File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2002/lyotard.0212, message 24


Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 12:35:21 -0500
From: shawn wilbur <swilbur-AT-wcnet.org>
Subject: [Fwd: En;Jornada/Irl,Marcos on explications and encuentros,Dec 09]


An interesting intervention by the EZLN. It will be interesting to see
this play out.

-shawn
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Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 22:54:58 -0600 (CST)
From: irlandesa <irlandesa-AT-sbcglobal.net>
To: chiapas-AT-eco.utexas.edu
Subject: En;Marcos on explications and encuentros




 Originally published in Spanish by La Jornada
_________________________

Translated by irlandesa







[The following are a series of 4 letters, or communique's, from
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, to ETA, and to Basque and Spanish civil
society, in explanation and support of an encuentro, to be held in
Lanzarote this April, for all those parties affected by, and interested
in, the Basque issue.  It is to be held simultaneously, but not
concurrently, with the projected duel/debate between Marcos and Judge
Garzo'n - irl]





La Jornada

Monday, December 9, 2002.





[#1]





Zapatista Army of National Liberation



December 7, 2002.







To:   Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) political-military organization.

        Basque Country.



From:   Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

            Mexico.





Ladies and Gentlemen:



I am writing you in the name of the children, old ones, women and men of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, of Mexico.



As you perhaps know, we recently, in a letter that was read on Spanish
territory, referred to the struggle of the Basque people for their
sovereignty.  Despite the fact that the text clearly made reference to
the Basque political struggle, and not the military one, the words were
intentionally ambiguous regarding the activities of your organization,
ETA.



The purpose of the ambiguity was to provoke what we did, in fact,
provoke.  We are not unaware that we placed the moral capital at risk
which the zapatistas have won throughout the world, in particular in the
Iberian peninsula, but it was necessary.then.



You and we know quite well that the EZLN has not merely not carried out
any military action against civilians.  You also know that we condemn
those types of attacks, which usually claim the greatest number of
victims among persons who do not even know what the issue is about.



Your actions have caused not a few civilian victims.  Among them are
persons who sympathized with our cause and who, like the rest of the
civilian victims, died with the anguish of not knowing why.



We believe that the struggle of the Basque people for their sovereignty
is just and legitimate, but neither that noble cause, nor any other, is
justification for the sacrifice of civilian lives.  It not only does not
produce any political gain whatsoever, but, even if it were to produce
it, the human cost is irredeemable.  We condemn military actions which
harm civilians.  And we condemn them equally, whether they come from the
ETA or the Spanish State, from Al Qaeda or from George W. Bush, from
Israelis or Palestinians, or from whomever, under different names or
initials - whether in the name of reasons of State, or ideological or
religious ones - claims its victims among children, women, old ones and
men who have nothing to do with the matter.



I also know that that the thousands of Basques who have been executed,
tortured and disappeared by the State forces are not included among the
calculations of dead and wounded made by the Spanish government.  I am
not, however, writing to you in order to compare numbers of dead.  We
would surpass some, since there have been millions of Mexican indigenous
who have, since the Spanish conquest, fallen.  And we shall not set our
dead up to be compared with anyone.



No, I am not writing to you to speak of what has happened before.



A few days ago, the Spanish Judge, Fernando Baltasar Garzo'n Real,
challenged me to a debate.  I have responded affirmatively to him, and I
have set as a condition, among others, that an encuentro be held among
all the political, social and cultural forces which are involved or
interested in the problems of the Basque Country, so that they can talk
about, and listen to, the Basque paths.



Similarly, in the name of all my compa~eros and compa~eras, I am asking
you to declare a unilateral truce for a period of 177 days, beginning at
dawn on December 24, 2002.  I am also asking you to publicly commit
yourselves to not carrying out any offensive military operation during
that period, and thus contribute to creating an atmosphere which is
conducive for that encuentro, that is, in order to give the word a
chance.



It would be good if Euskadi Ta Askatasuna could send one or several
delegates to speak and to listen - not to negotiate or to agree to
anything - to The Basque Country: Paths encuentro.  I know they would be
taking risks, but, if you are willing to die or to be taken prisoner in
military actions you carry out, I do not see why you would not be
willing to suffer the same in a political action.



That is what I am asking of you, not to surrender, not to abandon your
arms or convictions.  I am only asking that you give the word a chance,
and thus honor the great risk which we zapatistas have, and will be,
taking.  In case you do not accept, I am offering myself up personally
as an opportune victim for your next attack.  You could accuse me of
"collaborating" with the Spanish State (which would be quite
paradoxical, since Spanish officials are accusing me of being an
"apologist for terrorism").  The argument is the least of the problem.
There will be no reproaches or reprisals on our part, since I, at least,
will then know why I died.  I await your response.



Vale.  Salud, and an opportunity for peace.





>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.





Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Mexico,

December of 2002.







**************************************************

[2]





Zapatista Army of National Liberation



Mexico.



December 7, 2002.





To all the political, social, cultural and religious forces of the
Basque Country, regardless of their ideology.



>From Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Ladies, Gentlemen and Children:





I am writing you in the name of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation, in order to invite you to join together and embrace the "AN
OPPORTUNITY FOR THE WORD" mobilization, which is an attempt to secure a
suitable atmosphere from ETA and the Spanish government for the holding
of "The Basque Country: Paths" encuentro.



This encuentro is to be held on the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary
Islands, from April 3 through 7 of 2003, and its only purpose is to try
and change the warlike logic that abounds throughout the world.



We are also asking you to embrace that encuentro, to organize it and to
participate in it, in the time and manner you find most suitable.



The encuentro is meant to be one of the conditions we set for the
holding of the debate to which Judge Baltasar Garzo'n challenged us.  If
it is not held, however, or if some misfortune or contretemps prevents
the joust from being celebrated, we are respectfully asking you to
somehow hold that encuentro at the place and date that is most
convenient for you.



I shall not go on any further so that I do not repeat what is already in
the letters I am attaching.



We are certain that this initiative, if successful, will become a ray of
hope for all the peoples of the earth.



May I reiterate our greetings, our respect and our admiration.



Vale.  Salud, and is it not worthwhile giving the word a chance?





>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.





Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Mexico,

December of 2002.







**********************************************************************

[3]





Zapatista Army of National Liberation



Mexico



December 7, 2002.



To Spanish and Basque Civil Society.

     Iberian Peninsula,

     Planet Earth.



>From Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Mexico.





Ladies, gentlemen and children:



I am writing you in the name of the old ones, women, children and men of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, of Mexico, in order to extend
our greetings.



Recently, a letter of ours, read in the Madrid Aguascalientes, unleashed
a polemic and a condemnation of us, because the missive was ambiguous
regarding the activities of the ETA Basque organization.  Despite the
fact that, at the beginning of the epistle, it warned that "nothing is
by chance with the zapatistas," and the fact that we clearly referred to
the political, and not the armed, struggle, of the Basque people, there
was an attempt to interpret the lack of an explicit condemnation of
terrorism as support by the EZLN for ETA and their actions.



I should tell you that the ambiguity was intentional, as well as the
entire tone of the letter.  We sought to provoke the Spanish temperament
of a man, and to thus set in motion a noble and honest initiative,
which, insofar as the part which concerns us, represents perhaps the
last opportunity for achieving a peaceful, dignified resolution of our
demands, which are, as everyone knows, the recognition of indigenous
rights and culture.



You know quite well that we do not practice terrorism, and that we have,
on numerous occasions,  in written and spoken statements, condemned
terror, from wherever it comes.  And, if we did not make it explicit
this time, it was for reasons which will soon be clearly discerned.



For the victims of ETA and of the Spanish State, among whom are not a
few sympathizers with our cause, our sincere apologies if we were
lacking in respect for your pain through that ambiguity.  We desire,
with all our hearts, for you to understand us, and for you, someday, to
forgive us for our part.



We also regret that your suffering has been manipulated by the Spanish
government in order to distract, and in that way cover up, their
criminal inefficiency in the ecological catastrophe which is befalling
the noble Galician people, who have demonstrated that they can organize
and resolve their problem while those who govern are appearing in the
social pages of the Madrid newspapers.



As you know, Judge Fernando Baltasar Garzo'n Real has challenged me to a
public debate on various issues.  We have decided to accept the debate
and to set, as one of the conditions, that an encuentro be held among
those interested in and affected by the Basque problem, so that they can
talk and listen, without bombs, bullets and arrest warrants.  The theme
of the encuentro is The Basque Country: Paths.



In order to carry out this encuentro, I have already addressed the
Basque organization ETA, through a letter, in order to ask them to
declare a 177 day unilateral truce (beginning this December 24), and,
therefore, foster a suitable environment for the encuentro to be held.



We feel that something should be done in order to change the criminal
framework which is currently being imposed in the entire sphere.  Terror
can be fought with terror, but it cannot win.  Legal arguments can be
used to justify torture, disappearances, assassinations, but they do not
do away with those who, with ideological or religious arguments, justify
the deaths of others.



We are presented in today's world with a syllogistic option which, like
all syllogistic options, is a trap.  It forces us to choose between one
terror and another, and criticizing one implies supporting the other.
In this case, it forces us to choose between the terrorism of ETA or the
terrorism of the Spanish State, and, if we distance ourselves from one,
then we are accomplices of the other.  You and we know that the
alternative is not one thing or the other, but what is built as a new
path, a new world.



It would be beautifully just and instructive if - in the midst of a
polarized world, where death and destruction vary only in their
arguments and their injustices (where condemning the punitive actions of
Bush equals supporting Bin Laden's fundamentalist madness) - it were to
be the Iberian peninsula where a space would be opened in order to give
an opportunity for the word.



It would be marvelous if it were Iberian dignity which would be the one
to tell the entire world that it is possible, and necessary, to give the
word a chance.



For all of this, we are calling on you to mobilize throughout Hispanic
soil, in order to demand exactly that of the Spanish government and
ETA:  an opportunity for the word.





>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.





Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Mexico,

December of 2002.





*****************************************************************

[#4]





Zapatista Army of National Liberation



December 7, 2002.





To the Basque political, social and cultural organizations of the left.

           Basque Country.



>From Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

          Mexico.





Brothers and sisters:



I am writing you in the name of the children, old ones, women and men of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation of Mexico, and I greet all of
you with respect and admiration.



I believe I would not be in error to assume that you are well aware of
the polemic which has been unleashed because of the zapatista letter
which was read in the Madrid Aguascalientes in late November of this
year.



As you shall see in the attached letter, I have accepted the challenge
to debate, which Judge Baltasar Garzo'n leveled at me.  Given that I am
the challenged, and it is up to me to set the conditions, I have
answered him that one of those conditions is that an encuentro be held,
parallel with the debate, among all the political and cultural forces
involved in the problem of the Basque Country which are so willing.  I
have also written to the ETA, asking them to declare a unilateral truce
for 177 days beginning this December 24, for the purpose of creating
conditions suitable for holding this encuentro.



There then, that is a brief summary.  You can see more details in the
letters I mentioned.  But I am writing specifically to you for several
reasons.



In addition to inviting you to participate in the encuentro, I am
writing you in order to ask you to join in the petition I am making to
ETA, since you have the moral authority and prestige which I lack in
that regard.



I am also asking you, with inclusion and tolerance, to gather together
the greatest forces possible in order to organize and to hold the
event.  I am asking you because, historically, the left has always shown
itself to be more organized than the right.  The themes, pace and other
issues of the encuentro should be decided by all those forces which wish
to give the word a chance.



I am well aware that you, unlike the Mexican parliamentary left, do
indeed have an alternative political program, not only in order to fight
for Basque sovereignty, but also for the building of a system that is
more just, more democratic and more free, that is, more human.  That is
why I am turning to you, to your experience, to your decision to
struggle, to your heroism and to the moral authority which, I have no
doubt, have been built within the noble Basque people.  I have no doubt
that there are still hitherto unknown paths for winning Basque
sovereignty.



And nor do I have any doubt that those paths are now closed by the
terror which is being encouraged on one side and the other.



That is why I am asking you to speak and to listen, to speak to each
other and to listen to each other.  Not to renounce your convictions and
programs, but, instead, to have them be known in a space which should be
fought for, that yes, along with all honest men and women.



I am asking you to make that space a reality.  No one has anything to
lose (except us, the zapatistas, but that is our specialty), and they do
have much to gain.



I am asking you to dedicate your best efforts towards giving the word a
chance.



Another thing (yes, I know that now I'm starting to annoy), I am asking
you, even if everything goes against you and nothing turns out as you
would have liked, to open that space however you can, and to call on all
those who want to, to speak and to listen to what everyone has to say
and hear.



Vale.  Salud, and I already know that it sounds like a slogan from a
street demonstration, but the word must be given a chance.





>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.





Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.



Mexico,

December of 2002.



   

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