Organize Yourselves

A little advice from the southeast mountains of Mexico...

We understand that there are those who think that it is possible to change the system by voting in elections.

We say that’s a difficult spot because it is the same Ruler that organises the elections, who decides who the candidates are, who says how, when, and where to vote, who announces who wins, and who says whether the election was legal or not.

...[P]eople have to learn for themselves that no one will solve their problems for them, but that instead we have to solve them ourselves, as organized collectives.

It is the people who create solutions, not leaders or parties.

...[W]e, the Zapatistas, don’t get tired of saying organize yourselves, let’s organize ourselves, each person where they are, let’s struggle to organize ourselves, let’s work to organize ourselves, let’s begin by thinking about how to start to organize and let’s gather together in order to unite our organizations for a world where the people command and the government obeys.

In summary... whether you vote or not, organize yourself.

And well, we Zapatistas think that we have to have good ideas in order to organize ourselves. Which is to say, we need theory, critical thought.

With critical thought we can analyze the ways of the enemy, of the one who oppresses us, exploits us, represses us, disdains us, and steals from us.

But with critical thought we also examine our own path, our own steps.

[W]e shouldn’t be afraid of having the people rule. It’s the most healthy and just way. Because it is the people themselves who are going to make the changes that are truly necessary. And that is the only way that a new system of government is going to exist.

We...already know how the political parties operate, and it’s a bad history of bad people.

And for us Zapatistas, it is a history is already in the past.