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
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
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 autonomedia by John Holloway. We thank John Holloway for his kind permission. It was first published in Common Sense # 19, June 1996.
The Concept of Power and the Zapatistas
John Holloway
Dignity's revolt
The following article was contributed to autonomedia by John Holloway. It is the Chapter 8 of the forthcoming book, Zapatistas! Reinventing the Revolution in Mexico, edited by John Holloway and Eloina Pelaez.
It will be published in London by Pluto Press in June/July 1998. We thank John Holloway for his kind permission. A brief version of this article was published in Common Sense # 22, December 1997.
Dignity's Revolt
John Holloway
I
Dignity arose on the first day of January 1994.
Mexico is not only Chiapas
MEXICO IS NOT ONLY CHIAPAS NOR IS THE REBELLION IN CHIAPAS MERELY A MEXICAN AFFAIR.
In January 1994, in the south eastern state of Chiapas in Mexico, news of the Zapatistas armed revolt composed mainly of Indian peasants, travelled all over the world bringing about an explosion of interest and information on Mexico because the rebellion was automatically connected with the Mexican revolution.
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
The Zapatistas and the International Circulation of Struggle - Lessons Suggested and Problems Raised
A variation of this Paper, originally prepared for the conference on "Globalization from Below" at Duke in February 1998, presented to the INET'98 Conference in Geneva in July 1998.
For a long, long time many activists have recognized two things: first, that capitalism operates on a global level and second, that to achieve enough power to overthrow capitalism the working class must find ways to organize its own struggles at the same level.
The Zapatistas and the Electronic Fabric of Struggle *DRAFT*
What follows is a DRAFT of a chapter of a book on the Zapatistas and revolution at the beginning of the XXIst Century. The book, edited by John Holloway in Mexico City, will consist of a collection of new articles, mostly from Mexican scholars and political analysts. This essay should be quoted only with permission from the author.
The Zapatistas And The Electronic Fabric Of Struggle(*)
Rebellion from the Roots: A Review
Harry Cleaver's review of John Ross' book on the Zapatistas, Rebellion from the Roots.
Ross' book is a fairly lengthy but quite readable and sympathetic account of the Zapatista uprising from Jan. 1, 1994 until the conclusion of the Mexican elections on Aug. 21, 1994. It is a journalistic account, not a scholarly one. There are no footnotes and few references.
The Zapatista Effect: The Internet and the rise of an alternative political fabric
Harry Cleaver looks at the role of technology and the internet in spreading class struggle.
The primacy of the nation state is being challenged from both above and below.
Zapatismo and the Social Sciences
Zapatismo and the Social Sciences
John Holloway
This is the text of a talk presented to the congress of SCOLAS (Southwest Council of Latin American Studies) in Puebla in March 2000.
Perhaps the saddest legacy that the twentieth century leaves us is disillusionment, loss of hope.
