Prof. Mark Taylor
f40taylr@ptsmail.ptsem.edu
JUSTICE AND PEACE FOR CHIAPAS
As academics, activists and cultural workers in the United States, we
protest the ongoing military and police actions adopted by the Mexican
government in Chiapas. We call upon all those, who, from within the
United States have recommended or supported these actions, to cease doing
so immediately. Further, we call upon President Zedillo:
1. To suspend immediately all military actions in Chiapas, and any
pressure whatever against the EZLN which would oblige the Zapatistas to
respond with extreme measures.
2. To suspend the unjust arrests, tortures, and destruction of houses
undertaken while searching for grassroots activists and sympathizers with
the EZLN - all actions which have affected many innocent noncombatants.
3. To guarantee the right of all citizens of Mexico to their freedom of
assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom from any intimidation by
governmental or military personnel, or security forces.
4. To permit the free access to all zones of conflict and to all areas of
Chiapas, so that the national and international press, and groups
defending human rights, can report about the situation in a complete and
exact manner.
5. To withdraw military and police forces from the territories that have
recently been occupied, and to permit all those who had fled to the jungle
to return to their homes. This is especially urgent now, given the
starvation, death, and duress now being suffered by the civilian
populations who fled in fear of the army.
6. To reestablish the dialogue with the EZLN, and to seek in good faith a
politically-negotiated solution. We give emphasis to the importance of
the National Commission of Mediation (CONAI), and we urge that the Bishop
of Chiapas, Don Samuel Ruiz Garcia, continue to be employed as mediator of
the dialogue and the peace.
We continue to demand these changes in the policy of the Mexican
government - in the streets, in our universities, in our places of work,
and in all forms of the mass media available to us. We do this in
solidarity with the people of Chiapas and with all those who are seeking
justice, dignity and freedom in Mexico.
Richard A. Falk
Prof. of International Law and Practice
Princeton University
Cornel West
Prof. of Philosophy
Harvard University
Harvey Cox
Professor of Religion
Harvard University
Mark Taylor
Prof. of Theology and Culture
Princeton Theological Seminary
Elisabeth A Gerle
Lund University, Sweden
David Batstone
University of San Francisco
Harry Cleaver
Prof. of Economics
University of Texas
Luis Fierro
University of Texas
Teresa Gutierrez
International Action Center, NYC
Dwight N. Hopkins
Prof. of Religion
University of Santa Clara
Trudy Rudnick, President
Local 3882, AFT
Lois Lorentzen
University of San Francisco
Douglas A. Hicks
Harvard University
Hillel Cohen
Albert Einstein AECOM 1199
Mike Gimbel, President
Water Resources Chapter
Local 375, AFSCME
Larry Holmes
Job is a Right Campaign, NYC
Steve Kirschaum, VP
Local 8782, USWA
Rosa Maria de la Torre, Delegate
Legal Services Assoc.
Sara Catalinotto
Chapter Leader, UFT
Dave Welsh, Exec. VP
Local 214, NALC
San Francisco