ABSTRACT
Zapatistas was the name given to members of the peasant revolutionary army led by Emiliano Zapata against the dictatorship of General Porfirio Díaz during the Mexican revolution (1910–17). The name was later adopted by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), a peasant indigenous movement in the Mexican state of Chiapas that rose up in arms against the federal government on 1 January 1994 (see peasant movements). The rebellion was timed to start on the same day as the instigation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was being celebrated by the USA and Canada, thus symbolizing the Zapatistas’ opposition to capitalism, globalization, and neo-liberalism. The Zapatistas acquired worldwide publicity thanks to their charismatic spokesperson, Sub-Commander Marcos. The movement has succeeded in exposing the situation of social exclusion and inequality affecting the indigenous population in Mexico, which lives in conditions of extreme rural poverty and is still deprived of the most basic citizenship rights.
