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Title: Death of a Zapatista Author: Levi Gahman Date: June 1, 2014 Language: en Topics: Zapatistas, neoliberalism, repression, indigenous Source: Retrieved on 2nd September 2021 from https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/death-of-a-zapatista/ Notes: Levi is a PhD Candidate studying geography, feminism, and decolonial praxis at The Centre for Social, Spatial, and Economic Justice in the unceded Syilx Territory of the Okanagan Valley (British Columbia, Canada). He has contributed to RAMA – Red de Apoyo para Migrantes Agrícolas (http://ramaokanagan.org][ramaokanagan.org]]/) and is currently living in the Highlands of Chiapas while working for the open access journal – ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies ([[http://www.acme-journal.org/Home.html).
On Friday May 2, 2014 an Indigenous Zapatista teacher, Jose Luis Solís
López – known by his name ‘in the struggle’ as ‘Compañero Galeano’ – was
ambushed and murdered. He was beaten with rocks and clubs, hacked with a
machete, shot in the leg and chest, and as he lay on the ground gasping
for air – he was executed by a final bullet to the head. The reason he
was subjected to this callous violence varies depending upon what
account is heard or read. But in truth, he was assassinated because he
was Indigenous, because he was a teacher, because he was humble, and
more specifically – because he was a Zapatista. And in a contemporary
global system of neoliberal production and colonial governance, people
like Galeano are deemed to be threats – threats that need to be killed
in cold blood and suffer brutal deaths.
The assault on Galeano was also an attempt to antagonize the EZLN
(Zapatista Army of National Liberation) into reacting with violence
themselves as retribution for the death of one of their promotores de
educación (‘promoters of education’ – what teachers are called in the
Zapatista system of horizontal education). The provocation was directly
aimed at the EZLN in hopes of prompting them into engaging in armed
conflict, which would thereby give the Mexican state reason to retaliate
and attack Zapatista communities. However, despite the pain and rage
that the Zapatistas are feeling, they continue to release statements
calling for peace. And amidst the tears, sorrow, indignation, and
sadness they now have due to one of their cherished teachers being slain
at the hands of a few greedy cowards, they have stated they are not
seeking revenge, nor blood, nor vengeance, but rather, they seek
justice.
In detail, Galeano was viciously murdered by nearly 20 members of
differing paramilitary organizations in La Realidad (‘The Reality’), a
Zapatista Caracol located in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, Mexico.
Once dead, the attackers (who are not part of the Mexican military, nor
government, but rather, who are paid under-the-table and given kickbacks
for their attempts at fracturing Zapatista communities) drug his body
nearly 100 yards, dropped it on the ground, and left it to lay openly
exposed. It was at this point that several Zapatista women, widely
recognized for their fearlessness, courage, and dignity, went out under
the face of further threat to carry Galeano’s body back to shelter.
In addition to the murder of Galeano, the paramilitaries injured 15
other unarmed Indigenous Zapatistas, and set about destroying a local
school, health clinic, and water system. The attack has been identified
by peace observers from the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights
Center as a premeditated act of unprovoked aggression on the part of
those men who carried out the assassination. Given the history of
paramilitary activity in the region, as well as the account of a young
Zapatista woman who was later verbally taunted, mocked, and bullied by
the shooter, the slaying of Galeano can be seen as part of a larger
strategy of low-intensity warfare that the federal, state, and local
levels of the Mexican government (called the ‘Bad Government’ by the
Zapatistas) are waging against the EZLN and its bases of support.
The underlying motivations of Galeano’s death, the state sanctioned
counterinsurgency, and the militarized surveillance of Indigenous
Zapatista communities are complex and multifaceted. In this way, it is
important to understand that his assassination was not the result of a
single, isolated incident. Rather, Galeano’s murder is part of an
ongoing story of over 500 years of imperial conquest, the racist
denigration of Indigenous people, the repression of rural peasants, and
exploitative processes of accumulation by dispossession. Such
socio-political dynamics not only continue to operate within Mexico, but
they also remain part of an alienating status quo that continues to
operate around the entire globe.
The primary reason that Galeano and the other Zapatistas were targeted
is because they are living a life of decolonial, anti-capitalist,
collective resistance. A life that focuses on mutual aid, equitable
gender relations, autonomous education, horizontal decision-making, and
in addition, a life of shared laughter, dancing, and caring for one
another. And during a time in which unimpeded capitalistic production,
the rampant extraction of natural resources, the attainment of
individual status, and unequal systems of patriarchal governance
continue to be enabled and rewarded, living a life that rejects those
things is something that hierarchical power sees fit to punish.
Additionally, the Zapatistas were subjected to this violent attack
because they are exercising sovereignty as Indigenous people in the face
of an omniscient neoliberal industrial complex, or more accurately, a
sterile system of banal domination driven by individualistic notions of
competition, private ownership, and ambition. The Zapatistas thereby
continue to be encroached upon by military and state authorities because
they collectively choose to rebuke and disregard the abusive structure
of negligence that neoliberalism proves to be. And at this given moment,
the success of the Zapatistas in contesting and opposing the ideals of
neoliberalism has caused reactionary violence on the part of the
colonial government.
The responses to the victories of the Zapatistas by those who wield
power and privilege have been attempts at dividing Indigenous
communities and pitting them against each other. This is done through
the distribution of co-optative government ‘assistance’ to anyone who
will disrupt the Zapatistas and their struggle. In their steadfast
conviction against ever becoming dependent upon official authorities,
the Zapatistas wholly refuse to accept any of the hollow amenities the
state offers, referring to such superficial ‘aid’ packages as migajas
(‘crumbs‘). In addition, the Mexican government also relentlessly
endeavours to discipline, humiliate, disappear, and make suffer those
Indigenous rebels who have had of the audacity to reject its neoliberal
edicts and shallow offerings. Consequently, military encampments and
state repression are intensified in the areas where Indigenous
communities are based, primarily due to the democratic spaces and
international solidarity that the Zapatistas have built.
And while those who profit most off of the spoils of neoliberalism
continue to loathe the Zapatistas for their resilience, what proves to
be a greater threat to the political and economic powers at be – is the
autonomy of the Zapatistas. Autonomy is dangerous because it shows
agents of capitalism and administers of colonial domination that they
are no longer necessary. Consequently, the liberation that the
Zapatistas have fought for and won, along with their ability to create
socially just spaces and sustain democracy within their own communities,
continues to be subjected to heavy-handed, reactionary aggression by the
neoliberal government. This is because neoliberalism, just as ongoing
colonialism, fear being exposed – more precisely, they fear being
exposed as incompetent, unjust, violent, and ultimately, useless. And
this reality, is exactly what the Zapatistas have shown us all.
As Subcomandante Marcos said shortly after the Zapatista Uprising of
1994:
In our dream, children are children, and their work is to be children… I
do not dream of the agrarian redistribution, of big mobilisations, of
the fall of the government and elections, and the victory of a left-wing
party, or whatever… I dream of the children, and I see them being
children.
…it is Indigenous teachers like Galeano who make such dreams come true.
In turn, the impacts of his murder and the attack on the Zapatista
community of La Realidad are not only being felt in the mountains of
southeast Mexico, but they are also resonating across borders. This is
because the killing of Galeano brings to the fore the underlying
currents of colonial hostility, masculine dominance, and neoliberal
victimization that serve as the foundation of so many peoples’ everyday
lives throughout the world.
The reverberations of Galeano’s death are also evident given the fact
that during the last part of May, a time that sees the United States
celebrate Memorial Day and Canada commemorate Victoria Day, thousands of
Zapatistas, as well as their international sympathizers and supporters,
traveled by caravan to a remote part of the Lacandon Jungle to
memorialize a murdered community member. The gathering was a way of
showing respect for Galeano – for his dignified work, his modest spirit,
and the ultimate sacrifice he had to pay. It was also an offering of
condolences to Zapatista communities and families, and it was a way to
honour their beloved fallen teacher. In addition, the homage to Galeano
also saw the enigmatic and clandestine persona of Subcomandante Marcos
come to an end. In the middle of a dark misty night, in the heart of a
shadowy moonlit jungle fog, Subcomandante Marcos delivered his final
communiqué and noted that from this point on, he would cease to exist.
Much will be written, reported on, and said about the ‘passing’ of
Subcomandante Marcos, but where the focus should remain, as intimated by
the subcommander himself during his farewell address, is upon Galeano
and going forward. Thus, the Zapatistas go forward. They go forward with
their focus on dreams, children, democracy, liberty, justice, and
‘creating a world where many worlds fit’ …and they do so remembering one
of their own. Remembering a humble Indigenous teacher named Galeano, who
despite having to die for being so, will never be forgotten. And even
though neoliberalism and colonial governance will continue to inflict
anguish, trauma, and suffering upon the Zapatistas, as well as countless
other Indigenous communities throughout the world, in the words of
Zapatistas themselves: ‘La Lucha Sigue…’