Our choice is not between war and peace but between life with dignity or without
Subcomandante MarcosRead
Always, since our birth, we've insisted on another way of doing politics. Now, we had the chance to do it without arms, but without stopping being Zapatistas; that's why we keep the masks on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the Zapatistas' commitment to their identity and methods of activism, advocating for political change without violence.
Subcomandante Marcos highlights the Zapatistas' longstanding resistance to traditional politics, suggesting that their identity and approach to activism are central to their cause. By choosing to maintain their masks, they signify a dedication to their principles and the ongoing struggle for rights and recognition, affirming that their identity as Zapatistas remains paramount even as they explore non-violent paths to achieve their goals.
Themes
ZapatistasPoliticsActivismIdentityNon-Violence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might quote this to inspire a non-violent movement.
More from Subcomandante Marcos
All quotes βThe word of the oldest of the old of our peoples didn't stop. It spoke the truth, saying that our feet couldn't walk alone, that our history of pain and shame was repeated and multiplied in the flesh and blood of the brothers and sisters of other lands and skies.
Subcomandante MarcosRead
The powerful have invoked God at their side in this war, so that we will accept their power and our weakness as something that has been established by divine plan. But there is no god behind this war other than the god of money, nor any right other than the desire for death and destruction... Today there is a βNOβ which shall weaken the powerful and strengthen the weak: the βNOβ to war.
Subcomandante MarcosRead
In our dreams we have seen another world, an honest world, a world decidedly more fair than the one in which we now live. We saw that in this world there was no need for armies; peace, justice and liberty were so common that no one talked about them as far-off concepts, but as things such as bread, birds, air, water, like book and voice.
Subcomandante MarcosRead
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