Everyone knows that education is most important, especially when its for the children. In the past I wrote an article explaining Nietzsche in an effort to edutain the masses. Today I figured I’d go write an article about a much more revolutionary and dangerous topic. No, not Toyotathon or the secret to destroying Newt Gingrich (though heres a hint: reading a holy text like the Bible or Quran at him never works, as they only burst into flames when he gets near). Today I will be talking about the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN), also known as the Zapatistas.
The Zapatistas base their name on Emiliano Zapata, a significant figure in the Mexican Revolution. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910, with a Constitution being signed in 1917 and the worst of the fighting ending in 1920 (though there was plenty of death and murder to go around during the 1920s as well). Emiliano Zapata was a revolutionary general who advocated peasant and indigenous rights, specifically land reform. At the time, large land estates (haciendas) were operating in much the same way Jon Jones does now in the UFC: ruthlessly taking shit over and destroying those who stood in the way.
Are you seeing a pattern here? With great mustaches come great historical legacy.
During the war Zapata rose to prominence and turned out to be a damn good general. He made alliances with opposition figures like Francisco Madero and Venustiano Carranza, until these same people came into power and decided they would sell out. Zapata wasn’t the type to sit around crying about how these leaders used to be cool until they were mainstream, though. He instead continued fighting, since the power structure’s idea of diplomacy was as full of violence and spite as a carnival worker’s imagination. The power structure just couldn’t finish him, though, so they decided on a plan so vile that even Monsanto would- haha, never mind actually, they’d be too busy drinking orphan blood to feign the moral high ground.
In 1919, General Pablo Gonzalez had his Lieutenant Jesus Guajardo feign defecting to Zapata’s forces and, in order to make it appear sincere, they staged an attack that resulted in 57 people of their own people dead. He then invited Zapata to a meeting with him to talk about joining forces. On April 10, 1919, Zapata showed up and was gunned down by Guajardo’s men in what historians classify as “one of the biggest dick moves of all time.” It was the kind of villainy you would see in a movie and roll your eyes at.
After his death, however, Zapata became a symbol for indigenous, peasant, and even women's rights (he actually had women on the front lines in his forces, including as officers, rather than keeping them in exclusively support and domestic rolls). He is well known for the phrase “its better to die on your feet than to live on your knees,” a saying so badass that you gain a +1 to strength each time you read it. He has inspired many people over the years, with many movements for social justice deciding to credit him as a huge influence. Perhaps the most notable among these is the EZLN.
the EZLN flag
The day was January 1st, 1994. Birds were chirping, the streets humming, and everything was perfect in the sleepy little area of Chiapas… or was it? Chiapas was in almost every metric the worst off state in Mexico. Living conditions were abysmal. About 90% of the population had no running water, 44% were illiterate (compared to a national average of 10%), 75% didn’t finish grade school, 73% were deficient in height and weight, 60% malnourished, and Mim’s “This Is Why I’m Hot” played on repeat on a daily basis. Their main source of livelihood, the ejidos (collective farmlands which comprised about half of the land in Chiapas), were threatened by NAFTA. Specifically, they were threatened by the modification of Article 27, which was changed so that ejidos could now be much more easily dismantled by the state and peasants much more easily told to go fuck themselves.
So on the first day of 1994, around 3,000 indigenous fighters stormed into the Municipal Center in Chiapas. It took everyone by surprise and initially seemed to have the lack of foresight you usually only see in Youtube videos. Yet, over the next eleven days, the EZLN fought with Mexican soldiers and were able to hold their own, as well as blow up two Death Stars in the process [citation needed]. This came as a huge surprise to everyone, including the president at the time, Carlos Salinas, whose rage could only be satiated by choking multiple unnamed henchmen nearby.
How could the rebel alliance from Chiapas destroy two Death Stars?!
After fighting stopped on January 12, tensions continued over the next few years, with the Mexican government breaching the ceasefire agreement a few times in 1995. Then, in 1996, the EZLN and Mexico signed the San Andreas Accords, which would grant more rights to indigenous communities such as self government, custom law, and control over their homeland and resources. The government didn’t entirely hold out their end of the bargain here, though, which is about as “surprising” a disappointment as a posthumous music album. After the signing Congress was supposed to pass it, but during the rest of Salina’s and, his successor, Ernesto Zedillo’s presidencies’, nothing happened. Eventually Vicente Fox, who became president in 2000, withdrew troops from Chiapas and urged ratification of The San Andreas Accords. When it finally got through, however, it was as watered down as your friend’s self-proclaimed “proudly politically incorrect” views are whenever he or she is around actual brown people.
The EZLN, like Zapata, place an emphasis on indigenous, peasant, poor, and female rights. Their system is similar with left wing anarchist ideologies like libertarian socialism, but with strong indigenous customs and ideas that keep it from being completely categorized into conventional political categories. They believe true democracy comes from the bottom up rather than top down and that participatory democracy is much more effective than representative democracy. They also advocate ideas like mutual aid, antiauthoritarianism, nonviolence (they haven’t fought since the 1994 ceasefire) and opposing globalization, something they believe leads to economic imperialism.
Something very interesting about the EZLN is how they have used technology to further their cause. They have utilized the internet to tremendous effect, using it to get their ideas out and gain support from various people, organizations, and movements from all over the world, rather than post adorable videos of cats, hilarious videos of cats, or videos of people boning while dressed like cats. Subcomandante Marcos, the unofficial spokesperson for the movement, has been called a “postmodern Che Guevara.” His writings are published on the internet for all to see and he has become something of an international celebrity when it comes for revolutionary movements, something he himself isn't completely happy with because he believes the collective is more important than any individual.
Subcomandante Marcos, keeping it G'ed up from the feet up
Though the EZLN have been largely confined to Chiapas, they have still been active around Mexico in recent years. For example, in 2006 they started the “Other Campaign” where they traveled around Mexico and said that citizens would gain a lot more from demanding changes to the Constitution rather than voting in the elections. They have also organized forums for indigenous people throughout the Western Hemisphere, in order to unite and collaborate to further each of their respective causes.
So that’s a quick summary of the EZLN, a group of badass revolutionaries who don’t play by the rules. To this day they still stand, a principled and nonviolent collective (as opposed to Sendero Luminoso in Peru, the FARC in Colombia, the government in Colombia, the United States when it comes to foreign policy, most other countries when it comes to foreign policy, and The Black Eyed Peas when it comes to Fergie). They’ve persevered for almost two decades despite avoiding dirty politics or armed violence, which is a lot like persevering through America’s Got Talent despite avoiding dirty politics or armed violence. Specifically, they’ve been around for eighteen years- which means party time!
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