June 19, 2007

To Our Zapatista Sisters and Brothers:
To All Organizations, Groups, Collectives, Families, and Individuals in “The Other Campaign:”
To All Mexicans and Chicanos in The Other Campaign in the United States:
To All International Adherents to the Sixth Declaration:

What follows is a call to unite our proposed “International Day of Action Against Repression and for the Liberation of Political Prisoners in Mexico” to the proposal put forth by the Sixth Commission that The Other Campaign “prepare actions all over Mexico and that they realize a decentralized national, regional and local action to establish a national body against repression on the 18th of July of 2007”.

We are Movement for Justice in El Barrio. We are an organization of Mexican immigrants that were forced to leave Mexico and come to New York because of the neoliberal system. We fight against the displacement from our homes here in New York and for the liberation of our Mexico. We are adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and part of The Other Campaign. We thank you for allowing us to share our humble and simple word.

On the 20th of May of 2007, we proposed that everyone unite for an “International Day of Action Against Repression and for the Liberation of Political Prisoners in Mexico .”  In our proposal, we explained the reasons for our proposal as the following:

“From where we are, North of the Rio Bravo , we are filled with pain and rage to hear about the repression being exerted by the Mexican government on The Other Campaign. The repression began more than a year ago with the terrible events in San Salvador Atenco. As the strength of The Other Campaign grew, the repression spread to Oaxaca, Yucatan, Chiapas, San Luis Potosi and to all different parts of the country. The repression has included police brutality, torture, arbitrary detentions, the murder of two youth, and the rape of detained women. In the past few months the repression has intensified. Recently, soldiers from the federal army harassed Zapatista Delegates from the Sixth Commission, the Compañero David Vanegas was beaten and illegally jailed in Oaxaca, three members of the People’s Front for the Defense of the Land, from Atenco, were illegally sentenced to 67 years in prison, and these are not the only cases. This repression fills us with anger.  That is why we propose that we unite the strength of the many struggles that make up The Other Campaign to oppose this repression and demand freedom for all political prisoners in Mexico.”

Many organizations, collectives, groups, families and individuals supported and accepted our proposal. We would like to thank all of those people for joining us and for demonstrating their commitment to action against the repression in Mexico.

Last week, our sisters and brothers in The Other Campaign in Mexico came together in the National Forum Against Repression and agreed to accept the proposal of the Sixth Commission for a national, regional and local day of action on Wednesday, the 18th of July of 2007 to establish a national body against repression.

We have consulted with all of those who accepted our original proposal and we have decided to change the date of our day of action and join the day proposed by the Sixth Commission. For that reason, we making the following call:

1. As Mexican immigrants living in the United States we are making a special call to all Mexicans and Chican@s here in the U.S that are members of the Other Campaign that we join with this day of action on Wednesday, July 18th so that together with those struggling in our native country we can liberate our beloved Mexico.
2. Additionally, we are making a call to people all over the world to organize protests and actions as part of an international day of action against repression in Mexico. We are asking that these actions also take place on Wednesday, July 18th of 2007.

Sincerely,

From The Other Campaign in New York

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

From the Other Side, June 2007