This left or the other one?

Some of you might remember I posted back in June about the red alert in Chiapas issued by the Zapatistas. Some people approached me at Debconf, asking for my opinion on the current state of my country - And I have not posted a peep about it since then. We have received all kinds of messages from the actors involved - Some quite contradictory. All in all, the EZLN declared this alert in order to be prepared in case there was an attack, as there once was under similar conditions, and to get the attention. Some days later, they announced they reached the conclusion to be more active also outside their very limited sphere of direct involvement, that is, the well-being and non-discrimination for the indian people in Mexico, and specifically in Chiapas because of their influence. Ok, we didn’t really know what this was about. Only some time later we started getting news that made many of us quite anxious: The EZLN, through Marcos, was harshly criticizing everybody in the PRD, the only semi-leftist party that has real strength in the country. The more prominent somebody is, the worse the criticism becomes. Why is the EZLN attacking the only important party that might tilt the things, at least a little bit, to their side? Because that’s the curse of the left: It always disgregates between competing little factions. I cannot say I completely support the PRD - Not by a long shot. I, as many people, will vote for it as it is the lesser of all evils. I prefer a semi-centrist semi-leftist demagogic and opportunist president to a repressive tyrannical anacrhonistic PRI dinosaur or with a ultraconservative religious extract of the most useless government we have ever had. Yesterday I read in La Jornada a letter by Marcos, answering to one of many people who have questioned his attacks. As always: He is a brilliant writer, and reading this letter does bring you to his side of the argument. He is a master of propaganda - And by that, I do not mean I don’t agree with him or with EZLN’s views. It just… It saddens me that, whoever plays, politics is still the same. And this will only benefit the PRI/PAN - EZLN knows how to wait, how to be careful. I know they want to keep the sanest distance from any of the parties that make up the Mexican government a nest of corruption and unfaithfulness it now is. I do hope the PRD wins - And I do hope they do not disappoint their supporters as our current government has. Defeating the traditional power is a tremendous struggle, and it will need unity from the forces in the left - We need to send a clear message to the undecided voters, we need to gather as much trust as possible. I know EZLN should not shut up and should dennounce when the PRD has played the evil role… But it should be more careful not to push voters to the right. As a final remark: I love the way Rocha puts it. [update] Much to my surprise, and contrary to the site’s tradition, I must admit that this thread in Cofradia has some interesting comments ;-)

Comments

Alberto 2005-08-12 19:56:32

RE: This left or the other one?

I really think you should have put "native" rather than "indian". The later can confuse some people not aware of what the EZLN is.