The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) have extended its solidarity with the people of the Chiapas region of southern Mexico following an renewed upsurge in paramilitary violence directed towards the Zapatistas.
The increase in this violence has led to serious human rights violations, massive and intermittent forced displacement, disappearances, dispossession of land, murders and torture. Added to this is remilitarization of the territories and espionage by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) in Chiapas while the rights of the native peoples and of the peoples in general are ignored.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) is now saying "enough is enough!" and has called for an international day of action on June 8th 2023.
Independent social organisations must urgently intervene to stop these attacks immediately. The demands are clear and have been clarified by the National Indigenous Congress: Comrade Gilberto López Sántiz must be given immediate and adequate medical attention. The armed attack against the Moisés Gandhi community must be stopped and their autonomous territory must be respected. The material and intellectual authors of the paramilitary attacks must be punished. The armed groups that wage an active and intensifying war against the Zapatista communities must be dismantled.
The war against the Zapatista communities intensifies. Our solidarity is urgent throughout the world: Enough of the attacks against the Zapatista autonomous communities.
A spokesperson for the Industrial Workers of the World said "Our union and its members have for decades extended our solidarity with the communities and the peoples in Chiapas.
"Fellow workers have worked closely with the indigenous communities who have developed new forms of inspirational horizontal grassroots structures since their uprising in the mid nineties. Their development has been a continuous process of learning and educating, as part of their own revolutionary process. The liberated territories under attack by paramilitary forces of the state must not be left isolated or intimidated. As a revolutionary union, we share the concerns of the indigenous communities in the Chiapas region at what is unfolding at this time.
"We call upon fellow workers across the union to participate in the international day of action on June 8th, which includes solidarity protest actions, demonstrations and pickets, banners drops, and solidarity photographs. If there is an action in your area, join it. If there is none close to you, then create one. We must not remain silent in the face of state terror and oppression.
An injury to one is an injury to all".
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