your ideologies and political organizations, the demand for
justice instills you.
Do not break.
Do not divide, unless it is to travel further.
And above all, do not forget that you are not alone.
Sisters and brothers:
With our small forces but with all our heart we
have done and will do what is possible to support your just struggle.
Our word has not been much because we have seen that
there are many interests, of the politicians from above who are at the
forefront, which want to use you at their pleasure and convenience, and we do
not and will not join the rapacious flight of shameless opportunists to whom it
does not matter at all if those who now are missing appear with life, but
rather if they can take water to the mill of their ambition.
Our silence has meant and means respect because the
size of your struggle is gigantic.
That is why our steps have been in silence to make you
know that you are not alone, so that you may know that your pain is ours and
ours also your dignified rage.
That is why our small lights were lit where no one kept
track, other than us.
Those who see this effort of ours as a lesser thing or
ignore it, and demand or insist that we speak, that we declare, that we add
noise to noise, are racists who despise what does not appear above.
Because it is important for you to know that we support
you, but it is also important for us to know that we support a just, noble, and
dignified cause, as is the one which your caravan now instills throughout the
country.
Because of that, knowing that we support an honest
movement, for us is nourishment and hope.
It would be bad for there not to be any honest
movement, and throughout the lengthy below that we are for the grotesque farce
of above to be repeated.
We think that those who wager on a calendar of above or
a target date, will abandon you as soon as a new date appears on their horizon.
Led from the nose by a circumstance which they did
nothing for and which in the beginning they scoffed at, they hope that “the
masses” will open the path to Power for them and that one name will replace
another name above while below nothing changes.
We think that the circumstances which transform the
world are not born from the calendars of above, but are created by the daily,
stubborn, and continuous work of those who choose to organize instead of
joining the trend on-duty.
True, there will be a profound change, a real
transformation on these and on other pained soils of the world.
Not one but many revolutions are to shake up the whole
planet.
But the results will not be a change of name and of
labels where the one from above continues being above at the expense of those
who are below.
The real transformation will not be a change of
government, but of relationship, one where the people command and the
government obeys.
One where being government is not a business.
One where being women, men, others, girls, boys,
elderly, youth, workers of the country and of the city, is not a nightmare or a
piece of game for the enjoyment and enrichment of rulers.
One where women are not humiliated, indigenous people
despised, youth disappeared, different people satanized, childhood made a
commodity, old age cast aside.
One where terror and death do not rule.
One where there are neither kings nor subjects, neither
masters nor slaves, neither exploiters nor exploited, neither saviors nor saved,
neither leaders nor followers, neither commanders nor obeyers, neither pastors
nor sheep.
Yes, we know that it will not be easy.
Yes, we also know that it will not be quick.
Yes, but we also know well that it will not be a change
of names and signs on the criminal building of the system.
But we know that it shall be.
And we know also that you and everyone will find your
disappeared, that there will be justice, that for all those who have suffered
and suffer that sorrow there will be the relief of having answers to the why,
what, who, and how, and from these answers not only build punishment for those
responsible, but also build what is necessary for it not to be repeated and for
being young and being a student, or a woman, or a child, or a migrant, or an indigenous
person, or anyone, not to be a mark for the executioner on-duty to identify the
next victim.
We know that it will be so because we have heard
something that we have in common, among many other things.
Because we know that you and we will not sell out, that
we will not give in, and that we will not give up.
Brothers and sisters:
For our part we only want you to take with you this
thought that we tell you from the depths of our collective heart:
Thank you for your words, sisters and brothers.
But above all, thank you for your struggle.
Thank you because by knowing them, we know that the
horizon is now in view…
Democracy!
Freedom!
Justice!
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine
Committee-General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
Mexico, on the 15th day of the
month of November, 2014, in the 20th year since the beginning of the
war against oblivion.
Translated from Spanish by Henry Gales.
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