Chiapas: state of play twenty years after the Zapatista uprising

On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional: EZLN) made itself known to the world by taking up arms in the province of Chiapas, Mexico. These hooded natives are revolting against the poverty and social exclusion of which they claim to be victims for more than 500 years. The date of their uprising was not chosen at random. It was on this same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force.

Since then, the Zapatista movement has been organizing to resist the government's counter-insurgency strategy but also its neoliberal policy materialized in particular by the “Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project”. Twenty years after the EZLN uprising, a look back at this movement rich in lessons for all those who aspire to the effective realization of fundamental rights. The reasons for the uprising Although Mexico was ranked the fourteenth richest country on the planet in terms of GDP in the early 1990s, this was not reflected in the standard of living of certain indigenous communities in Chiapas. Indeed, the country's wealth is very unequally distributed. In the countryside, where the majority of Chiapanec indigenous people reside (Tseltal, Tsotsil, Ch'ol, Zoque, Tojolabal), living conditions are difficult and access to basic services is restricted, although the region is very rich in resources. natural (minerals, wood, water, biodiversity). Poverty results in infant mortality well above the national average, particularly due to lack of access to varied food. According to the report following the visit to Mexico by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, one in three indigenous children under the age of five suffers from chronic malnutrition, compared to one in ten among non-indigenous children.^[1]http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A-HRC-19-59-Add2_en.pdf, accessed November 7, 2013. It is also in Chiapas that children spend the shortest time in school, which explains the highest illiteracy rate in Mexico.^[2]http://www.sipaz.org/es/chiapas/chiapas-en-datos/402-ds-3-educacion.html, accessed November 7, 2013. This situation revolted the Chiapanec indigenous people who had already clandestinely created an army in 1983. Ten years later, they decided to storm the five main towns in the region. The Mexican government at the time strongly suppressed the indigenous rebellion but thanks to popular pressure, a ceasefire was signed after only twelve days of fighting. A national dialogue then began for the first time between the EZLN, the government and civil society on the situation of the indigenous people, thanks to the mediation of Bishop Samuel Ruiz. This dialogue led in 1996 to the San Andrés Accords, on the recognition of “indigenous rights and cultures”. ^[3]Full text of San Andrés Accords These agreements include, for example, the right to determine one's way of life and thus assume the right of indigenous people to be consulted before the implementation of any project likely to alter it. But despite this agreement, the government continues to send soldiers to the countryside and does not respect the agreement reached. As a sign of protest, the EZLN rejected the San Andrés Accords in 2001 and interrupted all negotiations with the government. Empowerment of Zapatista communities The Zapatista communities therefore unilaterally engage in a process of empowerment to put into practice in the territories they control their thirteen demands: health, justice, democracy, shelter, education, land, peace, food, freedom, work, communication, independence and culture. For the sake of consistency, the Zapatista communities are breaking all relations with the government and therefore no longer benefit from any state support. On the other hand, the rebel communities are accompanied by members of the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas who adhere to Zapatista demands, in particular "the search for dignity, justice and peace, and with respect for the environment and the life ". ^[4]Interview with Father José Aviles Arriola, Vicar of Justice and Peace in San Cristobal de las Casas, San Cristobal de las Casas, October 25, 2013. Bishop Samuel Ruiz thus founded the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center which works with “the excluded and organized population of Chiapas”. ^[5]http://www.frayba.org.mx/sobre_nosotros.php, accessed November 7, 2013. The Zapatistas continue to build their autonomy today, thanks to the creation of schools, health centers, popular banks, and coffee-producing cooperatives. Respect for the principle of mandar obedeciendo; “command by obeying” (Editor’s note: the orders of the people) is still relevant today. Indeed, each important decision is taken in the General Assembly and the members of the “Good Government Councils” must then obey the decisions taken by the Assembly. This body is the highest authority in the administrative scale of the Zapatista organization. Volunteer representatives, who are in constant rotation, sit there with mandates that are revocable at any time. The resources that allow the Zapatistas to fight Direct participatory democracy is therefore one of the keys to the political organization of the Zapatistas. On the ground, social progress is difficult to assess. The Zapatistas remain extremely poor despite the land recovered and worked collectively. However, as a fellow Zapatista says, "the communities may be poor in terms of access to healthcare, access to the job market or education, but the Zapatista movement has given the inhabitants of the southeast mountains Mexicans with the tools to take charge of their future, by improving their self-sufficiency, by creating another education, by allowing greater female participation in decisions. This enriched people in terms of dignity but also pride in their Mayan origins. The creativity of all these people is obviously a great resource, as is the perpetuation of our ancestral knowledge. But the greatest resource of the movement is human resources, organized towards the same objective of autonomy and self-sufficiency. The Zapatistas are not so much respected for their courage in taking up arms, but rather for the longevity of their movement and its essential contribution to democracy. Today, well-wishers from all over the world come to Escuelita ^[6]The “little school”, initiated in the summer of 2013, wishes to provide Zapatista learning to sympathizers around the world. Given the success, a second edition is organized in… Continue reading (the small school) to learn what made it possible to create a viable alternative. In the summer of 2013, more than 1,700 people flocked from around the world to live with Zapatista families and participate in the course called “Freedom According to the Zapatistas.” This is the biggest exercise in communication and openness of the EZLN since its creation. The “Mesoamerican Project”, for what development? Despite their successes, the Zapatistas' vision clashes with the government's development projects, for whom nature and its natural resources are only a tool for economic growth. Chiapas enjoys a strategic geographical location. Located on the southern border of Mexico, it is the gateway to northern Mexico and the United States but also an inevitable trade route to the rest of Central America. To develop this potential, the government extended the Puebla-Panama Plan ^[7]The Puebla-Panama plan (or PPP) is a plan presented by the Mexican government in 2001, intended to develop the south of the country and Central America. This project aroused strong… Continue reading within the “Mesoamerican Project”. This project, which includes 10 Central American countries, aims to “facilitate the design, financing and implementation of programs, projects and activities of regional interest. (…) Partner countries work to promote economic growth and development in Central America.” ^[8]http://www.proyectomesoamerica.org/ In Chiapas, this project includes the development of road infrastructure and electricity generating facilities (dams and wind fields), the opening of mining concessions, the increase in investment in biofuels, the construction of a new complex tourism as well as the expansion of regional airports. All these projects endanger the peasant and indigenous way of life, hence the resistance of a segment of the population, for whom agriculture is the only desired means of subsistence. Most farmers and indigenous people rather want development that takes into account the Mayan concept of “Lekil Kuxlejal” which refers to the harmony of life, unity, the integration of the individual into the community and into nature. , to the Common Good of Humanity. We also find this concept in other South American countries, for example in Ecuador and Bolivia where “Buen Vivir” (“Living Well”) is enshrined in the Constitution. It is important to point out that beyond the Zapatistas, there is in Chiapas a multitude of social movements brought together in associations, unions, cooperatives, religious movements, which are organizing to resist the construction of the various infrastructures planned in the Meso Project. -American. Demonstrations, petitions, road blockages and occupations of official buildings are frequent. Violence and clientelism To try to weaken the protest, the Mexican government is using various strategies. The state of Chiapas became more militarized from 2006 with the collaboration of the United States, officially to fight against organized crime. Incessant incursions are carried out into rebel communities, and humiliations and kidnappings are legion. There are also cases of torture. Amnesty International; [Culpables conocidos, victimas ignoradas. [Torture and abuse in Mexico, Mexico, 2012]] It is never the Mexican army that directly uses force. It prefers to train paramilitaries who carry out atrocities, as was the case in the community of Acteal where 45 villagers lost their lives on December 22, 1997. ^[9]For more information, see: http://acteal.blogspot.mx/ Beyond the disproportionate use of force and the routine violation of the most fundamental human rights, the government uses judicial harassment against leaders who oppose government projects. This is very effective in limiting their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. It is also very costly for the accused who have to spend money and devote a lot of time to their defense. Implementing a clientelist policy, the government does not hesitate to offer gifts to its faithful, while others sink into poverty. The government "uses the public treasury to generate dependence on government social programs, with the intention of severing the relations of indigenous communities with rebel movements." ^[10]Center for Human Rights Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Entre la poliítica sistemicay las alternativas de vida, Informe sur la situación de los derechos humanos en Chiapas pendante los … Continue reading Father José Aviles Arriola, vicar of the Justice and Peace Commission of San Cristobal de las Casas, affirms that “the government is lying when it says that Chiapas is emerging from poverty because there is more consumption of basic necessities. The basic foodstuffs distributed by the State are in fact produced by large agrifood companies. The money generously given to the poor therefore returns to the pockets of big capital.” Despite this repressive policy, the Zapatistas show alternative paths of development. From the start of the movement, emphasis was placed on the international dimension and the anti-systemic nature of the demands. The opposition to neo-liberalism is central. In 1996, the “Intergalactic” meeting that they organized was one of the privileged expressions of this, also a precursor to the World Social Forum. If there are certain practical organizational difficulties on a daily basis, this movement continues to move forward with great humility, learning from its mistakes. The large number of young people proudly claiming to be Zapatistas clearly shows that the movement is far from running out of steam. The success of the Escuelita also confirms the hope and curiosity that they continue to arouse throughout the world. The very active participation of women in Zapatista political life, despite the very macho climate of Mexico, is only one example among others of the positive transformations that the Zapatistas have put into practice. What support should you provide? As the EU-Central America free trade agreements have just been ratified, it is necessary for European and Belgian leaders to demand respect for human rights from the Mexican government. The exploitation of Chiapas resources that Europeans will enjoy cannot be done to the detriment of indigenous populations. The demilitarization of the area, and in particular the disarmament of the paramilitaries, is essential to improve the situation in Chiapas. It is also possible to take part in the “urgent actions” of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, which regularly alerts the public about the situation of fundamental rights in Chiapas and possible actions to take. It is equally urgent to call for the immediate release of all political prisoners. To promote the democratic process in Mexico, the European Union must also insist that the Mexican State apply Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which recognizes the right of indigenous populations to be consulted before each project affecting their way of life. Stefan Reinhold

Attachments