Last night around 100 people took to the streets of Washington DC to celebrate a decade of Zapatista Autonomy. The march raged through the streets to the rythym of bucket drums, saxophone and all sorts of other noise makers. Torches, and black flags were carried along with several banners that read: VIVA ZAPATISTA, JUSTICE AND DIGNITY, FROM CHIAPAS TO DC: CLASS WAR IN O4'.
Paint bombs hit the following corporate targets: CINGULAR WIRLESS, SUBWAY, STARBUCKS, RIGGS BANK and more.
The police attempted to shut down the gathering, but were foiled by the high spirits and determination of the crowd, that out smarted them at two attepted blockades. The march started on U street near the African Civil War Metro and ended at Dupont Circle. There were no arrests. As the march moved through the streets, the following communique was distributed:
A Message from the Heart: Join us in our Celebration of Dignity! A Decade of Zapatista Autonomy!
As the clock strikes midnight, one year imperceptibly changes into another, and a joyous celebration seizes the streets of Washington DC, the heart of the empire itself. Unlike those busy drinking themselves into oblivion, this midnight fiesta of drums and noise resists oblivion. For, even in the darkest heart of the empire, there is hope for a world of dignity, justice, and democracy. Only a few thousand miles to the south, and only a decade ago, the Zapatatistas showed the world that such a world was possible. We celebrate the survival of the Zapatistas, the rebel indigenous communities of southeast Mexico. On Jan 1st, 1994, the day that NAFTA signed the death warrant of their communities in the name of cheaper sneakers and coffee for us in the United States, the Zapatista army, the EZLN, rose up and seized San Cristobal, proclaiming the autonomy of their communities against the Mexican Government. Ten years later, the Zapatista communities are autonomous (without police even!), answering to the desires and needs of their people. Food, health, education, good governance – all of these needs formerly thought to be impossible for ordinary people to achieve, have been achieved from the bottom-up by and for the people in the remote jungles and highlands of Chiapas, Mexico.
All of this against perpetual oppression and murder by the Mexican government, with aid from their right-hand men; the paramilitaries, and their master; the United States government. We in the United States demand an end to all military and paramilitary activity in Chiapas! An immediate halt to Plan Pueblo Panama, which seeks to turn all of Chiapas into a sweatshop! That all governments respect the dignity and autonomy of the Zapatistas!
Our celebration of solidarity in DC demonstrates that hope is contagious – that the sparks lit by the Zapatistas on New Years of 1994 have spread over the entire world. If our celebration in DC shows anything, it shows that even those in the heart of the empire can throw off their shackles as well, proclaiming dignity, justice, democracy – and life! – against the terrifying logic of war, terror, work, and death that Emperor Bush and his cronies proclaim from every television set. The Zapatistas are only the beginning… For memory, and against forgetting! For solidarity, not in words, but deeds! Not just for a new year, but a new world!
Signed, -Those in the heart of the United States who stand with the Zapatistas! (12/31/03 // 1/1/04)
For more information about the Zapatistas, visit “Zapatistas in Cyberspace” at http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/zapsincyber.html, find the book “Homage to Chiapas” by Bill Weinberg.
For more information about a new world: www.indymedia.org, (including dc.indymedia.org for local news!) www.infoshop.org, www.crimethinc.com…