#title A Declaration... For Life
#author Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional
#LISTtitle Declaration... For Life
#date January 1, 2021
#source Retrieved 10/19/2026 from https://www.patreon.com/bloodfruit/posts/new-zine-for-148153724
#lang en
#pubdate 2026-10-21T02:25:28.196Z
#topics mexico, indigenous sovereignty, Zapatistas
#notes Translated by Ediciones Bloodfruit/Malvivientes from https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2021/01/01/primera-parte-una-declaracion-por-la-vida/
First of January, 2021.
TO THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD:
TO THE PEOPLE WHO STRUGGLE IN THE FIVE CONTINENTS:
BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND COMRADES:
In these past months we have established contact among ourselves through various means. We are women, lesbians, gay, transgender, transvestites, intersex, queer and more, men, groups, collectives, associations, organizations, social movements, first peoples, neighbor associations, communities and a long et cetera that identifies us.
We are differentiated and separated by lands, skies, mountains, valleys, steppes, jungles, deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, lagoons, race, cultures, languages, histories, age, geographies, sexual and non-sexual identities, roots, borders, forms of organization, social classes, purchasing power, social prestige, fame, popularity, followers, likes, coinage, degree of education, ways of being, chores, virtues, defects, pros, cons, howevers, rivalries, enmities, conceptions, arguments, counter-arguments, debates, disputes, denunciations, accusations, disdains, phobias, philias, praises, repudiations, jeers, applause, divinities, demons, dogmas, heresies, joys, dislikes, modes, and a long et cetera that makes us different and, not infrequently, opposites.
We are united only in a few things:
In that we make the Earth’s sorrows our own: the violence against women; the persecution and contempt for those different in their affective, emotional, sexual identity; the annihilation of childhood; the genocide against the First Peoples; racism; militarism; exploitation; spoliation; nature’s destruction.
The understanding that it is a system which is responsible for these sorrows. The executioner is an exploiting, patriarchal, pyramidal, racist, thieving and criminal system: Capitalism.
The knowledge that it is not possible to reform, educate, allay, soften, domesticate, or humanize this system.
The commitment to fight, everywhere and at all times —each in their own field— against this system until it is completely destroyed. Humanity’s survival depends on Capitalism’s destruction. We do not surrender, we do not sell out and we do not waver.
The certainty that the struggle for Humanity is global. Just as the ongoing destruction recognizes no borders, nationalities, flags, tongues, cultures, races; so, too, is the struggle for Humanity everywhere, at all times.
The conviction that many worlds live and fight in The World. And that all pretense of homogeneity and hegemony threatens the human being’s essence: Liberty. Humanity’s equality lies in respecting the different. Its resemblance lies in its diversity.
The understanding that it is not the vanity of imposing our gaze, our steps, company, paths and fates what allows us to advance, but rather listening and the sight of the other who, distinct and different, has the same calling to liberty and justice.
Due to these convergences, and without abandoning our convictions nor leaving behind who and what we are, we have agreed:
First ‒ To realize gatherings, dialogues, exchanging of ideas, experiences, analysis and evaluations amongst the committed we find —from among different conceptions and in different lands— in the struggle for life. Afterwards, each will continue on their own path, or not. Seeing and listening to the other may or may not help us on our way. But to learn of the different is also part of our struggle and our commitment, of our humanity.
Second ‒ That these gatherings and activities take place in the five continents. That, with regards to the European continent, these take place in the months of July, August, September and October of the year 2021 with the active participation of a Mexican delegation made up of CNI-CIG, the People’s Front in Defense of the Water and Land of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala, and EZLN. And in later dates to be determined, to support, according to our ability, so that they may be realized in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.
Third ‒ To invite those who share the same concerns and similar struggles, every honest peoples and all those belows who rebel and resist in the many corners of the world, so that they join, contribute, support and participate in these gatherings and activities; and so that they may sign off on and make their own this declaration FOR LIFE.
From one of the bridges of dignity that joins the five continents.
We.
Planet Earth.
1st of January of 2021.
People’s Front in Defense of the Water and Land of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala
Indigenous National Congress/Indigenous Council of Government
From the Southeastern Mexican mountains.
For the women, men, others, boys and girls and the elderly of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation:
Comandante Don Pablo Contreras and Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
Mexico.
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If you wish to sign this Declaration, send your signature to firmasporlavida@ezln.org.mx. Please give the full name of your group, collective, organization or whatever, in your language, and its location. The signatures will be added as they come.