Zapatistas

The Sixth Declaration, the Zapatistas, nationalism and the state

A short examination of the Zapatistas and nationalism written in late 2007 as a discussion document by a then-member of a local UK Zapatista solidarity group.

Understanding exactly what is meant by the Sixth Declaration is a difficult task. While the Declaration opens with a reference to it being the ‘simple word’(1) of the EZLN there is a certain, perhaps deliberate, lack of theoretical clarity. This can, completely understandably, cause problems interpreting the document and the Zapatista position.

A critique of the Zapatista "Other Campaign" - Grupo Socialista Libertario

A critique by the Mexican "Libertarian Socialist Group" of recent EZLN "Zapatista" policies centred on the "Other Campaign", including the political campaigning and cult of celebrity of Marcos; and analysis of their political programme as left-capitalist constitutional reformism, i.e., only a defence of Mexican domestic capital and state - "bourgeois protectionism" - against the encroachments of international neo-liberalism.

State terror and dirty war: a year of state recuperation in Mexico

State violence and police terror, this picture from Cuidad de Oaxaca

An in-depth look at the contemporary situation in Mexico in the aftermath of recent state offensives against movements in Chiapas, Oaxaca and San Salvador Atenco.

Following a heady 18 months of diverse and popular struggles up down the country, the Mexican state is using familiar tactics to reassert itself as the country’s main authority.

Javier Zanetti - Zapatista supporter

Javier Zanetti - right back and left winger

Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti was instrumental in building links between his club and the Zapatistas.

With Zanetti leading the drive, Inter Milan funded sports, water and health projects in the Chiapas region of Mexico, where the Zapatistas operate.

Unmasking the Zapatistas - Wildcat

A critical analysis of the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico and "an alternative to the almost universal uncritical laudation which Marcos and co. have received."

It may seem smug to knock the Zapatistas from the sidelines. But this is a perennial red herring. The fact that the Zapatistas and their supporters live in hardship and risk their lives does not in any way demonstrate that their program is what the Mexican proletariat needs. This article should provide an alternative to the almost universal uncritical laudation which Marcos and co. have received.

1994: The Zapatista uprising

A brief history of the rebellion in Chiapas in the jungles of Mexico, where hundreds of thousands of people rose up against the Mexican state and organised themselves into libertarian-inspired federated communes, which are still in existence today.

“¡Ya Basta!” ("Enough is Enough!") declared the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army - named after the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata), as they burst to international attention on New Years day 1994.

1867-2000: A people’s history of Mexico

A working class history of Mexico from the Diaz administration of 1876, through the Revolution of 1910 to the beginning of the 21st century.

The Revolution was the period which saw the Mexican state begin its transformation from an oligarchical-landowners' government to the one-party corporatist model which survived for so long

A Commune in Chiapas? Mexico and the Zapatista Rebellion, 1994-2000

Since the occupation of January 1994, many have projected their hopes onto this 'exotic' struggle against 'neo-liberalism'. We examine the nature of the Zapatista uprising by moving beyond the bluster of the EZLN communiqués, on which so many base their analysis.

[b]Not proletarian, yet not entirely peasant, the Zapatistas' political ideas are riven with contradictions. We reject the academics' argument of Zapatismo's centrality as the new revolutionary subject, just as we reject the assertions of the 'ultra-left' that because the Zapatistas do not have a communist programme they are simply complicit with capital.

The concept of power and the Zapatistas

The following article was contributed to @kÃ¶r autonomedia by John Holloway. We thank John Holloway for his kind permission. It was first published in Common Sense # 19, June 1996.

The Chiapas Uprising and the Future of Class Struggle in the New World Order

Autonomist Marxist, Harry Cleaver, analyses the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and its relevence to class struggle in the era of globalisation.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE: This article was written for the Italian journal RIFF-RAFF published in Padova, Italy. Revised versions have also been published in STUDIES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY and in CANADIAN DIMENSION. THE CHIAPAS UPRISING AND THE FUTURE OF CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER by Harry Cleaver, University of Texas at Austin hmcleave@mundo.eco.utexas.edu