The EZLN also laments that the February 15th agreement makes no mention of an independent indigenous justice system and ignores the recommendations on media and culture put forth in the October negotiating sessions. The Zapatistas, in the voice of Comandante David, underscore that the agreement is only ''a piece of paper'' which commits the Zedillo government to do nothing more than ''impulse'' constitutional change - that is, presumably, to force the PRI's ''automatic majority'' in congress to vote up the reforms..
We all appreciate how steadfastly both the Mexican and U.S. governments have implimented previous treaties with their native peoples.
The Zapatistas stress that those items not included in the present agreement will be negotiated in later stages of the peace process. Other demsnds can only be won by the organization of a broadly-based opposition movement. The question is , of course, whether or not the building of such a movement is served by legitimizing a government with a very shakey grip on power, by signing a ''minimum'' document that does not, at the very minimum, include territorial autonomy and agrarian reform?
Even if the terms of the agreement were the best ever offered, the signing displays an attrocious sense of timing. All over Mexico, independent organizations, infused with the Zapatistas' spirit, are on the move, weaving a noose of social disobedience around the neck of the Zedillo administration. This ''peace'' accord allows the ''mal gobierno'' to slip the knot.
What message does signing such an agreement send to the Zapatistas' natural allies such as the Chontales in neighboring Tabasco who confront the ''supreme government'' over the destruction of their ''autonomous region'' by PEMEX (107 political prisoners) or to the Nahuas of Tepotzlan in Zapata's native state of Morelos who have so doggedly fought off transnational corporate efforts to convert ejido lands into a golf course?
What message of solidarity does legitimizing Zedillo's brand of free market dictatorship send to 10,000 militant Mexico City bus drivers, stripped of their jobs by the privatization of the capital's transportation system?
What does signing a ''minimum'' accord with the man who has kept them behind bars for a year have to do with the freedom of 18 alleged Zaoatistas prisoners, Javier Eloreaga amongst them?
And what does a ''peace'' agreement really mean to the Zapatistas' own communities, patrolled and surveiled and invaded for the past year by 36,000 to 40,000 Mexican army troops - even if, as we are informed, 96% of the EZLN's base voted in favor of this bogus treaty?
The EZLN knows the answers to these pointed questions and is embarrassed enough to refuse to allow photographers into the signing session. Nonetheless, the inking of the pact with the Mexican government is being ballyhooed around the world by Zedillo and his neo-liberal comrades. Even the State Department tendered the Zapatistas an affectionate tip of the hat for finally having seen the light of reason, and Jacobo Zabludowsky was grinning from ear to ear when he announced the signing on Televisa the other eve. Under their ski-masks and paliacates, the Comandantes must be blushing with ''verguenza''.
Perhaps the root of the EZLN's still-reviseable error is in allowing itself to be disarmed by a civil society that demands peace at practically any price. Or perhaps the Zapatistas never actually were an armed organization to begin with - but, rather, a brainy troupe of agitprop players, toying with their guns as instruments of gran guignol political theatre.
What this country (and yours too) needs is a real armed movement. Not because an armed movement can ever hope to defeat the military might of transnational capitalism - but, because without arms in one's hands (and the determination to use them), there is no sense in negotiating with anyone's ''supreme government''.
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JOHN ROSS is the author of ''Rebellion From the Roots - Indian Uprising in Chiapas'' (Common Courage Press, Monroe Maine), winner of a 1995 American Book Award. His modem software has been blown away so there's no sense in complaining to his e-mail about this commentary.FROM:JOHN ROSS
525-518-1213 (102)
Mexico City
johnross@igc.apc.org