[lbo-talk] the state

Tayssir John Gabbour tjg at pentaside.org
Fri Jul 14 05:54:42 PDT 2006


Eric Beck wrote:

> Doug Henwood wrote:

>> And though I catch hell every time I say this, just what have the

>> Zapatistas, with their nonstatist concept of revolution, actually

>> accomplished?

>

> I wonder what you think qualifies as an accomplishment.... It seems to

> me the big difference between the conceptions of revolutionary change

> amounts from the way things are measured, or which things are

> measured. For the statist, things like wage distribution, ownership,

> industrial progress, and democratic participation seem to be most

> valued. The Zapatistas want to create a space in which none of these

> standard measurments are applicable.

Hmm, where did they say this? A few minutes' googling brings up:

"The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to defend, support and obey the Zapatista indigenous communities of which it is composed, and which are its supreme command, and - without interfering in their internal democratic processes - will, to the best of its abilities, contribute to the strengthening of their autonomy, good government and improvement in their living conditions. In other words, what we are going to do in Mexico and in the world, we are going to do without arms, with a civil and peaceful movement, and without neglecting nor ceasing to support our communities." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Declaration_of_the_Lacandon_Jungle

Also:

"Disintegration of the State? "In sum, the federal government has relinquished its duties, and the national State is staggering, bludgeoned by those from above, not by those from below. [...]

"The only thing left to do will be to re-found the nation. With a new social pact, a new Constitution, a new political class and a new way of doing politics. In sum, there will need to be a program of struggle, built from below, based on the real national agenda, not on the one being promoted by politicians and the media.

"On our side, nothing that has been done, as will be seen here and in a subsequent part, by the Good Government Juntas and by the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities, has contributed to the disintegration of the national State." http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/2004/marcos/fallaciesAUG.html

Tayssir



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