Subcomandante Insurgente Moises (@SIPAZ archives)
On November 11, Subcomandante Insurgente Moises, spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), issued a statement, released the previous day in Tseltal, in response to academics, journalists and people who have criticized the proposal which is being consulted along with the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), to decide whether to form a national council of government and field an indigenous woman as a presidential candidate in 2018.
He labeled the critics as “racists” and stressed that “first you should learn to read, then read it [the proposal] well, then learn to understand what you read.” He emphasized that, “it is not yet known what the result will be”, because “the very decision of whether to or not [to field a candidate] hasn’t been made”, but “how many mockeries you have made and how much contempt you have shown to the original peoples and especially to indigenous women.”
He clarified that the result of the consultation “will not be the decision of one person, but of a collective.” He commented “You make fun of the National Indigenous Congress for doing this, for asking first before deciding, because you do what your shepherd tells you, even if it is pure stupidity.”
He said ironically “So it’s all the fault of the SupGaleano who manipulates us and leads us astray? It is laughable how they now say ‘Galeano/Marcos’. You were so in love with SupMarcos that you even came to take photos with him and ask him to sign his autograph, although I saw it because I was there on the sidelines. Also on the sidelines was the deceased teacher Galeano, and you did not even ask his name. And then later you hated SupMarcos so much because he did not obey you, but he obeyed us. He’s already dead now anyway.”
Previously, at the end of October, the EZLN presented the schedule of follow-up activities for the Fifth National Indigenous Congress and the Encounter “The Zapatistas and ConSciences for Humanity,” which will be held in Chiapas on from December 25, 2016, to January 4, 2017.
For more information in Spanish:
No es decisión de una persona (Subcomandante Moíses, 11 de noviembre de 2016)
Enérgico, EZLN responde a críticas racistas a consulta para candidata presidencial indígena (11 de Noviembre, 2016)
”Existe “mucho racismo en la sociedad”: subcomandante Moisés (Expreso de Chiapas, 13 de noviembre de 2016)
Calendario de continuación del 5º Congreso del CNI y del Encuentro “L@s Zapatistas y las ConCiencias por la Humanidad”. (EZLN, 27 de octubre de 2016)
En diciembre definirá el EZLN a su candidata presidencial (Revista Proceso, 4 de noviembre de 2016)
En diciembre EZLN y CNI definirán si van o no a elecciones presidenciales (Radio Fórmula, 27 de octubre de 2016)
For more information from SIPAZ :
Chiapas /Nacional: Polémica después de la propuesta planteada por el EZLN y el CNI en octubre (24 de octubre de 2016)
Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)
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