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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Sidney Tarrow
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

On New Year's Day 1994, a previously unknown group startled Mexico by announcing a program of liberation for Mexico's indigenous people. Led by a masked man calling himself Subcomandante Marcos, the group seized the governmental palace in San Cristóbal, Chiapas. From the palace's balcony, they read a vivid declaration to the Mexican people. It declared that a long-suffering people had endured centuries of oppression and deprivation, but finally HOY DECIMOS ¡BASTA! (Today, we say, Enough). Soon, people all over the world were paying attention to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in Spanish).

At various points in the declaration, the authors identified themselves in these terms:

  • A product of five hundred years of struggle

  • Poor people like us

  • People used as cannon fodder

  • Heirs of our nation's true makers

  • Millions of dispossessed

  • “The people” as described in Article 39 of the Mexican national constitution

  • The Zapatista Army of National Liberation

  • Responsible, free men and women

  • Patriots

Announcing a revolution on behalf of Mexico’s poor, dispossessed, indigenous people, they called for “us” to rise against “them.”

That revolution did not take place. But the Zapatistas soon made an impact on Mexican politics. Within Chiapas, they held off threatened suppression by the army and forced the national government to start negotiations over peasant property rights. On a national scale, they started a more general campaign for indigenous rights. During the spring of 2001, they staged a colorful march from Chiapas – Mexico’s southernmost state – to Mexico City itself. The march publicized demands for enforcement of local autonomy laws the legislature had passed in response to concerted pressure from indigenous people all over the country, backed by international activists.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Language of Contention
Revolutions in Words, 1688–2012
, pp. 1 - 7
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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  • Introduction
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.001
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  • Introduction
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.001
Available formats
×