Concerning the content of our Union’s (SVEOD) event in the context of the
Zapatistas’ (EZLN, CNI) 2021 tour in Europe.
Introduction
The imminent arrival of the Zapatistas comrades in Europe and in Greece is an
opportunity and also an occasion to exchange experiences and views on the
struggles, organisation, and resistances as they have evolved in recent years in an
international context of a rapidly developing restructuring of the dominant system.
There are a number of common policies that have been applied globally on the lives
of the masses but also variations depending on the country, the context, the
particular circumstances and resistances that have emerged from below. Our
meeting is a fermenting starting point for the exchange of views, thoughts and
practices in approaching and solving problems. The experience of their long struggle
in Mexico is valuable as, in addition to their resistance to the existing globalized
model of barbaric development, it advocates a different way of social organization, a
social model based on people and their needs, in harmonious interaction with the
environment and nature. A model that puts man and his needs above profits and the
perverse, limitless development of the multinational giants of domination. A
development that, in its course, flattens the human’s relationship with himself and the
environment.
The constant exploitation of humans by humans creates attractive technologies that
promise to free us from the chains of poverty and disease, but in the end we remain
slaves, unable most of the time to taste the fruits of our labors, trapped in the bare
necessities of survival. Over the years, inequalities become more acute, fostering a
dystopian present and paving the way for an even more dystopian future. In the face
of this reality, resistances like the Zapatistas’ open a window on the human being
who continues to envision, struggle and resist.
Against the policies of exploitation and destruction, they build a fairer world with more
opportunities for all. They create the necessary cracks that open up passages, theyactively
deny that the plundering of human life and nature is a one-way path. And
fortunately for everyone, they are not alone. Fortunately for all, they are not alone.
Resistances around the world, not necessarily in the same way and with the same
discourse, are creating cracks and are advocating a different present and future.
What is most important in the Zapatistas’ struggle is not only their resistance, which
began years ago, but also how they have been building a different world, visualizing
their own existence in it. Not at all detached and wise in their self-reference. No! In
connection with the world that resists and struggles. In communication, in contact,
proposing, testing, exchanging and finally stepping out of their theoretical
boundaries, to return, as they themselves say, a piece of the solidarity they have
received for so many years. Their strength is the strength of the many in this world. It
is the power of cooperation and mutual aid. It is the participation and not the
delegation of the many to the few. And this is exactly where the logic of our union
meets this challenge. In the daily struggle against the delegation of our lives. In the
participation of the many for the common good, for equal opportunity and for the
distribution of the wealth we generate and which is stolen from us. We may start from
different origins, our means and ways may not be the same, but we are united by
much more than what may seem at first glance. Our common ground is more than
that, even though oceans stretch between us. They are, after all, only geographical
limitations. And it’ s up to us to turn barriers into opportunities and get to know each
other. It is up to us to find common ground, to give impulse and vision to our
struggles.
We open our arms and our hearts.
Welcome brothers and sisters.
