1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: Did Cool Stuff. You're a weekly reminder that whenever there's 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 1: bad stuff happening, there are people doing good things too. 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: And usually I'm like, and some of those people are 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: morally compromised, and it's okay, or it's not necessarily okay, 6 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: but it's okay that all kinds of people try and 7 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: do things. I call the show Cool People Did Cool Stuff, 8 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: but really, we're all cool people, and we're all doing 9 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: cool stuff, and even if some of us are also 10 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: doing uncool stuff, because actually we're all complicated people who 11 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: do complicated stuff. I am your host, Margaret Kiljoy, the 12 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: only person who can determine what is and isn't cool. 13 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: And this week we're starting a series about the alter 14 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: globalization movement that destroyed the neoliberal consensus and opened a 15 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: crack in the facade of the neo colonial empire. It 16 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: mean a lot of neo in this episode. People really 17 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: liked using the word neo in the nineties, and then 18 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: I think the Matrix just like killed all of that 19 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: because they were like, yeah, we get it, you made it. Literally. 20 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: Now there's like a literal guy named Neo and he's 21 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: like the space Jesus. No, not space Jesus, computer Jesus. 22 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: He's like, I don't know whatever, and a trans allegory, 23 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: and like all good movies, it'll get turned into something 24 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 1: terrible by writ wing people eventually. That's besides the point. 25 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,960 Speaker 1: As you might have noticed or remembered from part one, 26 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: I am without a guest for this particular series because 27 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: I wanted to keep real odd hours while researching and recording, 28 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: and just to kind of mix things up a bit. 29 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: I want to think my producer, Sophie Lickterman, my audio engineer, 30 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: hi Eva. Eva's name isn't hi Eva, it's Eva, but 31 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: everyone's to say hi to Eva hi Eva. And of 32 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: course our theme music was written for us by unwoman 33 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: in part one of this series a couple days ago 34 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: or very more recently than that. If from my perspective 35 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: and certainly my dog's perspective, who's going to go out 36 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: as soon as I finished recording this. But I don't 37 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: want to say exactly what he's going to go out 38 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: to do because he's currently curled up by my feet 39 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: and if I said the word, then he would think 40 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: it's happening right now. Anyway, A couple days ago when 41 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: you heard this, I talked about the rise of neoliberalism 42 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: in the colonial core the UK and the USA, and 43 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: how after the collapse of the USSR, neoliberalism rapidly began 44 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: to spread around the globe. The end of the Cold 45 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: War was heralded as the end of history. Society had 46 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: found its final form, some people claimed, and that form 47 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: was liberal aka capitalists. In this context democracy, Well, some 48 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: people didn't want history to end. The end of the 49 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: Cold War knocked out two of the three big polls 50 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: of socialism. Democratic socialists took a real hit when there 51 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: was no longer a USSR for them to look good against, 52 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: and authoritarian socialist took a real hit when you know 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: the USSR collapsed. But socialism might be best understood as 54 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,919 Speaker 1: a triangle. I have a bias towards thinking about things 55 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: in triangle shape. The three points of the socialist triangle 56 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:10,559 Speaker 1: historically are anarchist or anarchistic socialism, authoritarian socialism, and democratic socialism. 57 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: All three argue for public ownership of capital of the 58 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: famed means of production. Anarchist socialism and authoritarian socialism are 59 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: both revolutionary socialism in that they generally argue for directly 60 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: seizing the means of production. Authoritarian socialism and democratic socialism 61 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: are both Marxist and that their ideological lineage can be 62 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: traced to Marx and before that, authoritarian socialism can be 63 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: traced a Blanchy. But that is me nerding out and 64 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: you do not have to remember that democratic socialists generally 65 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: argue for working within the frameworks of democratic republics in 66 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: order to move the government towards more socialist ends. This 67 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: is why they aren't revolutionary. And with the fall of 68 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: the USSR they thought they do really well. But instead 69 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: it turns out capitalism was only playing nice with democratic 70 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: socialism because democratic socialism was on its side of the 71 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: Cold War against the USSR. As soon as the USSR fell, 72 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: capitalism turned on its ally and destroyed it. It's not 73 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: completely destroyed. I don't want to call that fight over. 74 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: Democratic socialism still has an important role to play. But 75 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: did the democratic socialist places took a real hit? And 76 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: I am risky and oversimplifying things again. With authoritarian socialism 77 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: knocked back and democratic socialism knocked back too, anarchists and 78 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: anarchistic socialism stepped back into the ring. Bottom up socialism. 79 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: This branch or pole or corner or whatever. Of socialism 80 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: had been much more prominent in the nineteenth and early 81 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: twentieth century, substantially more prominent than authoritarian socialism throughout much 82 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: of the world. But after the Russian Civil War, by 83 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: like nineteen twenty one, the Bolsheviks had staged their coup 84 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: and put down the rest of the socialists. The authoritarian 85 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: socialists came out on top of the socialist club, and 86 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: you can see our long series about the Russian Civil 87 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: War for war about that. Now, I want to be 88 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: clear that the socialism that kicked in hard after the 89 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: fall of the USSR was not anarchists with quotes in 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: all ways, it was anarchist dick. There were and are 91 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: plenty of self identified anarchists in this camp. But the 92 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: thing that happened after the Cold War was that horizontally structured, 93 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: direct action focus socialism came back to the center stage, 94 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: and this time it called itself lots of different things, 95 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: especially thanks to the strong grassroots and indigenous components. The 96 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: actual group that really broke the end of history, the 97 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: group that brought about the end of the end of history, 98 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: came about in the kind of cool way that a 99 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: bunch of horizontal militant democratic leftist groups have come into 100 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 1: being a bunch of Marxist Leninist gorillas were like, you know, 101 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: this Marxist Leninism thing isn't really working with us. We 102 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: like ways of doing things better and created something syncretic 103 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: and beautiful. It'll happen later with the Kurdish gorillas, but 104 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: for now we're talking about how it happened in Mexico. 105 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: We're talking about the Zapatistas. The Zapatistas take their name 106 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,799 Speaker 1: from Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary leader from the Mexican Revolution. 107 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,119 Speaker 1: I am not going to side quest on him particularly hard, 108 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: because I've been planning a Zapata and Pancho Villa episode 109 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: since basically forever, or at least since I did the 110 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: episode about the Maganistas, the indigenous anarchist movement that kicked 111 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: off the Mexican Revolution. Suffice it to say that Emiliano 112 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: Zapata was real interesting and specifically was into land reform, 113 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: that thing where you take land away from the big 114 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 1: rich landowners and redistribute it back out to individuals and communities. 115 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: It was also probably queer, but I haven't done my 116 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: deep dive on the guy yet, so I'll give you 117 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: my verdict on that some other time. Zapatistas take their 118 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: name from Zapata, but they're entirely their own thing. Their 119 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: full and formal name is the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. 120 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: The easy ln what the Zapatistas did and are still 121 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: doing well. To quote SubCom Modante Marcos, the most famous 122 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: spokesperson of the Zapatistas, who's also a brilliant writer, I 123 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: just want to like point that out. He's actually one 124 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: of the best selling authors in Mexico, and it's written 125 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 1: a ton of stuff. And I've written like a novel 126 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: that he co wrote. It's called The Uncomfortable Dead, I think, 127 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: and it was with Paco Agnacio Dabio Dos. Anyway, he's 128 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: a very poetic writer. Quote. It doesn't appear in any 129 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: written texts, but rather the ones that haven't yet been 130 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: written and yet have been read for generations. But that's 131 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: where the Zapatistas have learned that if you stop scratching 132 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: at the crack, it closes back up the wall heals itself. 133 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: That's why you must keep at it, not only to 134 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: deepen the crack, but above all, so that it does 135 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: not clothes. But if there's no crack, well we'll make 136 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: it by scratching, biting, kicking, hitting with our hands, head 137 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: an entire body in order to make in history what 138 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: we are a wound. Then someone will walk by and 139 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: see us seize the Zapatistas hitting ourselves hard against that wall. 140 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: Sometimes that passer by is someone who thinks that they 141 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: know everything. They pause and shake their head and disapproval, 142 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: passing judgment and declaring, you will never bring down the 143 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: wall that way. But sometimes, ever so often, someone else, 144 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: an other will walk by. They pause, look understand, stare 145 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: down at their feet, at their hands, their fists, their shoulders, 146 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 1: and their body, and then decide this spot is as 147 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: good as any. We'll be able to hear them as 148 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,839 Speaker 1: they make a mark on the unmovable wall, if only 149 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: their silence was audible, and they go at it end quote. 150 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: And so the Zapatistas, by their own estimation, they've created 151 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: an opening, a crack in the wall of the machinery 152 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: of domination. And I just I really like that metaphor. 153 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: You know, we can get really hard on ourselves about 154 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: like not winning, right. We haven't created a you know, 155 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: socialist utopia of whatever flavor. But our job sometimes is 156 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: just to hold open a space and show that this 157 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: is possible and that fighting against this is possible. Unfortunately, 158 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 1: there's cracks in the other direction too, where even when 159 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: you have a wall of anti capitalist podcasting, there's a 160 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: wound in it, kind of a little way that the 161 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: dark gets in, you know. We call those ad breaks. 162 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: There's one. So where did the Zapatistas come from. Well, 163 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,680 Speaker 1: people have been fighting colonization since colonization first reached the 164 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 1: shores of Turtle Island. But the most immediate organizational precursor 165 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: to the Zapatistas is the Fueraes de libreasi on Nassanal 166 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: the National Liberation Forces the FLN, a much more traditional 167 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: Marxist Leninist gorilla group. I've read one source that says 168 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: that this group started in Monterey in northeastern Mexico, and 169 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: another that claims it started in Chiapas. I'd believe the former. 170 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: I believe it started in Monterey. They started in August 171 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, after the nineteen sixty eight Flatal Local massacre, 172 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: when the Mexican Armed Forces gonned down three hundred and 173 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: fifty to five hundred students in Mexico City. Basically people 174 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: looked at that shit and were like, Yeah, why are 175 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: we just protesting when they're shooting us, we should be 176 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: shooting two and become hard to find, and so they 177 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: formed the FLN. After a few years, some folks from 178 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: the FLEN made their way down to Chiapas and set 179 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: up in the jungle. Chiapas is a Mexican state down 180 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: in the southeastern corner of the country, right up against Guatemala. 181 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: About five and a half million people live there, so 182 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: roughly the population of Finland, more than the total population 183 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: of Ireland, and about two thirds the population of New 184 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: York City. There's a rainforest in Chiapas, the Lacandan Jungle, 185 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: that crosses the imaginary line between Mexico and Guatemala. There 186 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: are a ton of Mayan ruins in the area, and 187 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: an awful lot of different indigenous groups still live there. 188 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: After several years of not really getting anywhere in the FLEN, 189 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: now in Chiapas six folks were like, Okay, we're still 190 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: part of the FLN, but this branch is called the EAZLN. 191 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:57,199 Speaker 1: So the EASYLN was founded on November seventeenth, nineteen eighty three, 192 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: for two years, this small group of people lived in 193 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: near total isolation in the mountains, just learning how to 194 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: live there basically, and they didn't really make enough connections 195 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: with the other people who lived there. In nineteen eighty four, 196 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: a few more folks showed up, including a man who 197 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: would one day become maybe the only famous Zappatista Subcovedante Marcos, 198 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: the author that I was talking about before, who would 199 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: go on to become its spokesperson. Now, the Flen didn't 200 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 1: show up to find a blank slate in Chiapas, and 201 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: I think that this part is really important. The book 202 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 1: The Zapatista Experience by Jerome Beshett picks the start of 203 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 1: the Zapatista story as October nineteen seventy four and an 204 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: indigenous congress that brought together more than a thousand delegates 205 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: from all sorts of indigenous communities in Chiapas. All sorts 206 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: of different organizing bodies came from this meeting working together 207 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: to try to turn shit around for people. And like, yeah, 208 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,439 Speaker 1: you can say that the easy Eleen came from the Flen, 209 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: and that is like technically organizationally true, but you're talking 210 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: about like six people came from the atheln you're talking 211 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: about the overwhelming majority of Zapatistas. This is more Their 212 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:12,839 Speaker 1: actual background is indigenous organizing, the Indigenous Congress, and I 213 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: think it's important at this Congress they came together from 214 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: a variety of positions. One important part of their organizing 215 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: was future friend of the pod liberation theology. I think 216 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: we talked a little bit about liberation theology here and there. 217 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: We talked about Brazil a while back. Anyway, Liberation theology 218 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 1: is a branch of Catholic theology the fights to liberate 219 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,079 Speaker 1: oppressed people basically that have been growing in Latin America 220 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: for a couple decades at that point, and had of 221 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: course syncretized with indigenous theological structures. Then also at this congress, 222 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: there are the Maoists, the northerners who came down from 223 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: central and northern Mexico to help. They were part of 224 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:57,199 Speaker 1: an organization called Proletarian Line. But at least according to 225 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: some of what I've read, the Proletarian Line folks, the 226 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:02,839 Speaker 1: Maoists they were like kind of into government, right like, 227 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: because they want to create a government, and so they 228 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: started working alongside the existing governmental power structures in the area, 229 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: which caused a lot of tension and infighting. Throughout the seventies, 230 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: all these indigenous groups started getting a ton of shit done, 231 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: getting land redistributed, which has always been a major rural 232 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: and leftist and decolonial goal. Land redistribution basically get land 233 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: out of the hands of single rich people, the big 234 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: plantations and shit. It's been the goal almost everywhere forever, 235 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: and the American left needs to take a lesson from 236 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: the rest of the Americas about that. The Indigenous goal 237 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: was to break down the finca system the big est 238 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: states and replace it with the traditional hido system, the 239 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: communal lands. They tried and were repressed, and they tried 240 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: and then were repressed, and occasionally they made gains, and 241 00:14:55,280 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: so it went, and honestly, so it goes. While the 242 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: maoist faction of the organizing was kind of losing steam. 243 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: People were enamored with the idea of the state, and 244 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: so they're negotiating heavily with a state, and people kept 245 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: arguing about who got to be leaders, and eventually the 246 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: infighting split that whole part of things apart. In nineteen 247 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: eighty three, probably not coincidentally, the same year the easyln 248 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: the Zapatista's got their start, although on the other hand, 249 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: I've read that the Zapatista's at the beginning of the 250 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: ZLN was like so disconnected from what was going on 251 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 1: that maybe it was completely a coincidence. I'm not sure, 252 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: or maybe this thing that I read was kind of 253 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: exaggerating how isolated the Zapatistas were because to make the 254 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: point about how when they started really working with people 255 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: in the region, Because in nineteen eighty five, the EASYLN 256 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:50,239 Speaker 1: started recruiting or finally started succeeding in recruiting, and basically 257 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: some folks would leave their villages to come live in 258 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: the gorilla camps, while others would stay put and build 259 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: the infrastructural base for the resistance movement in the communities 260 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: they were already from. This is the clandestine period of 261 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: the EAZLN, which was definitely necessary. It's called the Mexican 262 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: dirty War because there's a lot of different dirty wars, 263 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: where basically it's when the government fights dirty and just 264 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: like kills a ton of people, usually with the US's help. 265 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: The CIA is heavily involved in all this shit. The 266 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: Mexican government was just assassinating hundreds of dissidents during that 267 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: time and locking people up. As the government kept showing 268 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: itself to be more and more fucked up, people got 269 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: more and more sick of trying to play the liberal 270 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: democracy game, and more and more people joined the Zapatistas. 271 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: Soon there were thousands of them. There was one catch, though, 272 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: that top down thing, the vanguard party that shows up 273 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: to the jungle to teach everyone how to fight, that 274 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: wasn't going to work for people. Marcos describes this as 275 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: the quote first defeat of the EAZLN, which he is 276 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: quite glad happened. He's quite glad the EAZLN was defeated. 277 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: He wrote, quote, we were not teaching anyone to resist. Instead, 278 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: we became students in a school of resistance, taught by 279 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: those who had been doing it for five centuries. Still, 280 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: though at this time they were ostensibly under the direction 281 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: of the FLN, they were just starting to really build 282 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: their own autonomy and democratic structures. Where they were and 283 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 1: what they probably didn't have, but you, dear listener, do 284 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: have a chance to have. Maybe they had it too. Honestly, 285 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,400 Speaker 1: advertising's kind of everywhere. This is an ad break, that's 286 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: what's happening. I'm pivoting to ads. Here they are and 287 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 1: we're back. Shit was heating up in Mexico at this point. 288 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,160 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty eight, a man named Carlos Salinas Dicotari, 289 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: usually just called Salinas, won the presidential election by a 290 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: pretty transparent voter fraud. The New York Times refers to 291 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: it as an open secret that this was fraud, and 292 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: this was more or less fully confirmed in two thousand 293 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: and four when some memoirs from the time were released. 294 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,360 Speaker 1: Everyone knew that the election was stolen from a leftist candidate. 295 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: But Selinus held onto power and began to institute that 296 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: neoliberalization shit fast and furious. His new government was like, yeah, 297 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: we're just going to privatize all the communal lands. Fuck you. 298 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: People marched against these policies. Tens of thousands of people 299 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: marched against these policies, and there was a march of 300 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: ten thousand indigenous folks that was heavily Easyln marching undercover 301 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: in these big marches because at the time, of course, 302 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: they couldn't be open about doing all these things because 303 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: they were an armed gorilla group living in the hills Glendestinely, 304 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: the Easyln held a referendum among their people and the 305 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: overwhelming majority were like, yeah, no more hiding and waiting, 306 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: armed uprising police, Which makes sense. Your government has just 307 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,400 Speaker 1: been completely stolen. You know it had been stolen before 308 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: that too, him pretty sure. But anyway, the fact that 309 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: this is a reference is actually pretty important because Marxist 310 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: Leninists generally practice something called democratic centralism. The basic idea 311 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: of democratic centralism is after something has been voted on, 312 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: everyone has to go along with it, and this is 313 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: to keep parties from splitting. It obviously doesn't work Leftist parties, 314 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: Marxist parties in particular, famously split all the time. But theoretically, 315 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: democratic centralism could be a form of direct democracy in 316 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: which people vote on the actual issues and then everyone 317 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: agrees to go along with the majority vote. In practice, 318 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: democratic centralism means that the party leaders are elected and 319 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: they decide what is to be done, and everyone has 320 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: to obey their orders. So it's worse than the American 321 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: system in terms of democratic process, which is saying something 322 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,919 Speaker 1: because we're not a particularly democratic nation as far as 323 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,160 Speaker 1: things go here in that we elect lawmakers and don't 324 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: vote on issues, and money votes every day, and you know, 325 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: there's so much money in lobbying and all that stuff whatever. 326 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,199 Speaker 1: But in this case there's no checks and balances. You 327 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: elect the leader, the leader decides what to do. That's 328 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: what Trumpists are practicing right now is democratic centralism. This Zapatistas, 329 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: though they didn't let their elected dictators dictate, They held 330 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,360 Speaker 1: a referendum. They worked to find out what people actually wanted, 331 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: even though they were ostensibly under the command of the FLN. 332 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: So in January nineteen ninety three, the easy ELN told 333 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: the FLN they were going to do an armed uprising, 334 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,879 Speaker 1: and the FLN was like, well, what do we say. No, 335 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: the easy LN was like, now We're doing it. At 336 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: this point, they formed a new governing group amongst themselves, 337 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: the Indigenous Clandestine Revolutionary Committee, and started to break the 338 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: chains of Marxist Leninist leadership. The new committee was led 339 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: by indigenous leaders referred to as commandantes. They built a 340 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: democratic structure, laws were not imposed from the top down. 341 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,159 Speaker 1: By the end of nineteen ninety three, for example, they 342 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: had passed the Women's Revolutionary Law, which had taken four 343 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: months of campaigning around various villages and communities to build 344 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: up a consensus for this law to be passed. For 345 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: adopting women's rights and centering them as the revolution within 346 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: the revolution. And this is a ten point program. The 347 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 1: first one reads, quote, women have their right to participate 348 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: in the revolutionary struggle in the place and at the 349 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: level that their capacity and will dictate without any discrimination 350 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: based on race, creed, color, or political affiliation. Other things 351 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: in the ten points include things like women get paid 352 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: fairly and can work, and women have the right to 353 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,479 Speaker 1: decide how many children they will have and take care of. 354 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: There's no forced marriages, guest to education, no beating women, etc. 355 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: Women are fucking equal. Basically, they did all of this 356 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: while they were in the middle of planning one of 357 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 1: the most important military attacks in history. Feminism didn't take 358 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: a back seat, Democracy didn't take a back seat. Equal 359 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: rights and horizontalism were the revolution, alongside gorilla training in 360 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: the hills, of course. Meanwhile, NAFTA, the North American Free 361 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: Trade Agreement, was set to go into effect on January first, 362 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four. On that day, Mexico was finally going 363 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,880 Speaker 1: to get to be fully modernized part of the big 364 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,919 Speaker 1: Boys club at the expense of their poor. So those 365 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: Zapatistas were like, yeah, best one, we'll do it. Six 366 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,120 Speaker 1: five hundred indigenous people were armed and ready to go, 367 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: and they took off at dawn. They wore balaclavas over 368 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,479 Speaker 1: their faces and red bandanas around their necks. They captured 369 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: four cities in Chiappas, although I've also read five, including 370 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,360 Speaker 1: the place that was the cultural capital and previously used 371 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: to be the governmental capital until eighteen ninety two. San Cristobaldeles, 372 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: the military commander of the San Cristobal force, was a 373 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,120 Speaker 1: woman who I believe was a cook, although I haven't 374 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: yet figured out her name. The implication what I read 375 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: was that her name was being left out of history 376 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: on purpose, not as a racer, but for her sake. 377 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: But I don't know. It might be written out somewhere. 378 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: There are so many books on the Zapatistas, and I'm trying, 379 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: and I've been reading and learning about them the entire time. 380 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,680 Speaker 1: I've been a radical, because these are the people who 381 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,679 Speaker 1: set up the conditions that radicalized me. As they marched 382 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:32,400 Speaker 1: on the cities, their rallying cry was yabasta. It's usually 383 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 1: translated as enough or enough is enough, and I like, 384 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: enough is enough. Subcommadante Marcos took to the balcony of 385 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: a government building and read the first Declaration of the 386 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: Lacandan Jungle, which declared war on the federal army and 387 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: demanded the removal of President Salinas the usurper. They called 388 00:23:55,080 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: on Mexicans to struggle for quote work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, freedom, democracy, 389 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: justice and peace. In that declaration, they were very clear 390 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,239 Speaker 1: about where the movement came from. It says we are 391 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: the product of five hundred years of struggle. Their original 392 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: plan was to take Chiapas and keep marching towards Mexico City, 393 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: planning to do something very similar to what the anarchist 394 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: Maganestas had done nearly one hundred years earlier in the 395 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: lead up to the Mexican Revolution, liberate territories and bring 396 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: the revolution with them as they went. Their plan was 397 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: to take control of the means of production away from 398 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: the capitalists and give it to the regional governments, organize 399 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: free elections, redistribute land, and institute the Women's Revolutionary Law. 400 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,159 Speaker 1: The Zapatistas had an advantage on their initial attack. The 401 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: Mexican army was either drunk or hungover from New Year 402 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: celebrations overall, and was slow to respond. This still wasn't 403 00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: an easy Fight. The Easy Alend chief of staff Subcome 404 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: Dante Pedro, died while taking the city of Las Margaritas. 405 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:06,679 Speaker 1: He was one of the founders of the Easy Elen, 406 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: a thin and blonde, hunchbacked man who was thirty one 407 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: when he died. The Zapotitisa has also captured a general 408 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: at his ranch, put him on trial, and released him 409 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: with the punishment that he would have to quote live 410 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,919 Speaker 1: until the end of his days, with the pain and 411 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: shame of having received the forgiveness and kindness of those 412 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:28,479 Speaker 1: people who have long been humiliated, kidnapped, robbed, and killed. 413 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: But Mexico deployed twelve thousand soldiers and the Zapatistas were 414 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:39,120 Speaker 1: wildly outnumbered. Worse, the government was willing to just kill 415 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: the shit out of their own civilians as a solution 416 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,880 Speaker 1: to the problem. After four days of fighting, the Zapatistas 417 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: largely retreated from population centers to avoid putting more civilians 418 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: in danger, and while the people of Mexico didn't rise 419 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,719 Speaker 1: up to overthrow their unelected leader, they did start a 420 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: massive campaign demanding that the government cease fire, and by 421 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: January twelfth, Selinus ordered a ceasefire and the Zapatista has 422 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: announced that they were suspending their offensive. They stopped because 423 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: it seemed to be what the people of Mexico wanted 424 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: after ten years of preparing for war. The war lasted 425 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: twelve days. The era of fire was over. Now was 426 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: the era of the word. For several months, the Zapatistas 427 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: were in peace talks with the government, but by early 428 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: March they were like, all right, you've said a lot 429 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: of stuff, mostly really negative, but we've got to go 430 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: talk to our people and see how they feel about 431 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: what you've said, because they see themselves as literal representatives 432 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: of the people, not the embodiment of the people's will 433 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: in some like czarist or authoritarian way, but literally like, well, no, 434 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: I've been delegated to go talk to you all, but 435 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,439 Speaker 1: I don't make decisions. The people make decisions. I merely 436 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,639 Speaker 1: communicate with you about those decisions, which is what actual 437 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: democracy looks like, and you don't get to know it 438 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: because we live in where we live. Meanwhile, Mexico itself 439 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: was in crisis. This one party pri had been ruling 440 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,320 Speaker 1: Mexico for decades and each president would serve one term 441 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 1: and then pick their successor. But Selinas a successor was 442 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: supposed to be this guy, Luis Donaldo Consolio Murrieta, but 443 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 1: he started drifting from the party line. He started talking 444 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 1: about the corruption of the government, he started talking about 445 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: indigenous rights, and then on March twenty third, nineteen ninety four, 446 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: he was assassinated. It is generally understood that the pri 447 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 1: had him killed. The Zapatistas put out their second Declaration 448 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: from the Lacandan Jungle, which is a call for a 449 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: national Democratic Convention, where six thousand delegates from various organizations 450 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: showed up to discuss building a bottom up democratic movement 451 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: in the country. I love that the Zapatistas have always 452 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: been in every tool in the toolbox kind of group. 453 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: We'll talk about it more in future episodes. Though occasionally 454 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: like support candidates in traditional politics, right, and they're also 455 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,120 Speaker 1: totally fine with occasionally you got to invade some cities, 456 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: and they also are like, but we're also going to 457 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: be working the whole time to build a bottom up 458 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: democratic movement, and you know that rules and is where 459 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,480 Speaker 1: most of their successes come from. Although again not knocking 460 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: the fact that they try every tool in the toolbox. 461 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: By December, the Zapatistas took control of thirty territories in 462 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: Chiapas and declared them territories and rebellion. This was the 463 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: foundation of what's become the autonomous municipalities, which will forever 464 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: be the real legacy of the Zapatistas. Taking over the 465 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: big cities was cool and necessary by my estimation. But 466 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: setting up an actual alternative society and defending it, that's 467 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: the reason everyone knows who these people are. I don't 468 00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: know exactly when these signs went up, but when you 469 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: drive into the autonomous territories, the signs along the road 470 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: read quote, you are in Zapatista territory, where the people 471 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: command and the government obeys. And everything I've learned leads 472 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 1: me to believe that they mean it when they say 473 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: that these autonomous regions. Of course terrified the government, which 474 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: you know, wants to be the governing body. They don't 475 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: want autonomous regions, they want to be the government. The 476 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: state was like, all right, fuck you, we're just going 477 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: to kill you. But they scoured the jungle and couldn't 478 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: find the leaders, despite arresting a lot of suspected Zapatista 479 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: sympathizers around the country. This is the advantage of having 480 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: spent ten years building a gorilla base of operations, they 481 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: did this crackdown where they were arresting sympathizers and shit 482 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: in classic government way where they were like, oh, we're 483 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: just looking to talk, but instead they would just arrest 484 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: everyone and try and destroy the movement. They failed, and 485 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: this is a really common thing too, when you try 486 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: to exert power against power, they'll be like, fuck, you 487 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: would kill and then when they can't kill you, they're like, 488 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: just kidding, but we're like friends, Let's just talk it 489 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: out as friends. So by March nineteen ninety five, the 490 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: government was back to the negotiating table. It helped that 491 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: the Zapatistas had support all over the country. When the 492 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: government docks the now famous mask spokesperson Marcos and put 493 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: out a warrant for his arrest with like his legal 494 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: name or whatever, ten thousand people, tens of thousands of 495 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: people marched in Mexico City saying we are all Marcos 496 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: and so. All the while, while all these various failed 497 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: and halfway successful negotiations are happening with the Mexican State, 498 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: the Zapatistas started doing organizing and negotiating. It was probably 499 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: even more important they started organizing and negotiating with the 500 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: international community. They met with leftists and anarchists and grassroots 501 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: activists of all sorts. There were a series of international consultas, 502 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: and the worldwide alter globalization was born. How they did 503 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: all of that and what it meant for everyone, including 504 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: eventually me, we'll keep talking about next week. Anyway, that's 505 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: part two of the series. I actually don't know how 506 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: long this series will be. I'm guessing four parts, but 507 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: we'll see. It depends on how many side quests I 508 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: go down, because there's so many cool parts of the 509 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: ultra globalization movement, Like, of course I want to tell 510 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: you about the history of the Black Bloc, but I 511 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: also want to tell you about all the like you know, 512 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: radical clowns and people who put on giant inflatable tubes 513 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: and use that to attack the police, and all of 514 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: the different like farmers movements. And we've talked about some 515 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,960 Speaker 1: parts of the altglobalization movement already, you know, listen to 516 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: our episode about the Argentinian cooperative movement and how as 517 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,479 Speaker 1: the Argentinian government fell into collapse as a result of 518 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 1: all the austerity measures, how people just started taking over 519 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: factories and running them on their own, because it turns 520 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 1: out you actually don't need owners to get things done. 521 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: You can get things done with the people who know 522 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: how to do things, which are the work. And there's 523 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 1: just so many cool parts to this story and it 524 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: makes me really happy to get to tell you, well, 525 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: this is another one of those episodes I've been thinking 526 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: about ever since the very beginning of the show, and 527 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: so I'm I'm glad to finally kind of take the 528 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: time to do this deep dive. And thanks for coming 529 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: along with me on this deep dive. As far as 530 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: things to plug, I guess I'll keep plugging Strangers in 531 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: a Tangled Wilderness, which is an anarchist worker cooperative publisher 532 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: that I work with. We put out podcasts, we put 533 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: out books, we put out other things, audiobooks, zines. One 534 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: of the big things that we do is we put 535 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: out zines of a lot of different types. We have, 536 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: for example, our Skills Zine series and our Skills Zine series. 537 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: We make all these zines as available as cheap as 538 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: possible to buy in bulk from us or you can 539 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: download and print them yourself. And we have like a 540 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: first aid one and we have one about I think 541 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: it's called doing it yourself or something. I don't have 542 00:32:58,440 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: it in front of me. You think I would have 543 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: this in front, but I don't. We have a zine 544 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:06,719 Speaker 1: about self managed abortion that hopefully won't well whatever. Actually, 545 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: I hope it's useful to people like it's great and 546 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: that's Strangers in a Tangled Olderness And you can find 547 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: it at Tangled Olderness dot org or you can support 548 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 1: on Patreon. If you give us ten dollars a month, 549 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: we will mail you a zine anywhere in the world 550 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: every month. And it's cool. And also all those zines 551 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: are free if I'm want to read them well on 552 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: the internet. All right, I'll see y'all next week. Bye. 553 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of 554 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, 555 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 1: visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out 556 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 557 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: your podcasts.