Historical Background, Purpose and Future of the Zapatistas Resistant Army - Case Study Example

GLOBALIZATION AND RESISTANCE Name Course Date INTRODUCTION Globalization is a process that creates some world togetherness through interaction and integration into one. The rise in technology, the movement by people to invest and the development aided especially by the rise in information all create a sense of globalization (connectivity). The global connection has great influence on our environment, the political management system, the economic development and in our societal well-being around the world. However, resistance is defined as the refusal to accept something new or adopt a change slow movement. Though research shows the globalization started way back before the birth of Christ, the recent wave of globalization has been due to trade and technological development. Trade policies are opening market both domestically and globally. Governments are continually negotiating for co-operation and open trade to improve the relationship and satisfy demand. Therefore, the international trade and financial structure is a key enhancer of the modern globalization as the relating countries trade and invest in other countries. However, technology has enhanced the trading through easy information transfer, easy transfer of assets and easy communication with the trading partners from other countries. In the quest to defend their countries from the belief that free market will deny the control of capital, labor, goods and ideas due the believe that only the multinational corporations benefit from such negotiations but the locals are local enterprises, local culture and the common people doesn’t benefit. According to Saguer (2012), resistance to globalization refers to the gamut of the struggles and actions of social groups and individuals in response to the dislocating consequence of neoliberal reforms and their effect on the sphere of the economy, politics and culture. Globalization emerged due to people being against the signs of the global capitalism which had the characteristics such as: the revolution of information technologies globally. The central system of global financial market exist in all the productive activities, trans-nationalization of production, privatization of the global commons, the salience of transnational corporations, rising social inequalities and ecological degradation. This comes up as a result of globalization in the line of socioeconomic, environmental, cultural and political processes across the world (Saguer, 2012). Neo-liberalism is a system designed to facilitate globalization through making trade between nations easier by allowing free flow of goods around the world, resources and business enterprises with the aim of increasing profit and trade efficiency. This is possible through removal of tariffs, regulations, capital flow restriction removal, law and other regulatory measures. It is a market-based economy whereby the law of demand and supply dictates the balance. A good example of a political movement according to Saguer, (2012) is the Zapatistas resistance army which developed among the poor southern people of Mexico to oppose the North America Free Trade agreement (NAFTA). Historical background of the Zapatistas Resistant Army According to researchers, the EZLN movement started earlier than the public appearance in 1994 having had patient annoyance from the injustices experienced over a long period. Therefore, the backdating goes to 17th November 1983 by non-indigenous members of FLN guerilla from Mexico urban north in collaboration with inhabitants from the remote Lacandona region in the Eastern Chiapas by rebel movement. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation was, therefore, founded in Chiapas in 1983 by members of the initial group National Liberation Force. FLN had was an organized armed guerilla organization, but the Mexican police, and army managed to pull it down before serious posing of threat to the regime. The movement has grown over the years building around the organization structure put in place by the peasant organization or the church (Romero, 2014). The army 1st appearance came in 1st January 1994 when the United States, Canada and Mexico came into free trade agreement covering the North America. This led to the Uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation symbolized by fighters wearing black ski-masks and red bandanas. In the rebellion, they took over five municipalities in Chiapas and threatened to fight their way to the capital to defend the indigenous poor rebel from exploitations from wrong trade policies. The Mexican army won the battle after a few days and the then Mexican President Carlos Salinas called for a cease-fire and opened a dialogue to address their issue through the rebel official spokesman Subcomandante Marcos and Bishop Samuel Ruiz. The fight subsided after just 12 days; the dialogue continued for three years the result was an agreement called San Andres Accords which gave the special rights to the indigenous people. Unfortunately the change of power due to the start of the term of President Ernesto Zedillo who returned the process through the congress to decide if it is passed or not violated the agreement leading to EZLN going back to the jungle. The next few years of President Zedillo’s term was marred by heavy military and right-wing paramilitary presence in Chiapas to curb the growth of the Zapatistas supporters. The military was even accused of involvement in the Massacre of the Acteal a case where 45 church attendants were mercilessly attacked by paramilitaries according to the witnesses (Romero, 2014). EZLN started their organization and structured way earlier than 1983, but no clear records were kept. According to report by Romero (2014), the FLN group went silent from 1974 to 1983 a period in which several University students and the other indigenous groups. They began setting out camps like Huitiupan and safe houses such in San Cristobal de las Casas. In the year 2000, the Mexican president Vicente fox sent the COCOPA laws which were constitutional changes to the Congress. This led to EZLN group going to the Mexico City unarmed to speak to the congressmen in support of the original proposal the initially criticized. This led to a march through seven states to drum up support from the people to support the constitutional changes. Unfortunately, their wish was partially met when the congress approved a version of COCOPA law which avoided the autonomy clause which the congress claimed conflicted with constitutional rights such as private property and secret voting. EZLN and similar minded political groups did agree to that viewing it as a betrayal. Due to the support and appeal by other political groups and ethnic groups, the congress finally approved the COCOPA laws, and they took effect on the 14th August 2001.A constitutional complaint was filed to the Supreme Court of Justice on 6th September 2002 which ruled against the EZLN constitutional changes process taking them back to the drawing board. The Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the amendments be made by congress not law hence he had no power to reverse the changes terming it inversion of congress sovereignty. Purpose and future of the EZLN Zapatistas used a resistant method referred to as local autonomy where they employed a system of resistance by developing numerous autonomous communities that cover a large region of the political territory in Chiapas. This they have achieved through resisting government intervention and depended on themselves on various services like infrastructure building such as clinic, pharmacies and numerous schools. Greenbon (2008) says, “Fiercely dedicated to the self-development, the Zapatistas have created their system of governance in an effort to embody the transformation they advocate. The EZLN commanding body (of which there are also regional sub-bodies) is the indigenous Clandestine Revolutionary Committee General Command (CCRICG), composed of delegates from the communities. However, while the group directs day-to-day operations, all major political decisions are made by community assemblies where intense discussion of each community is central to the process.” In 2003 they re-structured themselves forming a good governance committee called ‘juntas de buen gobierno’ which has regional councils through which administrative duties like justice, taxation, healthcare, education, housing, work, Food, commerce, culture and local movement. The interesting and unique quality of the Zapatista leadership is their willingness and readiness to do something through extreme hardship without the promise of compensation. Unlike the normal leadership where the autonomy is synonymous with power and huge reward, junta advocate for self-sacrifice where the participants willingly undergo through hardship without expectation of gain. This is portraying contradicting figure, but the truth that leaders are our servants as they represent us. This contradicts the normal system where leaders view themselves as more important than whomever they serve. Unfortunately, money is viewed as the corruption influence hence their leaders work full time without any pay, and the leaders have to work to earn. The leadership is never long term but restricted to how good you perform, and immediate recall can be executed on anyone who does not carry out their obligation competently (Flood, 2001). According to Krovel (2005) the Zapatistas have resolved to divert their energy elsewhere especially on the construction of a different political structure in their home town Chiapas rather than return to the negotiation table with the stubborn government that refused to respect the San Andres Accord. The EZLN struggled into complex one that is the view to fall between political and cultural visions that are meant to show the light to the people about oppression, anti-consumerism and exploitation of the innocent the people. Therefore, the political movements represent the voice of the unable in the society, the struggle for the Mexican people. The fight to against colonial involvement, the struggled aimed at making Mexico a free independent sovereign nation, the struggle against capitalism in the imperialist form. The rebels are not aiming at overthrowing the government but negotiating for conservative laws that give the workers advantages and call for equitable development. Romero (2013) says, “Behind the EZLN lays a complex web of political and cultural visions extending far beyond indigenous resistance and speaking universal emancipation.” In simple terms according to most rebelling groups is that the globalization allow rich and powerful interest to manipulate local culture, override local traditions and threaten the way of life. Therefore, EZLN does not criticize the entire globalization system but doesn’t agree with it on the disenfranchised poor and marginalized. According to Greebon (2008), the Zapatistas protest about the national system that doesn’t give them the right to control their economic wealth. EZLN global outlook is further represented by how far it has utilized the internet to reach a dozen of countries with same minded people and through the support network they are able to source for donations through good working relationship with non-profit groups and volunteer organization to support development projects like infrastructure. EZLN spokesman Sub-commander Marcos has received a lot of accolades due to his good communication and participation in the through eloquent writing; symbolic presence at conferences, regular interviews and inspirational calls has won the heart of many who access the media and make people continue to participate in resistance through virtual rebellion through practicing Zapatista-inspired ethic protest (Greebon, 2008). The Zapatistas according to many and depending on the vintage point can be said to have failed or succeeded in equal measure. However, the group has succeeded in resisting the government and receiving the autonomy within their communities. Moreover, their global alerting appeal of others plight and encouraging the uprising of civil societies to represent the common cause through mobilizing similar minded people around the globe to build a deliberate democracy model. According to (Swords, 2007), the people's life standards have improved since the introduction of Justas de buen gobierno. The main target which is a political right for the indigenous group has continued to elude them since the government has always ignored them. EZLN is an inspiration to many and many organizations around the world willingly joined them or used their ideologies. This has led to several other organizations in the Mexico declaring it autonomous with an aim of spreading their struggles to achieve the grass root democracy and resistance. The EZLN need to gauge out a future based more on ideology rather than rebellion and fights that have not perfectly worked in the past. According to Swords (2007), the government is slowly adding troops in the Chiapas region to cool down any uprising that might occur in the future. Therefore, their strategy to refrain from involvement in national politics is well-called for. Unfortunately, the organization is in a dilemma since they are in maintenance rather than growth sand the global significance is continuously increasing hence they must find ways of forming transnational alliance. They need to give their non-violence appeal through their engagements as many people did not realize the transition from violent to non-violent in 1995.The Zapatistas can increase their global appeal through reciprocal approach of the movement and funders. For example they can create use the avenue to teach their supporters their language or use the area as a tourist attraction unit where the struggle is explained and they can learn more about the movement hence build a philanthropic relationship. Zapatistas can use more of the internet as a driver towards establishing global connection and recruiting more people to join the movement. EZLN principles and way of doing things advocate for a more cosmopolitan way of governance which is parallel to the nationalism in that it focuses on the equality of human being as belonging to a single community hence need for equality and solidarity among all the human beings. This, therefore, pointed out that the Zapatistas aspired for global solidarity with local control (Appiah, 2006). The struggle and the journey the Zapatistas have persevered to achieve the little they have achieved is inspiring as the Mexican Government have always betrayed them after the constructive talks they have always had. However their understanding of the governance is interesting as they advocate for focus on people rather than profit and empowerment over development in a lifestyle that is guided by values and conscience. This is contrary to the common notion that the only way to overcome the social indifferences is through increasing the material wealth and technology. Their pride is after the long fight is the dignity they have attained that is more precious to them than any amount of wealth they so deserve. According to them, Human need to be optimistic as optimism is never in vain and recognizable real changes require self motivation and sacrifice and the just the chance to live within your values is transformative (Hayden, 2002). How EZLN constitutes to resistance to Globalization The struggle and campaign done over the years by the EZLN to enable the people it represents have freedom of interaction, expression and regain their dignity is worth appreciating. This is evidence by the number of people who are involved in contribution of the money they use in stabilizing the infrastructure. The uprising begins at the time of announcement of the North America trade agreement between the Canada, United States and Mexico. They are obviously against the agreement which according to them will open ways for the wealthy and more powerful to take control of their resources (Mirosa, 2003). The spokesman sub commander Marcus is a big hit in the internet due to his communication skills and the manner in which he present his ideologies. A good number of people support him both theoretically and financially because they believe in their selfless way of leadership and trust him and other commanders to have value for money. The group does not only represent the local indigenous group but fighting for the underprivileged and the oppressed in the country. This is evidenced by the kind of support EZLN received when the dumped their war tools and walk to the Mexico Capital to address the congress and give their view on the changes in the constitution that needed amendments (swords). Krovel’s headline in his book is suggestive of the way the world viewed the role played by the EZLN in the struggle to freedom and against oppression of the poor. The number of people who visited the war battle zone in Chiapas, the number that showed commitment and support through calling and internet messaging was a sign of the global togetherness (solidarity). Krovel himself a personal visitor at the time says, “The global solidarity movement played a decisive role in halting the Mexican military offensives over the next few years, illustrating the potential power of the activists using the internet to communicate globally.” Therefore the movement represented the whole world, people who had the same problem at the same time and that are why so many people pulled closer to the event. Krovel research is a PhD thesis and it look to answer two major questions: “why did the activists of the global solidarity network identify themselves with the indigenous peoples of the Zapatistas communities in Chiapas?” and “How did the communication between the two groups influence the development of political organization of the Zapatistas and the development of a wider global movement against Neoliberal globalization.?” The Zapatista community had different dimension of understanding with different sub-movement launching a different fight all together. There was one group that focused on struggle against ruling political party to foresee development reforms. The second sub groups are the peasant organization fighting for land reforms and the third movement consists of various organizations and struggle for the free trade (fair trade) structural reforms and the liberalization promoted by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The domination of the sub movement with the anti-authoritarianism led Zapatistas to be known globally and the influence of ant-authoritarian continued to develop and it was then that it turned to inspire global movement against neoliberalism (Krovel, 2005). Kirklins (2001) says, “The Zapatista are motivated by the by the desire to preserve their own traditional forms of organization, as well as local governance of the economy, a desire that became more urgent with the increasing encroachment of the global economy into the far corners of Chiapas and with the passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).” The indigenous right issue is closely related to universal human right issues as represent by human right watch bodies. Therefore the 1994 EZLN uprising exposed the Mexico’s constitution pushing the indigenous rights in the global map. The government management had failed to look at the right of his people preferring to implement system left behind by colonist (Kirklins, 2001). The people of the Zapatista had accumulated hunger for a long time something they managed due to their culture which teaches them to always control their hunger and frustrations. Therefore at the time of uprising in 1994, the Zapatista people were not only hungered by the North America Free Trade Agreement but also the government treatment of the locals (indigenous communities) where they felt neglect and did not feel the national s economic development handed down to the poor. The free trade system gave the wealthy and corporations opportunity to exploit them in their own land. EZLN wanted a governance system that gives the locals power to manage their wealth and give them an opportunity to maintain their culture. The locals expected a democratic type of governance that involved the people through participatory system of governance (Mirosa, 2003). Their ideologies and uprising was similar to other Latin America countries where the people felt the government had adopted policies that oppressed the poor and gave avenue for corporation and the wealthy to exploit them. The town culture that the displaced were exposed to did not match their expectation since the people of this community have deep cultural heritage within their lifestyle and togetherness. Mirosa (2003) quotes Tellez Kunzler comments that, “As long as peasants cling to the marginal plot of land, without resources and with low productivity, they will remain impoverished, a dead weight on society. The solution is for this population to find work in better-paid activities and make for agricultural production to be left to those who have what it takes to make it profitable and dynamic.” This confirms that the poor people living in agricultural land were being displaced to live space for the wealthy and the multinational corporation to take control displacing the land owners to town setup life they were never used to. Moreover these are people who had depended on agriculture all their lives and this made it a challenge and led to the uprising. Fig.1 Layers of culture ` Source: Hidalgo (1993) Hidalgo (1993) as shown in figure 1 above was classified culture into three layers as concrete, Behavioral and Symbolic. The structure shows that it is easier for human being to change the concrete things like cloth and food, but it is difficult adopting a new religion, values or worldview. These explain the resistance of the EZLN to dump their way of life, their culture and spirituality due to the government adoption of Neoliberalism. EZLN have used many tricks in the past to resist the globalization that was brought upon them by government arm trying to introduce neoliberalism. At the start, they organized themselves into groups and passed the ideologies, and their rebellion believes to the people. They, therefore, recruited members who were taken through training and given tools to use during the struggle. They managed to organize for a safe house and training camps to facilitate their preparation and training because during the attack and teach them ways of protecting themselves. Therefore, during the uprising the Zapatistas took control of the Chiapas town controlling the inflow and outflow of people and information. Failure of their initial plan of instigating a revolution throughout Mexico failed and the resolved to the use of uprising on the 1st January to draw the world attention and gunner for support by exposing the rot in the government dealing with his people (Greebon,2008). During their uprising in 1994, when they freed the prisoners in the San Cristobal de Las Casas setting fire on several police buildings and military barracks in the town and cities near Chiapas. The EZLN still maintains the control of some regions where they monitor everyone who comes in and goes out. Currently, they use their media influence to rally for support and financial contributions to help support the cause of their struggle and the infrastructure (Amoore, 2005). Therefore, they receive global support and draw the interest of many who resisted the invasion of technology. Such region is by the rebels who have structure management system controlled by commanders. They give selfless leadership that is never based on financial benefits, but aimed at empowering their people to get a better life and regain the dignity they always fought for. Therefore, the EZLN resisted the globalization through free trade and government oppression through taking control of their land, repossessing the land and having control of the economic aspect in the region. They have successfully controlled the entry and eliminated the government from controlling the development aspect of the region. They also used media to rally support from the country and other countries where they have been getting support from. EZLN resisted the introduction of free trade and other globalization ideologies because they wanted to maintain control of their cultural and political right, right to access education and right to keep control of their land. In the community level, Zapatistas protest disempowerment from social disintegration, cultural interference and lack of local control. However at national level the Zapatistas expect the elites to control and run the politics with the interest of the local at heart. They feel politically dominated advocate for resistance against domination, exploitation and poor political domination hence. According to EZLN, the impersonal forces at global level widen the gap between the rich and the poor and more so between the powerful and the disenfranchised. Policies bring such forces that support neoliberalism, corporate globalization and uncontrolled free trade. The scale of resistance is explosive at the start especially during the ten days after 1st January 1994 when the EZLN announced their presence to the world. During this time, thousands of the indigenous peasants confronted the police and the military taking control of building in Chiapas southern state. However, the violence subsides in 14 days’ time when they are, and they retreat in the jungle as dialogue ensued between the government and the indigenous group represented by Bishop Samuel Ruiz a well-known liberation theologian. However, the agreement reached never implemented as the new President Zedillo failed to send the amendment to the congress causing rebellion among the EZLN, and they pulled out of the negotiation until the amendments are. At the moment, the EZLN have decided to go on a go slow and divert their energy to the development issue and re-organize the community. Sub-commander Marcus even went missing around the year 2000 when he failed to communicate to the media or post in the articles in the international media. Due to the increasing police and military presence, the locals have been forced to pull out and the management Commanders are focused on development agenda such as infrastructure refusing to go back to the negotiation table before the government meet the San Andres Accords. EZLN released Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and they decided to reflect on the past to decide what to change to continue the struggle. This led to the decision of meeting the workers, teachers, students and employees to write a new constitution to gauge out new political culture (Saguier, 2011). EZLN is not completely against the constitution and other government policies hence it can be as a partial reformer. Their main concern was to establish the system of governance that gives its people opportunity to own and cultivate the land that gives women the right to have education and right to own land. The revolutionary law was to give women power to work and receive salary, right to decide the number of children to have, right to participate in community development matters, Women and children should have the right to receive primary attention like health and nutrition, have the right to choose their partners and have the right to be free from violence from both relatives and strangers. They opposed the globalization especially the neoliberal policy such as the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which according to them was to open the Mexican market to cheap mass agricultural products from the United States and at the same time that would have called an end to the agricultural subsidies from the government leading to drop in income and living standards of the Southern Mexican farmers. This makes sense because the local produce will fail to compete favorably with the artificially harvested, mechanically harvested and genetically modified from the United States. Therefore, the revolution required by the EZLN is not complete revolution but just addresses on the culture, land, agriculture and few other key issues like governance (Flood, 2001). CONCLUSION Global resistance has been experienced in many countries especially among the poor people whose rights have been violated and have suffered oppression over long duration. The poor have always viewed the policies implemented by governments as exploitive and oppressive in that they exploit the poor hence widening the gap between the gap between the rich and the poor. The recent and the current most common resistance to globalization is the system practice by the current North Korea president that restricts the relationship with other countries. The uprising by EZLN has a global appeal as it represented the oppressed and gave good reason to send alarm as many of the oppressed in the world lack the carriage to speak publicly. Subcomandante Marcos says, “We do not want to impose our solutions by force, we want to create a democratic space. We do not see armed struggle in the classic sense of the previous guerrilla wars that is like the only way and the only all-powerful truth around which everything is. In the war, the decisive thing is not a military confrontation but the politics at stake in the confrontation. We did not go to war to kill or be. We went in order to be.” Even though EZLN is not fully successful, it is an inspiration to many communities and the oppressed and it gives a learning step on the best way to handle people government conflict of interest and best to negotiate for better leadership and representations of the low income people. The EZLN is a pioneer on how best to use media to promote international solidarity and rally support to help one achieve his/her goals. At least the world knows the problems experienced by the people of the Zapatista and how they want the situation improved to give the opportunity to enjoy their land, beliefs, good governance and culture. Therefore, Zapatistas are role models to the millions of transnational followers who have seen the struggle and more than once get betrayed by the government. There change of approach from violence to dialogue is an inspiration to the violent rebels whom a have fought for years in vain to change approach. Finally, the struggle continues; the reconstruction and empowerment of the people of Zapatista continue, and they still call for global support and prayers as they hope to succeed in their struggles. Work cited Amoore, L. (2005). The global Resistance Reader. Routledge, Abingdon, UK. Appiah, K A. (2006). Cosmopoilitanism. Ethics in the world of stranger. New York:W.W.Norton Flood,A,N,(2001).What is it that is different about the Zapatistas? Chiapas Revealed http://flag.blackened.net revolt/mexico/pdf/revealed1.html.Retrieved 7th October, 2014. Greebon,D A. (2008). Civil society’s challenge to the state: A case study of the Zapatistas and their global significance. The Maxwell school of Syracuse University. Hayden, T. (2002). The Zapatista reader: A literary anthology. New York: Nation Books Hidalgo,N (1993), “ Multicultural teacher introspection” In:T.perry and j.Fraser (eds) Freedom’s plow: Teaching in the multicultural classroom. New York, Routledge Kirklins,A (2001). The colonial legacy and human rights in Mexico: Indigenous right and the Zapatista Movement. Human right & Human welfare. Krovel,R. (2005). Anarchism, the Zapatistas and the global solidarity movement. Global discource Mirosa, O (2003). Dimension for development. Culture, Neoliberalism and conflict in Chiapas, Mexico. University of Sussex. Romero,R (2014). A brief history of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Reflection on a revolution http://roarmag.org/2014/01/brief-history-ezln-uprising/ Retrieved 06/10/2014 Saguier, M, 2011. Resistance to globalization.Academia.edu https://www.academia.edu/2643851/Resistance_to_globalization Retrieved 06/10/2014 Swords, A (2007).Neo-Zapatistas network politics: Transforming Democracy and development. Latin America perspective, 34 (2) 78-93 Read More