CHAPTER 10 THE MAYAN ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT 381via their spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, a remarkably postmodern policy
statement, the essence of which follows, given here in the original poetic structure:
Zapatismo is not an ideology,
is not a bought and paid for doctrine.
It is... an intuition.
Something so open and flexible that
it really occurs in all places.
Zapatismo poses the question:
“What is it that has excluded me?”
“What is it that has isolated me?”... In each place the response is different.
Zapatismo simply states the question
and stipulates that the response is plural,
that the response is inclusive. (Marcos 2001:440)
In the mode of interpreting this cryptic statement, we know that the Zapatistas are
waging a new kind of war, beginning with radical reorganization of local governance
and political representation in their home communities in the southeastern jungle
and highlands of Chiapas, and extending to the national political arena and world
stage via the Internet, a well-organized diplomatic corps, and thousands of Indian and
non-Indian allies.
Hence, we are dealing with a fascinating postmodern social and political move-
ment in which native Mesoamericans are the instrumental actors and whose cultural
logic can, with effort, be unpacked and understood. Zapatismo is both a work in
progress—as they would like it to be represented—and a model for other grassroots
democratic movements around the world—as they would also like it to be repre-
sented. In the current shift of Latin American politics to the left (see later), Zap-
atista models for consultative democracy and public policy are widely cited, from the
streets of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, to the legislative chambers of Venezuela and
Bolivia. Zapatismo, borne of local reality in Chiapas, has turned out to be a forma-
tive and highly influential voice in current Latin American politics. Our inclusion of
this chapter in this textbook should be understood as a scholarly judgment call on
the part of the authors—that it isimportant—and an invitation to students to apply
the information that precedes this chapter to make sense of the complexity of what
is happening today. We believe that the causes, strategies, and long-range goals of this
movement can lead to an appreciation of how native Mesoamericans are responding
to and contributing to some of the great political and economic issues of our time.
We also believe that an understanding of the Maya Zapatista Movement will lead to
an appreciation of how and why the forces of globalization—free trade, rapid and
open communication, democratization, rational faith in what Thomas Friedman
(2005) has called a “flat earth” recognition of the inevitability of global capitalism—
are bringing some unexpected consequences to Mexico and Latin America. Indeed,
the Maya Zapatista Movement may provide some general insights about how Third