Zapatista

From Freepedia

Mexican Revolution of 1910

A Zapatista was originally a member of the revolutionary guerilla movement founded around 1910 by Emiliano Zapata, whose Liberation Army of the South (Ejército Libertador del Sur) fought during the Mexican Revolution for the redistribution of agricultural land. The Zapatistas were famous for their grassroots peasant support, for guerilla battle victories against four different armies, and for being the first Mexicans to drop a bomb from an airplane.

Modern Zapatistas

Zapatista gained a new meaning in 1994 with the formation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional). The new term can be used for any member of this movement or as an adjective for the movement itself.

The modern Zapatista movement raised the spectre of Revolution hero Zapata as a rallying point for its cause, which in truth is very similar to that of a century ago. The main goals of sweeping agrarian and social reform, as well as a Southern Mexico separatist movement, are recurring themes from early 20th century Zapata rhetoric.

Like its predecessor, the movement started in southern Mexico, this time in the state of Chiapas. It remains most popular with the poor indigenous peoples of that area. It appeared shortly after (and in reponse to) the signing of NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement. Soon after its inception, the EZLN held an international conference in Chiapas called the Intercontinental Encounters for Humanity and against Neoliberalism. It resulted in various other Zapatista groups emerging outside of Mexico, including the West Essex Zapatistas in East London.

Unlike its predecessor, the new Zapatista rebellion is a smaller and more peaceful uprising that has had few serious encounters with the government. A brief spurt of violence accompanied its inception when several thousand peasants seized five Chiapan towns. Hundreds of lives were lost when the military was sent to pacify the rebels.

Presently, the Zapatistas are offering more passive resistance. The most recent large demonstration was a 2001 march to Mexico City with only very scattered episodes of violence. While the rebellion is in somewhat of a standstill, the people are still very active in ther attempts to aquire autonomy. The government remains reluctant to address the rebellion because doing so might lend an impression of political instablity.

For more Information:

• Zapatista Army of National Liberation
• Chiapas
• Acteal Massacre

International Groups

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/building Building Bridges - Vancouver, Chiapas Human Rights Observer Project

http://www.utexas.edu/students/nave/ Zapatista in Austin, Texas

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2157/index.html Philadelphia Zapatista Solidarity Network

http://www.ifconews.org/chorgndx.html IFCO/Pastors for Peace Chiapas Organizing Index

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/mexico/ Global Exchange (Mexico Program) -

http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~omsuarez/cala.html Community Action on Latin America

http://www.barriowarriors.net Barrio Warriors de Aztlan

http://thedagger.com/chiapas/ Chiapas Coalition 98 (Los Angeles)

http://www.tmcrew.org/chiapas/chiapas.htm Tactical Media Crew

http://www.pangea.org/ellokal/chiapas Colectivo de Solidaridad con la Rebeli Zapatista de Barcelona

http://www.chiapas.ch Direkte Solidarit Chiapas Zurich

http://aries.gisam.metu.edu.tr/chiapas/indexeng_chiapas.html Korautnomedia_chiapasa

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3849/zap.html Zapatista Solidarity Collective Melbourne

http://clinamen.ff.tku.ac.jp/EZLN/INDEX.html Japanese solidarity page

http://webarchery.co.uk West Essex