Published on December 16, 2022
To the peoples in resistance and rebellion of the South-Southeast of Mexico
To national and international organizations of struggle from below and to the left
To the world’s human rights organizations
To free, and alternative media or whatever they are called
We have met and talked about the meetings, activities and dialogues shared during the « CARAVANA POR EL SUR GLOBAL » held from August 31 to October 7 throughout the different geographies of SLUMIL K´AJXEMK´OP, or “Unnsubmissive Land”, as the Other Europe was renamed. We want to thank the organizations, collectives and individuals who made this tour possible, and who received those chosen to share, listen and walk with you in your territories, struggles, resistance and collective spaces — thank you . As a follow up and reflection on what we shared, and in order to continue weaving networks of rebellion, resistance and autonomy, and building towards the caravan and international meeting EL SUR RESISTE, we offer the following comments:
The stories of our territories, which have been written and told by the victors, are not so different. We have been caught up in the dispute between rulers who strive to control as many territories as possible in order to loot and exploit their natural and cultural assets — part of a deep colonization process in some cases accompanied by vast ethnocide, some known and others unknown. Nonetheless, here we are, resisting, remembering and fighting against oblivion to recover our stories, our roots, our territories, our cultures and our lives.
Capitalist industrialization and technological advances in the first world were built and maintained on the blood and genocide of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples who were enslaved, massacred, dispossessed, violently raped and forced to leave their territories, so that governments and conquerors could trade everything they could put a price on — a practice businessmen continue to this day. This was accompanied by profound geopolitical structuring leading to wars between countries and to the imposition of borders that divide us peoples.
The war – not only the war between countries but the war against peoples, against Indigenous peoples, unions, students, women, people of sexual diversity, etc. — and the war between the organized crime cartels that affects the entire society – became the perfect pretext to internalize fascism in some sectors of society where being different means being an enemy. We see the endless conflict of the so-called Middle East against the Palestinian, Kurdish, Armenians and many others who have been massacred and forgotten. The spectacle of the war between Russia and Ukraine overshadows hundreds of other conflicts that do not matter to the international community, because they do not directly affect them. Inside the countries, deep conflicts over the distribution of social and natural goods– monopolized by the economic and political elites– are invisibilized, while the bulk of the proletarian and peasant populations, students and migrants are denied the right to a decent life. The historical demands of thousands of peoples have become the single voice of a precarious humanity that continues reconsidering and demanding access to energy, water, land, food, education, health, work, housing, justice, democracy and peace. The Climate Crisis, caused by the very same patriarchal and colonial capitalist system, is having serious social, economic and territorial impacts. : Massive floods in Pakistan; severe droughts around the world that have caused the loss of millions of tons of crops this year; increasingly aggressive hurricanes; devastating fires as in Australia, and a series of climatic and ecosystem anomalies put fulfillment these demands at risk and threaten life as we know it.
The energy transition is already underway for the benefit of big capital and its rulers who have held 27 meetings in order to divvy up the energy pie. Faced with the current energy crisis in Europe caused by the war in Ukraine and with the promise of reducing costs, they have reactivated massive projects for coal mines and combustion plants, and even plan to build new nuclear power plants as a green solution. The transition includes the installation of wind and solar projects at sea and on land and other high-voltage electrical lines, gas pipelines and pipelines between countries and continents, along with a series of high-speed train and deep-sea projects, for tourism and freight transport. All of this is in the hands of the International Corporate Capital. They generate corridors serving energy, industrial, commercial and military interests, between those who reorganize themselves as the Global North and their transoceanic interconnection. The implementation and imposition of this type of corridor is in the countries of the Global South, Africa and America being the priority.
We need to give a name and a face to the intellectual and material authors of this planetary devastation. We need to list, map and analyze countries, companies, agreements, pacts, and alliances. We know it as the Global North made up mainly of the G7 with its main finquero (plantation owner) being the United States, and its main Asian ally, Japan. In Europe, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy are at the helm of the main military frontier, and also there is the servile neighbor Canada, the allies of the Middle East, the European Union, NATO, the WTO, etc. There is another block with China at the forefront of neocolonialism, Russia and others: many names, many meetings, and the same objective: money and power.
Just as there is much South in the North, there is much North in the South, and all of us who fight against the Global North, are standing in the South that Resists. Just as they meet to agree on death and destruction, it is necessary and essential to meet to build resistance, struggle, alternatives and autonomy; it’s time to listen to all our voices, share and think about actions of resistance and rebellion. While the powerful vie for the power of the world, those below suffer the consequences of their political, economic and military wars. But also, where those from above destroy, those from below rebuild.
For all the reasons listed above, we confirm that we continue to prepare CARAVANA AND INTERNATIONAL MEETING “ EL SUR RESIST 2023. ” The caravan will leave the Chiapas coast on April 25, will tour the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from South to North to continue on the Yucatan peninsula and end with a meeting between all the organizations that attended the different events of the tour the day May 5 at CIDECI / Jacinto Canek snail in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. On May 6 and 7 there will be the international meeting “El Sur Resiste 2023.”
We invite all organizations from below and to the left with a presence in Chiapas, in the Isthmus, Tabasco and Yucatan Peninsula region to contact the email elsurresiste@riseup.net to be able to join the events scheduled during the course of the tour.
We invite all national and international organizations to prepare for their participation in the international meeting on May 6 and 7, 2023.
We invite you to join the following commissions:
COMMUNICATION: We invite the free, alternative, independent or whatever you call yourselves media, from Mexico and the various continents, to be part of the team and build communication strategies.
OBSERVATION: We invite national and international human rights organizations and centers to be part of the observation and accompaniment team.
INVESTIGATION: We invite the academic community below and to the left, researchers, teachers and students, to join a team of expertise, mapping and participatory research.
These commissions will be coordinated by members of the convening organizations: for more information or to join one of the commissions, write to the email: elsurresiste@riseup.net placing in the subject the name of the commission you want to participate in.
Moreover, we call on all organizations, communities, movements, collectivxs and people in solidarity to join the global fundraising campaign, holding forums, talks, shares, festivals, dances, collections, raffles, cooperachas, passing the hat, printing and selling t-shirts, posters, stickers and everything possible to support the collective financing of these activities next year.
Bank Account Name: Digna Ochoa AC Human Rights Center
Branch Name: 7006
Account number: 859963
Interbank Code: 002135700608599636
Bank address: Suc. 324. Hidalgo Avenue · 137. Colonia Centro. Tonala, Chiapas.
Postal Code: 30500
Swift code: BNMXMXMXXX
Banco Nacional de México SA BANAMEX
For any information contact the email: elsurresiste@riseup.net
From various corners of the Mexican South-Southeast:
Coordination and organization commission EL SUR RESISTE
National Indigenous Congress – Indigenous Government Council
¡OUR STRUGGLE IS FOR LIFE!
¡LONG LIVE THE FLOURISHING OF THE PEOPLES!
¡THE SOUTH RESISTS!