FEMALE Zapatista activists have issued a defiant rallying call in solidarity with the international women’s struggle, despite being unable to hold a special conference in Mexico.

They published an open letter to “women who fight all over the world” as the Second International Meeting of Women Who Fight in Zapatista lands was called off.

“Zapatista women do not sell, and do not give up,” the letter promised, as they vowed to continue the fight for freedom so that “the story of our grandmothers’ pain will not be suffered by our daughters and granddaughters.

“We have to fight so that history does not repeat itself and we return to the world of only making food and giving birth to children, to see them later on growing up in humiliation, contempt and death.

“We did not take up arms to return to the same thing,” said the letter published on Tuesday.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army was established in 1994 as an indigenous uprising against the Mexican state.

Based in the state of Chiapas, the movement fights against economic policies that it believes negatively affect Mexico’s indigenous population. 

The Zapatistas have waged a 24-year fight against past right-wing Mexican governments, opposing military, paramilitary and corporate incursions into Chiapas.

The first international women’s meeting, held in May-June last year, gathered more than 5,000 women from around the world to share their thoughts on feminism, art and work. 

Their open letter praised the struggle of women across the world, offering their support and solidarity as part of a global movement.

“We will not stop being promoters of education, health and culture to now become employees in hotels and restaurants, serving strangers for a few pesos,” the letter said. “It does not matter if there are many or a few pesos, what matters is that our dignity has no price.”