The Zapatista “caracoles”: Networks of resistance and autonomy

Abstract

A new way of thinking and actingAmong the rich contributions of the Zapatista movement toward building an alternative is the recent project of the caracoles (conches) 1 , which undercuts many empty promises put forward by politicians and intellectuals. The project of the caracoles, according to Comandante Javier, "opens up new possibilities of resistance and autonomy for the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the world -a resistance which includes all those social sectors that struggle for democracy, for liberty and justice for all." As a commentator in Spain noted: "Zapatismo has become a tool which can be used by all rebellious forces that sail the sea of globalization. It invites us to build towards community and autonomy with the patience and tranquility of the conch."The idea of creating organizations to be used as tools to achieve certain objectives and values, and to ensure that autonomy and the motto mandar obedeciendo ("lead by obeying!") do not remain in the sphere of abstract concepts and incoherent words, is one of the most important contributions of the caracoles. Its creators are conscious of the limitations and the possibilities of the project.Subcomandante Marcos recognizes with a mixture of modesty and enthusiasm that the caracoles constitute "a small part of the world that we aspire to, which is made up of many worlds." They will be, he affirms, "like doors which allow entry to communities and which allow the communities to exit; like windows so that people can look inside and so that we can see outside; like megaphones to project our 1. [The conch is a large and cavernous seashell, pointed and spiral, which can amplify sounds -both what one hears and what one emits. The indigenous people of Chiapas, writes Subcomandante Marcos, "held the figure of the conch in great esteem." It was, for them, a symbol of knowledge and of life. They used it "to summon the community" and as "an aid to hear the most distant words." Marcos, Chiapas: La Treceava Estela, July

Global Discipline and Dissent in theLongue Durée

“…We see company towns, banlieux, townships and other spaces created during the previous world order to fix social relations being taken over by residents resisting the costs and consequences of the new world order (Desai, 2002;Haffajee, 2001;Herod, 1991Herod, , 2001bLapeyronnie, 2006;Roy, 2005;Upchurch, 2001); we see occupied factories and community gardens in Argentina (Chatterton, 2005;Zibechi, 2004); an occupation movement of peasants in Latin America that is so quotidian and lingering that it sometimes barely registers in the consciousness of its perpetrators (Edelman, 1999;Kearney, 1996;Peloso, 1999;Petras, 1998); community gardens (here too) and squats and the Union Paysanne in Quebec (Bruneau, 2004;Silvestro, 2008); autonomous municipalities in Chiapas (Casanova, 2005); protest villages in Honduras (Bonta, 2004); students gnawing at restrictive free-speech zones on American campuses (Academe, 2002;Fox, 2008); the city of La Paz taken over in protest against neo-liberal restructuring (Gilly, 2005).…”

Resistance at the Borders of Power: Reflections on the Zapatista and Palestinian Experiences

“…The struggle for freedom is in effect transformed into a struggle for the legal recognition of struggle. (EZLN 2018a) The self-governing structures being created by the Zapatistas draw on indigenous traditions such as decision-making by assembly, and the Zapatistas have deliberately developed governance norms of inclusive, horizontal, participatory democracy to reinvent their collective identity as a movement (González Casanova 2005;Starr, Martínez-Torres, and Rosset 2011). Through frequent rotation of positions of responsibility at the level of the community, autonomous municipality, and regional Caracol, the Zapatistas have avoided developing a professionalized/bureaucratic leadership and instead socialized the learning experience of participation in the movement.…”

El movimiento Zapatista: una cultura politica híbrida y paradójica

“…En ese mismo tiempo, el EZLN organizó elecciones paralelas a las formales en el estado de Chiapas y, en el mismo día en que el candidato oficial, el priista Robledo, empezó su periodo de gobierno estatal, el EZLN inauguró un gobierno de transición bajo el liderazgo de Amado Avendaño, el candidato del Partido de la Revolución Democrática, una situación que duró hasta mediados de 1995. En este periodo se constituyeron también regiones autónomas en municipios ocupados (Harvey, 1999), seguidos en 2003 por Los Caracoles y Juntas de Buen Gobierno, unas redes de resistencia y autonomía (González Casanova, 2005). En la tercera declaración de la Selva Lacandona se invita a la sociedad civil a unirse al MLN con el objetivo de destituir al Gobierno y reformular la Constitución mexicana.…”