(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The story is well known, but deserves to be repeated: In the morning the 1. January 1994 explosively entered the scene in Mexican politics on the same day as the North
the US Free Trade Agreement NAFTA came into force. Led by the pipe-smoking front figure Subcomandante Marcos and dressed in his distinctive Finnish hoods, the Zapati Army for National Liberation (EZLN) marched down from the mountain villages of Chiapas and declared war on the Mexican government. The government saw it as an attack, but for the Zapatists it was a defense against what they saw as the ultimate neoliberal attack on the indigenous peoples' livelihoods and existence. Today, over 20 years later, the Zapatists are once again back in national politics – this time as the driving force behind the Indigenous National Congress (CNI).
In May of this year, CNI announced the creation of a new and independent government, which they say will express "the need, resistance and struggle for those most affected by the neoliberal policies of death and deprivation suffered by the country". As spokeswoman, CNI has chosen María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, better known as only Marichuy, a 53-year-old herbalist and central figure in the Zapatist rebel movement. Next year, she will be the first indigenous woman in Mexico's history to stand as presidential candidate, though she emphasizes that it is mostly for the sake of symbolism. "Our goal is not to get lots of votes," Marichuy tells The Guardian. "Our goal is to shed light on the problems of the weakest in society."
For although the state contributes economic development programs to the bottom layer of society, the indigenous peoples' lands are still ravaged by multinational corporations, privatization of land and mega projects with hydropower, mining and highways. And as a symbolic effect on the destructive forces of NAFTA stands the corn, the collective heart of the indigenous peoples, which today is largely imported cheaply from the United States.
"The political elite views the earth and our natural resources as means of profit," says Marichuy. “They don't see it as serving society or needing protection. For the government, we are indigenous peoples only in the way. "
Marichuy becomes the first indigenous woman in Mexico's history to run for president.
Radical democracy. About 15 percent of Mexico's 120 million people are indigenous. At the very bottom of the social hierarchy is the indigenous woman – the least respected, least protected and most neglected person in society, to borrow a little from Malcolm X's famous quote. Therefore, the Mexican and international media have devoted much of their attention to the gender of the new presidential candidate. But that is a completely wrong focus, according to CNI itself.
"What they don't understand is that Marichuy is just the voice and face of a collective, horizontal, anarchist, anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal government. This is a radical democratic initiative, where not one person can sit at the top and command, "reports Radio Zapatista from one of CNI's press conferences.
The initiative of the Zapatists and CNI has met criticism from, among others, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who founded the left wing party Morena three years ago. Obrador is currently the favorite for next year's presidential election. On Twitter, he thinks it is "hypocritical" of the Zapatist and CNI to take part in this election when they have been working for years on a boycott of parliamentary politics. But CNI sees itself as a broad coalition, which is pronounced anti-capitalist – a word that has largely disappeared from left-wing parliamentary parties around the world. CNI's strategy is to infiltrate and destabilize the political elite, located on either the right or the left.
“Parliamentary elections mean a large party at the top. The power they have will continue to accumulate power and profit forever. We want to sneak into that party and destroy it as best we can, ”as CNI representative Carlos Gonsález told Radio Zapatista.
Autonomy and Anarchy. To stand for presidential election may sound paradoxical to a movement that sees participation in parliamentary elections as the first step on the path to acceptance of the capitalist class society. But the struggle of the Zapatists has always been first and foremost about autonomy – to get control of themselves, regardless of the state. This they achieved after the ceasefire with the Mexican army in the late 90s, and managed to retain it by renouncing all forms of public support. Zapatist autonomy means collective leadership and direct democracy for all the 38 so-called rebel municipalities in their home state of Chiapas. Leaders cover their faces to avoid personal worship, and are replaced every 14 days. The collective leadership has consisted entirely of indigenous peoples since front figure Subcomandante Marcos declared that he was really just a "hologram", retired in the background and took the name Galeano in 2014.
Autonomy and direct democracy have given the Zapatists the label "anarchists," but they themselves refuse to be defined solely by Western political ideologies. Instead, they confess to the ideology "neozapatismo": a combination of what we know as green anarchism and agrarianism, the ideas of the rebel leader Emilio Zapata of the Mexican revolution, as well as the ancient regime of Mayan Indians.
In Mexico, one can safely say that the indigenous people influence the anarchist ideas to a greater extent than the anarchist tradition affects them. For the Zapatists and the CNI, the right to autonomy and direct democracy is tantamount to their right to live out their cultural heritage, which they regard as threatened by the neoliberal politics of the country's political elite. However, despite the autonomy they have achieved, CNI and its supporters are still part of the Mexican big community. They are struggling to preserve nature and promote sustainable agriculture, but still need markets to sell their products – something that undermines free trade's cheap imports. They therefore understood that in order to change their own living conditions they had to change not only themselves but also the rest of the country.
In order to change their own living conditions, CNI had to change not only itself, but also the rest of the country.
In 1994, the Zapatists used weapons to put indigenous peoples' rights on the political agenda in the country. Today, they are using the 2018 presidential election, and the election campaign leading up to it, to raise awareness of their own cause. The election of Marichuy as presidential candidate is a continuation of the goal of creating a bond between the struggle of the indigenous peoples and the rest of the Mexican working class – a struggle to be seen and heard. CNI's decision to participate in national politics is therefore all about ordinary political power.
“This is not an election campaign, but a campaign for life itself. It is a last option for a civilized existence for all the people of Mexico, ”says CNI according to Radio Zapatista. And maybe Marichuy is a possible alternative for the 40 percent of Mexico's population who don't care enough to vote in Mexican elections. “We need to tear up the root of all that is hurting Mexico. This country needs healing, ”concludes herbalist Marichuy in the interview with The Guardian.
