AUT: Marcos (6/24) on Higher Education (fwd)

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 23:33:38 -0700
From: irlandesa <irlandesa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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To: Multiple recipients of list <chiapas-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Marcos (6/24) on Higher Education

Originally published in Spanish by the EZLN
_______________________
Translated by irlandesa

From:   <fzln-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   Saturday, June 26, 1999 10:15:14 -0500

EZLN Communique
************************************************************

To the national and international press:

Ladies and gentlemen:

The text is off concerning our position on the latest events.  In case they
get dumped on the internet or you leave them in your house, we are at least
letting you know here that something went out.  Thanks, then.

We do not have automobiles, nor do we travel around the beltway, but we are
lighting candles here to say that that we do indeed support the UNAM strike
movement.  And it does not matter to us if they continue attacking us with
police and soldiers, and if they occupy more towns, or continue arbitrarily
detaining indigenous accused of being zapatistas:  we are going to continue
supporting the university students simply because they have right on their
side.

Vale.  Salud and, before you throw the communique in a corner, happy two
thousand!  Or what?

>From the mountains of the Mexican southeast.

Subcomandante insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, June of 1999.

P.D.  Now I don't understand anything.  Is it that, for the government, the
"New York Times" is the most important and influential newspaper in the
world if it applauds Zedillo's economic policies, and, when it mentions the
names of Mexican politicians tied to drug trafficking (Li=E9vano, Hank), th=
en
it's a pamphlet at the service of obscure interests seeking to harm Mexico?
 Whatever, and, as consolation, the Secretary of Government went to have
his picture taken in the football stands with one of the "alleged," Hank
Gonzalez.

P.D.THAT POKES ABOUT.  Completely buried under the "eliminate an ultra" (or
a university striker), the earthquake, the execution of Paco Stanley, the
visit by the country's greatest criminal (Carlos Salinas de Gortari - I
say, if the issue is public security, one has to recognize that there are
criminals and criminals), Zedillo's little jaunt to hide out in Guadalajara
and the financial "armor plate," was the issue of Cabal Peniche's financial
support of Zedillo's campaign.

P.D. THAT LOOKS FOR A LIFE PRESERVER.  As is known, those ships that are
"armor plated"sink.

P.D. CURIOUS.  What PRI candidate just stated that he should not be
considered as a neo-liberal, and, at the Department of Energy, Mines and
Para-State Industries, during the period from 1982 - 1986, took part in the
sales of more than 300 state bodies?


2000

"But there is a ray of sun in the struggle
that always leaves the shadow vanquished."

- Miguel Hernandez

June 24, 1999.  Now the night of San Juan reigns in the mountains of the
Mexican Southeast.  And it reigns by law, that is, raining.  The sea winds
bring a little box of memories to the top of this ceiba.  Out of one of the
corners of the open mouth of the little jewel case, a streamer of light
protrudes, and, with it, a history.  Old Antonio suddenly appears, like
nocturnal rain, and, as if nothing were going on, asks me for a light to
fire his cigar and memory.  Above the rough drumming of the rain on the
nylon roof, Old Antonio's words are raised, given memories and luminous
streamers, to recount

The History of the Milky Way

Before the rain undresses the mountain, a long path of dusty light is seen
up above.  It comes from there and it goes to there, Old Antonio says, with
a slight gesture from one side to the other.  "They say it is called the
"Milky Way," or they also name it "Santiago's Road."  They say there are
many stars, and they have joined together, so tiny, making themselves
opening and little path in the already riddled sky.  They say, but they
also say it is not like that.  The oldest of our old say that which is seen
above is a wounded animal.

Old Antonio pauses, as if waiting for the question I do not ask:  a wounded
animal?

Much time ago, when the very first gods had already created the world and
they were laying around, men and women lived on the earth, working it and
throwing it and so they went.  But they say that one day there appeared in
a town a serpent who fed on men.  Or, rather, he only ate males, he did not
eat women.  And then when he had eaten all the men in a town, he went to
another and did the same thing.  The towns quickly let each other know of
this great horror that was coming to them and they spoke fearfully of that
great snake, that was so fat and long that it managed to surround an entire
town, like a wall, not allowing anyone to enter or to leave, and he said
that if they did not give him all the males, he would not let anyone leave,
and so some of them surrendered and others fought, but the snake's strength
was great and he always won.  The towns lived in fear, merely waiting for
the day that it would be their turn for the great snake to come and to eat
all the men, as the serpent swallowed them whole.  They say that there was
a man who managed to escape from the serpent and he went to take refuge in
a community that had already been attacked.  There, in front of only women,
the man spoke of the snake and that they must struggle to defeat it because
it was doing much damage in these lands.  The women said:  what are we
going to do if we are women?  How are we going to fight him without men?=20
How are we going to attack him if it does not come here now because there
are no longer any men, he ate them all?

The women left, very discouraged and sad.  But one remained and approached
the man and asked him how he thought they could fight the snake.  The man
said he did not know but that he would have to think.  And together, the
man and the woman set to thinking and they made a plan and they went to
call the women to tell them of the plan and everyone was in agreement.

And then it came to pass that the man began to show himself freely about
the town and the serpent saw him from afar, because that snake that saw him
from afar had very good eyes.  And then the serpent came and surrounded the
town with his large body and told the women to bring him that man who was
walking about, or otherwise he would not let anyone enter or leave.  The
women said they would bring him, but they would have to meet in order to
make an agreement.  That is fine, said the snake.  And then the women made
a circle around the man and, since there were many of them, the circle was
growing larger and larger, until the circle touched the very circle that
the serpent's body had made around the town.  Then the man said, that is
good, deliver me.  And he walked to the serpent's head, and when the snake
was occupied in eating the man, all the women picked up sharp sticks and
began jabbing the snake all over his body, and, since there were many and
all over the place, and his mouth was full with the man he was eating, the
serpent could not defend himself.  And he had never thought that the weak
would attack him in such a way and all over, and he was quickly weakened
and defeated.  And then he said:  forgive me, do not kill me.  No, said the
women, we are going to kill you anyway, because you do much evil and you
ate up all of our men.  Let's make a deal, said the snake, if you do not
kill me once and for all, I will return your men to you because I have them
in my belly anyway.  And then the women thought that was good, they would
not kill him, but that the great serpent would not be living in those lands
any longer and he would be expelled.  Then the snake said:  but where am I
going to live and what am I going to eat, there is no deal.  And then they
were there with this problem when the first woman said they would have to
ask the man who had come, to see what he thought and she said to the snake:
 release the man you have just eaten and we will see if he has an idea of
what we can do.  The serpent released the man who was already half dead and
half alive and the man spoke with difficulty and he said he would have to
ask the first gods to see what could be done, and he could go to look for
them because now he was half alive and half dead.  And the man went and he
found the first gods sleeping under a ceiba and he awoke them and he told
them of the problem and the gods met together in order to think and to
reach a good accord and then they went to see the serpent and the
victorious women and they listened and they said the serpent was to blame
and he should be punished, that he should then give back the men he had
swallowed and he would not die, and the snake brought up all the men from
all the towns.  And then the gods said the serpent would have to go and
live on the highest mountain and, since he would not fit on just one
mountain, he would then have to use two mountains, the highest of the
world, and he would have his tail on one and his head on the other, and he
would have sunlight for food, and the thousands of wounds the warrior women
had given him would never close, and then the gods went, and the snake, the
great serpent, went sadly to the highest mountains, and on one he put his
head and on the other his tail and his large body reached from one side of
the sky to the other, and, from then on, by day he feeds on sunlight, and
by night that light spills out through all the little holes of his wounds.

The serpent is pale, that is why he is not seen by day, and that is why by
night the light can be seen that falls from him and leaves him empty until,
the next day, the sun feeds him once again.  That is why they say that the
large line that shines by night up above, is nothing but a wounded animal

That is what Old Antonio recounted to me and then I understood that the
Milky Way is nothing more than a long serpent of light, that feeds by day
and bleeds by night.

It has stopped raining on this night of San Juan.  The sky quickly turns
dark and clear and clearly one can see that a serpent of light hangs from
the thick figure of a thousand wounds, from end to end, from one to the
other horizon.  The silver teardrops fall softly on the top of that ceiba,
and another rain drizzles from there further downwards.  From the faceless
mirror there, the brightness bounces and goes further, to there, to that
corner where, behind a shadow, can be seen


I.  PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE RIFLE SIGHT

"Life escapes, with such a gesture!
By dying, with such art!"

- Miguel Hernandez

In October 1998, the World Conference of Higher Education was held in
Paris, at the UNESCO headquarters.  During this meeting, the World Bank
established their position regarding how higher education should be
reorganized on the planet.  Briefly, this is the proposal for the
globalization of higher education.

The World Bank considers a "radical" change in higher education to be
necessary, through transforming the "classic" or "traditional" university
(whose basis is teaching and research) so that it responds to the demands
of the neo-liberal market, that is, it defines higher education as private
property, like any other goods or service offered by the market.  According
to this, the actors in the higher education process must be redefined.  The
"consumers" are the businesses;  the "providers" are the administrators and
professors, and the "clients" are the students.  In this case, the World
Bank says, the "providers" do not what is suitable for the market.  The
"consumers" know better than anyone what it is they are selling, among
other reasons, because they are "purchasers."

A first step is converting the university into a self-financing business.=
=20
In order to accomplish this, the World Bank recommends an increase in
school fees, the elimination of full or partial scholarships, charging for
all university services and supports, loans and the charging of current
interest rates for those loans through private companies, graduated taxes,
reorienting the training of professors in order to turn them into
businesspersons, the selling of research and courses, and an increase in,
and the promotion of, private universities.  Decision making within the
universities should pass, according to the World Bank, to the consumers.

The World Bank says that governments and universities are not sensitive to
the needs of the global market.  That is why they propose changing budget
allocations from the classic criteria (enrollment and prestige) to
performance based criteria as indicated by the consumers.  That is,
universities should reorient themselves (that is, reassign budgets)
according to the needs of the "consumers" (private companies).  The World
Bank sees the teaching profession as a factor to be "readjusted" according
to this mercantile criteria.  Academic freedom and determination are a
hindrance, the same as unions and academic associations.  That is, fewer
academics and researchers are needed and "different" academics, researchers
and manual and administrative workers.  In sum:  retraining and
restructuring (All of this is gone into detail in the Canadian Association
of University Teachers' Bulletin, translated by Luis Bueno Rodriguez,
UAM-I).

The agreement is obvious between this proposal and the privatizing and
reclassifying offensive the Zedillo government has directed against the
country's public universities.  The National Autonomous University of
Mexico (UNAM), the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), the National
School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), the National Teachers University
(UPN) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) are now in the
government's rifle sights. To different degrees, and with certain
variations, these institutions of higher education are suffering the
ravages of a "modernization" which is attempting nothing less than the
destruction of the concept of the public university.

The privatizing attack that seeks to "retrofit" higher public education has
met strong resistance from the students, although it is obvious that the
academic, research and administrative sectors are the primary objectives.

The government's choice of the public university as the priority target for
their shots is not innocent.  By shooting down this target, the others
become more easily brought down:  history, electricity, petroleum.

The General Law of Cultural Heritage proposal is aimed at privatizing the
cultural heritage.  Its objective is to redefine the government's cultural
policies and to extend the wave of privatizations to Mexico's
archeological, artistic and historic monuments and zones.  The legislative
proposal in question is an absolute hedgehog:  it's quills wound not only
Mexican cultural historic heritage, but it also threatens anthropological
and historic research, teaching, and, obviously, one of the most continuous
and spirited student movements in Mexico, that of the National School of
Anthropology and History.

That is why the student movement, not just the one at the UNAM, but also
those of the National School of Anthropology and History, the UAM, the
National Teachers and the Poli are confronting attacks from so many and
such varied forces.  And ignorance about what is being concealed by these
"reforms" that the authorities are promoting is one of the reasons they
have not only been given scant support, but have also been attacked by some
of the sectors that would be most affected if these "modernizations" meet
with success.

Because of that, today


II.  UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE RIFLE SIGHT

"But the hardest and oldest scar reverts to a wound at the slightest blow."
- Miguel Hernandez

In the last few days, some press, across the entire political spectrum,
have joined with the government and Barnes in stating that the "ultras" (as
they call them) are to blame for the strike not having been lifted.  The
so-called "moderates" - in that hasty giving out of labels with which the
"intelligentsia" conceals their ignorance and their lack of serious
analysis - clamor for justice.  They complain of harassment (they yell,
then) and of threats (they call them "strikebreakers"), and they call
everyone to a holy crusade against the primary enemy of the university
movement.  The World Bank?  Barnes' policies?  No, the "ultras."

The clamor for justice has quickly been echoed by persons with an obvious
vocation for democracy, justice and liberty:  Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de
Leon, Francisco Barnes, Diodoro Carrasco, Francisco Labastida, Guillermo
Ortega, Abraham Zabludovsky, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Javier Alatorre,
Sergio Sarmiento, and other venerable and venerated "defenders" of the
public and free university.

Incapable of winning the student bases to their positions (who are THOSE
who started and have maintained the strike), the newly displaced from the
assemblies take refuge in some media, in order to try to achieve there what
they lost in the student movement, that is, moral authority, legitimacy,
credibility.  The media, who "rediscovered" in the Stanley case the
increase in sales produced by scandals, have joined together in an absurd
broad front against striking university students, presenting the overall
movement in the image, crafted especially for ridicule, of some students
from the most radical wings to be found, along with many others, in the
heart of the movement.

The unanimous cries against press lynchings - that were raised when TV
Azteca and Televisa used Stanley's execution to mobilize public opinion
against Cuauhtemoc Cardenas - have been replaced by this new lynching,
against the university students now.  Not just that:  those who were
bitterly complaining yesterday about the manner in which the electronic
media were "lynching" Cardenas, are now hurrying to head the slander
campaign against the students.

Suddenly the student strikers are uncomplaining sheep being led by a
perverse shepherd (who teaches the barriga:  horror!), and they are only
waiting to be rescued by the clear intelligence that understands that
"this-is-not-the-time-for-radicalism."  The world turns, the arguments the
authorities used against them yesterday (when they headed the movements),
are now wielded in front of these "ultra" enemies who are, it is
undeniable, very comfortable, give the perfect alibi to justify the lack of
arguments for their own positions, and the lack of moral influence in a
movement that - don't they realize? - is new in its content and its form.

A little history?  When the PRD won the elections in the DF, an entire gang
of leaders from the social movements (and with undeniable political
influence within them) moved to positions in the Mexico City government.=20
The "ultras" already existed in the university (was there a time when they
did not exist?), and their positions and arguments did not vary (or the
shouts, or the accusations of "strikebreakers") in many of those today.=20
Nonetheless, the moral influence of the student leaders gives them the
majority.  By abandoning the university movement to fill, first, positions
in the election campaign, and, later, government functions, the university
leaders tied to the Revolutionary Democratic Party left an unoccupied
space.

Time - is it necessary to remember it? - passes, the space is filled once
more.  But why do they deceive themselves and deceive, saying that space
has been occupied by the "ultras," if they know very well that no group or
tendency within the UNAM can maintain an initiative if there is not student
support?  In this case, not even the "ultras" lead (and they know it), and
a new generation is in the university, proposing not only the renovation of
the student leadership, but also the concept of that very leadership.

The students are yelling in the assemblies and threatening?  And in the
Congress of the Union?  Aren't the Deputies and Senators the maximum power
in the federation?  Have they not even come to blows?

The students spend hours and hours in assemblies, discussing without coming
to agreements?  Was it any different when the "moderates" were leading the
movement?

If the "ultras" are a small, sectarian, intolerant and vanguard group, and
if it is the "ultras" who are the ones preventing the strike from being
lifted:  how can a small group keep the facilities on strike, "brigade"
(that's how they say it?), close streets, threaten and harass moderates,
and, in addition, be present at assemblies that last 12 hours, all at the
same time?

A few real incidents that have been "forgotten" by the media:  the "ultras"
have not raped, beaten or jailed any students;  they have not tried to
impose a payment system behind the backs of the university community;  they
have not ordered police actions against the students;  they have not
promoted extramural classes;  and they have not (it is obvious)
orchestrated a media campaign against the movement.

The rumors of weapons among them are of the "they say someone says that
someone saw them" type, and they are more serious than those that pointed
out DF government officials, former student leaders, hiding out in the
night to take oranges to the strikers during the first days.  Could it not
be said, following the criteria set out by the accusations, that the
"ultras" are armed, that they want to win with oranges what they cannot win
through arguments?  But, clearly, no one is persecuted and incarcerated for
carrying oranges, but for carrying a weapon...

There is not much to be said about some of the groups with the most radical
tendencies, or "ultras" inside the UNAM and their fierce anti-zapatismo,
except perhaps to remember a few incidents:  Does anyone remember that Alan
Arias was one of the so-called "ultra-ultras" during his university days, a
fierce opponent of "capitulatory," "dialoguers" and "appeasement" positions
of the "reformist" left (then the PCM and the PRT)?  Is not Alan Arias
today a third or fourth level employee of the Department of Government?=20
And Adolfo Orive?  And Raul Salinas de Gortari?  Was not "the Wama" the
nickname General Chaparro Acosta used at the university, in order to adopt
ultra-radical poses and to detect those he would later torture in the
clandestine jails of the "White Brigade?"

It will be the actions, and not the discourse, that, with the passage of
time, define radical positions and consequences.  Then we will see where
the "capitulators" are, and the "dialoguers," the "appeasers," - and some
others that escape me, but which have not changed much from yesterday to
today.

Returning to the perverse strikers who "are holding the UNAM hostage"
(which, we now know, belongs to Barnes and his bureaucrats):  has the
strike won?  Didn't they say yesterday - before it was in place - that it
was a provocation and it would be a failure, that it was minority, etc. (in
fact, those were the arguments that encouraged Barnes)?  And now it turns
out that the strike did indeed have a reason to exist, and, in addition, it
has won now and should be lifted?  Isn't that the central argument of
Zedillo's June 24 speech?  Why are they going to believe it now?  How can
they clamor for a movement to be over when they have done nothing other
than encouraging the slander campaign against it?

Now fine, let us suppose that they succeeded, and that the "ultras" are
unanimously repudiated by the population, and the government, sensitive as
it is to popular demands, opts to massively crush the movement and to
strike at the "ultras" in order to "liberate" the UNAM.  What does the face
of an "ultra" look like?  Are there any credentials or identifications for
the "ultras," so that the attack would be against only them?  Lastly, if
refusing to lift the strike because, as the CGH says, their demands have
not been met, is being "ultra:  are they not calling for the crushing of
the entire CGH, the hundreds of students who are on strike, forming
brigades and making contact with other organizations, and the tens of
thousands of university students who have attended the demonstrations
called by the CGH and who support, without turning on their headlights, the
movement for the defense of public and free education?

What is the stature of an organization whose members cannot carry out their
political proposals because the "others" are yelling at them and calling
them "strikebreakers?"

Has the strike triumphed and should it be lifted now?  Should it continue?=
=20
This is something that belongs to, and will belong to, the student
movement, those who made the strike, and who have maintained it despite the
worst media harassment campaign that has been seen in the last few years.

They, the young people who are making the movement, are those who will
decide.  Not the "ultras," nor the "moderates," nor any of the "labels"
with which they are trying to reduce what is new about this movement to the
comfortable, the useless, scheme of the old.

The "ultras" have won not a few initiatives in the CGH, and lost them in
the school and faculty assemblies, and, therefore, in the CGH again.  Two
examples?  The takeovers of highways and the constituent Congress.  The
majority of the schools did not approve the takeovers of highways, and they
came out for a resolutionary Congress.

For one thing, the General Strike Council, in their June 22 manifesto, is
emphatic:

"We have maintained throughout our willingness and interest in the opening
of dialogue, revindicating a flag that the student movement has
revindicated for more than 30 years, that is, public and open dialo
gue. () Because we do not have anything to hide, because we want everyone
to see us and to listen to us, because we want everyone to know what our
arguments are and what those of the authorities are.

What are they surprised about?  That we firmly maintain the nature of this
dialogue, that we want to honor the best lessons of the student movement?=
=20
What surprises them about the planting of basic conditions for dialogue, if
what is being asked is to stop being stifled, that the acts be stopped,
that the work of the corrupt extramural classes against the strike be
stopped?  This is what the CGH has proposed."

It seems to be clear.

The zapatistas support the CGH if it decides to continue the strike, and we
support them if they decide to lift it.  We support them because they
legitimately represent the student movement.  They have the respect and the
legitimacy they have gained working with their people.  They are, then,
representative.

On the other hand, if those who are now maintaining the UNAM strike are
"ultras" who must be exorcised:  where will the "ultras" of tomorrow be?=20
In the urban popular movement?  In the democratic teachers?  In the Mexican
Electricians Union?  Or in the mountains of the Mexican Southeast?  These
are questions that those who are running for government should answer.

Concerning the visit a CGH delegation made to La Realidad, and concerning
whether or not the EZLN has interfered in the movement, one must be clear:=
=20
the "ultras" did not come to La Realidad, because for them we are
"reformists" and "dialoguers."  Nor did the "moderates" come, because for
them we are "ultras" and "radicals."  University students came here, and,
in a long session that lasted 5 hours, in which only they spoke, they
expounded on what the CGH thought of the strike.  The CGH, and not them in
particular (who have their own personal points of view on the movement).=20
The impression they left us with is that they, and those whom they
represent, are honest persons, who believe in what they are fighting for,
and who live what they think.  They understand their movement, and they
know that it is those who are at the barricades and in the brigade who give
course and direction to the movement.  None came to ask what to do (which
was a relief, because we do not know), They came to say their word, so that
we would know the reasons for their movement.  We learned them, we
understood them, and we support them.

There is more:  we cannot conceal our admiration and respect for them ( and
I am referring above all to those who are doing the movement daily, even
though they are not on the CGH).  That is why we are saying here that we
have not interfered at all in the student movement, but we believe the
student movement has indeed interfered now in the EZLN (did you read that
well, Rabasa?  How about this for another statement to the press?  Listen,
you have to do something to justify your check, no?).

Perhaps it is because of that, because of the admiration we have for them,
and for the pride we have at meeting them and knowing of the university
students, that the zapatista communities are suffering a new
police-military onslaught.  Perhaps it is because of that that we are new.


III.  ZAPATISTAS IN THE RIFLE SIGHT

"Here life is details:  ant, death, affection, sorrow, stone, horizon,
river, light, sheaf, glass, furrow and sand.
Here is the garbage.
In the streets, and not in the hearts.
Here everything is known and murmurs:
The evil creature cannot be concealed,
And evil intentions even less."

- Miguel Hernandez


June 24, 1999, night of San Juan

In the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, there have been completed 2000
days of war, 2000 days repeating "YA BASTA!," 2000 days defying death, the
forgetting, the silence, 2000 days supporting life, memory, hope.

And on the 2000th dawn of resistance, zapatista weavers, face of multiple
light and multiple name, are toiling.  They are weaving and weaving.  And
weaving struggling.  And weaving singing.

There are those who say that what they are weaving is a net so that memory
will not escape.  There are those who say that it is a cloth of varied
colors with which to dress the morning.  And there are those who say that
what the 2000th dawn is weaving is the morning.

>From the mountains of the Mexican southeast.

Subcomandante insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, June 24, 1999.

On the 2000th dawn of the war against the forgetting.



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