A Meeting of Struggles: Report back on The Other Campaign New York in San Marcos Avilés, Support Base of the Za patistas
The ejido of San Marcos Avilés, a Zapatista support base community, is located in the Chilón municipality of Chiapas, amidst verdant jungle. The population here is tzeltal-speaking indigenous people, and has for years fought for their autonomy, dignity, and justice, as indigenous peoples and Zapatistas.
For over a year, our compas of San Marcos Avilés have suffered under a climate of terror and violence organized by local groups and individuals with intimate ties to the PRI, PRD, and PVEM political parties of Mexico, who wish to undermine the Zapatista struggle to build autonomy. In the case of San Marcos Avilés, the construction of their autonomous school represents the primary target for the bad government, as it symbolizes and exercises that autonomy.
Last week, shortly after the Second International Seminar of Reflection and Analysis convened by the CIDECI-University of the Earth, a delegation of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, accompanied by two compas from the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (FrayBa), visited the community of San Marcos Avilés. The purpose of the visit was to meet the community and learn more about their dignified struggle, and at the same time, share our own.
Upon arriving at San Marcos Avilés, we presented to the entire community a giant banner of the Worldwide Declaration in Support of the Zapatista Support Bases of San Marcos Avilés. The banner was printed by FrayBa and had a map indicating all the cities and countries that signed on to the declaration to demand an immediate end to the repression.
Afterwards, the compas of San Marcos Avilés welcomed us and recounted their struggle and experiences. They spoke on the situation they are currently facing. The bad government’s repression has been an unending nightmare for them. Among the various forms of violence that have been employed, include sexual aggression (in some instances, attempted rape), theft and plunder, physical attacks, forced displacement, and the destruction of food, crops, and animals—in essence, everything the community needs to survive and sustain itself. In addition, death threats continue to the present.
During the evening, we gathered in the church that our compas built, and presented a bit on our local struggle. We screened a video message that featured the Mexican immigrant members of Movement for Justice in El Barrio speaking on their struggle in East Harlem, New York. We also screened several video messages from the international campaign to free the “Bachajón 5.”
Given that, as largely Mexican immigrants who lack immigration “papers,” we could not be present in Mexico—as crossing the border is regarded as a “crime” by those in power. The neoliberal border walls that those on top impose on us attempt to keep us divided. But that evening, with our words and faces, we were able to open a crack in those walls, and we wove together our struggles even more. The message was clear: The distance and border will never keep us apart.
The following day we spoke more with the compas regarding the repression they are facing. They explained how the bad government continues to terrorize the community. To this end, some inhabitants residing near the community are of the political parties. This essentially has turned the area into a zone of aggression. Off in the distance, one could hear music being played by these aggressors. The feeling of terror weighs heavily upon the air, and is constantly reinforced by the music. Despite all of this, the dignified people of San Marcos Avilés have not given up and will continue its struggle by building the Zapatista autonomy from below. They send affectionate greetings to all of us at Movement for Justice in El Barrio and around the world who have supported them. They ask that we continue to support them and that we continue advancing in our own struggles.
