Morton, Adam David
"La Resurrección del Maiz": Globalization, Resistance and the Zapatistas
This article develops an analysis of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional, active in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. Taking recent reflections on neoliberal globalisation and resistance as its point of departure, questions are raised about how the EZLN movement is a response to specific historical circumstances in Chiapas; how the EZLN is a response to the restructuring of the capitalist system on a global scale; and how it is probing the social and political foundations of a future order by challenging the legitimacy and authority of the Mexican state. The article proceeds along two main lines of inquiry in order to emphasise the past, present and future dimensions of the EZLN movement. Firstly, the roots of the rebellion are situated within changing relations of production that affected Chiapas in the 1970s, which led to a growth of radical peasant organisations. The more immediate context of the rebellion is also discussed in relation to the restructuring of capital in Mexico represented by the rise of neoliberalism and increased coercion throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Secondly, the innovative methods of struggle developed by the EZLN are analysed within the categories of counterhegemonic resistance developed by Antonio Gramsci. Overall, these various aspects of the EZLN are discussed to show how the movement has mounted a critique of social power relations within Mexico as well as the conditions of world order by contesting and resisting neoliberal globalisation. (IGS News, n. 14)
| Language | eng |
| Names |
[author] Morton, Adam David |
| Subjects |
Neogramscismo
Relazioni Internazionali Globalizzazione Messico Zapatistas Studi di caso
Neo Gramscism
International relations Globalization Mexico Zapatistas case studies |
