Subcomandante Marcos says: "Par En Bas"

In a brilliant new interview in radical American newsletter, Counterpunch, 'leader' (although I'm sure he doesn't like the term) of the EZLN, Subcomandante Marcos, has laid out his ideas about the future of the Latin America:

"We think, fundamentally, that the future story of Latin America, not only of Mexico but for all of Latin America, will be constructed from the bottom--that the rest of what's happening, in any case, are steps. Maybe false steps, maybe firm ones, that's yet to be seen. But fundamentally, it will be the people from the bottom that will be able to take charge of it, organizing themselves in another way. The old recipes or the old parameters should serve as a reference, yes, of what was done, but not as something that should be re-adopted to do something new."

Quite apart from being a clear espousal the of the Marxist concept of self-emancipation, it should also serve as a lesson to those on the left for whom the swing to the left in Latin America begins and ends with Chavez, Morales etc.

The fact is, if it wasn't for the popular movement which backs him, Hugo Chavez would probably either be dead or sitting in some dungeon right now, while a fascist general lords it over Venezuela. Similarly, Morales came to power as the personification of a massive workers' and indigenous movement in Bolivia. If these people, like Lula in Brazil, decide for any reason to abandon these movements, then they will be sitting ducks.

More from the Man in the Mask:

"What we're going to do is shake this country up from below, pick it up and turn it on its head".