File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postco_1995/postco_Aug.95, message 77


Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 06:20:39 -0600 (MDT)
From: Robert Johnson <johnsorl-AT-colorado.edu>
Subject: CCRI-CG communique: ruta 100 translation (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 1995 23:40:48 +0000
From: CECILIA RODRIGUEZ <moonlight-AT-igc.apc.org>
Subject: CCRI-CG communique: ruta 100 translation

La Jornada, August 9, 1995

Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)
Mexico, August 3, 1995

TO:		Ruta 100 Union
		SUTAUR-100
		Mexico, DF.

FROM:	        Insurgent Subcommander Marcos
		CCRI-CG, EZLN
		Mexico

Brothers:

I write to you on behalf of all of my comrades in the Zapatista National
Liberation Army to bring you our greetings.

Our silence with regard to the cowardly and treacherous attack on SUTAUR-100
was not because we disdain your struggle, nor because of whatever political
differences we may have.  We remained silent because we thought that our
words could be used against your unjustly imprisoned leaders.  They were
accused of being accomplices of the EZLN, and being incarcerated, they could
be hurt if the zapatistas were publicly to condemn the repressive attack and
state their unconditional solidarity with the workers of Ruta 100. That was
our thinking at the time, and that was the reason for our silence.  But we
have now learned that since the cowardly murder of Magistrate  Polo Uscanga,
it is public knowledge that the accusations against the leaders and advisers
of SUTAUR are all lies, and that the true objective of the attack was to
decapitate a movement whose combativeness and rebelliousness have been a
constant headache for the criminal gang that illegitimately holds the title
of "Mexican government."

We think that it is now clear to public opinion  that the attack on SUTAUR
was not because of some criminal conspiracy, but because of your tradition
of struggle, your steadfastness  and your unity.   That is why we now dare
to reach out to you and bring you our respectful greetings, because we
believe that it can no longer be used to harm your leaders, because we
believe that lies can no longer tarnish the dignity of your movement.  This
is our message: Brothers, the resistance that you keep up is not only an
indication of your combativeness and spirit.  It also bespeaks the
intelligent way in which you struggle.  When the supreme government expected
some unthinking reaction to their attack, the resistance you put up was
varied and imaginative.  Intelligence is always respected, wherever it may
be, but all the more when it comes from a sector that opposes the policies
of a criminal gang that holds government offices.  And when that sector that
resists intelligently is part of the Mexican workers' movement, respect
becomes hope.

Your movement has not only been intelligent; it has also shown everyone,
including its detractors, the strength of your unity.  Neither threats nor
blackmail nor bribery has been able to break your organization or turn it
against itself, which is what the malevolent government wanted.

Intelligence, unity and resistance.  These are the three main
characteristics of your movement, and indeed, they are the three main
lessons that you teach to all those forces who struggle, in different places
and in diverse ways, for the democratization of the country.

I don't think I am telling you anything new with the above.  You yourselves
have become aware of the sympathy the Mexican people have for you.  You know
that your movement, as one of your leaders rightly pointed out, is not just
for the defense of a source of work, but an example that shows how dignity
cannot be beaten down with impunity, that dignity is also in the cities,
that it lives among the workers, and that it resists today in the form of
the workers of Ruta 100.   Rest assured that the admiration and sympathy
that the urban population has for you are shared by us, the zapatistas.

The unjust arrests of your advisers and leaders have been a hard blow,
certainly.  But they have not given up, you resist, and above all, your
independence and integrity are unquestionable.  Unfortunately, in Mexico,
for a left movement or a leader to have his honesty recognized, he has to be
in jail... or dead.

The enemy's stupidity has made you stronger.  The government thought that by
assaulting you it would wipe you out.  That's not what happened; it made you
stronger, and has led sectors in the struggle who once distrusted you now to
show nothing but respect for your movement, for your steadfastness, for your
resistance.

The government, our enemy, is stupid and cowardly, but it is also
treacherous.  Its imbecility leads it to carry out absurd and senseless
actions, some of which are criminal.  We have learned to expect nothing good
from the government.  It has nothing to offer us but duplicity  and death.
Brothers, do not be trusting.  We will have nothing but what comes from
ourselves, the impoverished, those who have nothing, those who do not count,
the voiceless, the faceless, the nameless.  But just as you had a voice
yesterday in the words of the zapatistas and today you speak out again in
the shouts of the workers of Ruta 100, tomorrow a great movement will shout
down all silence, it will have the face of the faceless, and it will be
named after the nameless.

Whatever the outcome of your movement, today you  represent what is best
about the Mexican working people, you represent the dignity of the workers
of the city, you represent the hope of that great revolutionary force which
is the force of workers awakened from a long night in which the arrogance of
money, the corruptness of phony labor representatives and the criminal
action of the government have held down all Mexicans.

Be well, workers of Ruta 100.  In our poverty, there is little we can give,
but we give it with admiration and respect.

Do not give up; move ahead.  Although our voice may have no place in your
shout and silence is the support you give us, our heart is with your hearts.
And heart, come what may, is what counts.

Carry on, brothers.  May your resistance and your pain during this difficult
time also be part of the strength that will force this country, at last, to
see the dawn.

So long, be well, and may the dignity of workers speak out... and never be
silent again.

>From the mountains of the southeast Mexico,
Insurgent Subcommander Marcos.
Mexico, August 1995.

[Translation 8/14/95 by David Mintz <dmintz-AT-ix.netcom.com>]
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