The Zapatista Movement - Essay Example

Dustin Zapatista-Marcos 27 August 2009 Book This book is actually an anthology, a compilation of sorts. It isa collection of the literary, philosophical and political writings of an intellectual revolutionary – Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. There is no doubt, based on his writings, that Marcos is not your usual uncouth and unschooled rebel in the jungle. He has mastered the art of communicating his movements ideals through a series of pithy writings and political manifestos. The Zapatista movement, more precisely known as Zapatista Army of National Liberation, derived its name from Emiliano Zapata, the revered leader in the south during the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Similar to that revolution, the Zapatista movement of today (which started in 1994 until the present time) is a hodgepodge or mishmash of several ideologies, a heterogeneous mixture of socialism, libertarianism, anarchism and communism. Its overarching policy goal is to use the power of the word to achieve its aims which are social equity like equal distribution of wealth and protection for the downtrodden poor such as farmer peasants and the working class. In the words of Subcomandante Marcos himself, their revolutionary movement has generally abstained from the use of firepower and instead opted for democratic space by the use of the power of the media, hence the title of this wonderful book. Their advocacy is to be heard, especially in behalf of the very poor indigenous people of Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. Their original purpose is to bring attention to the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Interestingly, Subcomandante Marcos is not of Mayan ancestry but this has not prevented him from siding with the poor of Chiapas. The Zapatista Movement is called a “post-modern” revolution that uses words for weapons, including the power of the Internet. Although little is known about the personal background of Subcomandante Marcos, it is generally believed that he is an intellectual of some sort based on his ideological beliefs. He himself had come under severe criticism lately for becoming elitist, contrary to what he had fought against, by becoming a celebrity figure who gladly signs autographs and poses readily for a photo op. The eloquence of Marcos allowed him to bring disparate groups together to fight a common cause – capitalism and neo-liberalism. In particular, the Zapatismo is thought to be a protest against the dangers of unbridled exploitative capitalism that is now advocated through free trade agreements and continuing globalization. Marcos views it not as free trade but rather as “unfair trade” where the weak are not protected with social safety nets against ill effects of globalization such as job losses and union busting like those done in export zones. This revolutionary movement is basically a grassroots rebellion that fights for dignity and democracy among Mexicos indigenous tribes against the power of the federal government. This book is composed of three major parts: the first contains the political thinking of the Zapatistas, the second Marcos individual philosophical thoughts and the last portion has the myths that surround the curious celebrity status of a revolutionary, that of Marcos. If not for him, the Zapatista Movement would have died a natural death, lost among many similar causes that plague countries with large portions of the population made up of several tribes and ruled by the few members of the powerful elite. It is a testament to his singular power of speech that he can draw diverse groups to an amorphous cause such as indigenous rights and autonomy and force a Mexican government to a stalemate by agreeing to convention in 1996. The book has an introduction by Portuguese 1998 Literature Nobel Laureate José Saramago, himself the son of landless peasants. His favorite theme is subversion but he is a humanist, a Community party member and a self-declared atheist. Juana Ponce de Leon is herself a writer, literary critic and editor of the Spanish version of the Seven Stories Press. A Symbolic Coming Out The Zapatista Movement choose an auspicious moment to come out of the woodwork (from the jungles actually) to announce their revolution – New Years Day of 1994. This is also the date when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect. The movement sees the NAFTA as a continuation of their slavery, to a life of grinding poverty. Its leaders cited a long history of struggle for democratic rights (500 years) tracing its origins in the Spanish colonization of Mexico to the War for Independence, the fight to expel the French from Mexican soil, the insurgency to fight a local despot in the person of Porfirio Diaz and now to fight against the new American imperialism in the form of economic trade agreements (Marcos, de Leon & Saramago 13). In their view, nothing much has changed in terms of some opportunities for the indigenous peoples to break free from the shackles of poverty. Factors that helped to make the movement succeed in Chiapas were discussed in some forums so it can be replicated in other places where injustices prevail but primary of these is the Zapatistas had abandoned their original Marxist-Leninist political leanings indicated by their profession of peaceful means such as the use of the media to bring attention to their plight. This is the main reason why the Zapatista Movement is largely ignored by the “official left” and given a few years by them before becoming a blatant failure like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Of particular note is a combination of factors that made Chiapas a fertile ground for the movement. This was radicalization of the peasantry starting in the 1970s due to extreme poverty. The state of Chiapas is controlled by a few families only and the rest of the people wallow in poverty with no rights whatsoever. Rebellion was the only recourse left and this was coupled with the arrival of a new brand of religious activism – Liberation Theology. It espouses the idea that although there is official separation of the Church and State, the Church cannot divorce itself from the social problems it had identified in its midst (Pottenger 2). The poor peasants of Chiapas were also empowered through the organizing work of the Mexico City students who fled after the 1968 riots into the rural hinterlands. Suddenly, a large portion of Mexican society that was previously voiceless and without representation had acquired new political power through grassroots organizations that demanded justice. Finally, the Mexican federal government committed a mistake by organizing an indigenous peoples congress supposedly to improve on their handicrafts skills but the convention unwittingly brought together people with more or less the same grievances against a central government. In particular, the NAFTA is seen not as bringing new economic opportunities but instead as a threat to their existing precarious agricultural existence with the probable influx of cheap imports and the elimination of farm subsidies as required by the agreement. On a personal level, the standards of living in Chiapas is very low and exacerbated by a general lack of infrastructures, low quality of education and poor utilities services (Keating, Loughlin & Centre 206). This is not entirely a unique situation where indigenous peoples have been marginalized like the natives of Canada and the US (American Indians or Red Americans). What is surprising is the poverty of Chiapas which by some economic indicators is double or triple the national averages like households without sewage system (25% national vs. 43% in Chiapas), households without electricity (6.7% vs 21.4%) and households without running water (14.4% vs. 33.2% in Chiapas). These dire conditions are in stark contrast to the wealth of Chiapas as shown by its hydroelectric production (48% of total Mexican generation) 8% of total energy production, 47% of its total natural gas and 21% of oil (Eber & Kovic 36). Although it all boils down to an equitable distribution of wealth, the Zapatistas have been careful to couch its language in terms of Mexicos unique revolutionary history by refusing to take a political program other than simple demands for dignity, liberty and justice. This was what Marcos wrote in his letter to Mumia Abu-Jamal (Marcos, de Leon & Saramago 192). Works Cited Eber, Christine E. & Kovic, Christine M. Women of Chiapas: Making History in Times of Struggle and Hope. Illustrated edition. Ed. Christine E. Eber and Christine M. Kovic. Florence, KY: Routledge, 2003. Keating, Michael, Loughlin, John & Centre, Robert Schuman. The Political Economy of Regionalism (Vol. 1). Ed. Michael Keating and John Loughlin. Florence, KY: Routledge, 1997. Marcos, Subcomandante Insurgente, de Leon, Juana Ponce & Saramago, José. Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings. Illustrated edition. Ed. Juana Ponce de Leon. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2002. Pottenger, John R. The Political Theory of Liberation Theology: Towards a Reconvergence of Social Values and Social Science. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989. Read More