Zapatistas

Mihalis Mentinis

Description

The Zapatista Army for National Liberation burst onto the world stage on 1 January 1994. Zapatista commander Subcomandante Marcos announced a revolution, and declared war on the Mexican government and global capitalism. Since then, the Zapatistas have inspired thousands of activists across the world. They have attracted much attention from political theorists and analysts. Despite this, there is little consensus about the real nature and efficacy of the movement.



Zapatistas provides a bold new approach to understanding the insurrection. Mentinis spent nine months visiting the Zapatista autonomous zone, and the result is this unique exploration of the indigenous political theory emerging within the movement. Combining this with an analysis of the integrity of the Zaptista project, Mentinis draws on the concept of the 'event' from Badiou, ideas from Situationism, the 'project of autonomy' of Cornelius Castoriadis and the 'constituent power' of Antonio Negri, to present a rigourous account of the movement and the impact it has had on radical political theory.
Preface

1. Zapatista Chronicle

1.1 The Early Years: Prehistory of the EZLN

1.2 Zapatista Chronicle 1994-2001

1.3 'Check'!... but not 'Mate'

2. Theories and Perspectives on the Zapatista Insurrection

2.1 Gramscian Approach

2.2 Laclau and Mouffe's Theory of Discourse

2.3 Academic Autonomist Marxist Approach

2.4 Non-Academic Radical Left Perspectives

2.5 Problems and Limitations of the Readings of the Zapatistas

3. The Project of Autonomy, Constituent Power and Empire

3.1 Ontological Theses

3.2 The Imaginary of Autonomy

3.3 From Radical Imaginary to Constituent Power

3.4 Genealogical Moments: The Re-mergence of Autonomy

3.5 Empire: The World Order

4. On Revolutionary Subjectivities

4.1 Fidelity to an Event

4.2 The Event and Constituent Power

4.3 Not Just Any Event

4.4 Constructed Situations

4.5 Zapatistas: An Evental Situation

4.6 The Three Subjects of Fidelity

4.7 Towards a Future Event

5. Reading the Zapatistas Critically

5.1 Revolutionaries or Reformists

5.2 Zapatista Nationalism

5.3 Zapatistas and the State

5.4 Zapatistas and the Global Struggle

5.5 Autonomy's Black Holes

6. Indigenous Imaginary and Zapatista Masks

6.1 Indigenous Metaphysics

6.2 Language and Reality

6.3 Maya Epistemology

6.4 Zapatista Masks

7. Conclusion

7.1 Implications for the future

7.2 Towards a Theory of Militant Subjectivity

References

Index

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• Political Science
• Anarchism

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849643030
• Langue: English

Extrait

Zapatistas The Chiapas Revolt and what it means for Radical Politics

MIHALIS MENTINIS

P Pluto Press LONDON • ANN ARBOR, MI

First published 2006 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © Mihalis Mentinis 2006

The right of Mihalis Mentinis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN ISBN

0 7453 2487 8 hardback 0 7453 2486 X paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for

10

9

8

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6

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Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Preface

1

2

3

4

Cont

e

nt

s

Zapatista Chronicle The Early Years: The Prehistory of the EZLN Zapatista Chronicle, 1994–2001 ‘Check’! ... but not ‘Mate’

Theories and Perspectives on the Zapatista Insurrection Gramscian Approach Laclau and Mouffe’s Theory of Discourse Academic Autonomist Marxist Approach Nonacademic Radical Left Perspectives Problems and Limitations of the Readings of the Zapatistas

The Project of Autonomy, Constituent Power and Empire Ontological Theses The Imaginary of Autonomy From Radical Imaginary to Constituent Power Genealogical Moments: The Reemergence of Autonomy Empire: The World Order

Zapatista Revolt and Revolutionary Subjectivities Fidelity to an Event The Event and Constituent Power Not Just Any Event Constructed Situations Zapatistas: An Evental Situation The Three Subjects of Fidelity Towards a Future Event

viii ix xi

1 2 8 29

31 32 36 42 49

54

64 65 67 70 73 82

90 90 93 94 96 97 104 112

vi Zapatistas

5

6

7

Reading the Zapatistas Critically Revolutionaries or Reformists Zapatista Nationalism Zapatistas and the State Zapatistas and the Global Struggle Autonomy’s Black Holes

The Indigenous Social Imaginary and Zapatista Masks Indigenous Metaphysics Language and Reality Maya Epistemology Zapatista Masks

Conclusion Implications for the Future Towards a Theory of Militant Subjectivity

References Index

116 117 123 132 136 142

151 152 155 162 167

177 177 184

188 196

For the Zapatistas and for Dimitris and Evanthia

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all those who read and commented on draft chapters, provided me with ideas and information, and, in one way or another, contributed to the production and publication of this book. Many thanks to Professor Ian Parker, Dr Babak Fozooni, Efrain De la Cruz, Felipe de Potolvic, Dr Ilana Mountian, Professor John Holloway, Dr Ian Burkitt, Professor Jules Townshend, Dr Geraldine Lievesley, Dr Janet Smithson and Professor Peter Hallward. Special thanks to all the men, women and children of the Zapatista autonomous communities of Oventic, La Garucha, Emiliano Zapata, Diez de Abril, San Jose del Rio and Guadalupe Tepeyac.

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Abbreviations

ACM: anticapitalist movement.

ALCA: Area de Libre Comercio de las AmÉricas (Free Trade Area of the Americas).

ANCIEZ: Alianza Nacional Campesina Indepediente Emiliano Zapata(Independent Campesino National Alliance Emiliano Zapata).

ARIC: Asociacin Rural de InterÉs Colectivo (Rural Association of Collective Interest).

CCRICG: Comite Clandestino Revolutionario IndigenaComandancia General (Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine CommitteeGeneral Command).

CND: Convencin Nacional Democratica (National Democratic Convention).

CNI: Congreso Nacional Indigena (National Indigenous Congress).

COCOPA: Comicin por la Concordia y Pacificacin (Committee for the Concordance and Pacification).

CONAI: Comicin Nacional de Intermediacin (National Committee of Intermediation).

DF: Distrito Federal (Federal District).

EPR: EjÉrcito Popular Revolucionario (Revolutionary Popular Army).

ESRAZ: Escuela Secundaria Rebelde Autonoma Zapatista (Zapatista Autonomous Rebel Secondary School).

EZLN: EjÉrcito Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional (Zapatista Army for National Liberation).

FLN: Fuerzas de Liberacin Nacional (National Liberation Forces).

FZLN: Frente Zapatista de Liberacin Nacional (Zapatista Front for National Liberation).

IMF: International Monetary Fund.

MST: Movimento sin Terra (The Landless Movement).

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NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement.

NGO: nongovernmental organisation.

PAN: Partido Accin Nacional (National Action Party).

PFP: Policia Federal Preventiva (Federal Preventive Police).

PPP: Plan PueblaPanama.

PRD: Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (Party of the Democratic Revolution).

PRI: Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party).

PRONASOL: Programa Nacional de Solidaridad (National Solidarity Programme).

UNAM: Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mexico (National Autonomous University of Mexico).

Preface

The story is now well known: at the dawn of 1 January 1994, implementation day of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States and Mexico, a group of about 3,000 Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Zoque, Chol and Ma’am indigenous guerrillas, lightly armed and masked with black ski masks or red scarves, attacked and occupied several municipalities and townships in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas. The rebels called themselves the ‘Zapatista Army for National Liberation’ (hereafter: EZLN and/or Zapatistas) and talked about the hundreds of years of oppression and exploitation of the indigenous populations, the crime of global neoliberal reality, and the struggle for land, justice, freedom and democracy for all. The news could not have been more devastating for the Mexican president, Carlos Salinas, who, surrounded by his officials, was celebrating both New Year’s Eve and Mexico’s entry into the ‘First World’, and the Mexican and international economic lobbies: ‘the Zapatistas had declared war on the Mexican government’. The appearance of the EZLN baffled the believers in the end of the revolutionary era; the global context seemed less than favourable for a return to armed struggle. The Soviet bloc and ‘really existing socialism’ were things of the past, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua had suffered an electoral defeat (in February 1990), a peace agreement had been signed in Salvador (in 1992) and another was imminent in Guatemala, the leaders of other Latin American guerrilla groups had been hunted down, and Cuba had long since shown its alliance with President Salinas and the ‘Institutional Revolutionary Party’ (hereafter: PRI). Furthermore, and most importantly, Marxism as a theory of revolutionary praxis seemed to have been in a long period of crisis and transformation and appeared to have a rather uncertain future. Who then were those indigenous rebels who had come out of the jungle despite the unfavourable conditions, and adducing the necessity of a quixotic madness in the struggle to change the world without taking power? More than a decade has passed since New Year’s Day 1994 when Subcomandante Marcos, the Zapatista spokesperson and commander of the EZLN, announced a revolution in the streets of San Cristbal

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and declared war on the Mexican government and global capitalism; twelve years of war with the Mexican government, of massacres and terrorism committed by paramilitary groups, of the destruction of indigenous communities by the federal army; but also twelve years of resistance, direct democracy, autonomous education, intercontinental meetings for humanity and against neoliberalism. Over all these years a large amount of academic and nonacademic work has been done on the Chiapas revolt from a variety of perspectives, and with a number of focuses. Political theorists and analysts have been asking whether the Zapatistas are a continuation of the Latin American National Liberation armies, or whether they are ushering in a new type of politics; whether they are the product of structural inequality and extreme poverty, or an expression of identity politics; whether they are revolutionaries or reformists, postmodern guerrillas or armed social democrats, and so on. Yet despite the attention the Zapatistas have attracted, there is little consensus about the nature, strategies and efficacy of the movement. On the one hand, the movement seems to have challenged the so called ‘end of history’, and has managed to reignite once again radical politics, inspiring a series of anticapitalist struggles across the globe. On the other hand, the Zapatistas have failed to bring about radical change, and have made little progress on their broader political agenda. With the experience of all these years of Zapatista activity and theoretical work on them, it is now time to move on in our understanding of the movement, to undertake a critical examination of certain aspects of the rebellion and explore new dimensions of the Chiapas revolt, so expanding its potentiality and implications for the future. This book aims to contribute precisely to this, to a new approach to, and understanding, of the Zapatista insurrection. My main objective has been to move towards a new theorisation of the Zapatista rebellion in terms of the importance of the 1994 events for radical politics and radical subjectivities. Furthermore, I aim to contribute to a critical examination of certain aspects of the Zapatista movement within the contemporary political order. I have made use of material and literature in English and Spanish, as well as fieldnotes that I took during my nine months’ visit to the Zapatista autonomous zone in 2001. However, I have to state right from the start that this book is not a straightforward, empirical account of the Zapatistas. My presence in Chiapas has been very important in terms of acquainting myself with Spanishlanguage literature and