Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Mexico's Zapatistas


"Primarily the women, it is they who feel the pain of childbirth. They see their children die in the arms of malnutrition, for lack of care. They also see their children without shoes, without clothing, because they do not have enough money to buy them, because it is they who care for the homes, they see that they do not have enough for food."
-Comandanta Esther

The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) is probably the most well known indigenous movement mobilized by land rights in Latin America. The EZLN orignated in the Chiapas region of Mexico, but through the internet it has become an international phenomenon. Anti-neoliberal rhetoric is beginning to permeate the consciousness of many indigenous groups who have long been disadvantaged by these types of programs coupled with elite colonial rule.

The Zapatistas staged a revolt on January 1, 1994 in answer to the start of NAFTA, which they believed would further degrade human rights and the ability for indigenous people to survive in the region (Chiapas Magazine). EZLN is a militarized group with a strong female base as indicated by the 5000 women who left their communities in 1996 to march on the city of San Cristobal (Otero, 1996). The Zapatista women did this in order to make visible their presence and solidarity with the movement.



Despite being depicted in the media as a violently militarized group, the Zapatistas have had success in achieving autonomy by not producing large-scale violent retaliations against the military and paramilitary groups since the initial uprisings in 1994. So while the Zapatistas have not had incredible success in the area of land reform for all of Mexico, they have achieved a degree of automony in the Chiapas region- they run their own schools, clinics, and small businesses in the area (Schuster, 2004).

No comments: