Opening Words from the First Plenary Session of the Other Campaign
By Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Zapatista Army of National Liberation,
Chiapas, Mexico
September 17, 2005
The words of Insurgent Subcommander Marcos from Friday, September 16, 2005
Compañeros and compañeras, according to our new tradition I will now report on the outcome of the campaign to gather support that we were running until September 11 of this year, two months after we opened it with a call to participate: 55 political organizations of the left have joined, up from 30 a month and a half ago; 103 indigenous organizations and Mexican Indian peoples, up from 32 a month and a half ago; 162 social organizations and movements, up from 47 a month ago; 453 non-governmental or collective groups and organizations, up from 210 a month ago; and 1624 people who came as individuals or representing their family, neighborhood, or community, up from 690 a month and a half ago.
Compañeros and compañeras, this is what's in style right now for public speaking; for example, "which is my good side?" As Catherine Denueve would say, la gauche, the left, and so one turns oneself so, and begins to speak as if he were really thinking about what he was saying; he bursts out with precise words and big spaces between them, and not because he is mentally deficient, but because he is taking up more of his time on television. "I'm taking a pause," This technique is often seized on because, in early-morning press conferences, no one is watching, so there are no commercials to be inserted between pauses. And then there's also the method of being able to confront controversy: "Mr. Subcomandante Marcos, what do you have to say to Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the PRD?" "Whatever my little (middle) finger says." There are other public speaking methods that are also in style: "My hairband fell down and my brassier is...?" There is the genealogical model: "My dad taught me that those who love Mexico sell it whole, all at once, not in little pieces." Another is the self-critical model: "Because I’m mediocre, that's why I want to be president."
