Support the struggle!
Support the Struggle in Mexico!
Since 1998, Kersplebedeb has been selling “EZLN” t-shirts on behalf of Solidarity, a local revolutionary collective in Montreal. Its a nice shirt, available in sizes small to xl in black and grey, and small to xxl on white. This is what it looks like:
To order this shirt, just send me an email . Let me know what size and colour you would prefer. You can also order it using PayPal directly on my website by clicking here .
To see all of my other t-shirts, check out my gallery .
Most of the profits (over $1,300 Canadian) from the sale of this shirt have been sent to Mexico, to support the revolutionary struggle there.
In 2001, about $700 was sent to the Zapatista support base of displaced populations of Polho, in the municipality of Chenalho, Chiapas. These are over 6,000 people who fled their homes to escape attacks by death squads supported by the Mexican government. Many of them came from the town of Acteal following the massacre of 45 people by one such death squad in December 1997. Polho has declared itself an autonomous community. The community consists of nine settlements scattered over several square miles of mountainous terrain.
Also in 2001, about $700 raised through the sale of EZLN shirts went to support Zapatista political prisoners, through the Voz de Cerro Hueco organization. This Zapatista prisoner organization was created in 1996 in response to the unjust imprisonment of Zapatista supporters under a regime that continues to attack indigenous populations that struggle for their rights.
“We are community organizers and support base, sympathizers, autonomists, human rights promoters, catechizers and simple observers as well as those of us who live in Chiapas, yet maintain no direct tie to the social movement. We come from different parts of the province and we speak a variety of native languages. Some of us don’t speak any Spanish. Some of us are not even from Chiapas. We fight for a life with justice and dignity, peace and progress which ultimately respects and strengthens our pluri-ethnic values… from the savagery of capitalism and neoliberal globalization.”
While most political prisoners have been released during the last three months (2001), on July 25th 2001, 9 remained incarcerated despite being falsely charged and unfairly tried.
International support has been and is key to a government so highly concerned about its image. These prisoners and their families have faced extensive physical and psychological abuse at the hands of government authorities and deserve to be reunited with their families and communities.
In 2002 $1000 was sent to the Frente de Organizaciones Democraticas del Estado de Guerrero (FODEG), in order to aid their full amnesty campaign for political prisoners in the state of Guerrero. The FODEG’s website, with information in French and Spanish, is http://fodeg.tripod.com
Due to a personal falling out with the person who originally made the screens for this shirt, this is the last batch i will be able to make in order to raise money for the struggle in Mexico. If anybody has any designs that they think would be appropriate for a t-shirt fundraiser for the struggle in Mexico, please feel encouraged to get in touch .
I also sell these two nifty EZLN-supporter buttons:
Apart from the EZLN t-shirt and buttons, i also distribute some literature dealing with revolutionary life in Mexico:
Broadening the Struggle and Winning the Media War – “Marcos Mystique”, “Guerilla Chic” and Zapatista P.R. , by Nicholas Henck. A sympathetic look at the relationship of the EZLN guerilla army, and more specifically its charismatic spokesman Marcos, and the world media and liberal opinion. $3.50 
Communiqués of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), Jan.-Aug. 1996, Early communiqués from the EZLN. 36 pages. $2.00 
Comunal: palabras desde las comunidades del Consejo Indigena Popular de Oaxaca ‘Ricardo Flores Magon’ , by CIPO-RFM and Ce-Acatl. Written entirely in Spanish, a fully illustrated book looking at the indigenous “Ricardo Flores Magon” community in Oaxaca state, Mexico.IMPORTANT ALERT: as of September 2004 the CIPO-RFM has been facing heavy repression in the Mexican state of Oaxaca – for more information click here! 80 pages $10.00 
EZLN Communiques #1 – Navigating the Seas . A collection of Zapatista National Liberation Army communiques, from December 22nd 97 – January 29th 98. This particular body of communiques captures the events in Chiapas during a time of extreme tension and unease – the massacre of Acteal and the military incursions. A very fine collection, beautifully produced, with photographs, an introduction, maps of southern Mexico, a glossary and resource guide. $3.00 
EZLN Communiques #3 – Masks and Silences . The 3rd in the beautifully produced and translated series of missives from the jungles of southern Mexico, these from April-July 1998. $3.00 
EZLN Communiques #4 – The War Against Forgetting . Brand new installment of communiques, statements and analysis from the mountains of southeast Mexico. This batch covers August-November 1998. As ever, they are beautifully produced, and complete with maps, and an extensive, updated contacts list. $3.00 
Magonismo y movimiento indigena en mexico , by Juan Carlos Beas, Manuel Ballesteros and Benjamin Maldonado. Entirely in Spanish, this pamphlet explores the indigenous roots of Mexican anarchism, specifically the thought of Ricardo Flores Magon. The text of this pamphlet is also available on the internet at http://www.laneta.apc.org/magon/mymovind.htm . 62 pages $5.00 
Women in the Zapatistas; a short compilation of texts relating to the experiences of women in the EZLN. 24 pages $3.00 
Ya Basta: Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising – Writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Includes forewords by Noam Chomsky and Noami Klein; edited and with a contribution by Ziga Vodovnik. In the interests of revolutionary completism, his mammoth volume includes all of the major and minor texts, declarations and statements by Subcomandante Marcos, spokesperson of the Zapatistas, as of late 2003. Also includes loads of photos, and the five Declarations from the Lacondon Jungle. 685 pages $26.95 
Zapatistas in Their Own Words, An interview with EZLN spokesperson Marcos and a couple of manifestos. $2.00
Links about Mexico and Elsewhere
Chiapas, Zapatistas, etc.
- Chiapas95 is a series of “lists” which distribute news and debate about Chiapas culled from other lists on the internet, from conferences on PeaceNet and from other sites in cyberspace.
- Irish Mexico Group , an anarchist group that works in solidarity with the Zapatistas
- Zapatista Resources assembled by Stephen Miller
- Women and the EZLN – a collection of texts from the Irish Mexico Group
- World History Archive’s Zapatista resources
- Zapatista Net of Autonomy and Liberation
- ZNet’s Chiapas/Zapatista section
- ZAPATISTA NETWORK – a clearinghouse of Zapatista information and support worldwide
Patriarchy and Liberation
- Maya Women: Their Lives and the Zapatista Movement – from the Journal on Ethics of Development in a Global Environment
- Women and the EZLN – a collection of texts from the Irish Mexico Group
Mexico
Sites in Mexico
- Biblioteca Social Recontruir – an anarchist library in Mexico City
- Centro de Información Zapatista
- Consejo Indegena Popular de Oaxaca “Ricardo Flores Magon” (CIPO-RFM)
- Cultura Libre – an anarchist political/cultural group
- Enlace civil
- EZLN homepage (in Spanish)
- Frente de Organizaciones Democraticas del Estado de Guerrero (FODEG), in French and Spanish: http://fodeg.tripod.com
- Frente Autentico del Trabajo
- Juventud Autiautoritaria Revolucionaria – anarcho-punk collective in Mexico City
- Libertad – political prisoner support group
- Martires de Cananea – anarchosyndicalist group
- Mujeres Libertarias – anarcha-feminist group
- La Neta San Cristóbal (Chiapas)
- La Rosa Negra – anarchist zine
- Mexico Indymedia
- Chiapas Indymedia
- Centro de investigaiones economicas y politicas de accion comunitaria
- Revolutionary Zapatista Women in Cultural Perspective ; article by Lea Clayton, Prism Mexico correspondent from The Prism – the website of a progressive newspaper in North Carolina
Criticism of the Zapatistas, and Criticism of the Critics
- A Commune in Chiapas? (from the British ultraleft magazine Aufheben)
- Class, Colonialism and the Zapatistas (a critique of A Commune in Chiapas?)
- Why the Netherlands Zapatista solidarity group dissolved
Other South & Central America
- Latin America Network Information Center
- NACLA magazine – the North American Congress on Latin America
- Narco News Bulletin – “reporting on the drug war and democracy in Latin America”
Also of interest from Kersplebedeb:
Other Kersplebedeb Pages political struggle [] more links button galleries [] catalog [] t-shirt gallery [] free art email me [] homepage [] more about Kersplebedeb
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