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As Latin America's "progressive governments" suffer electoral defeat after electoral defeat, a number of analysts today pronounce the end of the political cycle that these governments came to represent. Within this context, the question arises: where does Latin America's left go from here? In his paper, "Zapatismo: other geographies circa "the end of the world," Álvaro Reyes explores the often overlooked, and yet, increasingly prescient analysis produced by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) regarding the contemporary global situation and the possibility for a non-state centered spatial strategy for anti-capitalist movements.
We commissioned a translation of Álvaro's paper to reach Spanish speaking readers—and in solidarity with anticapitalist movements in Mexico, as well as in Central and South America. The abstract of the paper follows in Spanish and English, and the PDF of the translation is linked to the bottom of this page.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, EZLN!
— The Editors
Resumen. Un coro de activistas e intelectuales afirman que el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional ha dejado de existir o bien se ha vuelto irrelevante desde el punto de vista político para México y para el mundo. En este artículo, propongo otra tesis: a pesar de la enormidad de su tarea, el proyecto zapatista mantiene el pulso y se merece una cuidadosa consideración. A este fin, sostengo, en primer lugar, que gran parte de la confusión con respecto a la “muerte” del zapatismo procede de un cambio en la estrategia zapatista en respuesta a la descomposición de la sociedad mexicana a resultas de la actual crisis global del capitalismo. A continuación, detallo cómo, habiendo previsto esta descomposición, los zapatistas se propusieron teorizar la naturaleza del capitalismo contemporáneo y reconceptualizar en consecuencia la política anticapitalista. Desde principios de la década de 2000, esta reconceptualización ha conducido a un desplazamiento en la estrategia zapatista que, aunque no sea fácilmente inteligible para los medios de comunicación contemporáneos o para buena parte del discurso académico actual, se centra en la construcción de “otras geografías”. Por último, argumento que, a juzgar por los acontecimientos de los últimos años, esta estrategia ha permitido a los zapatistas no sólo perseverar, sino, además, plantear una alternativa concreta a las corrientes dominantes de la izquierda con respecto a la estrategia política y espacial.
Palabras clave: Zapatistas, México, crisis capitalista, territorio, reterritorialización, nuevas territorialidades, anticapitalismo.
Abstract. A chorus of activists and intellectuals claim that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has either ceased to exist or become politically irrelevant for Mexico and the world. In this paper I put forward the rather different thesis that despite the enormity of their task, the Zapatista project continues apace and merits careful consideration. To this end, I first argue that much of the confusion regarding the "death" of the Zapatistas arises from a change in Zapatista strategy in response to the decomposition of Mexican society resulting from the contemporary global crisis of capitalism. Next, I detail how, having foreseen this decomposition, the Zapatistas set out to both theorize the nature of contemporary capitalism and reconceptualize anticapitalist politics accordingly. Since the early 2000s this reconceptualization has led to a shift in Zapatista strategy that, although not easily intelligible to contemporary media or much academic discourse, centers on the construction of "other geographies." Finally, I argue that judging from the events of the past few years, this strategy has allowed the Zapatistas not only to persevere but also to pose a concrete alternative to the dominant strains of left political and spatial strategy.
Keywords: Zapatistas, Mexico, capitalist crisis, territory, reterritorialization, new territorialities, anticapitalism
