▲ The EZLN mission performs a symbolic act after their arrival at port of Vigo, where the Tour for Life begins, which will take its members to 30 countries of Europe. Photo: Afp

By: Armando G. Tejeda

Madrid

At 6:10 in the afternoon –European time–, Squadron 421, made up of the Zapatista delegation that sailed the seas to travel from Mexico to this continent, set foot on terra firma in Vigo, one of the principal ports of Galicia, where they were received with festive traditional music, especially bagpipes, flutes and tambourines, which was mixed with applause and shouts of joy, in which was heard: “Zapata vive, la lucha sigue!” (Zapata lives, the struggle continues!)

In reality, the EZLN mission the Galician coasts last Sunday, around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, but was unable to disembark due to several organizational and also bureaucratic questions, among them, carrying out a series of tests to corroborate that among its members no one is sick with Covid-19, and after the Spanish Civil Guard, responsible for monitoring the maritime borders, verified that all the documents were in order.

Upon landing at Playa de Carril (Carril Beach) they were received by dozens of Spanish State supporters of the Zapatista cause, especially Zapatista organizations from around the world, although the largest delegations were from Galicia, Basque Country and Madrid, who traveled to the Port of Vigo to give them encouragement and strength on this tour that began almost two months ago.

There were also many people who traveled from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Greece and Iran to receive them in Galicia, where they will stay for a week to terminate touching land after a long trip and to prepare the events and agendas for the coming months.

The objective of the tour is to visit up to 30 European countries, in which those who made the journey in a sailboat participate, among them four women (Lupita, Carolina, Ximena and Yuli), two men (Bernal and Dario) and a non-binary person (Marijose), who they call an “otroa.” Over the next weeks other Zapatista representatives will travel by plane from Mexico to join the mission.

After disembarking and stepping on dry land, they were taken – always surrounded by dozens of supporters who applauded and cheered them on all the while– to a kind of stage on which there were three hand-painted wooden canoes that crossed the Atlantic, on which they held their first public event. With constant and energetic shouts of “EZLN!” and “Zapata vive,” the took the word for the first time in a symbolic act to re-baptize the autonomous community to which they came as “Insubordinate Land.”

The first thing was that, one by one, they welcomed the delegation coming from the Mexican southeast. Representatives of the Zapatista networks from Germany, Greece, Galicia, Basque Country, Madrid and other collectives, like those who defend and fight for the eradication of the disappeared in Mexico, militants of the LGTB organizations or groupings of “trans-feminist” struggle, and the defenders of ecology and the environment gave the welcome.

Afterwards, the ceremony was held on the stage, on which there was a large sign that said: “Xira por la vida” (Tour for life, in Galician) and an EZLN flag. On stage, with the three canoes and permanently bagpipe music and applause, the ship’s captain spoke; `he’s a German citizen who celebrated safe arrival of the Zapatista delegation and urged European society to “wake up” and “listen to the voice” of the delegation.

“In the name of all the Zapatista women, children and non-binary persons, he declared that this land from now on would be called Insubordinate Land, land without resignation. And that’s how it will be recognized by locals and strangers while there is someone here who doesn’t surrender, sell out or give in,” said one of the members of the Zapatista delegation. Then they spoke one by one, to give thanks in their respective languages,” said Marijose, from Squadron 421, who celebrated being able to share their rebel experiences to tell the capitalist world that: “another world is possible” and “never more a world without us.”

Administrator’s Note: Apologies for the delay in posting: we took a short vacation. A link to the EZLN comunicado in Spanish is below the photo.

En español: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2021/06/23/el-desembarco/

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/06/23/politica/007n1pol

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee