Waging Nonviolence’s Marta Molina provides a full report on the Dec. 21 Zapatista action, what she describes as a lesson in organization and discipline.

Big recommend you read the entire post at wagingnonviolence.org. Here’s a snippet:

Compared to the sometimes-chaotic mobilizations that occurred on the streets of Mexico City on December 1, the day that the controversial President Enrique Peña Nieto was inaugurated, the EZLN’s silent marches stand out as examples of organization and dignity. Although it rarely rains in Chiapas during the winter season, December 21 began and ended with an incessant downpour, and the sound of the raindrops became the only noise accompanying the march. Despite the weather, in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas alone at least 20,000 Zapatistas marched that morning — disciplined and orderly — from the town of San Juan Chamula to the plaza at the center of the city.

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Many in mainstream media later reported that the march represented the Zapatista “resurgence.” In reality, the public appearance was designed to remind the world that the movement had never gone away. The children who marched on December 21 had been born in Zapatista communities; they are already living in this other world as the dominant one crumbles. The dignified silence of the Zapatistas resounded as they spoke with their feet and charted a path that showed onlookers the distance that is left to travel. For the rest of the world — struck by their dignified presence and the vigilance of the “Enough!” that they have been proclaiming since 1994 — December 21 was a lesson in dignity, organizing and discipline.

This article appears in Jan 3-9, 2013.

3 replies on “Waging Nonviolence: ‘Lessons in Organization and Dignity From the Zapatistas’”

  1. Thanks for this news item–i guess i am not listening to the right sources, but I didn’t even hear about this march, and I consider myself as someone who tries to keep up with whats going on in Mexico since much of my family comes from there…..just goes to show that violence and mayhem is hardly the only thing Mexico produces, contrary to most news coming out of the country. Could that be because we don’t often enough hear about the movements of the indigenous people there? Thanks Weekly!

  3. And we are supposed to actually care about “Liberation Socialism”…anarchist…Liberation Marxista….Fuck them.

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