Yo Voy Con La Sexta: U.S. Adherents To The Zapatista National Liberation Army's Sixth Declaration Of The Selva Lancandona

The Zapatista National Liberation Army rose up in arms January 1st, 1994 toprotest the North American Free Trade Agreement, which protected capitalists’ interestsand destroyed the livelihood and lands of the indigenous of Mexico. After failedattempts at creating Peace Accords with the Mexican government and numerous humanrights violations perpetrated on indigenous communities by military and paramilitaryforces, the Zapatistas began the construction of autonomous communities in rebellion.In June of 2005, the EZLN published the Sixth Declaration of the SelvaLancandona, an invitation to all of those who considered themselves “from below and tothe left” to join in the global struggle against capitalism and for humanity. This paperattempts to answer: “How do urban grassroots organizations in the United Statesview their adherency to the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lancadona?” Grassrootsgroups in the U.S. mobilized to manifest the heart and word of the document by workingin solidarity with the Zapatistas and other adherents to began the process of defining andcreating collective, non-heirarchical, anti-capitalist autonomous spaces. These groups arestruggling against the dominant political, social and economic practice of the UnitedStates and work to raise conciousness and support for popular people’s struggle whileaddressing the difficulties of building autonomy in an urban venue. This paper examinesthe relationship with these adherents to the Sixth Declaration and how they are definingand practicing solidarity and autonomy in their own communities.