Re: AUT: more on Zapatismo

[Massimo De Angelis <M.Deangelis@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Katha --
> 	 Many US solidarity
> groups did make the mistake of being silent about the nature of the regimes
> or regimes-to-be that they were siding with (which must be embarrassing now
> that the FMLN is enforcing IMF austerity on San Salvador and the
> Sandinistas are a sect led by an accused child molester), but activists
> could adopt a position of nuetrality about the Central American insurgents
> and be simply against the abominable terrors that the state was inflicting.

-- Massimo
Yes, of course, this was the old style  solidarity work
based on "giving" money to those who needed without questioning
their actions.

> Our relationship to the conflict in Chiapas is more complicated and there's
> more going on there than the EZLN. I think that its good that people do
> what they can to prevent the US from intervening or arming the Mexican
> military, but as for taking direction from them, that's history repeating
> itself as farce.

The problem is that the way the "zapatistas movemernt" is in
fact developing, very  few indeed are "taking direction"
from the EZLN. Traditional style solidarity, even if exists, is
marginal, or at least is accompanied by something NEW. If we fail
to recognize this novelty, we are doomed, we are cought in the
claustrofobic endless spiral of critcism for criticism sake, instead
of criticism as a moment of an ongoing movement.
 In Britain for example, only two years ago there was almost nil
awareness of the zapatistas and even less traditional solidarity
activity. In two years time, we were able to organize a conference,
in which traditioanal solidarity activists, environmentalists and
striking workers were talking to each other. Around the issue of the
zapatistas, we were able to move few steps in the direction of
recomposition across different militants and issues. In May,
there will be a first 3 days UK encuentro (17,000 leaflet have
already been printed), in which  we hope that the traditioanlly
fragmented and ghettoised British left will attempt to move further
steps in the direction of recomposition. This is not following "the
EZLN teaching,"  but building in our own ways  on a political method
that the zapatistas  have voiced and proposed ever since the
beggining of their struggles.

Massimo




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