EZLN Flashcards
Ideology of EZLN
(1) broad and general, difficult to pigeon-hole
(2) vague, intangible, and theoretical
(3) aims to improve lives of rural people in jungle
ELZN ideology based on
“frustrated desires, urgent needs, and committed determination”
three primary areas of focus
(1) neoliberal economic reforms
(2) discrimination against indigenous peoples
(3) discrimination against women
Neoliberal policies of 1980s
(1) free trade
(2) limited government spending
(3) enhanced role of private sector
Downfall to neoliberalism?
(1) increasing inequality along social, ethnic, and regional lines
(2) negative impact on position of workers and peasants
(3) significant social effects
(4) 50% of Mexican population lived in poverty
“To the Workers of the Republic” (May 1994)
“A new name has been given to injustice, to slavery, to the usurpation: neoliberalism”
EZLN newspaper?
El Despertador Mexicano
Mark Berger on neoliberalism
(1) rise of socially-exclusive neoliberalism dramatically weakened national institutions
(2) subsequently opened up opportunities for peasants and indigenous communities to confront the PRI at both local and national levels
Significance of NAFTA
(1) acceleration of neoliberal “development”
(2) i.e. advancement of capitalism at the expense of exploitation of peasants, workers, and indigenous
Image put forwarded by Mexican government for NAFTA
(1) modern nation, eager for change, freed from shackles of its history of rural poverty and state-sponsored oppression
(2) Doyle: “modern, youthful nation, eager for change, and unencumbered by the chains of its own history, the centuries of rural poverty and oppression”
EZLN anti-authoritarianism
(1) structure of Clandestine Committees
(2) collective participation within organisation
(3) communal democracy established in Zapatista territory
political demand
(1) overthrow undemocratic PRI
(2) replace with transitional government
(3) “construct a society in which those who lead do so with the will of the people”
Mark Berger on EZLN indigenismo
illuminates the specifically indigenous character of the movement, represented an attempt to recover indigenous ideas and practices
EZLN on indigenous people
indigenous peoples “as nothing more than anthropological objects, tourist curiosities, and part of a ‘Jurassic Park’”
significance of anonymity
(1) playing with idea that people perceive indigenous peoples as nobodies or that they all look the same
(2) represents ALL those oppressed and marginalised in any given society
Sub-Commander Marco
“The Minority Disguised as the Resented Majority”
Women
(1) treated as equals within organisation
(2) expected to carry out came burdens of work and fighting as men
(3) one third of EZLN combatants female, and over half of supporters
“The Women’s Revolutionary Law”
(1) right to control their bodies
(2) right to political participation
(3) right to healthcare
(4) freedom from domestic abuse and rape
(5) right to education
(6) participation in revolutionary struggle
Success of neoliberalism
(1) some macroeconomic stability
(2) growth in foreign investment
(3) growth in exports
(4) became 14th largest world economy
When was the EZLN uprising?
Jan 1 1994
