A-Infos (en) Int. Women's Day Picket of Mexican Embassy, 6 March,

[Ilan Shalif <gshalif@netvision.net.il>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
           http://www.ainfos.ca/
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From:  "Karolina Ballesteros" <kpballes@hotmail.com>
STOP THE BLOODBATH
IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO!
The brutal massacre of 45 Tzotzil indigenous people, mostly women and
children, by paramilitary groups connected to Mexico's ruling party, the
PRI, in the village of Acteal in Chiapas on December 22, was a
horrifying reminder that there is still no real democracy, peace or
basic human rights in Mexico. The massacre was carried out by the proxy
agents of the Mexican government as part of its "low intensity war"
against the EZLN, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, and its mainly
indigenous supporters, who rebelled against the threat to their land and
communities posed by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on
January 1, 1994. At least 150 indigenous people have been killed by
army, police or PRI (Revolutionary Institutional Party) paramilitary
death squads, dozens of villages ransacked and burnt, and 7,000
displaced since a one-sided "cease-fire" was agreed in early 1994. The
crisis was worsened a year ago when the Mexican government reneged on
the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and Autonomy it had signed
with the EZLN, so undermining the peace process. Instead, the government
increased its militarisation of Chiapas and stepped up its murderous
campaign against unarmed Zapatista communities, while claiming it was
"working for peace". Following the massive national and international
outcry against the PRI regime's complicity in the Acteal massacre, the
Mexican government is now also under pressure from the European Union,
with whom it recently signed a "free trade" agreement, the ratification
of which depends on Mexico showing it has improved its abysmal human
rights record. However, while promising to apprehend the killers
responsible for the massacre and disarm the paramilitary groups, it has
instead cynically taken advantage of the present confusion and terror to
launch an offensive against the EZLN, with troops advancing deep into
Zapatista-held territory and harassing the local population. These
actions are in breech of the government's own Law for Peace and
Reconciliation of 1995 which specifically ruled out military
intervention against the EZLN while negotiations (stalled since
September 1996 but not ended) continue. A xenophobic campaign against
foreign human rights activists and observers in Chiapas, of whom 200
have been expelled and whose presence is the only protection many
communities have from paramilitary and army attack, is also being
whipped up to deflect criticism of the PRI regime and prepare the way
for the extermination of the Zapatistas. Meanwhile, no serious attempt
has been made to disarm the PRI paramilitary groups, which continue to
threaten Zapatista communities. Once again, the corrupt and
authoritarian PRI regime is "talking peace while making war" against a
dissident civilian population.
The ZAPATISTA ACTION PROJECT, a network of concerned groups and
individuals, demand that the European Union suspend its Free Trade
Agreement with Mexico and that the British government, as the current
president of the EU, increase its pressure on the Mexican government to:
Disarm, disband and punish the paramilitary groups and politicians
responsible for the Acteal massacre and other atrocities.
Demilitarise Chiapas and Mexico. Withdraw troops from Zapatista areas.
Respect and implement the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights.
PICKET THE MEXICAN EMBASSY!
Friday, March 6, 12.30 - 2 p.m. 42 Hertford Street, London W1.
(and the first Friday of every month at the same time)
Nearest tubes: Hyde Park Corner & Green Park
SEND MESSAGES OF PROTEST!
Mexican Embassy: mexuk@easynet.co.uk  tel/fax:0171-499 8586
President Zedillo: webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx
Details from: ZAPATISTA ACTION PROJECT, c/o fhuman, BM CRL, London
WC1N3XX.
Tel: 0181-679 6930     email: fa6134@qmw.ac.uk
Next meetings: Tues 10 & 24 March, 7.30 pm, Institute of Education Bar,
Bedford Way. Tube: Russell Square
FREEDOM JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY FOR THE INDIGENOUS WOMEN OF CHIAPAS AND
MEXICO!
FOR WOMEN AND AGAINST PATRIARCHY!
Violence, based on the exclusive, authoritarian, vertical, elitist and
patriarchal logic of capitalism, has become the fundamental
characteristic of the neoliberal economic project of "deregulation" and
"free trade" being forcibly imposed on the planet by unaccountable
international organisms such as the World Bank, the World Trade
Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
Once again women throughout the world are the most adversely effected by
this assault on humanity.
In Mexico, as in Britain and throughout the world, the attack on the
most vulnerable sectors of society, such as women,  has not been long in
coming: the loss of workers rights during maternity, the explosion in
prostitution, the total lack of health services in marginalised areas,
the rape of indigenous women during gynaecological examinations, the
physical and psychological attack against feminine sexual identity of
rape. At least 60 cases of rape perpetrated by members of the Mexican
security forces and government-linked paramilitary groups in the
"conflict zone" have been documented since June 1994 - the tip of the
iceberg. The Acteal Massacre resulted in the horrifying death by bullet
and machete of 45 displaced Zapatista sympathisers, 21 of whom were
women (two had their stomachs cut open and foetuses torn out), 14
children, 9 men and one baby. These facts are yet further proof of the
government's policies of violence, murder, torture, the disappearance of
oppositionists, and impunity at all levels which the Mexican people are
having to endure and resist, above all both indigenous and
non-indigenous women.
Lamentably, these mechanisms of barbarism, control and subjection are
not exclusive to the Mexican state. The neoliberal structures on which
it depends have led to the social globalisation of these practices of
domination, reproduced in every sphere of life, in every continent in
different proportions. As a result, the fightback against neoliberalism
demands a global response, the development of a genuine internationalism
which can unite popular struggles throughout the world, not out of
"solidarity" but as the co-ordinated actions of equals, allowing us to
strike a real blow against the global policies of neoliberalism and to
develop viable alternatives.
Women throughout the world have shown themselves to be symbols of
resistance and rebellion during the course of history. The leading role
that they play today in social movements and above all the exemplary
struggle  of Zapatista women represent a transformation of political
practices beginning with being and acting as women. Let's make ours the
cry of "Ya basta!" (Enough!) made by the Zapatistas on January 1 1994,
constructing our own history based on the democratisation of all aspects
of private and public life. But this will not be possible without a
decisive and disinterested social militancy which demands "everything
for everyone" and "leading by following".This International Women's Day
is the right moment to remember and recognise the courageous
contribution of the Zapatista women, armed and unarmed, of women rebels
and dissidents throughout the world who have dared to say that history
made without them will be badly made and meaningless.
OUR HEARTS ARE SILENT NO MORE!
We therefore invite all women to exercise the power of your voice and
take part in the picket of the Mexican Embassy on March 6!





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