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With a primary goal of localized indigenous autonomy, the EZLN (Zapatista
National Liberation Army) took over five cities in the southern Mexican state of
Chiapas on January 1, 1994. The start of the uprising coincided with, and was in
retaliation to, the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Over the ensuing ten days, the army ransacked government buildings and burned
files, mostly concerned with land ownership, but killed no one. In retaliation,
the Mexican army attempted to end the uprising with aerial bombings of villages
and mass murder of prisoners, leaving over 150 indigenous people dead, many of
whom were women and children.
The situation of Mexico's indigenous peoples had been worsening since the
country's debt crisis in 1982, with the state of Chiapas having the worst levels
of disease, poverty, infant mortality, and life expectancy of any state in the
country. The reform of Article 27 of the Constitution, by ex-President Salinas,
loomed to worsen the situation further still. Article 27 protected
community-owned land from privatization. This Amendment opened the rich land of
Chiapas to US agribusiness and large area landowners who had increased their
strong-arm tactics. The signing of NAFTA loomed to worsen the plight of the
indigenous people even further. All of this meant one thing: Indigenous people
would be forced off their land.
Named for Emilio Zapata, the leader of the peasant army around which the Mexican
Revolution of 1910-1917 revolved, the EZLN sees Mexico as an occupied territory.
Comprised of indigenous peoples from the 32 groups of Mexico, Mexican and
American student activists, and others the world over who have come to the fold
via the army's rigorous Internet campaign, the EZLN works toward a goal of
directly democratic decision-making through the search for consensus rather than
the imposition of 'majority' on 'minority' through voting. Overall, the
Zapatistas have 17 demands. Those demands are: land, work, food, health,
housing, education, independence, democracy, justice, freedom, culture, access
to information, peace, equal rights for women, security, the end of government
corruption, and protection of the environment.
The group's adept use of the internet brought recognition to the corruption
evidenced in the regime of former President Salinas, forcing the President into
negotiations with them. These negotiations eventually led to the signing of the
San Andres accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture. These accords were
agreements between the government and each of the country's 32 indigenous
groups. The EZLN took itself out of these ongoing negotiations when it became
evident that the government was only using the talks as a means for buying time
for the organization and deployment of paramilitary groups. An article published
in January of this year in the Mexican army weekly publication Processo
identified the government's use of these talks to that end. As of now, the talks
have not been rejoined.
Despite the fact that the Zapatistas may never obtain all that they hope for,
they have changed the grassroots movement globally, becoming what Mexican
intellectual Carlos Fuentes calls a "post-modern guerrilla movement"
and "the first rebellion of the 21st Century." This organization
played a direct part in the "First Intercontinental Gathering for Humanity
and Against Neoliberalism", a conference attended by some five thousand
world-wide organizations, and the formation of People's Global Action, an
international network which campaigns against global neoliberal institutions
such as the World Trade Organization.
 -Fred
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