Euro-Zapatistas in the concrete jungle
Du Duonio Moun
By Braulio Moro
A jungle in Berlin? If it sounds absurd, go and ride around for a while along the Friederichsstr., or explore the many square kilometres of construction - mostly office buildings for rent or sale — which the German goverment is promoting in what used to be East Berlin, in preparation for the relocation of its central offices from Bonn to Berlin.
A capitalist frenzy can be felt in the air, while the economy is still in recession and as the Kohl government has launched a brutal offensive against social and trade union conquests, a fact which may bring on a hot summer, if the unions decide to continue with their mobilizations against the cuts in social spending.
Berlin is just another face of the hydra that goes by the name of capitalism. It is governed by the laws of profit accumulation, and by the rule of the strongest over the weak. It is a jungle, a market-jungle, within which invisible, but no less real, walls are being erected every day.
In this urban jungle, from May 30 to June 2, more than 1,000 people from 26 European countries met in a European Continental Encuentro (Meeting) For Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism, which had been proposed by the Ejército Zapatista de Libéración Nacional (EZLN) last January. What at first seemed like a utopian project — to bring together people from the whole continent to talk about neo-liberalism and the possible alternatives to it — was made possible by the strong convictions and the will of dozens and dozens of people who worked tirelessly in each country to organize the Encuentro. Two faces of the Encuentro
The Encuentro must be evaluated in the context of the difficult situation in which international solidarity has found itself in recent years; the weakening of the trade unions; the crisis of most political organizations (of both the right and the left); and, of course, the political discourse of the Zapatistas themselves.
To bring together so many people, from different countries, with quite different backgrounds, and for them to have been able, in a few days, to begin to attune their experiences and concerns to a common wavelength - that, in itself, is a considerable achievement. Nobody, absolutely nobody, had previously had the audacity or the moral authority of the Zapatistas to call such a meeting. Since this was the first experience of this type in Europe, the initial results were bound to be unequal and modest. But there are nevertheless very real results, and that is what matters now.
The Encuentro was organized around 12 general themes, including neoliberalism, women and feminism, Easter Europe, internationalism, and migration. These themes were in tur divided into 35 working groups to promote deeper discussions. Results?
A majority of the groups were able to produce written conclusions. Both in the working groups and in the closing assembly, all sorts of things could be heard. These ranged from crazy but sensible and necessary initiatives (like a "Ship for Chiapas") to truly incredible absurdities. For instance, participants refused to support the Lyons counter-summit to the G7 meeting. This had been proposed by almost all the French organizations present
The conclusions reached will eventually help to promote discussions in each country and, above all, will permit the organization of some solidarity activities on a continental scale.
The almost complete absence of trade union and political organizations was one of the least positive aspects of the Encuentro. With the exception of a few members of a few such organizations, the trade unions and the left did not feel the need to join the Berlin initiative. This vacuum corresponds both to the social situation in Europe and to a terrible mistake by some of the organizing committees of the Encuentro, namely their decision not to invite trade unions or parties based on the flimsy argument that doing so could lead to the Encuentro being politically manipulated or "instrumentalized". Fortunately, this perspective was not included in the final declaration, which specifically states that "we are not all present, nor do we feel empowered to talk in the name of all" and which, therefore, calls on all "those who struggle for democracy, for freedom and for justice" to join the gigantic tasks which the struggle against neo-liberalism implies.
As in the Continental Encuentro of the Americas, held last Easter, the Berlin Encuentro created an occasion for the creation of links between people of different countries and to initiate a discussion on the type of coordinating networks that it would be possible to construct in Europe today. Thus, the more than 120 women who worked around the theme Women, Feminism" agreed to create an initial directory with which they will attempt to maintain regular communication.
One of the challenges posed by the Encuentro (and, on an international scale, by the Zapatista initiative) is finding a solution to the problem of how to bring some sort of coherence to an abundance of individual and specific initiatives, which combine both a great willingness to work and a rejection of anything that may seem as "political", as well as initiatives which, in some cases, carry out a sort of "uninformed solidarity".
For example, the writer Paco Igancio Taibo II gave an interesting lecture on "Writers and Social Resistance". More than 100 persons (around a tenth of the Encuentro participants) attended. It came as a considerable surprise that more than 60% of those present did not know who Taibo II was referring to when he mentioned Javier Elorriaga and Sebastián Entzin, two political prisoners in Mexico accused of belonging to the EZLN, who had been freed by the Mexican government in early June due to the pressure of national and international protests.
Of course, many organizations that participated in the Encuentro have a long tradition of work in the area of international solidarity and, furthermore, do not have an uncritical perspective. These include the inter-
Rebellion 1996 The Portuguese Revolutionary
Socialist Party (PSR) will host ar International Socialist Youth Camp in Amarante, from 20-27 July this summer. This is the 13th annual camp prepared in common by the European youth organisations of the Fourth International. Over 1,000 participants are expected. Themes include • Fortress Europe • Ecology • Mass media • Chiapas • Why be a young feminist? • Kurdistan solidarity If you want to participate, hurry up!
A BP 85, 75522 Paris CEDEX 11, France. e-mail <[email protected]> © (+33) 1/43792960, fax: 43792961
July 1996 #279 15
* Germany national committees of the Basque country, the participants of the Madrid Platform for Solidarity with Chiapas, of the solidarity committee of Brescia, Italy, as well as several German committees. This critical spirit is an essential ingredient if something more concrete is to be attained in the medium term. A small candle of hope
The Encuentro has permitted us to look at ourselves in a mirror. And realize how much is still to be done.
The road which may eventually lead us to the Zapatistas' new "international of hope" stops, for now, at the frontiers of Wester Europe. In other words, apart from a few exceptional cases, participation by groups from Eastern Europe was very low. Furthermore, in spite of the repeated call by Guillermo Briseño, of the organizing commission of the Frente Zapatista in Mexico (who also brought a message from the mountains of southeastern Chiapas) underlining the importance of achieving a consensus on at least some practical measures of solidarity, the Encuentro was incapable of making a single concrete decision in this regard.
Nevertheless, this experience, with all its limitations, has planted seeds that may permit the calling of a second European Encuentro. Undoubtedly, the destiny of a second meeting will be largely determined by the situation in Mexico. But if this initiative on the basis of the experiences of the people of Europe — manages to survive and grow, the Zapatistas will be able to rightfully add yet another item to the list of their achievements: building links so that the people of Europe may build their own "Enough!" against capitalism. * Translated by R. Bemabe
S extra OLGE Nach dem 15. Juni Branchenübergreifend in den Streik treten!
Germany's Sozialistische Zeitung and the
French revolutionary weekly Rouge produced a special four-page supplement to mark the massive 15 June demonstration in Bonn, called by Germany's trade unions. It included articles on the struggle for trade union rights, the 30 hour week, and the new radicalism in Europe's labour movement. Over 20,000 copies were distributed 16 International Viewpoint