404 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
have recently achieved in free elections in Bolivia and Guatemala, both of them na-
tions with indigenous majorities—oblige us to take the Zapatista movement seriously
as a case study in what radical democracy can mean in a post–Cold War world in which
Soviet and United States interests can no longer impose their homogenizing will on
client nations for reasons of “global security.” At stake is what inclusioncan mean in
de facto multiethnic nations.
The Zapatistas have stated over the past few years, in both language and practice
that we have attempted to glimpse at in this chapter, what they envision as the just
place of indigenous people in modern Mexico. Although they are careful to state
that inclusion will undoubtedly mean different things in different national contexts,
their main points regarding Mexico appear to be these:They wish to engage the Mexican state as equals with other nonindigenous Mexicans.
They no longer deplore the nation as a categorical enemy, for they realize that they are
First Citizens.
They are no longer willing to feign neutrality in relation to the state, for the state belongs
as much to them as it does to other Mexicans.
They refuse to make pragmatic deals with the subalterns of the state (that is, local polit-
ical bosses), for these deals in the past have typically yielded well-being for the few (that
is, the Indian elites) at the expense of the many.
They realize that local resistance in the name of a single indigenous issue is futile for two
reasons. First, indigenous identities and causes are plural, not unitary or homogeneous.
Second, the neoliberal Mexican state is adept at using democracy (the will of the major-
ity) to suppress any single minority appeal for an “exception to the rule of law.” For that
reason they are offering their own model of radical democracy that incorporates the will
of the many in a single governing body. This is the de facto autonomy that they wish to
have recognized by the state.We conclude with a reference to an extraordinary work of Zapatista art (see
Figure 10.3). A serigraph entitled Por la patria,this piece is by Dionisio (who like all
Zapatistas, chooses to use no surname). The original of the work came to Gary Gossen
from an art dealer in Oaxaca who received it from the artist in exchange for a piece
of Aztec stone sculpture in his shop. The signed prints of this piece are for sale
throughout Mexico, and the image has also become a popular subject of Zapatista
poster art.
The piece has several unusual qualities, not the least of which is its quasi-
anonymity. This generic ownership, or anonymity, is a pattern related to the mean-
ing of their signature ski masks—which are said to mock the pejorative image of the
“faceless” Indian that they attribute to the Mexican state—that the Zapatistas have
chosen for virtually all of their public statements. The picture depicts a jungle fan-
tasy, rendered almost in the manner of Gabriel García Márquez’s fictional village of
Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
The central subject emerging from the miasma of the jungle is a Zapatista rebel
of blended physical traits, perhaps those of a generic mestizo of indigenous, Euro-
pean, and Asian background. The central androgynous figure has exaggerated male
(hands) and female (eyes) characteristics. Staring out at us relentlessly, he or she