withdrawal from occupation since the Second World The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is the first left-wing guerrilla army to emerge since the collapse of Berlin Wall. It is something new in the struggle of the masses throughout the Latin American continent and beyond. ALAN THORNETT recently attended a two thousand-strong conference held last week in solidarity with their struggle. Europe's first 'Meeting for Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism' in Berlin was a direct response to an appeal by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) for such events world wide in preparation for their Intercontinental Meeting for Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism to be held in Chiapas from July 27 to August 3. War has been used by some liberal commentators to portray the West in a benevolent light, gradually helping tottering democracies to their feet. Decades of support for some of the most murderous and brutal torture regimes the planet has ever known contradicts this claim. But increasingly it has been primarily through economic means that the West has sought to shape the economies and politics of the world to suit its own interests. The last decades' neo-liberal offensive spear-headed by the International Monetary Fund and THE INSPIRATION of the event was overwhelmingly the armed uprising by the EZLN THE INSPIRATION of the event was overwhelmingly the armed uprising by the EZLN in January 1991, its impact on politics both in Mexico and worldwide, and more recently the Fourth Declaration of the Laconda Jungle in which Marcos called for the formation of a new political force-the rialism with huge success. Zapatista National Liberation Front.
The central theme of the event was the globalisation of the economy and the ad. vance and effects of neo-liberalism - by which was meant the untertered advance of the market since the collapse of Stalinism. World Bank is having a devastating effect on the peoples of the so-called third world. At the alter of competitiveness whole populations are being condemned to misery, with structural re-adjustment programmes forcing massive attacks on living standards. But the attacks have not been accepted without a fight. The Zapatista National Liberation Army has been able to sustain a fight against the Mexican state backed up by US impeThe opening and closing plenaries were each attended by about 1300 people, with many more attending 40 workshops and working groups held in over 20 venues across Berlin. There was also a delegation trom the " N The opening plenary was addressed by