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When the government looks at the Zapatistas and says they're rebels it's really not true. What the people really want is to live without injustice. [Saúl shows a canvas, painted with words and stars beside each word.] These are the Zapatista demands: the earth, education, health, food, life, work, liberty, justice, democracy, independence, culture, information, peace. These basic things are very natural. It's what we need to live. They're the same things that the Black Panthers were asking for. These are what the stars are. If the communities had all of these things, then there would be no reason to protest. There would be no reason to rebel. If the people of Central America already had these basic rights there would not be people trying to emigrate, going on the trains and falling off of the trains, risking their lives joining criminal gangs. If the Black Panthers at that time had these basic rights as well they would not have risen up.

This is what art comes from. It comes from the need to create change. This is what creates Zapantera Negra as well.

— Zapantera Negra by David Tomas, Emory Douglas, Marc James Léger