@ Educa Oaxaca
On August 13th, the Zapatista 421 Squad held a march from Puerta del Sol to Plaza de Colon in Madrid, Spain, to commemorate “500 years of resistance and rebellion.” Under the slogans “They didn’t conquer us! We will not give up! “, activists and sympathizers of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) marched, at the same time that in Mexico the 500 years of the taking of Tenochtitlan are remembered.
421 Squad said on behalf of the Zapatista communities that “the national flags hide more than they show, much more”, and “we think that because our commitment to life is global. It does not recognize borders, languages, colors, races, ideologies, religions, sexes, ages, sizes, flags.” It also stated that “the Mexican State and its governments do not recognize us as nationals of that geography. We are strangers, foreigners, undesirable, inopportune in the same soils that were cultivated by our predecessors” highlighting that “the ridiculous thing about all this is that those who oppress us now, pretend to take the role of our ‘liberators’.”
It stressed that the 421 Squad is just a “forerunner of a larger group.” “And we are 501 only to show the bad governments that we are ahead of them. While they simulate a false celebration of 500 years, we are already in what follows: life”, said one of the members of the Squad.
“After so many years we have learned that, in every dissidence, in every rebellion, in every resistance there is a cry for life. And for us Zapatistas, that’s what it’s all about, life”, Marijose read. “And when one day someone asks you why the Zapatistas came together, we can answer, without shame for you and without shame for us, they came to learn. 500 years later the Zapatista communities came to listen to us”, she concluded.
For more information in Spanish:
Escuadrón zapatista 421 conmemora caída de Tenochtitlán en España (La Jornada, 13 de agosto de 2021)
‘No nos conquistaron, no claudicaremos’: Zapatistas ‘invaden’ las calles de Madrid (El Financiero, 13 de agosto de 2021)
Zapatistas marcharán en Madrid pese a que mayoría de delegados siguen en México (Animal político, 13 de agosto de 2021)
Apenas 500 años después (Enlace Zapatista, 13 de agosto de 2021)
Las comunidades zapatistas escuchan a la Europa insumisa (Video) (Educa Oaxaca, 16 de agosto de 2021)
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