In Rebeldía no. 73, released on 14 September, appears the following text, translated here from the original into English. Don Durito de la Lacandona, a beetle residing in the jungles of eastern Chiapas, has long been a recurring character in the stories written and told by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, spokesperson and presumed military chief of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN). If the following communiqué was in fact written by Marcos, it would constitute the first public statement made by him in almost two years; his last public intervention took place during the Festival de la Digna Rabia on 4 January 2009, when he denounced Israel’s barbarous assault on the Gaza Strip.

Versión en castellano

Calendars, according to Don Durito de la Lacandona

For those from above, the calendar is made of the past. To maintain it there, Power fills it with statues, celebrations, museums, homages, parades. All of this with the aim of exorcising this past—that is to say, to maintain it as something that has been and will not be.

For those from below, the calendar is something to come. It is not a pile of papers destroyedby wearinessand despair. It is something for which one must prepare oneself.

The calendar of above celebrates; the calendar of below builds.

The calendar of above holds parties; the calendar of below struggles.

The calendar of above manipulates history; the calendar of below makes history.

The calendar of above buys consciences and words through gifts; the calendar of below remains silent.

The calendar of above holds mediocre gray to be lady and queen; the calendar of below contains all colors.

The calendar of above holds only scorn for those from below: it believes it can do so with impunity.

The calendar of below holds rage for those from above.

Thus it will be until another calendar is written from where it should be written—that is, from below.

August 2010

México

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