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Do you want to learn about the Zapatistas? Do you want to take part in an organization that works on issues like Indigenous Rights, Immigrants Rights, and against Corporate Globalization, racism, sexism, Police Brutality, and homophobia? Do you like creating artwork, learning new skills, traveling to events, conferences and protests or working in the community to create positive radical social change? If you answer yes to any of these questions then come to the next Cincinnati Zapatista Coalition meeting on May 20th at 7pm at the Crazy Ladies Center (Cincinnati) in the Maureen Woods Room (for directions please call 513-541-4198, the entrance is on the side of the building, ring the buzzer for the Maureen Woods Room). We’re looking for some motivated, creative, dedicated, and interested people to be a part of the CZC. We hope to see you there. (A donation of $1 or more for the use of the space is appreciated, but not necessary).

*Some of the things which will be discussed at this meeting include: brief report backs on actions against the FTAA and for May Day, local organizing around Police Brutality, the upcoming Fundraising concert in July, a possible upcoming action against Plan Colombia (June 25th is a National Day of Action against Plan Colombia), an update on the Zapatistas in Chiapas, the CZC Summer Movie Series, and volunteering opportunities.

*The CZC will have a booth with it merchandise and flyers set up at the meeting (to see some of our merchandise please visit CZC Mercado). Snacks and beverages will be served.

*Do you know any bands or artists who would be willing to volunteer time to be a part of a fundraiser for the CZC in July? If so, please let us know!

*Included below are two things to help activists understand a little more about the Cincinnati Zapatista Coalition (this was originally created for our FTAA campaign, but we feel the principles outlined represent much of our work). The First it our Organizing Statement and the second is an essay entitled, “Zapatismo and Corporate Globalization, Part 1”.

1. “Think Globally, Act Locally and Globally”

        The line between local and global has become blurred. Corporations are no longer local, but multinational. Therefore the CZC promotes organizing on several different levels. We feel to be truly successful a wide variety of tactics must be used and respected. From legal rallies to direct action. From organizing around local issues to doing solidarity work to organizing local, regional, national, or international actions to put pressure on multinational and governmental entities. We feel all these tactics are needed to make true radical change. We welcome people of varying ideologies. We will organize around local, national, or international issues. We will use various tactics – from petition signing, letter writing campaigns, leafleting, workshops and trainings, legal rallies and marches, conferences, to non-violent civil disobedience and direct action.

        We feel it is important to do solidarity work and actions for our brothers and sisters in other countries. We have a privilege that many of them do not. The privilege of being American. Many of the United States trade agreements and/or policies have a negative impact on communities in other countries. Many of our comforts are at their expense. Therefore, the CZC will always do solidarity work and will always participate in demonstrations against these trade agreements, sweatshops, foreign policies, corporations, etc as well as doing local, regional, and national organizing.

2. Zapatismo and Corporate Globalization (Part 1)

One of the most important events in the movement against global capitalism was the Zapatista uprising on January 1st, 1994-the day NAFTA went into effect. The Zapatista uprising sent shock waves around the world and would help inspire and mobilize massive opposition to transnational capitalism. Here was a group of mostly indigenous peasants rising up against both a domestic and international enemy. Although the Zapatista uprising should be viewed as one occurrence of over 500 years of indigenous resistance against the genocide forced upon them by European conquerors, the Zapatista uprising is one of the most significant events in the fight against “free” trade and the global domination of market forces.

How exactly did a group of poor, mostly illiterate and supposedly backward and docile Mayan Indians help inspire worldwide resistance to the evil side of “globalization?” The domestic enemy of the Zapatistas was the state party system of the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI). The PRI was the ruling party of Mexico for nearly 75 years. That is 75 long years of continued repression, racism and poverty. In the analysis of their oppression, however, the Zapatistas realized that the PRI was only a puppet for the larger enemy of neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism is the rebirth of 19th century classical liberalism. Here we are talking about economic liberalism that is a hallmark of both liberal and conservative politics in the United States and should not be confused with the political liberalism of US democrats. Liberalism is free market capitalism characterized by competition, privatization, deregulation and the freedom of capital to move across national borders that results in many social ills including a deterioration of workers' rights, cutbacks in social expenditures, and a rapid destruction of the environment. Liberalism became famous due to Adam Smith and his book "The Wealth of Nations". Liberalism was one of the basic drives for colonialism by Western imperialist powers. Economic liberalism eventually gave way to Keynesian economics that supported government intervention in the economy. Liberalism began to re-surface about twenty-five years ago, hence the name “neoliberalism,” and is now the dominant economic model. Neoliberalism began in Chile after the CIA-supported coup and economic restructuring of 1973. Other examples of neoliberalism are the IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and NAFTA. The FTAA is an extension of NAFTA and therefore another neoliberal agenda. An interesting point is that the original liberalism was linked with colonialism. Neoliberalism is also linked with neocolonialism.

In opposition to neoliberalism, the Zapatistas offered the world their vision for humanity as they proclaimed the rebirth of Zapatismo. What should probably technically be called neozapatismo was developed to fight against neoliberalism.

Zapatismo originates from the namesake of the Zapatistas: Emiliano Zapata. Zapata was a hero of the revolutionary war who was popular with peasants and indigenous peoples. Zapata was fighting against a corrupt government and the first wave of liberalism. A very important and significant point about Zapata was that he was indigenous himself and his army was primarily indigenous and peasant. Zapata fought for indigenous autonomy, political liberties and rights to land. Zapata's battle cry was "Land and Liberty." This expression was at the basis of Zapatismo. Zapata believed that freedom for poor Mexicans meant throwing off the shackles imposed on them by the ruling classes and redistributing the land to the peasants to work collectively. Zapata located in the struggle for freedom, equality and democracy a dignity that could not be surpassed. Another of his sayings expresses this beautifully: "It is better to die on ones feet than live on one's knees." A hallmark of Zapatismo is the assertion of the dignity of indigenous and peasants Mexicans and their equality.

Unfortunately, the revolution was stolen and true change was thwarted by moderates who betrayed Zapata and Villa and seized power for themselves. Freedom, equality and justice became scarce in Mexico once again although some of Zapata’s agrarian reforms were put in place during the Cardenas presidency. Zapata and Zapatismo would continue to play an important role in Mexican history and be significant for average Mexicans, and especially the indigenous peoples of Mexico, as a symbol of hope and resistance.

The 1980's brought with them a new wave of privatization, liberalization and exploitation: neoliberalism. This is synonymous in the US with Reaganomics and Thatcherism in Britain. With neoliberalism comes neocolonialism. The Bush administration worked to develop trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. The Mexican economy was characterized by high levels of state interference, the protection of local industry through tariff and non-tariff barriers, a high degree of social security and a program that strived for stable development to ensure low prices and interest rates. Beginning in 1983, the Mexican ruling class, along with the help of international lending agencies, began to reform the economy along lines of the so-called "free market".

The Mexican ruling class readied Mexico to become a first world nation in order to be eligible for the newest trade agreement: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The PRI, under the guidance of the US, pushed the Mexican economy into the future prematurely and drastically.

In order to be eligible for NAFTA, the government changed article 27 of the Mexican constitution that enables the ejido system of collectivized agriculture to be broken up and privatized. This is significant because the majority of indigenous and peasant communities and economies are centered around ejidos. The privatization of the ejidos poses the threat of the extermination of the indigenous peoples' land base as well as their culture. A similar event happened in U.S. history.

The Dawes Act privatized a large portion of the system of reservations. This is one of the reasons for the erosion of the land base, and therefore the cultures, of native peoples in the United States. The native peoples of Mexico feared the same fate would befall them.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) had been hiding in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico for about a decade when they decided to openly declare war on the Mexican government. They did so on the day NAFTA went into effect for symbolic purposes. The Zapatistas predicted that NAFTA would be a disaster for Mexico. The Zapatistas were right. The peso devaluated in December of 1994 leading to the crashing of the stock market and a deep depression. Shortly after the devaluation, the level of unemployment doubled. With the dismantling of agriculture subsidies and a huge influx of cheap corn from the US, the economy of Mexico’s peasants, including large numbers of indigenous peoples, was destroyed. This paper does not allow for an in depth discussion of NAFTA but it was essentially a disaster. Subcomandante Marcos called NAFTA a death sentence to Mexican Indians. The creation of a peace plan rested around 34 negotiating points. Two points of this plan call for a re-instatement of Article 27 and a re-evaluation of NAFTA. However, the Mexican government has yet to fulfill these two points. The Zapatista uprising proved to the world that everything is connected and that under neoliberalism this connection spells death. The US gave the Mexican government helicopters, money and training to fight the Zapatistas. Swiss planes flew over Zapatista communities firing at local residents. If the connections between the resistance of global capitalism and the Zapatistas weren’t clear enough, it became extremely clear when an internal memo of Chase Manhattan Bank was made public. The Chase Manhattan Emerging Markets Group Memo dated January 13, 1995 was an update on the Mexican political situation. In this memo the author stated that the greatest threat to political stability in Mexico was the monetary crisis and the need for a political climate that was conducive to foreign investment. Among the propositions put forward in this memo was that "The government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy." The connections between big business, development and militarization against the poor are blatantly obvious.

Because of the symbolic nature of their revolt, their ability to draw connections between local oppression and international structures of institutionalized violence and repression, and their stance on indigenous rights and autonomy, the Zapatistas have been an important part of the struggle against global capitalism. The Zapatistas, the ultimate underdogs, have constantly and effectively battled not only with arms but also with words, ideas and visions for a sustainable and just future. The Zapatistas have inspired the mobilization of civil society in Mexico and around the world in the fight for democracy, liberty and justice.

The Zapatistas began to hold formal gatherings and encounters in Chiapas that people from all over the world have attended. These have been about everything from democratic teaching to indigenous forums to building a global resistance to neoliberalism.

In the Fourth Declaration of the Lancondon Jungle the Zapatistas proposed:

"That we will make a collective network of all our particular struggles and resistances. An intercontinental network of resistance against neoliberalism, an intercontinental network of resistance for humanity. This intercontinental network of resistance, recognizing differences and acknowledging similarities, will search to find itself with other resistances around the world. This intercontinental network of resistance will be the medium in which distinct resistances may support one another. This intercontinental network of resistance is not an organizing structure; it doesn’t have a central head or decision maker; it has no central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of us who resist."

With this plan, the Zapatistas showed the world a different way of resistance that differs from the traditional Marxist-Leninist idea of a vanguard and dictatorship of the proletariat. The alternative to seizing power on behalf of the people by a revolutionary vanguard is to create a space in which people can define and develop their own power. This allows for a more democratic and bottom up approach to internationalism.

        With this call the Zapatistas began to organize Intercontinental Encounters for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism. There have been several of these, including one in Brazil and one in Spain. These inspired the creation of organizations such as People's Global Action and movements such as Ya Basta!, as well as reawakening, in the face of a deflated and tired left, the dignity to be found in rebelling and resisting.

        People's Global Action is a new alliance of struggle against the forces of neoliberalism by grassroots movements unimpeded by the state or NGOs. "This new platform will serve as a global instrument for communication and co-ordination for all those fighting against the destruction of humanity and the planet by the global market, building up local alternatives and people’s power." (1) PGA was created by activists from ten of the most innovative social movements in the world: The Zapatistas, the Landless Peasant Movement in Brazil, the Karnataka State Farmers Union in India, and others. PGA was originally inspired by the Zapatistas and the idea was formulated at an encuentro (gathering) for humanity and against neoliberalism in 1996. A document from PGA shows the influence:

        "It wasn’t in the acrid mist of Seattle's tear gas that this global movement was born, but in the humid mist of the Chiapas jungle, in Southern Mexico on New Years Day 1994. This was the day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, a day when two thousand indigenous peoples from several groups came out from the mountains and forests. Masked, armed and calling themselves Zapatistas, their battle cry was 'Ya Basta' - 'Enough is Enough'. An extraordinary popular uprising, which was to help change the landscape of global resistance, had begun…People everywhere soon heard of the uprising. These masked rebels, from poverty stricken communities, were not only demanding that their own land and lives be given back, neither were they just asking for international support and solidarity; they were talking about neoliberalism, about the "death sentence" that NAFTA and other free trade agreements would impose on indigenous people. They were demanding the dissolution of power while encouraging others all over the world to take on the fight against the enclosure of our lives by capital. 'Don’t join us-do it yourself' was their message."

(2) Another important group that sprung from the Zapatistas was the Italian, and now worldwide, Ya Basta! Movement. YB! Was born from the inspiration of the Zapatistas combined with the developing White Overalls Movement both of which had its locus in the social centers of Italy. The social centers were squats and community centers that created alternative communities without help from the state and market forces. YB! Began to spread all over Europe. At the protests in Prague in 2000 against the IMF and World Bank Ya Basta came out in record numbers from across Europe and battled the police. At the World Economic Forum in Mexico in March of 2001, Mexican Ya Basta!s called White Monkeys battled the police in the protests. The upcoming protests against the FTAA in Quebec City will include Canadian and American Ya Basta! Groups. The inspiration went from the Americas to Europe and back again.

        Recently, the French anti-corporate globalization farmer Jose Bove, famous for destroying a McDonalds, met with Marcos during the Zapatista March on Mexico City. A banner was dropped in the US proclaiming opposition to the FTAA and bore a picture of Subcomandante Marcos smoking a pipe.

        The Zapatistas have been on the forefront of political debate against global capitalism as well as creating radical alternatives for the future from the bottom up. They also point to the often-overlooked role of transnational capitalism on indigenous peoples. Zapatismo is very relevant to the Americas today. It is important to remember the Zapatista challenge while we are confronting the Free Trade Area of the Americas and other neoliberal policies. Everyone wearing a mask or bandanna over their faces, because dissent has been criminalized, will echo the Zapatistas, consciously or unconsciously. Like the Zapatistas say: “Todos Somos Zapatista: We are all Zapatistas.” Che Guevara, commenting on the strife and struggle created by the Vietnam war, once said that there should be many Vietnams. In light of the FTAA, it may be necessary for many Chiapas rebellions.