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Two Examples of Indigenous Protest
MalaysiaResponse to Green Revolution changesLocalizedEveryday Acts of Resistance
ChiapasResponse to long-standing land crisisNAFTALocal-National-GlobalViolent and Non-violent protest
Understanding the Moment
January 1, 1994: Mexico’s entrance into NAFTA“NAFTA was the death certificate of the indigenous peoples of Mexico” —Sub-Commandant Marcos
Why Zapata?
Emiliano ZapataRevolution of 1910—move to reestablish communal land holdingEarlier loss of peasant land
Juaraz gives individual title to land—soon lost to peasantsDiaz (1876-1910) sells huge tracts to investors to attract capital
Chiapas
Southernmost state in MexicoPoorest State
Highest malnutrition, illiteracy rates20% population has no income40% has an income less than minimum wageSmall number of wealthy families dominate economy and politics
History of Repression in Chiapas
During revolutionary era, local private armies maintained control through terror1916-Federal Army repelled by Chiapas militias, land reform stifled1993-land held by 6000; 2 million peasantsRigid control by ruling PRI—Mayan community repeats hierarchiesDissent suppressed by vigilantes
The Crisis Intensifies
Mayan farmers resettled in deforested areasNo title to land—harassed by vigilantesProtestants harasses by Catholic establishmentModernization projects (dams, oil drilling) yield uneven benefits
Causes of Poverty
Communally held land can be sold (Constututional Change)NAFTA approvedDecline of agricultural subsidies for poor farmers
Need for peasant agriculture rethought as part of restructuring debt (1982)Fertilizer subsidy removedCoffee price supports removed
Zapatista Tactics
Struggle over legitimacy—Zapatistas subvert gov’t authority by using rhetoric of the revolutionTraditional appealsUse of technology (internet, media)
Responses to the Zapatistas
Government Restraint—military response prevented by media coverageGlobal financial community—Zapatatistas are a hazard to confidence in Mexican markets and must be removedCan government financial aid reach the needy?Danger of vigilantes—1997 massacre of 45 Zapatista sympathizers
Two Examples of Indigenous Protest
MalaysiaResponse to Green RevolutionLocalized actionEveryday acts of resistance
ChiapasResponse to:
• Long-standing land crisis
• NAFTA• Vigilante
Local-National-Global consequencesViolent and Non-Violent
Peasant Movements Then and Now
Often resemble each other in tacticsIn contemporary movements, the conditions that led to the protests were consequences of the globalization of the capitalist economy
MalaysiaChiapas
Capitalism and Crisis
Capitalism requires a society of perpetual growthEnormous flexibility and adaptabilityFar reaching consequences for patterns of social and political relationsLong-term consequences?
The Revolution of 1848
Began in France on Feb 24New Republic based on universal sufferageSpread to Bavaria, Berlin, southwest Germany most of Italy, even Columbia
Understanding 1848
Immediately successful—most governments overthrownWithin 18 months, revolution defeated and old regimes restored (except France)Worker movements-protest oppression of labor under industrial revolutionNational liberation-peripheral nations against imperialist and colonial powersModel—French Revolution of 1789
Worker Movements-How to Improve the Lives of Workers
Fight for the right to vote and form workers’ partiesContinue to work towards violent revolutionOrganize unions and gain the right to strike
Nation-States of Europe and America outlawed unions and criminalized strikes
Nationalist Antisystemic Movements
Peripheral movements led by middle class and intelligentsia reaching out to other anticapitalist factionsBy the beginning of postwar era, major objectives had been metIncorporation of new zones
Political restructuringCreation of new modern states
1968Antiwar protests in United StatesDNC riots in ChicagoKent StateStudents and Workers in ParisStudent activism in JapanViolence and Olympics in Mexico
1968United States war against Vietnamese nationalismSoviet suppression of CzechoslovakiaConsequences?