On November 12th, Subcommander Moises of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) released more details about autonomous restructuring in their territories. He announced the formation of the Local Autonomous Governments (GAL) that will allow to both address different social needs and “increase the defense and security of the peoples” and of Mother Earth, in particular “in case of aggressions, attacks, epidemics, invasion of predator companies of nature, partial or total military occupations, natural catastrophes and nuclear wars.”
The GAL will be the basis of autonomy “in each town, rancheria, community, open space, neighborhood, ejido, colony, or whatever each population calls itself” with a Zapatista presence and will control “their autonomous organizational resources (such as schools and clinics) and the relationship with neighboring non-Zapatista brother peoples.” Several GALs will be organized into Zapatista Autonomous Government Collectives (CGAZ). “Here the plans and needs of Health, Education, Agroecology, Justice, Commerce, and whatever is needed are proposed, discussed and approved or rejected. At the CGAZ level there are the coordinators of each area,” he explained. The Assemblies of Collectives of Zapatista Autonomous Governments (ACGAZ) continue, which are what were previously known as zones. But they do not have authority, but depend on the CGAZ, which in turn depend on the GAL. They will be based in the caracoles, but will move between regions.
The proposal explained by Subcommander Moises is that “we have prepared ourselves so that our people survive, even isolated from each other.” “We understand that you have problems assimilating this. And that, for a while, you will struggle to understand it. It took us ten years to think about it, and of those ten years, three to prepare it for its practice,” he added.
For more information in Spanish:
El EZLN se reorganiza para “aumentar la defensa de los poblados” frente a las “guerras empresariales y militares” (El País, 13 de noviembre de 2023)
EZLN crea gobiernos autónomos locales; busca aumentar la defensa y seguridad de sus comunidades (Proceso, 13 de noviembre de 2023)
EZLN delega autonomía a sus comunidades para defender su territorio (Aristegui Noticias, 13 de noviembre de 2023)
Presenta EZLN Nueva Estructura de la Autonomía Zapatista (La Jornada, 12 de noviembre de 2023)
Novena Parte: La Nueva Estructura de la Autonomía Zapatista. (EZLN, 12 de noviembre de 2023)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 