The Story Behind the Zapatista Red Alert as the Other Campaign Arrives at Zero Hour
By Bertha Rodríguez Santos and Al Giordano
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Mexico City
May 3, 2006
MEXICO CITY: From his first statements early this morning on Mexico Citys
historic Alameda, Zapatista Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos was clearly
informed about and visibly bothered by the police riot underway in the
nearby city of Texcoco, where 800 heavily armed riot cops stormed the
local flower growers market in the dawns early light, leading to a
violent nationally televised standoff between the firearms of above and
the worktools of below. By the afternoon after Delegate Zero traveled
through downtown Mexico City by foot, by subway and by motorcycle, through
its most working-class neighborhoods, listening to the grievances of the
people he exploded in the Plaza of the Three Cultures: The Zapatistas
have gone on Red Alert, the Other Campaign is suspended, and Marcos is
heading to the scene of the crime to confront the Mexican State.
To the death, if thats what it takes, as he said two days ago during a
mass meeting in front of the national palace.
And now, the Red Alert…
The first clue came at 10 a.m. During a gathering with sexual dissidents
gays, lesbians, transvestites, other loves and sexual workers who have
adhered to the Zapatista Other Campaign on the historic central park
of this metropolis known as La Alameda Marcos referred to the police raid
underway in Texcoco: If those above think that they are going to continue
repressing us, they are mistaken. The Other Campaign is not just a
movement of words. It is also a movement of action. He announced that
meeting with campaign adherents in downtown Mexico slated for six oclock
would be suspended to deal with the conflict underway, less than an hour
from Mexico City.
After all, the compañeros and compañeras in the line of fire in Texcoco
were the Other Campaign adherents of San Salvador Atenco, where, in 2001
and 2002, they chased out the federal government with machete swords and
defeated an international airport imposed on their farmlands. These are
men and women that Marcos visited on April 25 and 26 and urged to come to
the aid of their neighbors; to show the rest of Mexico how to stand up
for, and win, its rights and autonomy. This morning the men and women of
Atenco went to nearby Texcoco and, together with the local people, drove
out the invading police. The government response: to send more police, and
thus what the TV news called a riot (in fact, a police riot) ensued.
Later, around noon, during a meeting with workers in Mexico Citys largest
marketplace of La Merced, after listening to the complaints of the
shopkeepers and others about how the governments national, state and
local are trying to destroy the Mexican market to make room for Wal-Mart
and similar shopping malls and supermarkets, Marcos again referred to the
battle underway nearby, the attack on the small businesspeople of
Texcoco, because they are ugly, because they are dirty, and if we scratch
the surface we will find a municipal mayor that wants to put a Wal-Mart
there. They know that the shopkeepers there sell the better product, that
is better than a damn tomato that looks nice but is made of plastic like
the ones sold in a supermarket.
All afternoon long, as don Marcos of la Selva found himself in the deepest
corners of the concrete jungle of Mexico City, the countrys two national
TV stations the duopoly of Televisa and TV Azteca broadcast, live,
horrid scenes of violence, teargas, blood and death from the market and
highway of Texcoco. At various points during the live broadcasts, women
armed with machete swords forced the TV reporters to stop their
distortions, at one point chasing a previously macho but suddenly
terrified, as he gazed at the sharpened swords of the women Televisa
reporter down stairs as the camera went dark.
At almost six oclock, an hour away, the Zapatista Caravan, now at the
Plaza of Three Cultures in Tlalteloco, received a phone call that a young
boy had been assassinated by police in Texcoco. In a speech that will live
in history from a plaza where, on October 2, 1968, more than a thousand
young Mexicans were assassinated by the federal army for the crime of
having demonstrated peacefully against a dictatorship of a government,
Marcos spoke with rage and coherence. It was as if the dead themselves
spoke through the voice of the spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials):
Years ago, here in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, there was a massacre.
The government said that the army was attacked…. Today the media,
including the radio, dont ask what the public security forces are doing
in San Salvador Atenco.
He called upon all the Other Campaign adherents to organize blockades of
highways and streets, and other actions, beginning at 8 a.m. tomorrow,
Thursday, May 4.
He announced that the guerrilla troops of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation were now on Red Alert; that the Good Government Councils of
Chiapas were closed for tomorrow; that the events of the Other Campaign
were cancelled until this situation is resolved; and he offered, if the
people of San Salvador Atenco ask, to come physically to their aid
tomorrow.
Nobody doubts that the people of Atenco will call him and the rest of
the Other Campaign into battle.
In the Plaza of the Three Cultures where the dead still speak
Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos called, again, for a civil and peaceful
rebellion, starting tomorrow, Wednesday, the Fourth of May.
The following day, the Fifth El Cinco de Mayo Mexico celebrates its
victory against French colonialists. (And Narco News our reporters today
released from jail after two long nights behind bars in Oaxaca, but still
seeking justice for the crime of the Mexican State and the U.S. Embassy
against press freedom now calls for a demonstration on Friday, Cinco de
Mayo, in New York City, at 12:30 p.m., at the Mexican Consulate in New
York City, 27 East 39th Street -be there and let the world media capital
know that Mexico is still a dictatorship ruling with violence and
repression.)
Thunderclouds are clapping above the central region of Mexico tonight, and
from below, too. Its a Red Alert. What happens from here on out is up to
people like you, and maybe you, too.
To be continued…
By Bertha Rodríguez Santos and Al Giordano
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Mexico City
May 3, 2006
MEXICO CITY: From his first statements early this morning on Mexico Citys
historic Alameda, Zapatista Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos was clearly
informed about and visibly bothered by the police riot underway in the
nearby city of Texcoco, where 800 heavily armed riot cops stormed the
local flower growers market in the dawns early light, leading to a
violent nationally televised standoff between the firearms of above and
the worktools of below. By the afternoon after Delegate Zero traveled
through downtown Mexico City by foot, by subway and by motorcycle, through
its most working-class neighborhoods, listening to the grievances of the
people he exploded in the Plaza of the Three Cultures: The Zapatistas
have gone on Red Alert, the Other Campaign is suspended, and Marcos is
heading to the scene of the crime to confront the Mexican State.
To the death, if thats what it takes, as he said two days ago during a
mass meeting in front of the national palace.
And now, the Red Alert…
The first clue came at 10 a.m. During a gathering with sexual dissidents
gays, lesbians, transvestites, other loves and sexual workers who have
adhered to the Zapatista Other Campaign on the historic central park
of this metropolis known as La Alameda Marcos referred to the police raid
underway in Texcoco: If those above think that they are going to continue
repressing us, they are mistaken. The Other Campaign is not just a
movement of words. It is also a movement of action. He announced that
meeting with campaign adherents in downtown Mexico slated for six oclock
would be suspended to deal with the conflict underway, less than an hour
from Mexico City.
After all, the compañeros and compañeras in the line of fire in Texcoco
were the Other Campaign adherents of San Salvador Atenco, where, in 2001
and 2002, they chased out the federal government with machete swords and
defeated an international airport imposed on their farmlands. These are
men and women that Marcos visited on April 25 and 26 and urged to come to
the aid of their neighbors; to show the rest of Mexico how to stand up
for, and win, its rights and autonomy. This morning the men and women of
Atenco went to nearby Texcoco and, together with the local people, drove
out the invading police. The government response: to send more police, and
thus what the TV news called a riot (in fact, a police riot) ensued.
Later, around noon, during a meeting with workers in Mexico Citys largest
marketplace of La Merced, after listening to the complaints of the
shopkeepers and others about how the governments national, state and
local are trying to destroy the Mexican market to make room for Wal-Mart
and similar shopping malls and supermarkets, Marcos again referred to the
battle underway nearby, the attack on the small businesspeople of
Texcoco, because they are ugly, because they are dirty, and if we scratch
the surface we will find a municipal mayor that wants to put a Wal-Mart
there. They know that the shopkeepers there sell the better product, that
is better than a damn tomato that looks nice but is made of plastic like
the ones sold in a supermarket.
All afternoon long, as don Marcos of la Selva found himself in the deepest
corners of the concrete jungle of Mexico City, the countrys two national
TV stations the duopoly of Televisa and TV Azteca broadcast, live,
horrid scenes of violence, teargas, blood and death from the market and
highway of Texcoco. At various points during the live broadcasts, women
armed with machete swords forced the TV reporters to stop their
distortions, at one point chasing a previously macho but suddenly
terrified, as he gazed at the sharpened swords of the women Televisa
reporter down stairs as the camera went dark.
At almost six oclock, an hour away, the Zapatista Caravan, now at the
Plaza of Three Cultures in Tlalteloco, received a phone call that a young
boy had been assassinated by police in Texcoco. In a speech that will live
in history from a plaza where, on October 2, 1968, more than a thousand
young Mexicans were assassinated by the federal army for the crime of
having demonstrated peacefully against a dictatorship of a government,
Marcos spoke with rage and coherence. It was as if the dead themselves
spoke through the voice of the spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials):
Years ago, here in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, there was a massacre.
The government said that the army was attacked…. Today the media,
including the radio, dont ask what the public security forces are doing
in San Salvador Atenco.
He called upon all the Other Campaign adherents to organize blockades of
highways and streets, and other actions, beginning at 8 a.m. tomorrow,
Thursday, May 4.
He announced that the guerrilla troops of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation were now on Red Alert; that the Good Government Councils of
Chiapas were closed for tomorrow; that the events of the Other Campaign
were cancelled until this situation is resolved; and he offered, if the
people of San Salvador Atenco ask, to come physically to their aid
tomorrow.
Nobody doubts that the people of Atenco will call him and the rest of
the Other Campaign into battle.
In the Plaza of the Three Cultures where the dead still speak
Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos called, again, for a civil and peaceful
rebellion, starting tomorrow, Wednesday, the Fourth of May.
The following day, the Fifth El Cinco de Mayo Mexico celebrates its
victory against French colonialists. (And Narco News our reporters today
released from jail after two long nights behind bars in Oaxaca, but still
seeking justice for the crime of the Mexican State and the U.S. Embassy
against press freedom now calls for a demonstration on Friday, Cinco de
Mayo, in New York City, at 12:30 p.m., at the Mexican Consulate in New
York City, 27 East 39th Street -be there and let the world media capital
know that Mexico is still a dictatorship ruling with violence and
repression.)
Thunderclouds are clapping above the central region of Mexico tonight, and
from below, too. Its a Red Alert. What happens from here on out is up to
people like you, and maybe you, too.
To be continued…
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