First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion (@Radio Zapatista)
On 21 December, the First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion “Where those from above destroy, those from below rebuild” opened in the San Francisco Xochicuautla community, Lerma municipality, Mexico state. At the invitation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) which provided them space, the parents of the disappeared students of Ayotzinapa led the event. Before the stage, 43 chairs were erected with the faces of the disappeared students, to demand their presentation with life. The event was attended by more than 80 organizations that comprise the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), which represents 35 indigenous peoples of Mexico, as well as adherents to the Sixth from 32 Mexican states and 26 countries.
The EZLN members who attended the event, as had been announced in a 19 December communique, participated for their part “with their faces uncovered so that they do not identify us. Or, better, so that they identify us as yet another one of you our comrades of the Sixth.”
During the launch of the festival, participants warned that the government would not silence their voices, “even when they disappear our sons and our identities.” José Luis del Frente, from Indigenous Peoples in Defense of Mother Earth CNI, expressed that they would continue in their mission “to reconstruct our lands, no matter the time it would take. The trees that have been destroyed will flower once again.”
The “sharings” of the festival will be held in the community of San Francisco Xochicuautla, Lerma municipality, and in Amilcingo, Temoac municipality, Morelos, on 22 and 23 December. From 24 to 26 December, the Grand Cultural Festival will be celebrated in Mexico City. On 28 and 29 December the sharings will continue in Monclova, Candelaria municipality, Campeche, and from 31 December to 1 January, the Festival for Anti-Capitalist Rebellion and Resistance will take place in the Oventik caracol, located in the Chiapas highlands. Finally, on 2 and 3 January there will be held a plenary meeting for conclusions, accords, and pronunciations at CIDECI, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
For more information (in Spanish):
Comunicado del EZLN “La víspera del Festival” (EZLN, 19 de diciembre de 2014)
Confirman familiares y normalistas de Ayotzinapa participación en Festival Mundial de Resistencias (La Jornada, 20 de diciembre de 2014)
Padres de normalistas encabezan festival contra el capitalismo (La Jornada, 21 de diciembre de 2014)
Inauguración del Festival de las Resistencias y Rebeldías [Audios] (Radio Zapatista)
Comenzó el Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y las Rebeldías (Koman Inlel, 22 de diciembre de 2014)
El gobierno actúa como fiador de la impunidad, dicen padres de normalistas (La Jornada, 22 de diciembre de 2014)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas/Mexico: EZLN to cede its place to relatives and disappeared students of Ayotzinapa (19 December 2014)
Chiapas: New actions by the EZLN to support Ayotzinapa (26 October 2014)
National/International: Multiple mobilizations and marches for the “Pain” and “Rage” of Ayotzinapa (12 October 2014)
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