(en) Mexico, Chiapas, Them and Us - Series of essays by Subcomandante Marcos (ca)

In a new series of essays, Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN lays out the differences 
between those in power and those who choose to organize from below. ---- Part I ? The 
(Lack of) Reason from Above ---- Those from above say: ---- We?re the ones who make the 
rules. We?re more powerful, although there are fewer of us. We don?t care what you 
say-hear-think-do, as long as you are mute, deaf, immobile. ---- We can impose halfway 
intelligent people in the government (although they?re already getting to be difficult to 
find within the political class), but we chose one who can?t even pretend to know what 
he?s talking about.[1] ---- Why? Because we can. ---- We could use the police and military 
apparatus to persecute and jail real criminals, but those criminals are a vital part of 
us. Instead, we choose to persecute you, beat you, detain you, torture you, jail you, kill 
you.

Why? Because we can.

Guilty or innocent? Who cares if you are one or the other? Justice is just another whore 
in our little black book, and believe us, it?s not the most expensive one.

And even if you follow the rules that we impose to the letter, even if you don?t do 
anything, even though you might be innocent, we will squash you.

And if you insist on asking why we do it, we?ll respond: because we can.

That is having Power. A lot is said about money, riches, and those things. But believe us 
when we say that what excites us is that feeling of being able to make decisions about 
anyone?s life, liberty, and assets. No, power is not money, it?s what you can have with 
it. Power is not just exercising it with impunity, it is also and above all, to do it 
irrationally. Because having Power is to do and undo without having any other reason than 
the possession of Power.

And it doesn?t matter who stands out in front, hiding us. Right and left are only 
references so that the chauffeur can park the car. The machinery runs itself. We don?t 
even have to order them to punish the insolence of defying us. Large, medium, and small 
governments all over the political spectrum ? as well as intellectuals, artists, 
journalists, politicians, and religious leaders ? fight over the privilege to please us.

So fuck you, screw you, rot in hell, die, get discouraged, give up.

To the rest of the world you don?t exist, you are no one.

Yes, we?ve sowed hate, cynicism, rancor, desperation, theoretical and practical 
don?t-give-a-fuck, conformity with the ?lesser evil,? fear turned into resignation.

And, nonetheless, we fear that which has transformed itself into organized rebellious 
rage, without a price tag.

Because we control, manage, ration, and feed the chaos that we impose. Our ?law 
enforcement? forces impose our chaos.

But the chaos[2] that comes from below?

Ah, that? we don?t even understand what they say, who they are, how much they cost.

And they?re so rude that they don?t beg, await, request, plead ? instead, they exercise 
their freedom. Have you ever seen such obscenity!

That is the real danger. Those who look to the other side, who leave the mold, or break 
it, or ignore it.

?You know what?s really worked for us? That myth about unity at all cost. To only 
understand oneself with a boss, leader, ruler, or whatever they call themselves. 
Controlling, managing, containing, buying one is much easier than many. Yes, and cheaper. 
That and individual rebelliousness. It?s so wonderfully useless.

Rather, what?s really dangerous in a true chaos is when everyone becomes a collective, 
group, crew, raza, organization, and they learn to say ?no? and ?yes,? and they reach 
agreements amongst themselves. Because the ?no? is directed towards those of us who give 
the orders. And the ?yes,?? jeez? that really is a disaster. Imagine if everyone built 
their own destinies, and they decided who to be and what to do. It would be like pointing 
out that we?re expendable, excessive, that we get in the way, that we?re not necessary, 
that we should be in jail, that we should disappear.

Yes, a nightmare. Yes, of course, for us. Can you imagine how bad that world would be? 
Full of Indians, blacks, browns, yellows, reds, dreadlocks, tattoos, piercings, studs, 
punks, goths, cholos, skaters, that ?A? flag without a nation to buy it, youth, women, 
whores, children, the elderly, zoot suiters, drivers, peasants, workers, tacky people, 
proles, poor people, anonymous people? others. Without a privileged space for us, the 
?beautiful people?[3]? or, so you understand us, the ?good people?? because we can tell by 
the way you talk that you didn?t study at Harvard.

Yes, that day would be night for us? Yes, everything would be ruined. What would we do?

Hmm? we hadn?t thought about that. We think, we plan, and we execute what to do so that it 
doesn?t happen, but? no, that hadn?t occurred to us.

Well, in any case, well? hmm? I don?t know? perhaps we would look for who to blame, and 
then, well, we?d look for, I don?t know, a Plan B. Of course by then it would be useless. 
I think that then we would remember what that damn red Jew said? no, not Marx? Einstein, 
Albert Einstein. I think it was him who said: ?Theory is when you know everything and 
nothing works. Practice is when everything works and no one knows why. In this case we 
have combined theory and practice: nothing works? and no one knows why.?

No, you?re right, we wouldn?t even be able to smile. A sense of humor has always been a 
non-expropriable patrimony. Isn?t that a shame?

Yes, without a doubt, these are times of crisis.

Hey, aren?t you going to take pictures? I mean, so we can fix our hair and put on 
something a little more presentable. Nah, we already tried that in ?Hola?[4]? oh, but what 
are we saying, it?s obvious that you haven?t gotten past [the comic book] ?El Libro Vaquero.?

Oh, we can?t wait to tell our friends that someone so? so? so? different came to interview 
us. They?re going to love it. And, well, it?s going to make us seem so cosmopolitan?

No, of course we?re not afraid of you. Regarding that prophecy? bah, it?s superstition? 
so? so? native? yes, so Region 4 [5]? hahahaha?what a good joke, let?s write that down for 
when we see the kids?

What?? It isn?t a prophecy??

Oh, it?s a promise?

(?) (the tee-tu-ta-ta-tatatata sound, from the smartphone)

?Hello, police? Yes, I?d like to report that someone came to see us. Yes, we think he was 
a journalist or something. He looked so? so? so different, yes. No, no, he didn?t do 
anything to us. No, he didn?t take anything. It?s just that, as we were leaving to go to 
the club to see our friends, we saw that someone painted something on the entrance to the 
garden. No, the guards didn?t see who it was. Of course not! Ghosts don?t exist. Well, 
it?s painted with a lot of colors? No, we didn?t see any paint cans nearby? Well, as we 
were saying, it is painted with a lot of colors, so colorful, very tacky, very different, 
not anything like the galleries where? what? No, we don?t want you to send a squad car. 
Yes, we know. But we?re calling to see if you can investigate what the painting means. We 
don?t know if it?s a code, or one of those strange tongues that the proles speak. Yes, 
it?s just one word, but we don?t know why it makes us shudder. It says:

?MARICHIWEU!??[6]

(to be continued?)

From any corner of any world.

SupMarcos
Planet Earth
January 2013

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

Translated from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker

Translator?s notes:

1 Referring to President Enrique Pe?a Nieto, who is turning out to be at least as 
inarticulate and factually challenged as George W. Bush.

2 Marcos wrote ?chaos? with the letter ?k? in Spanish: ?kaos.? Like anglophone 
anarcho-punks and other rebellious youth, Mexico?s young rebels often replace the ?c?s in 
certain works with ?k?s in the written language.

3 ?The beautiful people? is written in English in the original. Bourgeois Mexicans like to 
sprinkle English words and phrases into their vocabulary.

4 Hola! is a Mexican magazine for women. It featured exclusive photos and interviews 
regarding current president Enrique Pe?a Nieto?s fairytale wedding to soap opera star 
Angelica Rivera.

5 Region 4 is the DVD region code for Mexico, Central America, South America, the 
Caribbean, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and much of Oceania. Mexico also uses 
Region 1, the region code for the US and Canada.

6 A Mapuche phrase that means ?we will win one hundred times over.?

7 ?Pachuco? means ?zoot suiter? in Mexico. Marcos uses a lot of Mexico City slang here and 
is making reference to another Maldita Vecindad song called ?Sol?n,? which is about a poor 
man who reads about Mexican comic book hero Kalim?n and decides to change his name and 
make a living as a carnival psychic. Maldita Vecindad is a classic Mexican ska/punk band 
that has supported many Left causes since the band?s inception in the 1980s. The band is 
still popular and active, but they haven?t put out an album in years ? much to Marcos? 
chagrin, apparently.

Listen to and watch the videos that accompany this text:
http://roarmag.org/2013/01/them-and-us-subcomandante-marcos

---------------------------------------

Part II ? The Machine in Almost Two Pages

The salesman speaks:

It?s amazing, very ?cool?, you understand. It?s called ?neoliberal globalization version 
6.6.6,? but we prefer to call it ?the savage? or ?the beast.? Yes, an aggressive nickname, 
one with initiative, very grrr. Yes, I learned that in a self-help course called ?How to 
sell a nightmare?? but let?s get back to the machine. Its operation is very simple. It is 
self-sufficient (or ?sustainable,? as is sometimes said). It produces, yes, exorbitant 
profits? What? Invest part of those profits to alleviate hunger, unemployment, lack of 
education? But those shortages are exactly what makes this baby run! What do you think of 
that? A machine that produces the fuel it needs to run: misery and unemployment.

Of course, it also produces goods, but not just that. Look: let?s say that something 
completely useless is produced, something that no one needs, something without a market. 
Well, this gem doesn?t just produce useless stuff, it also creates a market where that 
useless stuff is turned into a basic necessity.

The crises? Of course. Just press this button right here? no, not that one, that?s the 
?eject? button? the other one? yes. OK, push that button and ta-da! There you have the 
crisis you need, everything is right there, with your millions of unemployed, your water 
cannons, your financial speculation, your droughts, your famine, your deforestation, your 
wars, your religious apocalypses, your supreme saviors, your jails and cemeteries (for 
those who don?t follow the supreme saviors), your tax havens, your aid projects with theme 
songs and choreography included? of course, a little bit of charity always looks good.

But that?s not all, let me show you this demo. When you put it in 
?destruction/depopulation-reconstruction/restructuring? mode it performs miracles. Look at 
this example: do you see those forests? No, don?t worry about those indigenous people? 
yes, they?re Mapuches, but they could be Yaquis, Mayos, Nahuas, Pur?pechas, Mayans, 
Guaran?s, Aymar?s, Quech?as. OK, press the ?play? button and watch how the forests 
disappear (and the indigenous people, but no one cares about them), now watch how 
everything becomes a wasteland, wait? here come the machinery and voila! There you have 
your golf course that you?ve always dreamed of, with its exclusive parking and the works. 
Ah, it?s wonderful, don?t you think?

It also comes with the latest software. You can click here where it says ?filter? and your 
TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube will only show psalms and 
praise for you and yours. Yes, it eliminates any sort of commentary, writing, image, 
noise, all the bad vibes that every now and then those anonymous, dirty, ugly, bad, rude 
proles try to slip in.

It has a lever on the floor (even though you can put it on autopilot with just one click); 
a heliport; no plane ticket, because sometimes there?s no place to run to, but it does 
include a spot on the next departing space shuttle; it also has a super-hyper-mega 
exclusive mall; a golf course; a minibar; a yacht club; a framed diploma from Harvard; a 
summer house; an iceskating rink? yes, I know, what would we do without the modern Left 
and its quick wit? Ah, and with this gem you can be in ?real time? simultaneously in any 
part of the world, it?s as if you had your own exclusive global ATM.

Hmm? yes, it includes a papal bull to ensure you a V.I.P. spot in heaven. Yes, I know, but 
we?re already working on immortally. Meanwhile, we can install an accessory (at an 
additional cost, of course, but I?m sure this isn?t a problem for someone like you): a 
panic room! Yes, you?ve seen how those vandals think they have the right to demand what?s 
theirs with that ?the land belongs to those who work it.? Oh, but you have nothing to 
worry about. That?s why we have rulers, political parties, new religions, reality shows. 
But of course, that?s an assumption*, because if they fail at some point? Of course, when 
it comes to security, no expense should be spared. Of course, let me write that down: 
?Include Panic Room.?

It also includes a study for TV, one for radio, and an editor?s desk. No, don?t get me 
wrong. They?re not for watching TV or listening to the radio or reading newspapers and 
magazines, that?s for jerks. They?re for producing information and entertainment for the 
people who run the machine. Isn?t that neat?

What? Oh? OK? yes? I?m afraid that problem hasn?t been solved by our specialists. Yes, if 
the raw material, I mean, if the plebeian masses revolt nothing can be done. Yes, the 
?panic room? could be useless in that situation. But we shouldn?t be pessimistic, just 
keep in mind that that day? or night? is very far off. Yes, I also learned all that ?new 
age? optimism from a self-help course. Huh? What? I?m fired?

(to be continued?)

From any corner of any world.

SupMarcos.
Planet Earth.
January 2013.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen to and watch the videos that accompany this text:
http://roarmag.org/2013/01/them-and-us-subcomandante-marcos


Fuck Tha Posse ? El Fin de los D?as [The End of Days] (Dr. Loncho, Oscar A Secas and 
Hazhe) ? 20 Minutos Mixtape Vol. 1

_____________________

Regarding the Mapuche People?s struggle:



*Translator?s Note: Instead of using the Spanish word for ?assumption? (supuesto), Marcos 
(speaking as the salesman) uses supositorio, the Spanish word for ?suppository.? He?s 
making fun of the salesman with a play on words that can be best explained with the 
classic English saying: ?When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.?

--------------------------------------

Part III ? The Overseers

Somewhere in Mexico?

The man hits the table, furious.

- Annihilate them!

- Sir, with all due respect, we?ve been trying to do that for 500 years. Each successive 
empire that has arisen has attempted to do so with all of their era?s military might?

- So why are they still there?

- Err?we?re still trying to figure that out ? the lackey glares reproachfully at the man 
in a military uniform.

The aforementioned man gets up and, standing at attention, extends his right hand 
frontward, with his hand out[1], and shouts enthusiastically:

- Heil!? Sorry, I meant to say that I salute you, sir ? After shooting a threatening look 
that shuts up the snickering from other guests, he continues:

- The problem, sir, is that those heretics don?t confront us where we?re strong, they turn 
around and attack us where we?re weak. If it were all just a matter of lead and fire, 
well, those lands, with their forests, water, minerals, people, would have been conquered 
a long time ago and you would have been able to offer them up as a tribute to the great 
Ruler, sir. Those cowards, instead of confronting us with just their heroic bare chests, 
or with bows, arrows, and spears, and go down in history as heroes (beaten, yes, but 
heroes), they prepare, they organize, they reach agreements, they give us the slip, and 
they hide when they take off their masks. But we wouldn?t be in this situation if you 
would have listened to me when everything began ? and he glares reproachfully at the guest 
whose place card says ?chupa-cabras version 8.8.1.3.?[2]

The aforementioned guest smiles as he says:

- General, with all due respect, we didn?t have an atomic bomb. And even if we could have 
acquired one from our allies (the guest who has the ambassador place card expresses his 
thanks for the mention), we would have been able to wipe out the aboriginals, but we would 
have also destroyed the forests and the water; moreover, the work of mining exploration 
and operations would have been impossible for, say, a couple of centuries.

Another one of the lackeys speaks up:

- We offered them songs and poems praising their sacrifice, ballads, movies, roundtables, 
essays, books, plays, statues, their name in golden letters when they died. We told them 
that if they insisted on resisting and staying alive, we would spread rumors and doubts 
about why they haven?t disappeared, why they haven?t died, and we would say they were of 
our own creation, that we were going to bring forth a smear campaign that would even 
include the support of some intellectuals, artists, and progressive journalists ? The 
aforementioned guests make a gesture of approval, although more than one appears 
displeased by so many ?-ists.?

The man impatiently interrupts:


- And?

- They responded with this gesture ? (the lackey shows them a hand balled into a fist but 
with the middle finger raised).

The guests squirm indignantly and clamor:

- Proles! Degenerates! Louts! Plebeians! Hood rats!

The lackey still has his hand up, facing the man. The man rebukes him:

- I get it! You can put your hand down.

The lackey slowly lowers his hand winks at the rest of the guests. Then he continues:

- The problem, sir, is that these people don?t worship death, but rather life. We?ve tried 
to eliminate their visible leaders, buy them, seduce them.

- And?

- Not only have we not succeeded, we haven?t even realized that the bigger problem is the 
invisible leaders.

- OK, let?s find them.

- We already found them, sir.

- And?

- They?re everyone, sir

- What do you mean, everyone?

- Yes, everyone. That was one of the messages they sent on the day the world ended. We 
managed to keep the media from talking about it, but I think that we can say it here 
without fearing that someone else will find out. They used a code so that we would 
understand: he who is on the stage is the leader.[3]

- What!? 40,000 leaders?

- Err? sir, excuse me, those are the ones we saw, you?d have to add in the many more that 
we didn?t see.

- Then buy them! I imagine we have enough money ? he adds, addressing the guest with the 
place card that says ?non-Automated Teller Machine.?

The so-called ATM begins to stammer:

- Well, sir, we?d have to sell off a State asset, but we don?t really have anything anymore.

The lackey interrupts:

- Sir, we?ve tried.

- And?

- They?re not for sale.

- Then convince them.

- They don?t understand what we say to them. And to tell you the truth, we don?t 
understand what they say, either. They talk about dignity, freedom, justice, democracy?

- Ok, then we?ll act like they don?t exist. That way they?ll die of hunger, curable 
diseases, a good media blackout, no one will even notice until it?s too late. That?s it, 
let?s kill them with oblivion.

The guest who bears a striking resemblance to a chupa-cabras makes a sign of approval. The 
man thanks him for the gesture.

- But sir, there?s a problem.

- Which is?

- Even if we ignore them, they insist on continuing to exist. Without our charity, sorry, 
what I meant is without our help, they built schools, they made the land productive, they 
built clinics and hospitals, they improved their homes and their diets, they lowered crime 
rates, they did away with alcoholism. And not only did they prohibit the production, 
distribution, and consumption of narcotics, they raised their life expectancy and theirs 
is almost equal to that of big cities.

- Oh, so it?s still higher in the cities ? content, the man smiles.

- No, sir, when I said ?almost? I meant that theirs is higher. The life expectancy in the 
cities went down thanks to your predecessor?s strategy, sir.

Everyone turns to look with mockery and reproach at the man with the blue tie.

- You?re saying that those rebels live better than those who sell out to us?

- Absolutely, sir. But you don?t have to worry about that, we?ve initiated an ad hoc media 
campaign to put a lid on it.

- And?

- The problem is that neither they nor our people watch television, or read our media, or 
have Twitter, or Facebook, or even a cell phone signal. They know that they?re better off 
and our people know they?re worse off.

The guest with the place card that says ?modern left? rises to her feet:

- Sir, if you?ll allow me. With the new program called Solid?sorry, I meant to say 
?National Crusade??[4]

The lackey impatiently interrupts:

- Enough, Chayo[4], don?t start with another one of your speeches for the media. All of us 
agree that the main enemy is those damn Indians and not the other unmentionable. We have 
that one good and infiltrated and completely fenced in by people who belong to this man here.

The man with the ?chupa cabras? place card nods with satisfaction and gratefully accepts 
the pats on the back that nearby guests give him.

The lackey continues:

- But you and I and everyone else who is here knows that all of this about social programs 
is a lie, that it doesn?t matter how much money is invested, at the end of the bottleneck 
there?s nothing. Because everyone takes their cut. After the se?or, with all due respect, 
you take a big chunk, everyone else here does, too, and then the governors, the heads of 
the military zones, the local legislatures, the mayors, the commissioners, the leaders, 
those in charge, the cashiers, so little or nothing is left over for those below.

The man intervenes:

- Well we have to do something fast, because if we don?t, the Ruler will look for other 
overseers and you are all well aware, ladies and gentlemen, of what that means: 
unemployment, ridicule, and maybe even jail or exile.

The person marked ?chupa cabras? shudders and makes an affirmative gesture.

- And it is urgent, because if those Indians with the cracked feet? (the man?s daughter 
makes an expression of disgust, the woman sits there, suddenly indisposed, and turns so 
green that, well, forget about the Green Lantern). The woman leaves, saying something 
about a pregnancy.[6]

The man goes on:

- If those fucking Indians unite, we?ll have serious problems because?

- Ahem, ahem, sir ? the lackey interrupts.

- Yes?

- I?m afraid there?s a bigger problem, that is, worse, sir.

- Bigger? Worse? What could be worse than an Indian insurrection?

- Well, if they reached an agreement with the others, sir.

- The Others? Who are they?

- Hmm? let me see? OK, well, peasants, workers, the unemployed, youth, students, teachers, 
employees, women, men, the elderly, professionals, fags and dykes, punks, Rastafarians, 
skaters, rappers, hip-hop artists, rockers, metal heads, chauffeurs, tenant farmers, NGOs, 
street vendors, crews, races, hood rats, plebes?

- Enough! I get it? I think.

The lackeys look at each other with a knowing smile.

- Where are the leaders we bought? Where are the ones we?ve convinced that the solution to 
everything is to be like us?

- They?re believing them less and less, sir. They have less and less control over their 
people.

- Look for someone to buy! Offer them money, trips, television programs, candidacies, 
seats in congress, governments! But above all money, a lot of money!

- We?re doing that, sir, but? ? the lackey looks doubtful.

- And? ? the man prods him on.

- We find more and more?

- Magnificent! More money is needed then?

- Sir, what I mean is that we find more and more who won?t sell out.

- Terror, then?

- Sir, there?s more and more who aren?t afraid of us, or if they are, they have it under 
control.

- Deception?

- Sir, more and more think for themselves.

- We have to finish off all of them, then!

- Sir, if we make everyone disappear, we would disappear, too. Who would sow the land, who 
would run the machines, who would work in the corporate media, who would serve us, who 
would fight in our wars, who would praise us?

- Then we have to convince them that we are as important as they are.

- Sir, not only are more and more people realizing that we?re not necessary, it appears 
that the Ruler is doubting our usefulness, and by ?our? I mean all of us.

The guests sitting at the man?s table shift uncomfortable in their seats.

- Well then?

- Sir, while we look for another solution, because the ?Pact?[7] didn?t work at all, and 
seeing that we have to avoid the embarrassment of once again hiding out in a bathroom[8], 
we?ve acquired something better: a ?panic room!?[9]

The guests stand up and applaud. The all crowd around the machine. The man gets in and 
takes the controls.

The lackey nervously warns him:

-Sir, just be careful you don?t hit the ?eject? button.

-This one?

- Nooooooooooo!

The make-up artists and puppeteers run to provide first aid.

The lackey addresses one of the cameramen who recorded everything:

- You have to erase that part? And tell the Ruler to get a replacement doll ready. This 
one always needs resetting.

The guests straighten their ties and skirts, comb their hair, cough, trying to draw 
attention. The the cameras? clicks and flashes overshadow everything?

(to be continued?)

From any corner of any world.

Sup Marcos.
Planet Earth.
January 2013.

Information from Report #69 of the Autonomous Intelligence Service (SIA in its Spanish 
abbreviation) regarding what was heard and seen in an ultra-arch-extremely-hyper secret 
meeting which took place in Mexico City, in the backyard of the United States, latitude 
19? 24? N, longitude 99? 9? W. Date: a few hours ago. Classification: eyes only. 
Recommendation: do not make this document public because they?ll burn us alive. Note: send 
more pozol because El?as[10] drank it all when someone shouted: ?Eat while there?s lots of 
food!? and he?s skanking to the Nana Pancha cover of the Tijuana No song ?Transgresores de 
la Ley? [Law Breakers]. Yes, the song is cool, but it?s tough to go in the mosh pit 
because El?as is wearing steel-toed boots.

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Listen to and watch the video the accompanies this text:



?Luna Negra? [Black Moon]. Lyrics by Arcadio Hidalgo. Scored and played by Los Cojolites. 
The other son jarocho. ?A zapatearle en el fandango raza![11]



?En esta tierra que me vio nacer? [On this land where I was born] with MC LOKOTER. 
Greetings to the Other Zumpango [town in Mexico State]. Production and photography: Joana 
L?pez. Directed and edited by: Ricardo Santill?n. Production: BLASJOY DESIGNER. Year 2012. 
Note: An MC is something like a DJ with noble feelings and cool words, but with a hip-hop 
rhythm. Rap!



?Transgresores de la ley? by Tijuana No, covered by Nana Pancha on their album ?Flores 
para los muertos? [Flowers for the dead]. Every time Tijuana No played this song, they 
dedicated it to the EZLN, even when the Zaps weren?t fashionable. Greetings and a big hug 
to those who never forgot us. Skaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Everybody jump!

Translator?s Notes:

The ?Ruler? is the United States government, ?the man? (el se?or) is current president 
Enrique Pe?a Nieto, ?chupacabras? is former president Carlos Salinas, and the ?man with 
the blue tie? is former president Felipe Calder?n.

1 The Mexican military salute looks a lot like the Nazi German military salute.

2 The chupacabras is a mythical Mexican vampire beast that sucks the blood out of goats. 
It was allegedly invented by Carlos Salinas to distract people?s attention from the fact 
that he was running the country into the ground.

3 Referring to the December 21, 2012, mobilization in which 40,000 Zapatistas took to the 
streets in silence. The Zapatista communique released that day stated: ?Did you hear? It 
is the sound of their world crumbling. It is the sound of our world resurging.?

4 ?Solidaridad? (Solidarity) was a public works program initiated by Carlos Salinas, who 
is Enrique Pe?a Nieto?s godfather and widely considered to be the latter?s puppet master. 
So it was no surprise when Pe?a Nieto recently announced his new campaign, the National 
Crusade Against Hunger and Poverty, to which the Zapatistas responded with the middle finger.

5 Chayo is a nickname for a woman named Rosario, in this case referring to Rosario Robles, 
the head of Sedesol, Mexico?s Social Development Agency, which is responsible for 
implementing the National Crusade. Here she?s referred to as the ?modern left? because she 
defected from the center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) to join the Institutional 
Revolutionary Party (PRI), which currently rules Mexico.

6 Mexican indigenous people who live in rural areas often have cracked feet because they 
walk barefoot. During the presidential campaign, Enrique Pe?a Nieto?s daughter retweeted a 
tweet from her boyfriend referring to her father?s critics as ?a bunch of idiots? and 
?proles.?

7 When Enrique Pe?a Nieto took office, he announced a ?Pact for Mexico? that would 
supposedly solve the country?s problems. Not many people were particularly impressed.

8 During the presidential campaign, Pe?a Nieto was confronted by student protesters at the 
private Ibero-American University? so he hid in a bathroom. The Ibero protest sparked the 
massive #YoSoy132 student movement.

9 Panic rooms are being constructed in some Mexican courthouses to protect judges.

10 Comandante El?as Contreras is the EZLN?s head of intelligence. Pozol is a corn drink 
popular in Chiapas and Tabasco, the two states with confirmed Zapatista presence.

11 Son Jarocho is a folksy musical genre from Veracruz. Zapatear is how one dances to son 
jarocho; it involves stomping on a wooden platform in hard-soled shoes to make noise. 
Fandango is a Son Jarocho dance party.


Listen to and watch the videos that accompany this text:
http://roarmag.org/2013/01/them-and-us-subcomandante-marcos

----------------------------------

Part IV ? The Pains From Below

January 2013.

How many times have the cops stopped us on the street for the crime of ?having a 
suspicious face? or a mohawk, and then after a beating and extortion they let us go?

?Repression and Criminalizatoin,? Anarchist Black Cross-Mexico. January 2013.

- And [what do you say] to the young people who see you as a hero and an example of a 
person who has been unjustly punished by a repressive system?

- That I?m not a hero. That every one of the young people who hit the streets every day to 
organize and change this unjust society and this economic and political system are heroes. 
They organize, they defend themselves? That they shouldn?t be afraid, that fear is going 
to change sides ?

Alfonso Fern?ndez, detained in prison after N14 in the Spanish State, interviewed by 
Shangay Lily in Kaos en la Red. January 2013.[1]

?An enemy is needed to give the people hope. (?) That said, the feeling of identity is 
based in the hatred of those who aren?t the same. It is necessary to cultivate hate as a 
civil passion. The enemy is the people?s friend. They need someone to hate so that they 
feel justified in their own misery. Always. Hatred is the true primordial passion.?

Umberto Eco, The Prague Cemetery.

Where and when did the violence start?

Let?s see.

In front of a mirror, on any calendar, and in any geography?

Imagine that you are different from everyone else.

Imagine that you are something very other.

Imagine that you have a certain skin or hair color.

Imagine that they look down on you and make fun of you, that they persecute you, that they 
jail you, that they kill you because of it, for being different.

Imagine that since the day you were born, the system has repeatedly told you that you are 
something weird, abnormal, sick, that you should be sorry for who you are and, after 
blaming it on bad luck or divine justice, you should do everything you can to change this 
?factory defect.?


Juan Francisco "Kuy" Kuykendall

And of course, look, we have a product that easily works w-o-n-d-e-r-s with congenital 
defects. This way of thinking relieves rebelliousness and that annoying complaining about 
everything. This cream changes skin color. This hair dye gives you a fashionable shade. 
This course about ?how to win friends and be popular on the internet? gives you everything 
you need to be a modern person. This treatment will give you your youth back. This DVD 
will show you how to act at the table, on the street, at work, in bed, during illegal 
muggings (robbers), during legal muggings (banks, government officials, elections, legally 
established businesses), at social gatherings? what? Oh, they don?t invite you to social 
gatherings? ? OK, it also tells you how to make it so they do invite you. In short, here 
you will know the secret of how to succeed in life. Leave Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber in 
the dust on Twitter with your number of followers! It includes a mask of your choosing. We 
have them all! Even a CSG [Carlos Salinas de Gortari] mask? OK, OK, OK, that was a bad 
example, but we do have one for any need. So they won?t look at you with disgust anymore! 
So they no longer call you a degenerate, Indian, prole, black, region 4, zombie, 
zapatistaphile!

Imagine that, in spite of all your efforts and good deeds, you can?t seem to hide your 
skin or hair color.

Now imagine that a campaign is launched to eliminate all of those who are like you.


Uriel Sandoval

It?s not that there?s an event to kick it off, or a law that establishes it, but you 
realize that the whole system starts to work against you, and against people like you. The 
whole society turns into a machine whose goal is to annihilate you.

First there?s looks of disapproval, disgust, distain. Then there?s the insults, attacks. 
Then there?s detainees, deportees, prisoners. Then there?s cadavers here and there, legal 
and illegal. Finally there?s an actual campaign, the machine at full capacity, to make you 
and all those who are like you disappear. The identity of those who make up society is 
maintained through hatred towards you. Your crime? Being different.

-*-

You still don?t see it?

OK, imagine that you are? (use masculine, feminine, or other pronouns, depending on the case).


Celedonio Prudencio Monroy
An indigenous person in a country dominated by foreigners. A flock of military helicopters 
is headed toward your lands. The press will say that the wind farm occupation impedes the 
reduction of pollution or that the jungle is being destroyed. ?The eviction was necessary 
to reduce global warming,? says the Interior Minister.

A black man in a nation dominated by whites. A WASP judge is going to sentence him. The 
jury found him guilty. Amongst the evidence presented by the prosecutor is an analysis of 
his skin color.

A Jew in Nazi Germany. The Gestapo officer stares at him. The next day the official report 
will say that the human race has been purified.

A Palestinian in present-day Palestine. The Israeli army?s missile is aimed at the school, 
hospital, neighborhood, house. Tomorrow the media will say that they took out military 
targets.

An immigrant on the other side of any border. The border patrol approaches. The next day 
there won?t be anything about it in the news.

A priest, nun, layperson who sided with the poor, in the middle of the Vatican?s opulence. 
The Cardinal?s sermon is against those who meddle in worldly affairs.


Adri?n Javier Gonz?lez Villarreal

A street vendor in an exclusive mall in an exclusive residential zone. A truck full of 
riot police parks. ?We defend free trade,? the government delegate will declare.

A woman by herself, day or night, on public transportation full of men. A small tick in 
the ?gender violence? statistics. The cop will say: ?it?s that sometimes they provoke them.?

A gay by himself, day or night, on public transportation full of machos. A small tick in 
the ?homophobic violence? statistics.

A sex worker on a strange street and someone else?s corner? a squad car pulls up. ?The 
government is cracking down on white slavery,? the press will say.

A punk, a Rastafarian, a rudeboy, a cholo, a metal head, on the street at night? another 
squad card approaches. ?We?re putting a stop to antisocial behavior and vandalism,? says 
the elected official.


Cruz Morales Calder?n

A graffiti artist ?tagging? the World Trade Center? another squad car pulls up. ?We?ll do 
everything necessary in order to have a beautiful and attractive city for tourism,? says 
some official.

A communist at a right-wing fascist party meeting. ?We?re against the totalitarianism that 
has done so much damage around the world,? says the party president.

An anarchist in a communist party meeting. ?We are against the petit bourgeois deviations 
that have done so much damage to the global revolution,? says the party?s chairman.

A segment from the ?31 minutos? news broadcast on the CNN news ticker. Tulio Trivi?o and 
Juan Carlos Bodoque look at each other, disturbed, but they don?t say anything. [2]

An alternative band trying to sell its CD at a concert starring Lady Gaga, Madonna, Justin 
Bieber, whoever comes after them. The cops approach. The fans scream like crazy.


Juvencio Lascurain

An artist performing traditional indigenous dances outside of the great cultural center 
where the (yes-gala-invitation-only-we?re-sorry-ma?am-you?re-getting-in-the-way) Bolshoi 
ballet company is performing. Security proceeds to reestablish calm.

An old man in a meeting chaired by Japanese finance minister Taro Aso (he studied at 
Stanford and just a little while ago asked that the elderly ?hurry up and die already? 
because it?s really expensive to keep them alive). Social spending is cut even further.

An Anonymous criticizing a Microsoft-Apple shareholders meeting about copyrights. ?A 
dangerous hacker behind bars,? the media will say.

A young Mapuche who, in Chile, demands his ancestors? territory as he watches the 
olive-green offensive roll in with tanks and carabi?eros. The bullet that fatally wounds 
him in the back will not be punished.


Mat?as Valent?n Catrileo Quezada

A youngster and/or student or unemployed worker at a military-police-civil
guard-carabi?ero checkpoint. The last thing he heard? ?Shoot!?

An indigenous Nahua in the offices of a transnational mining company. Men in uniforms 
kidnap him. ?We?re investigating,? say respective governments.

A dissident in front of a grey metal fence that?s been erected, while on the other side 
the Mexican political class bites their tongues about yet another imposition. He?s hit 
with a rubber bullet that causes him to lose an eye or break his skull. ?It?s called 
uniting for the good of the country. It?s time to put the bickering behind us,? say the 
talking heads on the news.


Francisco S?ntiz L?pez

A peasant in front of an army of lawyers and police hearing that the land that he works, 
where his parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on were born and grew up, now 
belongs to a real estate company, and that you?re depriving the poor businessmen of 
something that legally belongs to them. Jail.

Someone who opposes the electoral fraud sees how 40 thieves and their boot-lickers are 
exonerated. The mockery: ?We?ve got to turn over a new page and look forward.?

A man or woman approaches to see what all the ruckus is about and is suddenly surrounded 
by law enforcement. While they shove, beat, and kick her or him as they take her to the 
squad car, you manage to see that a well-known television channel?s cameras are pointed 
somewhere else.

An indigenous Zapatista in the bad government?s (PRI-PAN-PRD-PT-MC) jail for years.[3] He 
reads in the newspaper: ?Why did the EZLN reappear now that the PRI has returned to power? 
Very suspicious.?

-*-

Are you still with us?

Now?

Do you feel with certainty that you?re out of place?

Do you feel the fear from being ignored, insulted, beaten, mocked, humiliated, raped, 
imprisoned, murdered just because of who you are

Do you feel the impotence of not being able to do anything to avoid it, to defend 
yourself, to be heard?

Do you curse the moment that you went to that place, the day you were born, the hour you 
began to read this text?

-*-

Several of the aforementioned examples have names, calendars, and geographies:

Juan Francisco Kuykendall Leal. The compa ?Kuy,? adherent to the Other Campaign, 
professor, thespian, director. Skull smashed open on December 1, 2012, by a shot from ?law 
enforcement.? He planned to do a play about Enrique Pe?a Nieto.

Jos? Uriel Sandoval D?az. Young student at the Autonomous University of Mexico City and 
member of the Student Struggle Committee. He lost an eye in the repression on December 1, 
2012, as a result of a ?law enforcement? attack. He was planning to resist the imposition 
of Enrique Pe?a Nieto.

Celedonio Prudencio Monroy. Indigneous Nahua. Kidnapped on October 23, 2012 by ?law 
enforcement.? He was planning to resist the plundering of Nahua lands by mining companies 
and loggers.

Adri?n Javier Gonz?lez Villareal. Young student at the National Autonomous University of 
Nuevo Leon?s Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department in Mexico, murdered in 
January 2013 by ?law enforcement.? He was planning to graduate and become a successful 
professional.

Cruz Morales Calder?n and Juvencio Lascurain. Peasants taken prisoner in Veracruz, 
2010-2011, by ?law enforcement.? They were planning on resisting the plundering of their 
lands by real estate companies.

Mat?as Valent?n Catrileo Quezada. Young indigenous Mapuche, murdered on January 3, 2008, 
in Chile, Latin America, by ?law enforcement.? He was planning on resisting the plundering 
of Mapuche land by the government, estate owners, and transnational companies.

Francisco S?ntiz L?pez, indigenous Zapatista, unjustly imprisoned by ?law enforcement.? He 
was planning on resisting the government counterinsurgency campaign of [former Chiapas 
governor] Juan Sabines Guerrero and [former president] Felipe Calder?n Hinojosa.

-*-

Now? don?t despair, we?re almost done?

Now imagine that you aren?t afraid, or you are but you get it under control.

Imagine that you go and, in front of the mirror, not only do you not hide anything or 
cover up your difference with makeup, and instead you emphasize it.

Imagine that you turn your difference into a shield and weapon, you defend yourself, you 
find others like you, you organize, you resist, you struggle, and without even realizing 
it, you go from ?I?m different? to ?we?re different.?

Imagine that you don?t hide behind ?maturity? and ?good judgement,? behind ?now is not the 
time,? ?the conditions aren?t right,? ?we have to wait,? ?it?s useless,? ?there?s no way 
to fix it.?

Imagine that you don?t sell out, that you don?t give up, that you don?t give in.

Can you imagine it?

OK, well even though neither we nor you know it yet, we?re part of a ?we? that?s bigger 
and has yet to be built.

(to be continued?)

From any corner of any world.

SupMarcos.
Planet Earth.
January 2013.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen and watch the video that accompanies this text:

?Born Free? by M.I.A. (Mathangi ?Maya? Arulpragasam). Video director: Romain Gavras (son 
of Costa Gavras). Photography: Andr? Chemetoff. Produced by: Mourad Belkeddar. Executive 
Producer: Gaetan Rousseau / Paradoxal. This video was censored by YouTube due to its content.

?Burnin? an Lootin? by Bob Marley. Video is the beginning of ?La Haine? (?The Hatred?), 
written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995. Subtitles in Spanish.

Translator?s Notes:

1 N14: the November 14, 2012, general strike called by Spanish unions.

2 31 Minutos is a Chilean mock news program anchored by puppets. Trivi?o and Boduque are 
puppets on the show.

3 PRI = Institutional Revolution Party; PAN = rightwing National Action Party; PRD = 
center-left Democratic Revolution Party; PT = Workers? Party, a front for the PRI; MC = 
Movimiento Ciudadano, a PRD splinter party. Marcos mentions all of the major political 
parties, even the so-called leftist parties, because the Zapatistas oppose all of them. 
The PRD ruled Chiapas for years, and during that time the government and PRD party members 
attacked the Zapatistas (frequently physically) just as the other parties had done.

Listen to and watch the videos that accompany this text:
http://roarmag.org/2013/01/them-and-us-subcomandante-marcos