The Scream and the Choir: Consonance and Dissonance.

A musician's perspective into Enlace Zapatista's Declaration for Life (2021), Slumil K'ajxemk'op and John Holloway's revolutionary formulations.

In his book Change the World Without Taking Power John Holloway speaks of the Scream: 

Our scream, then, is two-dimensional: the scream of rage that arises from present experience carries within itself a hope, a projection of possible otherness. The scream is ecstatic, in the literal sense of standing out ahead of itself towards an open future. We who scream exist ecstatically.

When the Zapatistas announced the delegation to Europe in their Declaration for Life, not only did they continue their scream - the same scream they have being in the process of doing for more than 25 year now - they also encouraged all of Europe to scream along with them. However, they were not asking others to echo their scream but rather to create a world in which many screams exist:

The conviction that there are many worlds that live and fight within the world. And that any presence of homogeneity and hegemony threatens the essence of the human being: freedom. The equality of humanity lies in the respect for difference. In its diversity resides its likeness. 

The understanding that what allows us to move forward is not the intention to impose our gaze, our steps, companies, paths and destinations. What allows us to move forward is the listening to and the observation of the Other that, distinct and different, has the same vocation of freedom and justice.

Regardless how our scream begins, it is never an individualist scream but it is also not a homogenous scream. Our scream is a choir screaming. While Holloway discusses a dissonance of our own experiences that divide us against ourselves, dissonance may also exist between the experiences of those that are screaming. However, that is not a problem but rather what creates beauty within our scream. As any musician knows, it is not the consonance and uniformity of voices that makes a choir’s harmony beautiful. Rather, beauty arises from an artful arrangement of the many consonant and dissonant relationships between the many voices.

So let us scream together as a hopeful choir, embracing both that consonance and dissonance between us in a beautiful harmony for a new world. A world in which many worlds may exist with the vocation of freedom and justice.

---

Zapatistas: Declaration For Life / Una Declaración por La Vida by Max Ferency.

On January 1, 2021 the EZLN, or Zapatistas, transmitted their Declaration for Life that informed the world they are sending a delegation Europe. August 13, 2021 is the quincentenary of the Cortez's invasion of Tenochtitlan and they are commemorating that day in Madrid, Spain.

El 1o. de Enero de 2021 el EZLN, ó las Zapatistas, transmitió su Declaración por La Vida para informar al mundo que están mandando una delegación a Europa. El 13 de Agosto de 2021 es el quinto centenario de la invasión de Tenochtitlán por Cortéz y van a conmemorar este día en Madrid, España.

On arrival, the EZLN they renamed the continent "Slumil K'ajxemk'op" which means "Rebel Land" or, "Land that doesn’t yield, that doesn’t fail." As they travel throughout the land they are uniting with many communities, cooperatives, and activist groups to join in the different and yet common struggle.

Al llegar, el EZLN renombraron al continente como "Slumil K'ajxemk'op", que significa "Tierra Insumisa". Los Zapatistas están viajando por esta tierra y se están reuniendo con muchas comunidades, cooperativas, y con grupos activistas para unirse en las distintas luchas compartidas.

Words Written: Zapatistas (enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2021/01/01/…or-la-vida/)
Words Spoken: M. Heriv & Varun Aiyer.
Music Performed & Produced: Max Ferency.