Clínica para todxs

Auftakt der #medico-#Spendenkampagne für eine #Klinik in den zapatistischen Gebieten in #Chiapas.

Samstag, 20.06.2026, Beginn: 19:00 Uhr

Veranstaltungsort: unten im medico-Haus, Lindleystraße 15, 60314 #Frankfurt

#Mexiko #Zapatista

Widerstand braucht große Träume:

Das 1989 gegründete #Menschenrechtszentrum Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (Frayba), mit dem #medico seit einigen Jahren kooperiert, begleitet im südmexikanischen #Chiapas indigene Gemeinden in ihrem Kampf um Gerechtigkeit. Obwohl #Frayba unabhängig ist, inspirieren die Ideen der zapatistischen Bewegung die Mitarbeiter:innen. Dora Roblero, Direktorin von Frayba, erklärt die Zunahme der #Gewalt gegen die indigene Bevölkrung von Chiapas, und warum das Projekt der Klinik Anlass für Hoffnung ist.

Interview von Anne Haas.#Mexiko #Zapatista

Eine andere Art der Daseinsvorsorge.

Der Arzt Joel Heredia Cuevas über Erfolge und Perspektiven des zapatistischen #Gesundheitssystem​s. Joel Heredia Cuevas arbeitet als Arzt seit Jahrzehnten mit indigenen Gesundheitspromotor:innen in #Chiapas zusammen und leitet die Gesundheitsorganisation #SADEC.

Interview von Philipp Gerber

#Mexiko #Zapatista #Medico

VII. IMAGES ABOVE. The Order is the Order from Above — Zapatista Statement

Part VII of A Tractor in Common and the Case of the Crazy Parakeet

“… there’s no point in complaining; no one cares that you don’t eat, that you’re malnourished, that you eat dirt, that you’re always ravenous, or that you have nowhere to bury your children—whether dead or miscarried—because of hunger; their remains lie at the bottom of the lake, among spiders, ants, flies, and minnows.”

José Cueli.

An “Enlightened” Right?

Ayuso and Cayetana? Seriously? Aren’t there any right-wing women in Mexico who are even remotely intelligent and can articulate their views? Well, at least she knows how to make photocopies, Margarita. Huh? Malu? Honestly, it’s just unbelievable. Or is it that there few women left who let themselves be manipulated by the executioners? Come on, guys, prove that, within your ranks, gender equality isn’t just limited to ignorance, stupidity, and cynicism. The heirs of “Sir” Diego Fernández de Cevallos should step into the media spotlight. Come on!

The Alitos, Fox (who, following his Hispanic sponsors, should go by “Foj”), Calderón, and the pencil pushers who accompany them find fertile ground in ignorance and are in their natural element. The blessing comes from Spain above, with Vox (“Voj,” if they’re consistent), amid psalms and hysterical screams. But the right, in Mexico and around the world, is suffering. And that’s because they can’t agree on who gets to take the stage.

In Proceso magazine, Ximena Arochi published (August 5, 2025) an interview with Raúl Tortolero, a member of the National Action Party (PAN) and “leader” of the “National Council of the New Right.” Concerned about the fragmentation of the right in Mexico, he declares that the “enemies” of the far right are well defined: “They have to do with LGBT supremacy, feminist supremacy, Black supremacy—especially in the United States—indigenous supremacy, and eco-animalist or environmentalist and animal rights supremacy.” Whoa! That’s more than half of Mexico’s population. And it seems he’s right: murders, disappearances, imprisonments, and beatings are all too common among, among others, environmental defenders, Indigenous people, those with dark skin… and women. The “National Council of the New Right” includes members of the Citizens’ Movement.

Even though they’re rowing against the current. Antonio Salgado Borge, in an article published two years ago (June 18, 2024) in Proceso magazine, points out that the far right in Mexico is being sidelined because the 4T—that is, López Obrador fanbase—has “snatched away” its natural social base, some of its arguments and excuses, and… its history. The notion of a natural social base can be understood in terms of social programs (which, in reality, are clientelistic and constitute a social and financial time bomb); as well as a supposed opposition to and criticism of “the institutions” (AMLO presented himself as an “outsider,” even though he has been a member of at least three political parties—the PRI, the PRD, and MORENA); “populist” rhetoric; and the denial of facts and rational arguments (the “other data”). These elements, the analyst notes, are common to far-right “populist” governments and politicians around the world: Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, and Giorgia Meloni.

I would add hatred toward human rights NGOs, environmental activists, Indigenous people who refuse to bow down, women who resist and rebel, anyone who refuses to submit and obey… and non-artificial intelligence.

The author points out that, just like the European right, a golden age is being touted here as something to which we must return: the second half of the 20th century (“when God Almighty was omnipotent and Miguel Alemán was president,” my grandmother used to say sarcastically). And the nostalgic PRI supporters (inside and outside Morena) used to say and still say: “Back then, dogs were tied up with chorizo… and they didn’t eat it” (of course, changing it to “my dogs”). But the Morena party, in its current phase, has gone even further: all the way back to pre-Hispanic times. Mexico’s “golden age” is when Mexico wasn’t Mexico, and the oppressor in the territory was… the Aztec Empire.*

-*-

The Heirs of the Aztec Empire.

Thanks to the “clever” strategy of López Obrador’s camp to ally with the PRI—which never really went away (a strategy so highly praised by those who now criticize it as “a mistake”)—what was once its strength (ha!) is now its weakness. For decades, the PRI—let’s call it “secondary” or Mesozoic (the Tertiary or Paleozoic PRI era was with the PAN)—became the promoter and manager of crime in municipalities and states. Crime evolved; the PRI did not—it merely transmuted, first into the PAN, then into the PRD, PVEM, and PT (the Quaternary-Pleistocene PRI), and now into Morena (the Quaternary-Holocene PRI).

Alito Moreno, the current president of the Mexican PRI, when he accuses the ruling party of ties to organized crime, is actually accusing it of plagiarism. Corrupt governments hold the copyright. The “copyright” dates back to the Primary or Cenozoic period: the National Revolutionary Party and the Party of the Mexican Revolution.

Enlightened López Obradorism, without the slightest shame, champions the legacy of the Aztec Empire. They speak of “the” Aztec “empire,” … yet call themselves “anti-imperialists.” Perhaps because they act just like their spiritual historical guides: plundering, disparaging, exploiting, and repressing other indigenous peoples. The ethical dilemma—convictions or a paycheck—is resolved in favor of defending a spot in the budget.

That business of wrapping oneself in the national flag while, at the same time, intoning the requisite patriotic chant, is so Díaz Ordaz, so Echeverría, so López Portillo, so… shameless. But, for practical purposes, for the 4T, sovereignty lies in the U.S. visa to go shopping. “Yes, the CIA and Rocha Moya business is bad, but revoking visas—now that really heats things up, young man. That’s why we’re going to amend Article 39 of the Constitution, and it must read: ‘National sovereignty resides essentially and originally in the U.S. visa.’ For the good of all, visas first.”

-*-

Fragmentation.

In “modern” or current wars, the goal is to control territory—either by controlling those who hold power or by controlling key parts of the whole.

The model the U.S. State Department is following for Mexico is one of fragmenting the territory. It has already marked the states that interest it (for now): Tamaulipas, Nuevo León (which has long followed the frivolous U.S. model), Coahuila (already in the hot seat), Chihuahua (a CIA affiliate), Sonora, Sinaloa (though not a border state, it is of interest due to its strategic location in the Gulf of California), and Baja California. Oh, that’s almost the entire northern border. Oh, oh, Texas in the future? Wake up, friends.

“Whoever controls the key parts controls the whole”—this maxim of political-military theory was understood (and applied) by the various cartels. Now it’s Trump… well, the Trump cartel. To this end, he has the enthusiastic and open complicity of the National Action Party and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (a remastered version of the Mesozoic-era PRI). Huh? Yes, and of the 4T.

-*-

Virtual Reality and Real Reality.

If big business is now interested in “combating organized crime,” it is not because it cares about people’s well-being. It is because it believes it has already done its job (destruction and depopulation), and it is time to move on to the next stage: reorganization.

SEMARNAT, through its head Alicia Bárcenas, tells the residents and environmental defenders in Mahahual, Quintana Roo, that they don’t need life, but tourism. And that the supreme government (of proven efficiency and honesty, ha!) will ensure that there is “Shared Prosperity.” That is to say, that invading businesspeople and dispossessed residents will prosper.

Mahahual might see itself reflected in the mirror held up to it nearly 3,000 kilometers away:

On Mexico’s west coast, in Topolobambo, Ahome, Sinaloa, residents and activists have mobilized to protest the construction of an ammonia plant. The megaproject threatens to destroy Ohuira Bay and the Mayo-Yoreme indigenous community.

Following the “come rain or shine” approach with which AMLO pushed through the misnamed “Maya Train,” the federal government is imposing the project despite technical studies, protests by the indigenous population and environmental defenders (“Not Here!”), and warnings about environmental impact (that is, against reality). SEMARNAT declares, as the plant is being installed, that it “will continue to provide personal oversight.” It is unclear whether this refers to the ongoing destruction or to the $860 million in foreign capital “investment.” The Germany-based KfW IPEX-Bank is financing Gas y Petroquímica de Occidente (GPO), a subsidiary of the Swiss-German company Proman AG (note by journalist Itzallana López Castillo. Infobae. June 4, 2026). A summary of the situation can be found in the article by journalist Rubi Martínez in Milenio Diario (June 3, 2026)

-*-

A conservative perspective? Do extremes converge?

Ilán Semo (“The Microphysics of the Ominous,” La Jornada, June 4, 2026), reflecting on the compendium (edited by Jairo Antonio López Pacheco and Libertad Argüello Cabrera) Internal Forced Displacement and Violence in Mexico: Causes, Trajectories, and Effects (UNAM, 2026), in which an interdisciplinary group of scholars analyzes three six-year terms (Calderón, Peña Nieto, and AMLO), warns: “the collusion between transnational and national capital, organized crime, law enforcement (the police, the Army, the National Guard…) and countless members and officials of the federal and local governments to turn part of the country into the territory of a necroeconomy—that is, a form of hyper-savage capitalism—which bases the deployment of its mechanisms on dispossession, murder, disappearances, and forced displacements without law, the rule of law, or any authority to contain it.” (…) “… it is nothing more than the eradication not of communities’ resistance to this process, but of the communities themselves.”

The researcher has a name for this: holocaust. The evidence? It’s all over the country.

-*-

Modern War.

Destruction and depopulation: the first step in the new war of conquest. In today’s world at war, what is at stake is not the survival of “civilizations,” but rather models of exploitation, repression, dispossession, and contempt.

War is not merely destruction; it also serves to conceal other wars within the targeted regions. The war in Ukraine hides the resistance and rebellion in that region and in Putin’s neo-tsarist Russia; in Islamic Iran, it crushes the struggle of “as the women that we are.” And in all three cases, it is the most rancid nationalism that is brandished to cover up what is fundamental: the struggles from below.

Capital has now fully entered a phase as brutal as it is foolish, not without a touch of nostalgia for the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. But instead of the Enlightenment, we have Artificial Intelligence. There is no Newton, but a Musk. Instead of the rise of reason, the dominance of the algorithm. Instead of freedom, neoliberalism. Instead of nation-states, financial globalization. Instead of governments, boards of shareholders. And among the self-proclaimed “left,” instead of consistency, cynicism.

The accusation of “terrorism,” which Big Capital uses to justify its wars, is not unique to Trump. His counterparts in the Israeli government are now accusing Spanish humanitarian aid NGOs—without any evidence—of financing Hamas! The organizations named are Peace with Dignity; Rumbo a Gaza—an initiative part of the Global Sumud Flotilla—; the Malaga-based Al Quds Association for Solidarity with the Peoples of the Arab World; and the Spanish branch of the British Islamic NGO Human Appeal (with information from the EFE news agency). For Capital, supporting efforts to improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations—the struggle for life, in other words—is “terrorism.”

-*-

But there is resistance, there is defiance, and resignation will be overcome by organization. Because what is missing is yet to come.

(To be continued…)

From the mountains of southeastern Mexico.

The Captain.
Mexico, June 2026.

Original text published at Enlace Zapatista on June 5th, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.

From Invaders to Invaded

In 1971, three academics investigated and analyzed the role of “charitable institutions” in the shantytowns (formed by land occupations) of Lima, publishing a profound and rigorous work entitled “From Invaders to Invaded,” disseminated in Cuadernos de DESCO*.

The work focuses on the effects that the intervention of “benefactors” (today we say NGOs) has on the residents. After documenting the enormous expansion of the shantytowns resulting from the occupations (“invasions,” as the media calls them), in which millions of people are concentrated on the peripheries of the capital, they emphasize that the charitable institutions seek “the political demobilization of the residents.”

These institutions represent imperialism, the “national bourgeoisies,” and businesspeople who, by “helping” the residents, manage to “politically neutralize broad urban sectors that cannot organize themselves anywhere other than within the shantytown.” They add that the “benefactors” also intend to organize the consumption of the residents, and their success is largely due to the desertion of the left, incapable of uniting this broad urban sector. A second issue they address is the attitude of “social scientists,” particularly Americans, who conducted studies in the slums.

They quote the German sociologist Martin Nicolaus: “The professional eyes of the sociologist are fixed on the lower classes, and their palms are extended toward the dominant classes.”

They point out that the fieldwork of these professionals has been “of great use to the Peace Corps, USAID, other benefactors, their academic prestige, the foundations that finance their studies, their doctoral theses, the delight of Americanists, etc., but with few exceptions for the residents of the slums.” The third issue addresses the analysis of the modus operandi of the “benefactors” who, by approaching the most active sectors of the shantytowns, “clientize the leaders of the residents’ associations, who, in order to maintain their leadership, must respond to the demands of the residents.”

Furthermore, they spread the idea that there is no dominant class and that poverty is the fault of the poor and not a structural issue. Finally, although there is much more, the three authors state that they are not interested in presenting an academic study but rather in exposing institutions that “are merely instruments of popular demobilization and transmission of the ideology of dominant national and foreign sectors.”

They want their work to help residents better understand their “benefactors.” Based on this brief glossary of an excellent work, I would like to remind everyone that social programs have existed for more than half a century in our continent, the same amount of time as those who denounce them without getting their investigations taken seriously. There have certainly been changes in the methods and styles of international cooperation for development and promotion, but the essential elements were already in place more than half a century ago. This raises some questions. Why do left-wing organizations and grassroots movements continue to accept these programs that, for half a century, we have known run counter to the interests of the people and the popular sectors? Why do thousands upon thousands of academics and social scientists allow themselves to be used by those in power, when their degrees give them other options and they can work in other fields?

I believe these attitudes cannot be understood without considering that the triumph of capitalism, however temporary, has convinced many people and political parties that confronting the system is dangerous. I’m not referring to their lives being in danger, because they don’t live in Gaza, nor in working-class neighborhoods or indigenous communities.

The danger they perceive relates to their professional careers, individual success, and, above all, economic and job security. If we look closely, left-wing parties and a good part of the leadership of social movements are now made up of people with academic degrees, who hold titles that are passports to social advancement, and who are part of what Emmanuel Todd, not without a certain malice but with great insight, calls the “mass oligarchy.”

This reflects the tremendous mutation of the system, which has integrated the upper echelons of the popular sectors, showing the rest the path to individual success. In particular, it has managed to co-opt leaders (“clientelize,” as the work I’m discussing puts it). These leaders are key figures in stabilizing the system of domination. Therefore, the Zapatistas’ commitment to not giving up, not surrendering, and not selling out remains an essential ethical reference point, especially in these times of systemic turmoil.

*Alfredo Rodríguez, Gustavo Riofrío, and Eileen Welsh were the authors. The work is available online.

Original article by Raúl Zibechi, La Jornada, May 29th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.

A Tractor in Common and the Case of the Crazy Parrot -II. They Won’t Be Able To

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés told me this anecdote a few days ago: the children of former ranchers invaded some reclaimed land.  Claiming that the land had belonged to their parents in the past, they moved in and began building their houses.  A group of compañeros arrived to explain to them that they couldn’t do that, that the land belonged to the commons—meaning it wasn’t anyone’s property, not the state’s, not private property, and not communal land.  When they saw the compañeros arrive, the squatters thought they were going to be kicked out, so they started saying that the army, the police, the judges, that they had a lawyer relative, that Trump, that Sheinbaum, that they weren’t going to be removed, that they would only that only over their dead bodies would they leave.

The compañeros smiled, listened patiently, and, once the would-be small farmers had finished with their threats, they said, “Well, brothers, we have heard your side of the story; now listen to what we have to say.” And they began to explain the concept of the commons to them—that they could work the land alongside other brothers from other towns and communities, but that the land belonged to no one. The parents of the would-be landowners understood the language, because they had grown up in that area, so the compañeros explained everything to them in the indigenous language, much to the despair of their children, who were “college graduates” from the city. During the conversation, the parents nodded in agreement with the compañeros’ arguments. When they finished, they told their children: “It’s not like what the Morena party people told us back there; these brothers are right in what they say, and they’re not going to kick us out—they’re going to be our neighbors.” They gave their children the Spanish version (which will always be poorer than the original language). Cornered by reason, the children argued: “But they won’t be able to pull off that ‘Common’ thing. People are selfish; they want to have more and more. People don’t want to share or look out for others. And it’s worse if they’re… they’re… like you guys.” They tried hard not to say “if they’re Indigenous,” perhaps fearing they’d be attacked. The compañeros replied with the blunt, “Well, we’ll see in practice whether it can be done or not.”

Since they had run out of arguments, these people moved on to their main point: “It’s just that you’re Castroists.” “What does ‘Castroists’ mean?” they asked. And they replied: “Castroists are communists, which means women are common property—they belong to everyone.” Our compañeros laughed, and one of us asked, “Then why don’t men belong to everyone?” The would-be beneficiary of the Sembrando Vida program (who actually didn’t want to become a farmer, but rather to divide up the land, request government support, and then sell off the plots) was left pondering, as if weighing the advantages of switching from “common women” to “common men,” but a compañero intervened and asked him, “So your wife is your property? “Have you already told her that you are her lord and master, that you control what she feels, what she thinks, what she wants, what she dreams?” The man hesitated. Perhaps he imagined the row he’d have with his wife if he even hinted at that, and that marriage was nothing more than a contract where he, the husband, took possession of her, the wife, “until death do them part.” A contract, then, of sale and purchase, just as one buys livestock or televisions to watch the World Cup. In other words, human trafficking, but with legal blessing.

The compañeros explained to him that the “commons” referred only to land ownership, not to labor. “So,” said the man, already on the defensive, “what I get from my work is mine?” “That’s right,” they replied. He insisted: “So, if I plant, say, bananas on my land, you’re not going to take them away from me or ask for a cut?”

“There you go again,” they told him, “it’s not YOUR land, it belongs to the Commons. And your labor, the product of your labor, is yours, and no one—at least no one from the Zapatistas—is going to take it from you or ask for a share. Just as your underwear, your car, your clothes, your house, your property, your toothbrush—your things, that is—aren’t communal. But the land is communal, and we work in shifts. You work, you harvest your crop, then others come in to work that land, then others, and so on. Only in this way will humanity be able to survive the storm. Or are things really that peaceful back in the city? Don’t you struggle with food, transportation, water, violence, disappearances, health care, education, clothes, shoes? Isn’t it true that those in power, no matter what party they belong to, are just like criminals?”

“That said, we want to make it clear that drugs cannot be consumed, produced, sold, or trafficked. And activities that harm Mother Earth—such as mining, fracking, deforestation, and water hoarding—are not allowed. Nor are alcoholism, prostitution, human trafficking, violence against women and children, contempt and neglect for the elderly, mockery and aggression against those who are different, and all those things with strange names that only serve to deceive people into thinking that the harm being done is for their own good.”

“But the land is for production,” he argued. One of the compañeros, recalling the long discussions, debates, and arguments in the Zapatista assemblies, spoke up and said: “Yes, but it’s one thing to produce for the market and another to produce for life. The land of the Commons is for life, not for profit.”

“So,” they asked, “if the land belongs to no one, what are you?”

“Guardians,” we replied. Another comrade added, “and Guardianesses.” One more said, “And (non-binary) Guardians.”

They said goodbye. They said they understood, but that they were going to consult their religion’s Bible to see if this idea of the Commons didn’t go against the word of God.

-*-

This argument that “they won’t be able to,” based on the inevitability of individualism, selfishness, and greed, is not just an argument of capitalism. It is also found among those who call themselves leftists and patiently wait for us to fail. Not only because of individualism, nor merely because the idea of the Commons didn’t spring from their great minds with footnotes, but also because they don’t follow the “sacred” precepts of the orthodox left: first publication and propaganda to raise awareness and mobilize, then the party, then the seizure of power, then the State as representative owner and regulator. And then, many centuries later—God forbid they’re still alive—the Commons.

-*-

But since the issue of “Castroism” has come up, and since the Cuban people are suffering under a blockade (no longer euphemistically called an “embargo”) and a new threat of military intervention, now, today, let us say a few words about that people whom we respect and admire.

We believe their resilience and defiance are evident. Not only have they sustained a social project amid every possible threat, in the face of every conceivable and inconceivable aggression, enduring global campaigns of slander and lies; but also the “sensible” reflections of those who are “neither fish nor fowl,” who pretend to be neither here nor there, and whose “kindest” remark is “it was beautiful at first, but over time it turned into a dictatorship.” That is nothing more than another way of saying: “it used to be fashionable to support Cuba; now it’s fashionable to attack it.”

Anyway, this isn’t the first time—nor will it be the last—that the death (at least in the media) of what the people themselves call “the Cuban Revolution” has been declared. In recent decades… okay, well, ever since that January of ’59, it’s been said, repeated, recited, and spouted: “Cuba won’t survive… unless it betrays itself.” Well, not in those exact words.

And it’s not just about forgetting Girón and Fidel Castro waving his hands with his team because they wouldn’t let him go to the front lines (back in those days when commanders marched at the head of their troops). Nor is it about the futile efforts of the ineffable Central Intelligence Agency, the gringo CIA, to take down the leadership. Suffice it to recall the desperation of an American congressman from those days, when he summoned those responsible for “solving the Cuban problem”: the agent explained, in great detail, the plan to poison Fidel Castro… so that his legendary beard would fall out. The congressman, his eyes and voice filled with passion, demanded: “So we’re spending all these millions to take Castro’s beard away, to shave him? Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just shoot him?”

And the downed planes, the terrorist attacks, the acts of sabotage, the “embargo,” the media rants from know-it-alls who know nothing.

And one might ask: if they managed to achieve all they have despite all that working against them, just imagine what they could have accomplished if they’d been left in peace?

Above all, it’s about forgetting the fundamental point: whether or not it’s true that they have made, are making, and will make mistakes, these are THEIR mistakes, THEIR successes, THEIR history, THEIR present, and THEIR future. And that’s hard to grasp from the desks of academia, sterile theory (without practice, then), and banal, useless commentary that doesn’t even get the requisite likes.

But set aside the trends on social media and in the news. Why haven’t they been able to break them? Why would a U.S. military intervention be necessary if, with the kind of support the Cuban opposition has had, they’d already achieved “liberation”? Listen, something about that just doesn’t add up. It’s as if there’s something about that people that can’t be understood and has nothing to do with individualism, selfishness, greed, and the like. Maybe—I don’t know, it could be a wild guess—but it occurs to me that it’s a matter of language: perhaps the Cuban alphabet lacks the letters to spell the word “surrender.”

And Cuba also comes up because, as far as I recall, the July 26 Movement did not follow the manuals of the communist orthodoxy of the time, which had confined the work of the Latin American left to the dictates of the then “socialist camp.” In short: they made their own history. Not for books, analyses, or reflections without consistent practice, but for life.

Cuba, so close to the United States and so far from understanding, will endure. Because there are those who hope the island will become a Mariel (the nearest port and to the United States and designated Special Development Zone, marked by a submarine base, a power station and cement works) from end to end, but there are those who know that it will be a Playa Girón (the site of the thwarted U.S. Bay of Pigs invasion, and an area of pristine natural beauty, wetlands and coral reef) , which was that the sun will behold as it rises… the day after.

-*-

These thoughts have occurred to me now that I have attended some of the “Interzonas” meetings (I put it in quotes because its name will change at any moment), in assemblies of autonomous and responsible authorities, theater artists, art and culture coordinators, members of Como Mujeres que Somos, young women and men, and “sensible” men and women (that is, older folks), where they discuss and debate something new. Yes, new—new.

I think I’ve said before that we Zapatistas don’t seek how to be happy, but how to be unhappy. Since it is our way to impose new challenges on ourselves, work, changes unexpected the day before, ruthless internal criticism, sleepless nights, stomachaches (with or without raw tamales), worries, long discussions, falls, and getting back up. And so I understand that the problem—our problem—is that we try to live out what we dream. And that’s how it goes for us.

-*-

Dreams remain dreams until they are planted in reality. What follows is a long and bumpy road, full of stumbles, setbacks, and more downs than ups. And, of course, the inevitable presence of those who insist that it can’t be done this way, that it’s not time yet, that it won’t work, that it’s impossible. The establishment has always demanded obedience and submission in its daily capitulation.

The late Marcos used to say that everything is impossible the day before. He said it with December 31, 1993, in mind, and he repeated it and repeats it every time a new idea, a new initiative—internal or external—is heard in indigenous languages of Mayan origin and in Spanish… in the mountains of southeastern Mexico.

Because there will always be someone—someone on the margins—who takes that dream into their own hands, prepares the ground and the timing, the schedule and the geography, and, without ritualistic ceremonies, ostentatious declarations, or empty promises, begins to work toward that dream.

Then, and only then, do dreams cease to be just dreams and become… a possibility.

-*-

So, is it that there are more changes coming? Yes, I’m afraid so—and I’m glad there are (sigh).

(To be continued…)

From the mountains of southeastern Mexico.

Original text published at Enlace Zapatista on May 17th, 2026.
Translation published by Schools for Chiapas.

A Tractor in Common and the Case of the Crazy Parrot

I. The Geneaology of the Tamale.

To the Searching Mothers, with admiration and respect.

I should tell you that I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. This combination of knowledge and practices rooted in traditions from many decades ago, with applied science and technology. Yes, in the countryside. Yes, in the struggle for life.

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés has explained the process to me:

First, you choose the land. The flatter, the better. Next comes what is called “tumbar y rozar”—that is, using a machete and, sometimes, an axe, you cut down large, medium, and small trees. If it is already land that was once a cornfield, then it is acahual (small trees and plants). If it was pastureland, then there are no trees. You have to wait for it to dry out well, and then comes the “quema,” which consists, as the name implies, of setting the land on fire so that the soil is fertilized with the ash. Next comes clearing, that is, removing stones, logs, branches, and roots. Then comes planting, which is done with a coa (a straight stick, sometimes with an iron tip). The person planting carries the seeds in a small backpack, moving forward little by little, poking the ground with the coa and placing the seed in the soil. Then it’s a matter of waiting for rain. Of course, if the dry season (the hot season), with its strong winds, hasn’t carried the fire beyond the “firebreak,” then we have to organize collectively to go put it out before the fire spreads and reaches the forest… or the villages.

If it rains, that’s good. If it doesn’t rain, that’s bad. And then you have to set off firecrackers in the sky to wake up the clouds and make them pour down onto the earth, where the seed awaits the life that every drop of water carries.

Then after? Wait, and keep an eye on the weather. If all goes well, in about three months there will be corn on the cob, and then dried corn. Then comes the harvest: gathering the ears and piling them in a small shed they call a “troje.” From there, whenever needed, a few ears are brought home, and the whole family (grandparents, parents, and the kids) sits down to shell them. Next comes cooking the corn, with some lime extracted from stones. The lime comes from a special white stone. In some places they call it Poj’ton. It’s heated with firewood and then ground until it becomes a fine powder. If you can’t find it, you can make it from the shell of a river snail. And if you don’t have Poj’ton or a snail, well tough luck, you just have to earn the money to buy the lime.

A compañera explains to me: “Not just anyone can mix the lime with the corn. You need, as they say, the moms. Your mom tells you how much lime to put in the pot with the corn in water. If it’s not just right, it won’t work. And if you add too much, it stings. So you have to calculate it, just as your mom teaches you. Once you grow up, well, you know how to calculate. But it’s not like you measure with centiliters, milliliters, and all that math stuff. It’s that you measure just as your mom teaches you. And you have to mix it well by hand, so there are no little lumps, but just right.

If you don’t learn to do things right, word gets around town fast and people look down on you. And it’s even worse for the mother—people talk behind her back, saying she doesn’t teach her children about corn, that is, about life. So the children have to learn well. As they say, moms need their kids. I think that’s why they scold us so much when we’re little, so we’ll learn. And that’s why moms are always thinking about their kids, and if they’re not around, they look for them. If we didn’t have moms, I think we’d all die on the spot.

-*-

Next, once the corn is cooked, keep grinding it by hand using an old mechanical grinder. If you don’t have one, use a metate and a grinding stone. Then you’ll have the dough ready for tortillas… or tamales. If it’s a celebration, then maybe with cuche (pork), chicken, or turkey. And the recado, of course, which is like the seasoning you put on the meat. If there’s no meat, then beans… or vegetables (yucky). You can also make it with green or red chili peppers, and with sugar. After all that, and if you’re lucky enough that the cook doesn’t leave the tamale undercooked, then you’ll be able to eat tamales. And if it’s undercooked, well, too bad—you still have to eat it because that’s all there is. Of course, you’d better make sure there’s a outhouse nearby.

If it’s a party, there’s dancing. Yes, cumbias. Although later there’s also rock, ska, banda, and that kind of music that makes the young men and women jump around as if they were on top of an anthill. But love—and, of course, heartbreak—tend to blossom and bear fruit with the cumbias. There, the hips promise fevers… and sleepless nights… and rains… and hardships.

-*-

And then? Well, back to where we started. And so on and on, forever and ever. Humanity exists because the earth exists. In other words, you might say that the earth is the mother of humanity. Just imagine if there were no earth—where would you get all the junk food you eat? Without the earth, there is no food, no animals, no air, no rain. There is nothing. That is why we say that land is life.

The peoples and communities of the National Indigenous Congress taught us to say “territory.” In other words, it’s not just the earth itself, but also the water, the forests, the wild animals, the rain, the wind, the sun. Everything. When we say “land,” we mean all of that; but in the cities, they understand land as a piece of land and not as a whole. That’s why the CNI taught us to say “territory.”

-*-

Today’s wars, by the way, are fought to conquer territory. That is why it doesn’t matter how many people are killed or how many buildings, hospitals, schools (with girls inside), and entire neighborhoods are destroyed. Because that is what capitalist war is all about: destroying in order to rebuild later; and depopulating in order to later reorganize the conquered territory. And that is why there are, within humanity, what are called “Guardians” of the earth, that is, of the territory. In other words, they are the offspring of Mother Earth, the Resistance, and Rebellion. And that is why they murder, disappear, and imprison the defenders of the forests. And that is why the problem is not Netanyahu or Trump. Or at least, not only them.

Because with or without them, the Boss Man—the capitalist system, that is—wants to murder people and destroy entire populations. Because it is in those populations and in the hearts of those people, that life lives.

That is how the system was born: by killing and destroying. That is how it grew. And that is how it sustains itself, even as its methods and justifications change. The capitalist system is death. Not just for humanity. But for the entire planet as well. That is why we say that the struggle against capitalism is the struggle for life. And vice versa.

Who understands this best and most deeply? Well, those who live in a territory—that is, on the land. But they do not fight for ownership of the territory; rather, they fight to defend it. And that is why capitalism attacks them, because they stand in the way of its plan.

-*-

I asked SubMoy, “So there’s no more burning?”

“No, we’re showing them—teaching our compañeros and the partisan brothers—that by using this technique, burning is no longer necessary, so the fire doesn’t spread and endanger animals, trees, and people. Plus, there’s no more smoke. And you don’t have to wait for rain or waste fireworks. So, without stopping work on the land, you can take care of it and improve it.”

“And where did the tractor come from?”

“Ah, they’d had it sitting in a shed for years, but they weren’t using it and it was just sitting there falling apart. Then the Commons came to the rescue. The drivers went, fixed it up, washed it, made it look sharp, and moved it to this land that belongs to the Common—which belongs to everyone and to no one.”

“But maybe the day after, there won’t be any fuel for the tractor… or even a tractor.”

“Oh, sure. But we’re learning from our great-great-grandparents and grandparents, who made do with what they had and used their wits. The point is always to take care of Mother Earth.”

A compañero is someone who teaches and has students, mainly Tzotzil and Cho’ol. That compañero is from Puy de Roberto Barrios, and he comes with his group to put what they learn into practice. Because if you don’t apply what you know, it’s all for nothing. In other words, he wants practice. The place where he teaches could well be called “Center for Zapatista Rebel Research, Analysis, and Teaching on Rural Work and the Defense and Care of Mother Earth, Combining the Knowledge of Our Ancestors with Knowledge of the Sciences, Techniques, Arts, and Whatever Comes to Mind and We Invent Based on What We See in Practice” (CIAERZTCDCMTCCNACCTALVAOISVP, for its Spanish acronym).

Nah, it’s not really called that. But they’re going to give it some name. Maybe just as long or even longer—I don’t know.

The thing is, just like with cumbias, what really counts is putting that knowledge into practice. Because you could certainly write books on cumbia theory, explaining hip rotation and the rhythm of the feet and hands using ellipses and parables, differential equations, and asymptotes. But, man, if you don’t practice it, it’ll look like your pants are made of cardboard or that you’ve got a cramp.

-*-

When I saw that the sprinklers were already running and they were planting, I thought, “Now I can die in peace.” I think I said it out loud, because Verónica, who was butting in as usual, said, “Again?!” And, looking at me disapprovingly, she added, “People are getting sick of you dying all the time. Even the women in the villages have already complained to SubMoy that they’re praying for nothing every time they go by.”

“So they’re praying for me?”

“No way! They’re praying for the poor devil who’s going to suffer when you get to hell and start up your mischief.”

Well, but that’s not the point…

-*-

All over the world, stories of resistance and defiance are blossoming. Yesterday, they were called Venezuela. Today, they are called Iran and Cuba. They are always called Palestine. Because there will always be those who refuse to give up, sell out, or back down.

(To be continued…)

The Captain
April-May 2026

souce: Schools for Chiapas

Peoples Reject Sheinbaum’s Visit to Morelos for the Anniversary of the Zapata’s Death

Indigenous peoples and organizations rejected President Claudia Sheinbaum’s visit to the Hacienda de Chinameca in Morelos on the occasion of the 107th anniversary of Emiliano Zapata’s assassination, asserting that her actions against communities—such as the lack of justice for community defender Samir Flores and the operation of the Huexca thermoelectric plant—contradict the revolutionary’s “ideology and legacy.”

“The celebratory statements regarding historical Zapatismo by the nation’s president and our state’s governor have not been accompanied by decisive actions to shed light on these crimes, nor by policies of listening to the peoples,” they stated in a declaration, in which they expressed their distrust of the leaders’ words.

“We recall that in the first year of López Obrador’s administration, declared nationally as the Year of Zapata, was the year of the murder of our comrade Samir Flores Soberanes,” a Nahua activist who fought against the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) and was murdered on February 20, 2019, the communities noted.

That year, the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water (FPDTA) of Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala, together with the National Indigenous Congress and the communities of Huexca, Amilcingo, Ayala, and other areas, occupied the Hacienda de Chinameca “in protest against President López Obrador,” who sought to honor Zapata there, “while as president he betrayed his word to cancel the thermoelectric plant and the gas pipeline and also carried out a consultation that was clearly in defense of the thermoelectric plant,” which was not suspended following the death of Flores Soberanes.

More than seven years after the murder, the communities stated, “we have no justice, in the same situation, now with our murdered comrade Sandra Rosa Camacho, a human rights defender and defender of traditional customs in the municipality of Temoac—all because impunity reigns in the country. With this visit, on the one hand, the state seeks to reclaim the figure of Zapata, and on the other, it contradicts his ideology and legacy.”

They also reiterated that the thermoelectric plant of the Morelos Integral Project remains active and pollutes the waters of the Cuautla River, in addition to causing noise and air pollution in the community of Huexca.

The communities and organizations demanded an end to impunity and called for an investigation into the murder of Samir Flores, as well as for former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, former Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco, current Congressman Hugo Eric Flores, former Morelos Attorney General Uriel Carmona, Valentín Lavin, and Angelina N, alias La Patrona, to be summoned to testify.

“We demand justice for Samir and the peoples of Morelos, and we celebrate the legacy we make our own—from below, popular, and to the left of Emiliano Zapata—which lives on in the organized autonomous communities that the government refuses to see or hear, and instead attacks,” they concluded.

Below is the full statement:

Let’s Celebrate Emiliano Zapata’s Anniversary with Justice

Justice for the people.

Justice for Samir

Chinameca, a place symbolic of the betrayal and assassination of Emiliano Zapata, will receive Mexico’s president and other officials for the government’s official recognition of Emiliano Zapata’s struggle, ideology, and enduring presence among the people.

We recall that in the first year of López Obrador’s administration—declared nationwide as the Year of Zapata—was the year of the assassination of our comrade Samir Flores Soberanes, 2019, a year in which, together with the National Indigenous Congress and the peoples of Huexca, Amilcingo, Ayala, and other regions, we gathered there to denounce President López Obrador and to honor General Zapata from that very place, while, as president, he betrayed his word to cancel the thermoelectric plant and the gas pipeline and, furthermore, carried out a consultation that was clearly in defense of the thermoelectric plant. This consultation took place following a series of forums organized by the federal government’s “superdelegate” for Morelos, the now-Zionist congressman Hugo Erik Flores, with whom our comrade Samir had engaged in a fierce debate just before he was murdered. His murder did not warrant suspending the referendum, in which—it must be remembered—if only the towns and communities affected by the power plant and the gas pipeline had been counted, the NO vote would have won. Instead, however, the large urban centers were also consulted, tipping the balance in favor of the YES vote.

Seven years later, we still have no justice; we find ourselves in the same situation, now with the murder of our compañera Sandra Rosa Camacho, a human rights defender and advocate for traditional customs in the municipality of Temoac—all because impunity reigns in this country. With this visit, on the one hand, the state seeks to reclaim Zapata’s legacy, while on the other, it contradicts his ideals and legacy.

The Morelos Comprehensive Project, centered around the Huexca thermoelectric plant, remains in place, polluting the waters of the Cuautla River and causing noise and air pollution in the community, since it is located just 300 meters from the community’s preschool, and it continues to poison the political climate—not only regionally but nationally—as the murder of our comrade Samir Flores Soberanes, a representative of the community opposition to the plan’s implementation, remains unpunished.

That is why—because the statements by the President of the nation and the governor of our state celebrating the legacy of Zapatismo have not been accompanied by decisive action to solve these crimes, nor by policies that truly listen to the people—we do not trust their words.

We demand an investigation into the murder of our brother Samir Flores and call on Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Hugo Eric Flores, Uriel Carmona, Valentín Lavin, and Angelina N, alias La Patrona, to testify.

It is wonderful that a museum is being built to house and highlight the participation of Zapatista women in the historic struggle of the Mexican Revolution, but at the same time, as women from Zapata’s homeland, we continue to carry the wound of being recognized in museums but not in everyday politics. The wound caused by the murders of Samir and Sandra is also ours.

That is why today, just as we have every year since 2019, we demand justice for Samir and the peoples of Morelos, and we celebrate the legacy we make our own—from below, popular, and to the left of Emiliano Zapata—which lives on in the organized autonomous communities that the government refuses to see or hear, and instead attacks.

Morelos, April 10, 2026

Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala

Red Morelense de apoyo al CIG-CNI Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía

Colectiva Diversa

Empalabrando colectivo

Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Norte del Istmo de Tehuantepec, UCIZONI

Raíces en resistencia Tlatelolco, CDMX

Colectivo Luciérnagas que Siembran, CDMX

RAIS/Red de Apoyo Iztapalapa Sexta

Profes en la Sexta

Colectivo Gavilanas

Colectivo Cuaderno Común

Colectivo Cafetos

Colectivo La Otra Justicia

Colectivo La Grieta

Comunidad Tanezi Calli en Resistencia

Comunidad de XOCHITLANEZI

El Grupo de la Puerta, Puebla/CDMX

Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas

Instituto Cultural Autónomo Rubén Jaramillo Ménez, Morelos

La Oveja Roja

Colectivo Tierra y Libertad Cuautla, Morelos

Sexta por la libre, Yucatán

Morada Tropikal El Teatrito Yucatán

Mínima Galería Íntima/Narraturgias de la Memoria

El bordado de Ramona

Colectivo Mujeres Tierra

Mexicali Resiste

Concejo Autónomo de Santiago Mexquititlán Amealco Querétaro

Espacio de lucha contra el olvidoy la represión . Elcor, Chiapas

Antsetik Ts’unun, mujeres defensoras de Chiapas

Red de Resistencias y Rebeldías AJMAQ, Chiapas

Partido de los Comunistas

Mexicanos Unidos

Brigada Callejera de apoyo a la mujer

Colectivo Criptopozol DDHH

Comité de Enlace Latinoamericano, CELC

Organización Popilar Francisco Villa de Izquierda Independiente

Concejo Indígena y Popular de Guerrero y Emiliano Zapata, CIPOG-EZ

Comunidad Indígena Otomí residente de la CDMX

UPREZ Benito Juárez

Café Zapata Vive

Juventud Comunista de México

Jorge Alonso, Ciesas Occidente

Alicia Castellanos Guerrero, UAM Iztapalapa

Gilberto López y Rivas, profesor investigador INAH Morelos

Efraín Rojas Bruschetta

Alberto Colín, adherente a la sexta

Calixto Trinidad Carbajal Balderas, de La Otra en el Sur de Morelos

Oralba Castillo Nájera de Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía

Márgara Millán, Red de feminismos descoloniales

Servando Gajá, Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía

José Antonio Olvera Llamas, Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía

María de Lourdes Lara López, Nuestra Alegue Rebeldía

Dr. Calixto Trinidad Carbajal Balderas de la Otra en el Sur de Morelos

Original text published by Desinformémonos on April 10th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.