The
following is a partial translation of “Chiapas: The Southeast in Two Winds, a Storm,
and a Prophecy,” from which the story “Viejo
Antonio Dreams” is taken. The introduction
and Chapter Five are fully translated, and the in-text synopses of Chapters One
through Four are also translated.
In the text,
Marcos makes reference to the governor of Chiapas using the term “the viceroy,”
as well as to the Chiapanecan cattle ranchers, using the term “the feudal
lords.”
Originally
published on January 27th, 1994
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHIAPAS: THE SOUTHEAST IN TWO WINDS, A
STORM, AND A PROPHECY
Very dear
sirs:
Now that
Chiapas has burst into national consciousness, many and various authors dust
off their little Larousse Illustrated,
their Mexico Unknown, their floppy
disks of statistics from the Ingei or the Fonhapo, or even classic texts that
go as far back as Bartolomé de las Casas. With the urge to quench this thirst
of knowledge about the Chiapanecan situation, we send you a writing that our
compañero Sc. I. Marcos realized in
mid-1993 to seek to awaken the consciousness of several compañeros who were
then approaching our struggle.
We hope that
his material wins a place in one of the sections or supplements that make up
your prestigious newspaper. The rights of the author belong to the insurgents,
who will feel honored upon seeing something of their history circulate at the
national level. Maybe in this way other compañeros will feel compelled to write
about their states and localities hoping that other prophecies the same as the
Chiapanecan one shall also go on being fulfilled.
Press and
Propaganda Department, EZLN
Lacandon
Jungle, Mexico, January 1994
First Wind
That from Above
Which tells how the supreme government was moved by the indigenous
poverty of Chiapas and was kind enough to provide the entity with hotels,
prisons, barracks, and a military airport. And tells also how the beast feeds
on the blood of this people and other unhappy and unfortunate happenings.
[…]
Chapter Two
Which tells of the actions of the governor apprentice to the
viceroy, of his heroic combat against the progressive clergy, and of adventures
with the feudal lords of cattle, coffee, and commerce. And which tells also of
other equally fantastic actions.
[…]
Chapter Three
Which tells how the viceroy had a brilliant idea and put it in
practice and which tells also how the empire ordered the death of socialism
and, enthusiastically, put itself to the task of spreading the order, to the
delight of the powerful, distress of the tepid, and indifference of the rest.
It tells also how Zapata has not died, they say. And other disconcerting
events.
[…]
Second Wind
That from Below
Chapter Four
Which tells how dignity and rebellion were made family in the
southeast and of how the ghosts of Jacinto Pérez and raccoons roam the
mountains of Chiapas. It tells also of the patience that runs out and other
happenings of ignored presence but probable consequence.
[…]
Chapter Five
Which tells how indigenous dignity was put in march to make itself
heard and its voice only lasted a little while, and tells also how voices from
before are repeated today, and of how the Indians will walk again but with firm
steps, and together with other dispossessed steps, take what belongs to them
and the music of death that plays now only for those who have nothing, will
play for others. And tells also of other amazing events that happen and, they
say, are to happen.
The Xi’Nich
(ant) indigenous march, realized by peasants from Palenque, Ocosingo, and Salto
de Agua, comes to demonstrate the absurdity of the system. These indigenous
people had to walk 1,106 kilometers to make themselves heard, made it to the
national capital where the central power got them an interview with the
viceroy. They arrived to Mexico City when capitalism was painting a shocking
tragedy over the skies of Jalisco. They arrived to the capital of former New
Spain, today Mexico, in the 500th year after the foreign nightmare
was imposed in the night of this land. They arrived and were heard by all the
honest and noble people that there are, who still do exist, and they were also
heard by the voices that oppress today southeast, north, center, and west of
the homeland. They returned another 1,106 kilometers pockets full of promises.
Once again nothing was left…
In the
municipal seat of Simojovel, the peasants of the CIOAC were attacked by people
paid by ranchers of the town. The peasants from Simojovel have decided to stop
being silent and respond to the threats fulfilled by the ranchers. Peasant
hands surround the municipal seat, nothing and no one enters or leaves without
their consent. The federal army withdrawals, the police retreat, and the feudal
lords of the state cry murder for a return to order and respect. Negotiation
committees come and go. The conflict is apparently resolved, the causes endure,
and with the same appearance, everything returns to calm.
In the
village of Betania, in the outskirts of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the
indigenous are detained and extorted, regularly by judicial agents, for cutting
firewood for their homes. The court fulfills its duty to care for the
environment, say the agents. The indigenous decide to stop being silent and
kidnap three judicial agents. Not satisfied with that, they take the
Panamerican highway and cut communication to the east from San Cristóbal. At
the Ocosingo-Comitán crossroads, the peasants have the judicial agents tied up
and demand to speak with the viceroy before unblocking the highway. Commerce is
waterlogged, tourism is devastated. The noble ranching bourgeoisie tears out
its hair. Negotiation committees come and go. The conflict is apparently
resolved, the causes endure, and with the same appearance everything returns to
calm.
In Marqués
de Comillas, municipality of Ocosingo, the peasants cut wood to survive. The
court detains them and seizes the wood for the benefit of their commander. The
indigenous decide to stop being silent and take the vehicles and take the
agents prisoner, the government sends police and they are taken prisoner in the
same way. The indigenous keep the trucks, the wood, and the prisoners. They let
the latter go. There is no response. They march to Palenque to demand a
solution and the army represses them and kidnaps their leaders. They remain in
possession of the trucks. Negotiation committees come and go. The government
lets the leaders go, the peasants let the trucks go. The conflict is apparently
resolved, the causes endure, and with the same appearance everything returns to
calm.
In the
municipal seat of Ocosingo, from different points of the city’s fortresses, march
one thousand indigenous peasants from the ANCIEZ. Three marches converge in
front of the Municipal Palace. The mayor does not know what it’s all about and
he takes flight, on the floor of his office a calendar is strewn indicating the
date: April 10th, 1992. Outside the indigenous peasants of Ocosingo,
Oxchuc, Huixtlán, Chilón, Yajalón, Sabanilla, Salto de Agua, Palenque,
Altamirano, Margaritas, San Cristóbal, San Andrés, and Cancuc, dance in front
of a gigantic image of Zapata painted by one of them, recite poems, sing, and
say their word. Only they listen. The ranchers, merchants, and judicial agents
are enclosed in their homes and stores, the federal garrison appears deserted.
The peasants shout that Zapata lives that the struggle continues. One of them
reads a letter directed at Carlos Salinas de Gortari where they accuse him of
having done away with the Zapatista achievements in agrarian matters, selling
the country with the Free Trade Agreement and bringing Mexico back to the times
of Porfirismo, they declare bluntly that they do not recognize the Salinista
reforms to Article 27 of the Constitution. At two in the afternoon, the protest
dissolves, in apparent order, the causes endure, and with the same appearance
everything returns to calm.
Abasolo, the
ejido of the municipality of Ocosingo. For years the peasants took lands that
belong to them by legal right and real right. Three leaders from their
community have been taken prisoner and tortured by the government. The
indigenous decide to stop being silent and take the San Cristóbal Ocosingo
highway. Negotiation committees come and go. The leaders are freed. The
conflict is apparently resolved, the causes endure, and with the same
appearance everything returns to calm.
Antonio
dreams of the land which he works belonging to him, dreams that his sweat is
paid with justice and truth, dreams that there is schooling to cure ignorance
and medicine to scare off death, dreams that his house is lit and his table
filled, dreams that his land is free and that it is because of his people
governing and governing themselves, dreams that he is at peace with himself and
with the world. He dreams that he must struggle to have that dream, dreams that
there must be death for there to be life. Antonio dreams and wakes up… Now he
knows what to do and sees his wife squatting stoke the hearth, hears his son
cry, looks at the sun greeting the east, and sharpens his machete while
smiling.
A wind rises
and shifts everything about, he gets up and walks to meet up with others.
Something has told him that his wish is the wish of many and he goes to look
for them.
The viceroy
dreams of his land being shaken by a terrible wind that lifts everything up,
dreams of what he stole being taken from him, dreams that his house is destroyed
and that the kingdom which he governed collapses. He dreams and does not sleep.
The viceroy goes where the feudal lords are and they tell him that they dream
the same. The viceroy does not rest, he goes off with his doctors and among all
they decide that it is Indian witchcraft and among all they decide that only
with blood can one be freed from that spell, and the viceroy orders to kill and
imprison and builds more prisons and barracks and the dream continues to keep
him awake.
In this
country everyone dreams. It is now time to wake up…
THE STORM…
…that which is here
Will be born
of the collision of these two winds, its time has already come, the oven of
history is already stoked. The wind from above rules now, the wind from below
is coming, the storm is coming…so it will be…
THE PROPHECY…
…that which is here
When the
storm dies down, when the rain and fire again leave the earth in peace, the
world will no longer be the world, but something better.
Lacandon
Jungle, August 1992
English translation copyright © 2014 by Henry Gales. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment