--- Julio Huato <juliohuato at gmail.com> wrote:
(part of JH's translation of the document) "The self-organization of autonomous communities over the entire country is necessary and urgent -- voluntary communities, with self-identified members who govern themselves democratically to produce, exchange, meet basic needs, acquire food, and provide education, with children, women, the elderly, and men, to defend life, the commons, our public resources, our towns, and our nation, to preserve the environment and strengthen civil and laic spaces, dialog spaces, that unite us in our ideological differences and shared values.
"We respectfully appeal to the existing communities, or whoever may take the initiative in these organizations, to exercise at all times democracy with freedom, as diversity in philosophical and religious beliefs, with individual and ollective honesty. . ."
These two paragraphs strike me as the heart of the appeal -- the substance of the vision and the practical guidelines for developing it in a democratic and respectful way.
This document reflects something powerful no American document is likely to have -- a collective yearning for deliverance and basic dignity. God knows what Americans collectively yearn for.
> BobW wrote:
>
> > Wasn't there another side to this project, the
> signing
> > on of separate political groups to a joint
> platform
> > for social change? I thought that's what the
> Mexican
> > document represented -- an actual unity movement.
>
> The initial document was signed by 27 people:
> intellectuals,
> academics, journalists, a former Catholic bishop,
> political activists.
> I'm sure it started small, as the idea of 1 or 2
> people. I don't
> know what kind of impact it'll have.
>
> Everything is catch-22. How do we get our U.S.
> manifesto started?
>
> WD wrote:
>
> > How has the Mexican document been received?
>
> I don't know. It'll become clearer in the weeks
> ahead. As far as the
> timing of the document, a few things are going on.
> Just to list a
> few: (1) the New-Orleans type of flooding that
> devastated Villahermosa
> and other areas on the Tabasco-Veracruz; (2) the
> growing sense that
> Calderón is politics as usual with more submission
> to U.S. policies
> (there's a sort of Plan Mexico as in Plan Colombia
> in action now and
> immigration policies are increasingly vetted by the
> U.S., which
> fosters the sense of de-nationalization of Mexico;
> and the economy
> seems a bit stuck in spite of the nice oil prices --
> thanks Chavez and
> Ahmedinajad!); (3) the failure of the government to
> reign in
> corruption and violent crime; (4) the persistence of
> López Obrador's
> legit gov't actions (over the weekend, they filled
> the Zocalo plaza
> again and had a mass event in the multi-event
> process they call the
> National Democratic Convention, AMLO's speech
> emphasized the defense
> and reform of PEMEX, the oil company, to prevent its
> already advanced
> piecemeal dismantling/privatization); and (5) the
> growing awareness of
> what's going on in the rest of Latin America (by
> temperament, Mexicans
> are not very warm to Chávez's style, but they are
> paying attention;
> IMO regular Mexicans who know about them like Evo
> and Correa very
> much).
>
> > Are there any
> > particularly good parts that deserve to be
> translated?
>
> It's not a work of literary art or in airtight
> logic, but it pushes
> the right Mexican buttons -- it seems to me. My
> translation below
> doesn't quite convey how stylistically plain the
> document reads in
> Spanish.
>
> "In the face of this ongoing national emergency, we
> call all patriotic
> and national forces to persist in this struggle,
> which can and must be
> peaceful and democratic. Conscious of the
> historical aspiration to
> build a sovereign and democratic Mexico that enables
> the full
> development of the people, in unity and diversity,
> in their
> communities, for all and each one of its members.
> This requires that
> we promote solidarity and mutual support among all
> members of our
> society.
>
> "The self-organization of autonomous communities
> over the entire
> country is necessary and urgent -- voluntary
> communities, with
> self-identified members who govern themselves
> democratically to
> produce, exchange, meet basic needs, acquire food,
> and provide
> education, with children, women, the elderly, and
> men, to defend life,
> the commons, our public resources, our towns, and
> our nation, to
> preserve the environment and strengthen civil and
> laic spaces, dialog
> spaces, that unite us in our ideological differences
> and shared
> values.
>
> "We respectfully appeal to the existing communities,
> or whoever may
> take the initiative in these organizations, to
> exercise at all times
> democracy with freedom, as diversity in
> philosophical and religious
> beliefs, with individual and collective honesty,
> with clarity in the
> administration of collective or public funds and
> resources,
> de-commodifying the social services, growing a
> shared culture and
> relations for the social interest.
>
> "We respectfully call the communities to avoid
> abstract or dogmatic
> arguments about the "best" ways to organize
> themselves. All
> experiences of self-organization for emancipatory
> purposes show that
> the logic of combination of forces and organizations
> is most effective
> when the focus is on advancing the common goals.
> True to their
> history, understanding, and experience, movements
> may choose
> hierarchical organizations for their self-defense
> insofar as they
> prove to be effective. They will be so to the
> extent the leaders
> learn to "lead by following" [this is the Zapatista
> motto] in
> accordance with the general outlines given by their
> bases, keeping
> them informed of their actions, within those
> outlines. In any case,
> the need to bring to their bases the necessary
> changes and allow them
> the last word in the decisions.
>
> "At the same time, we call for the unity in their
> diversity of all
> patriotic and liberating forces. We ask them to
> reflect on the
> importance that building alliances, coalitions,
> fronts, or blocs has
> in the struggle for national independence and for a
> new type of
> socialism -- alliances, coalitions, fronts, or blocs
> in which the
> workers and the marginalized peoples, the excluded
> and discriminated
> against, have a real and moral weight, as indicated
> by their presence
> and participation, and by the decision of the
> leaders not to betray
> them once in power, as it has often happened in the
> past."
>
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