National Call to Action in Response to attack on Zapatista Community, murder of Zapatista civilians and destruction of school and clinic.
WHAT: In response to an armed attack by the CIOAC-H on unarmed Zapatistas in La Realidad, Chiapas, the killing of Galeano (a teacher of the Zapatistas’ “Little School”), the wounding of 15 other Zapatista civilians, and the destruction of a Zapatista school and clinic, the below signatories call for a week of nationwide actions.
WHEN: Actions will take place starting May 18th and continue until May 24th with a day of remembrance on May 24th.
WHO: A large group of intellectuals, artists, and organizations (including Noam Chomsky, Junot Diaz, Alice Walker, Mike Davis, Cornel West, Rebel Diaz, Angela Davis, The IWW, David Harvey, Robin Kelley, Chris Hedges, Emory Douglas and many more) have issued the following denunciation and call to action.
MORE INFORMATION:
The denunciation and call follows below. The denunciation in English and Spanish as well as information about planned events can be found at: http://www.anattackonusall.org/ There is also a Facebook page, and people can follow @AnAttackOnUsAll on Twitter and Instagram, and promote the hashtags #AnAttackOnUsAll and #ZapatistasNoEstanSolxs
Call to Action in Support of the Zapatistas
Week of Action: May 18-24 (Day of Remembrance May 24)
Justice for Galeano; stop the war against the Zapatista communities!
STATEMENT:
Summary of recent events:
On May 2, 2014, in the Zapatista territory of La Realidad, Chiapas, Mexico, the group CIOAC-H, planned and executed a paramilitary attack on unarmed Zapatista civilians. An autonomous Zapatista school and clinic was destroyed, 15 people were ambushed and injured and Jose Luis Solis Lopez (Galeano), teacher at the Zapatista Little School, was murdered. The mainstream media is falsely reporting this attack on the Zapatistas as an intra-community confrontation, but in fact this attack is the result of a long-term counterinsurgency strategy promoted by the Mexican government.
Given the experience of the 1997 massacre at Acteal, we are concerned about the mounting paramilitary activity against Zapatista bases of support. It is clear that if we do not take action now, the current situation in Chiapas may also lead to an even more tragic end.
Why this matters to us:
Since 1994, the Zapatistas have shown us the bankruptcy of the world that dominates us and, most importantly, the ability to organize ourselves into self-determining communities autonomous from the political class and capitalism. It is this capacity to show that another world is possible in the here and now, one not rooted in exploitation, dispossession, repression and de-valorization, but rather in liberty, democracy and justice, that has inspired us all. An attack on the Zapatistas is an attack on the other world that we have all tried to build along with them for the past 20 years.
What we should do:
We strongly denounce the murder of Compañero Galeano and the attacks against our Zapatista brothers and sisters. We denounce the deliberate destruction of the Zapatista clinic and school. We denounce the disinformation from the press regarding these attacks.
To denounce these aggressions and in support of our Zapatista brothers and sisters, the signatories below call on all Zapatista supporters, students, anti-prison activists, artists, intellectuals, teachers, academics, LGBTQ groups, anarchists, communities of faith, prisoners, communities and organizations of color, indigenous peoples, Chicanos, migrants and all those seeking a more just, non-capitalist world, to pronounce themselves against these attacks by the Mexican government on the Zapatistas and to hold events starting Sunday May 18th (e.g. demonstrations at Mexican consulates and Embassies, corporate subsidiaries, and banks supporting the Mexican government, teach-ins, discussion groups, concerts, informational sessions, or other civil actions that people deem appropriate for their city) and culminating with a day of remembrance on May 24th called by the Zapatistas in honor of the late Compañero Galeano.
Let’s make our dignified pain and rage another building block towards a movement that will directly participate, along with the Zapatistas, in creating this new world.
STOP THE AGGRESSIONS AGAINST BROTHERS, SISTERS, TEACHERS-VOTANES AND ZAPATISTA BASES OF SUPPORT.
AN ATTACK ON THE ZAPATISTAS IS AN ATTACK ON US ALL!
See Signatories Below:
[At http://www.anattackonusall.org/, read the full Denunciation and Call to Action in Spanish and English along with current signatories, sign on in support, and find or plan actions/events in your city.
Please make sure to send all information about events or actions around the country to the Enlace Zapatista webpage: laotra@ezln.org.mx and invitaciones.escuelita.srl@gmail.com.
“Like” the Facebook page, follow @AnAttackOnUsAll on Twitter and Instagram, and promote the hashtags #AnAttackOnUsAll and #ZapatistasNoEstanSolxs]
Signatories:
Noam Chomsky
Angela Davis
Junot Díaz
Alice Walker
Chris Hedges
Rebel Diaz
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW-ISC)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
David Harvey
Cornel West
Mike Davis
Prison Radio
Robin D. G. Kelley
Tom Hayden
Bocafloja
Rosa Clemente
A.R.M.A. Collective
Iris Morales
David Graeber
Karla Quiñonez
El Kilombo Intergaláctico
James and Grace Lee Boggs Center
Emory Douglas
Glen Ford
Schools for Chiapas / Escuelas para Chiapas
Mexico Solidarity Network
Rick Rowley
Peter Brown
Fred Moten
Michael Hardt
Henry A. Giroux
Michael Taussig
Greg Ruggiero
Olmeca
Midnight Notes Collective
George Caffentzis
Laura Gottesdiener
Catherine Walsh
Arturo Escobar
Rebecca Solnit
Harry Cleaver
Angel Luis Lara
Andrej Grubacic
Alvaro Reyes
Zuccotti Park Press
Marco Amador
Brian Holmes
J. Kehaulani Kauanui
Bill Mullen
Peter Linebaugh
Antonia Darder,
Richard Stahler-Sholk
Peter McLaren
Hans Widmer
Joseph Nevins
Annemarie Jacir
Johanna Fernandez
Jeff Perlstein
Steven Salaita
David Riker
Emilio del Valle Escalante
Adelante Alliance
Beth Baker Cristales
Revolutionary Autonomous Communities – Los Angeles
El Hormiguero
Bikesan@s del Valle
Bay Area Intifada
Alumno@s de la Escuelita from California
Alumn@s de la Escuelita (from the ancestral lands of the Duwamish & Suquamish)
Adherentes a la Sexta (from the ancestral lands of the Duwamish & Suquamish)
Decolonial Food For Thought
Shades of Silence
Los Angeles Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee
Mujeres De Maiz
Acción Zapatista de Humboldt
Acción Zapatista South Bay
Universidad de la Tierra Califas
Inside-Outside Alliance, Durham
3Cs Counter-Cartographies Collective
Michel Khleifi
Steven Colatrella
Cynthia Franklin
David Shorter
Dean Saranillio
Judy Rohrer
Samia Halaby
Stanley Heller
Internationalist Prison Books Collective
Just Coffee Cooperative
Puente Arizona
Qilombo
Corazon del Pueblo
Neferti Tadiar
Maria Elena Garcia
Tony Lucero
Donald Monty Neill
Shelley Neill
RJ Maccani of The Foundry Theatre
Upside Down World
Ben Dangl
Workers Solidarity Movement
Colectivo Zapatista de San Diego
Eastside Café Collective
Young Communist League
Cafe Intifada
Dragonflyhill Urban Farm
The We Project
Project Allende
Coyote Radio
Wayne Au
Adam Sanchez
Jesse Hagopian
Kathy M. Xiong
Solidarity Farm
Mujeres en Resistencia
Dr. Dennis Hong
Chivis Martinez
Periclean Scholars at Elon University
Tom Arcaro
Kevin A. Trapani
Gabriela Kovats-Murillo
Stan Karp
Zapatista Solidarity Coalition, Sacramento
Grass Roots Events, INC
Lindsay Naylor
Chandan Reddy
Dan Coughlin
Rigo23
Worcester Roots
Stone Soup
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