Zapatista Army of National Liberalization

Posted by Josie Baum in Build Awareness , Latin America

The Challenge

In January of 1994, a small leftist guerrilla band occupied and took over five towns in the State of Chiapas in Mexico. This revolutionary band, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) led by the anonymous ‘Subcomandante Marcos’, read their proclamation of revolt to the world and proceeded to lay siege to a local military base, capturing weapons and releasing prisoners from jails.

These actions were the result of an increasing resistance to the Mexican federal government’s adoption of neoliberal economic policies which were having direct negative effects on Chiapas - the country’s poorest state. EZLN’s aim was to bring global attention to the marginalization of the large Chiapan indigenous community in order to force change in the federal government.

Chiapas’ natural resources are extremely important to the Mexican economy, with large coffee, corn, cacao, tobacco, sugar, fruit, vegetables and honey exports. It is also a key state for the nation’s petrochemical and hydroelectric industries. A significant percentage of PEMEX’s drilling and refining is based in Chiapas and Tabasco, and fifty five percent of the nation’s hydroelectric energy is produced in Chiapas#. Despite this, the State is the poorest in the country, with 94 of its 111 municipalities living on the poverty line and 48% of its adult population suffering from illiteracy. 80% of Chiapas’ families earn less than $245 USD per month, and 70% have no electricity. The state has a significant indigenous population who clearly do not benefit from the wealth that its natural endowments are generating for the Mexican federal government, as the income generated by the State’s produce is not fed back into the region’s economy.

This forced isolation of the indigenous people from their land’s value led to the Zapatista movement, the first example of non-violent activism using online resources. The aim of the movement was, and still is, to empower the indigenous population of Chiapas to receive just compensation for the extraction of the natural resources of their historic land, and to earn political autonomy to have the power to negotiate for changes that will improve their social, economic and political situation in relation to the Mexican federal government.

The Players

The Zapatista movement was started in 1994 by the EZLN, at a time when there were many anti-globalization groups forming globally. The ability of the EZLN to use the then infant technology of the internet to engage this global community brought in many players from various movements that aimed to protect marginalised communities from market driven globalization. These players ranged from feminist groups to LGBT groups to other indigenous groups around the world – any collection of marginalised people aiming to gain political legitimacy. This groundswell of support led the CNN to report on the Zapatista movement as a social phenomena, which in turn built up the international following even further. 

Tools and Tactics

Although the EZLN started their campaign with a physical ‘invasion’ of government occupied spaces across Chiapas, the main tool that they employed was the internet. As a non-violent group, they wished to employ the internet as a tool to engage international media and activism groups to elicit external political pressure for the changes that they wanted, bypassing the government controlled national media using this new technology. These changes included increasing the role of the indigenous population of Chiapas in State politics by becoming autonomous from the State. The EZLN also called for the introduction of anti-poverty campaigns in the region, and for compensation to the people for the profits being made from the State’s natural resources. A number of clever tactics led the Zapatista movement to be an extremely valuable early example of non-violent activism using the online space.

Firstly, the EZLN chose strong visual iconography to promote immediate recognition on the television and in pictures to aid their media push and generate a following. Marcos still wears a costume consisting of military garb, a black balaclava and corncob pipe.

The EZLN also immediately started to use email lists, Usenet groups, listservs and websites to disseminate communiqués written by Marcos to the global support network and to fundraise for their cause. This network grew in size and geography, pushing the message to larger audiences and strengthening it from downfall through anonymity and scale. Even if dozens (or even hundreds) of Zapatista authors are neutralized, there are hundreds more within the ‘swarm’ to take their place; silencing the entire group is effectively impossible. This is known as a “swarm strategy”. As this network strengthened, EZLN improved their negotiating power with the Mexican federal government. They also employed the English language in all of their online activity to encourage as much cross-communication as possible, as well as to reach out to the government groups and oppressors that they were trying to negotiate with.

The use of online tools to strengthen their cause and network of supporters also allowed them to utilise an innovative measure of “hacktivism”. This is often described as a ‘virtual sit-in’ that has a larger geographical reach and in today’s internet world can have huge power in activism. For the Zapatista movement, a support group known as the Electronic Disturbance Theater clogged several servers and websites (including the Mexican president’s) using software called FloodNet. Virtual sit-ins have proved to be successful means of attracting mainstream media attention and thus gaining visibility for causes that would otherwise be overlooked.

The Stumbling Blocks

Being the first major success of online activism, the Zapatista movement encountered a few setbacks. For the regions in Chiapas to become politically autonomous, there would have to be changes in the current Mexican constitution. This is yet to happen after 15 years of campaigning, and would require huge political change to be successful. The EZLN also suffered from a common flaw of online activism to aid marginalised communities: the digital divide. Many members of the Zapatista movement did not have access to the technology and knowledge required to become part of the online community. This meant that they were dependent on others in the group becoming their spokespeople. One way the Zapatista quelled this was by hosting an offline event for the various members of the online movement to meet. This movement to offline communication was extremely popular and successful, strengthening relationships and allowing the inclusion of those on the wrong side of the digital divide.

The Outcome

The garnering of a global support network, and international media recognition gave the Zapatista movement political leverage with the Mexican federal government, forcing the then President, Ernesto Zedillo, to negotiate with the EZLN. The media gaze lent the Zapatistas the support and credibility they needed be taken seriously by the government. This negotiating power, although not allowing the EZLN to achieve the desired change in the constitution, allowed them to achieve or at least move towards many of their goals.

The EZLN led to the institution of many anti-poverty programs in the State, such as “Opportunidades” and the “Puebla-Panama Plan”. It also negotiated the San Andres Accords, which grant some indigenous zones autonomy. Overall, the Zapatista movement allowed negotiation between government and the EZLN on issues such as land rights, political autonomy and compensation for resource extraction increasing the role of the indigenous people in the State’s politics. The group have also held international conferences for offline discussion of human rights and neo-liberalism with celebrity endorsement and attendance by the world’s leading human right organizations.

 

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