TIJUANA -- Today is the second day of The Other Campaign's visit to Tijuana. Yesterday Subcommandante Marcos, now dubbed Delegado Zero, met with Adherents to the Sixth Declaration. The meeting was well attended, around 200 people in a city of 1.2 million.
Even more heartening was the energy and interest of the attendees. Northern Mexico apparently has a reputation for being very conservative: Mexico's version of the Red State/Blue State fiction. So far though all of the stops La Otra has made have been fairly well attended and the response enthusiastic. Yesterday Adherents clapped and cheered in an unusual show of support for each other as they finished telling Marcos what they had come to say.
There were two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The afternoon session was more focused on the struggles and stories of the workers in the maquiladoras, a central issue in the border cities. The stories were various and alternately inspiring, heart-wrenching and sometimes horrific. After all those who wished had spoken, Marcos responded. His response was particular to what he had just heard, and was given in a conversational tone with no bombast, no bravado or inflated rhetoric, no slogans, no cliches. Plain language that actually communicates something meaningful in direct response to genuine concerns. How...revolutionary.
He linked the struggles just outlined to those of others in more remote parts of the country and traced their origins and common enemy back to neoliberalism. He also, unusually, told them about the upcoming phases of La Otra and what they would be doing in the near future. After this initial phase the Adherents will organize themselves in their regions and a Delegado from the EZLN will come to live with them to assist in this effort. The efforts will mostly consist in pinpointing the struggles of greatest import to the people in each region, as defined by those people, and coming up with a plan of action. There will also be extensive meetings and information gathering to contribute to a new Mexican constitution.
Today Marcos is meeting with "The Other Campaign from the Other Side", Adherents from the US. Although it is unclear how they will fit in to the second phase of La Otra since a masked commander of a rebel army most likely wouldn't make it over the border. We shall see. The Zapatistas are full of surprises.
Overall it seems to me, with my limited experience of it, that La Otra is quite successful. It has gone a long way toward uniting a terminally factionalised social movement. Some people I've spoked with even credit the events in Oaxaca to Marcos' visit in which he scolded those assembled for their self-destructiveness.
La Otra has also sent out lifelines to people struggling in remote areas. Marcos will frequently point out to people in rural areas all of the journalists in the audience and let the people know that their voices will no longer be ignored. He explains how national and international solidarity will occur when others see their plight, and he asks them for their support in return. The time of isolation and hopelessness is coming to an end.
It is quite a thing to see a national movement being built mile by mile, town by town, person by person. Inspiring doesn't really begin to describe it. It is beyond hopefulness, there is actually a sensation of inevitablity. An illusion of course, nothing is written. There is work to be done. And yet...
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If you'd like to get some background on La Otra, how it works, what its goals are, why its important, definitely check out RJ Maccani's excellent three-part series in Left Turn. For daily updates also check out RJ's blog, zapagringo.blogspot.com or visit Narconews.com.
When I get back, I'd really like to discuss this with fellow NYMAAn's and see what we can do about fostering Zapatismo in New York.