The handling of the crisis and the counterrevolutionary process that social democracy sets in motion
JON ORTIZ 03.Jul.22 Ideology
In recent months, the “social” and change agenda that the social democratic government has as a banner and the alternative to the crisis that it intends to lead in the face of the consequences of COVID-19 has been spreading and unmasking, which ranges from the rhetoric of “ new normality” to the continuation of the “fourth” transformation before the “attack” of the so-called opposition, say FRENAA or the coalition “Por México al Frente”, etc.
But let's see how, based on the recounting of some episodes on the way in which the social democracy manages the bourgeois state under its charge, the latter helps the extinction of the protest movements, how little by little it shows the true face of its management and seeks to eliminate any expression related to the social revolution.
The military issue and hidden militarism
During the years in which AMLO dedicated himself to vindicating his "victories," one of the topics he addressed was reversing the militarization that was being implemented by the other regimes, those of the right-wing social democracy, of the PAN (during the famous "transition democracy”) and the PRI (under the so-called “pact for Mexico” in which parties from the “right” to those from the “left” participated) and which is no small thing considering the measures aimed at militarization that AMLO and the new social democracy have implemented.
What seemed to be a temporary maneuver as a consequence of the failure to manage insecurity, that is, putting public security in charge of the military, and which was once constantly criticized by the social democracy of MORENA, has been imposed as the main resource that they have [1] and they have shown it by paying bills [2] , but also, in a cynical way they began to empower and de facto legitimize their presence outside the barracks [3] , and that is, in addition to being the main contractor of the AIFA project is also the main contractor of the so-called "Mayan train" to the extent that, according to the statements of AMLO and the director of FONATUR, SEDENA [4]would be the one in charge not only of building entire sections but of the "operation and administration of income and its resources through a new military company" [5] , which can only mean managing a greater flow of income by part of the military as well as a greater influence in the institutional framework and a greater weight in the economy; At the same time, another project has been launched, that of the National Guard (GN), a body whose main component is elements from the armed forces and which is also headed by a general [6] .
Incidentally, one of the first constitutional reforms that he implemented when he was in power was to incorporate the term "permanent armed force [7] " and that in recent days has revealed to be a true maneuver of cunning and treachery, since the GN passed under the control of the army in order to avoid its "decomposition" [8] , something that has little novelty since with commanders assigned from the FAP and with the training of its elements in schools that are run by the same institution [9] , given the inefficiency or plain inexistence of any other [10] , including the supposed police training to which the elements that compose it would be subjected has been ignored to the point of violating the law of the national guard itself [11]Again, social democracy demonstrates that under the bourgeois regime the laws are a cover for the illegality with which an exceptional regime acts and normalizes.
And the foregoing is not only worrying because of the increasing role played by military elements, but also because of the direction that has been imposed in the management of resources destined for security [12] , since we must remember that the institution has been founded on the defense of a political-economic order that benefits the bourgeoisie (and for such an example we can mention the new contracts with Motorola Solutions in terms of radio communication equipment [13]); and that its officers have stood out throughout its history for having the most reactionary elements, notable for the repression of the people as well as for being in collusion and working closely and in coordination with the political elite, or being part of it bourgeoisie, something radically different from the little that the head of the Navy recalled when trying to wash the face of an institution that limps on both legs and that differs little from the officials it criticizes.
To the crisis in the price of goods, more market is "recommended"
On the other hand, in recent weeks another conflict has been manifested, the increase in the price of goods as a consequence of a crisis in the world capitalist system that surpasses the government of MORENA, which, as a good administrator and firewall, proposed as an initial measure, in the face of the increase exorbitant increase in the price of gas, the creation of a supposed gas distribution company along with the establishment by the CRE of a "temporary" price control, which in particular has caused discomfort among gas workers due to that their precarious working conditions do not allow them to remain as gas carriers with the prices established by the CRE [14] . Combined with little power on the part of the executive to ensure that the established prices are respected [15]. In other words, not only were workers already precarious, and whose conditions did not depend only on them but on the chronic unemployment that exists under the capitalist regime in Mexico, updated today with the 4t, attacked, but little was done to “remedy ” the problems derived from the monopoly of the gas oligarchy [16] , which nevertheless profits in such a way from the energy sector, the head of PROFECO pointed out that the control of its price does not prevent competition [17](among monopolies). Once again, all of the above has caused gas to remain at extremely high levels compared to last year, which means that we workers now have to spend more without our purchasing power having improved, as the social democracy boasts, since inflation itself has responsible for pulverizing the vaunted "progress" regarding the "recovery" of wages.
Incidentally, social democracy promises to "tame" the consortium of oligarchs who own the monopolies with calls for ethics and simple claims that border on demagogic theater.
Another example of how MORENA bosses around the issue of the market was the so-called "energy reform", since in short it was proposed to divide the market (46% for the business community and 54% for the bourgeois state, through the CFE) arguing that it was that the business community "does not take over" the electricity market and electricity rates are "maintained" at a price "below" inflation [18] [19] , all this justified with the legend of "not delivering lithium ” to foreigners or private initiative [20]. Given which, the bourgeois objections issued in general go hand in hand with defending "competitiveness" and the "rule of law", to which the government responded that it was trying to recover the "stewardship" of the state in energy matters and without disappearing the participation of private initiative. Which, including the final result in Congress, has been further proof of the lukewarmness with which social democracy intends to control the bourgeoisie: "reorient" the market towards healthy competition, without touching any monopoly or tycoon.
On the social question, limited reformism and the hand stretched out to the business community
It is clear that the fuel that gave vigor to the “leftist” reformist wave is running out, because in part their very poor results in the electoral consultation demonstrated how little they have managed to speed up their capacity to mobilize the masses; On the contrary, it is organizations in “rebelliousness” such as the EZLN, as well as others from the left, that have been swept away or taken to the social democratic torrent with the purpose of banal demands such as those of “carrying out the pertinent actions in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake a process of clarifying the political decisions made in past years by political actors, aimed at guaranteeing justice and the rights of possible victims”; something that shows that the social democracy is not willing to investigate on its own the so-called crimes of the political elite, but to negotiate, for example, with the labor aristocracy by substituting them in an amicable way with their own figures, and to dupe the left, from the most bourgeois and reformist to the most naive; that the EZLN and the like spend their time demanding that MORENA “fulfill” what it promised or at least that the social democracy behaves like the progressive regime that it claims to be[21] is scandalous and shows how little serious he is with his fables, as well as the null intention of politicizing and putting an end to the so-called "bad government".
On the other hand, the state governments of the "transformation" have shown themselves to be lousy in their administration and intransigent with the demands of the various sectors of society; to the point of carrying out a frontal and punitive attack against the normalist comrades in Chiapas, as the most intransigent and repressive example, or the process of evident militarization in Tabasco and Michoacán.
It should be emphasized that in the face of the supposed "fight" against corruption, everything possible has been done to dismantle the social organizations that still survived without ties to the political apparatus, through the "individualization" of government subsidies; or if not, see the case of the remaining rural Normal Schools, of which, being "guerrilla nests", the least risky option to dismantle them is to eliminate them as a fraternization center and pulverize the social ties of the students [22]. trying to sell the idea that by spending the subsidies on their own, they would achieve more without having to resort to "corrupt intermediaries", ignoring the fact that their survival to this day is the result of the resistance and organized work of the group of normalistas .
On the other hand, AMLO, when attending an event in Chiapas and being reprimanded by the CNTE teachers, said that "we don't owe anything (to the teachers)," he further detracted from the protest and made remarks with which he implied that his government has dedicated itself to materializing the regime of "freedom (to aspire to be a good bourgeois)", (that) everyone's problems will be solved automatically; but we must remember that in his government the businessmen of the once mafia "power mafia" have been guests of the first line in his morning conferences, despite the fact that many of these individuals are responsible at the head of their monopolies for disasters of epic proportions such as the spill in the Sonora River, the responsibility of Grupo México, the collapse of subway line 12, in which the construction company CICSA part of Grupo Carso[23] has full responsibility and this has not only been questioned but has been an episode to show the complicity that some characters very close to AMLO want to keep hidden by altering the results of the expert opinion as well as blocking any attempt to serious and thorough investigation [24] .
The work of dismantling any non-aligned movement or organization is notable, in a quite subtle way by the way, because while looking for a way to undermine its social base or livelihood, a campaign is launched to enhance the achievements of the proposal , trying to highlight that the corrupt and clientelistic “intermediaries” are over, despite which the treasury continues to be used discretionally, as demonstrated by the results of the Sembrando Vida program.
Another example of the tragicomedy of the 4T is the pathetic inefficiency with which the Attorney General's Office (FGR) has operated against scandalous examples of corruption, at the hands of businessmen such as Alonso Ancira of AHMSA, who was released even after having embezzled the treasury and which did not show signs of fulfilling its commitment until he was "threatened" with prison again; It would be the last straw if, like Miguel Alemán Magnani, he took an international trip to “confer” with investors and ended up moving his home abroad. We should remember the thousands of individuals who are overcrowded in the prisons of this country, victims of the immobility of the judicial system, of the arbitrariness of the police, the military and the officials of the FGR.
And it is that, in fact, one of the most recurrent messages of social democracy, in addition to "republican austerity", is that the "emblem" projects will be completed in the next 2 years and this goes hand in hand with the constant conflicts that have arisen, for example, with the construction workers of the AIFA [25] , due to the violation of their rights, and with the community members of the adjacent regions, due to the poor quality of the works that were given to them in exchange for the cession of their land for the project; In recent months, another conflict was triggered at the Dos Bocas refinery due to the protest of some 5,000 workers from ICA Fluor (a subsidiary of the same construction cartel involved in the tragedy of Metro line 12) who demand payment of overtime, and better conditions[26] of work, and before which it was sent to the Navy and "shielded" with anti-riot elements, resulting not only in its containment as if it were a mob of arsonists [27] , with several wounded in between, but also a justification-accusation that the employer complies with its labor obligations and that the dissatisfied are not workers [28] .
Social democracy, through its "neutrality" game between workers and businessmen, pretends to advocate for the former by giving sermons to the mafia of monopolies, even when MORENA constantly acts against the interests of the working people and turns a deaf ear to the constant violations of rights. rights of the residents of the “emblem” projects in the southeast; a new example of such behavior is in the case of the expansion of the train that will connect the AIFA with CDMX, which tries not to disturb the activity of the companies that are on the track by building elevated sections in their area, while destroying the life of the communities that live on the route, responding to claims that there is "no more budget" (at least for the working people) [29] .
It would suffice to see the cases of influence in which the "elite militancy of MORENA has benefited, because even with its motto of "transformation" social democracy is not different from the other bourgeois parties because there are plenty of cases of corruption [30] , as it is in the case of Senator Guadiana, the influence and nepotism of Sánchez Cordero, Monreal or Mario Delgado, or the cases of career whitewashing of former governors by giving them the opportunity to remove them from the country as ambassadors, giving them a white check to get away with any accusation, to today Quirino Ordaz, from Sinaloa, Claudia Pavlovich, from Sonora [31] , etc.
So it becomes evident that the "commitments" of the social democracy of "transformation" once again fall on deaf ears, they are nothing more than empty campaign slogans, deception for the naive who continue to defend them.
The economic task in which social democracy is an expert
Another good example of the servility of social democracy towards the monopolies is the discourse of alleged "benefactor" and "interventionist" policy in which while on the one hand it continues to appeal to recover, for "social" benefit, de facto privatized companies such as PEMEX [32] , wholesale contracts and in favor of the participation of the same monopolies as always continue to be granted [33] , demonstrating once again that the government allocating resources to PEMEX not only saves a parastatal that operates under capitalist logic but also saves and maintains the rate of profit of the capitalist monopolies, thereby avoiding the "fall of the economy".
On the other hand, the so-called "welfare policy" is not only another stratagem to save the monopolies, granting wholesale crumbs to workers, peasants and students because with the universalization of government scholarships, the profit rate of those is maintained. capitalist monsters [34] , but it is also the Keynesian way [35] of maintaining the well-being of the monopolies and thus, while the fighting spirit of the masses of workers is numbing, the future continues to be taken away from them with their programs of subsidiarization of labor for the capitalist class.
A couple of months ago a debate broke out at least in the leadership of the Bank of Mexico. The reason for the nonsense, what to do with the 12,117 million dollars received as SDR from the IMF [36] . These resources, according to AMLO, would not be used except to pay the unpayable foreign debt, to which some technocrats reacted with statements denying that possibility, but this is little news; Their disagreement is not about what will be done with it, but rather which group of the bourgeoisie will benefit most: the cartels of the former "mafia of power" or those who are supporting the "transformation" by putting their capital to "enlarge" his Mexico. Social democracy gives another kick to leftist organizations whose struggle is "national liberation."
Finally, even when the most reactionary sectors of the business leadership or the social elite denounce the supposed "communism" or "socialism" that the MORENA regime would "try" to establish, through its assistance programs or the fight against tax evasion, the Reality surpasses the fiction of those oracles, since social democracy is perfectly clear that its task is in accordance with the search for the well-being of the bourgeoisie through respect for its private property [37] "always" and, even, to serve as a containment for the Chinese bourgeoisie through greater economic integration with the US monopolies [38] , in the purest style of the reactionary White House lobbyists.
Final considerations on the "social" emblem with which social democracy is promoted
Finally, it is worth mentioning that recently some "nationalist" sectors and those anchored in the figures of Mexican reformism have once again tried to bring back the shadow of the "oil expropriation", recycling the legend that, just as "the Mexicans" recovered the oil, it is time to recover a resource such as lithium, electricity, banks, etc. And it is enough just to see how was the development of the “Mexicanized” economy after Cárdenas, that is, of the so-called national bourgeoisie and the capitalist Mexican State, to notice that the beneficiaries were the capitalist class, the political elite, their well-connected families. and his cronies; the same ones who today cackle support for the 4T or boast of "having accepted" the increase in the minimum wage in favor of the "well-being" of Mexican families,
One of the great transformations that have occurred in this renewal of the bourgeois cabinet is the popularization of the "social" character of it and of all its work, that is, each one is bathed in the mantra that the well-being of society I demanded it and, therefore, it is the most convenient. And it would be more or less credible with all the hype with which the "universalization" of scholarships and pensions is celebrated, if it weren't for the fact that news about corruption, nepotism, diversion of resources, collusion with drug trafficking or with monopolies help to show the true character of the regime, anti-worker, militarist, anti-immigrant, enemy of popular struggles and servile to the bourgeoisie.
As for the construction of the pharaonic infrastructure works of the regime, each criticism is answered with the indication of being part of the conservatives, reactionaries or the opposition. But one would have to ask if in the successive reforms through the previous social democratic regimes the benefit of the monopolies [39] and the bourgeoisie have prevailed, then what is the purpose of insisting on the search for “social” benefit by the the social democracy of MORENA [40] ?
It seems clear to me that those calls for the wisdom of the people, those applause in depoliticized commemorations, those vain celebrations such as the anniversary of AMLO's election or support for "progressive" or leftist regimes in Latin America have more to do with dumbing down of all vanguard political organization and therefore of the people and workers, since, being a government and claiming as a product of all the combative organizations of the past, all indication that there has been and will not be any progress for the people is silenced and domesticated with MORENA, but on the contrary a strengthening of the State and a weakened people without experience in political struggle; an exclusion of all the means of struggle won during the previous regimes; and therefore,
So it is worth reflecting on whether all the paraphernalia of the "transformation" is just another strategy to hide the favoritism that the "left" has for the capitalist order or its biased vision that the people are made up of a bourgeoisie that holds dominance. political and economic and a people formed by the proletariat that must settle for the crumbs that its “government” deems convenient; if that "concern" for the poor is not really another ruse to reduce the tendency to rebellion and outbreaks of violence of the working people or if all that call to get involved with the transformation is nothing more than one more trick to bring the weak “revolutionaries” with their arms down, from those anti-establishment movements of yesteryear, at the tail end of their servile bureaucracy.
Ultimately, MORENA represents the dam against the social revolution that is required and with each call to "refound" their party and their work they seek to justify their unlimited and counterrevolutionary reformism.
* Unpublished text.
[1] Julio Astillero, “Armed Forces, my main support: AMLO (Metapolitics note)”, at:
https://julioastillero.com/ Fuerzas-armadas-mi-principal-apoyo-AMLO/
[2] La Jornada , “National security spending grew twice as much as resources for health”, at:
https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -seguridad -national-growth-twice-than-resources-for-health/
[3] Contralinea , “Military deployment increases to 318 thousand 889 troops”, at:
https://contralinea.com.mx/despleg-mili ... efectivos/
[4] In recent days it has been revealed that the company that will manage the assets that have been granted to the FF. AA. It will be called “ Olmec Maya Mexica”.
[5] El País , "López Obrador gives more power to the Army: the Mayan Train will be a military heritage", in:
https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-03-18/lo ... le-otorga- more-power-to-the-army-the-mayan-train-will-be-military-heritage.html
[6] As an anecdote of the validity of the military career in our country, Plascencia de la Parra mentions in HOFA 1917-1937, p. 259 that "The military career in Mexico has the characteristic of something permanent, which is never lost."
[7] FAP onwards.
[8] Process , "The National Guard: A tricky conversion by Sedena", at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... ional-una- tricky-conversion-charge-of-sedena-269357.html
[9] That is, from the FAP.
[10] Article 39 of the GN Law, sections I. Police training institutions of the Federation, duly certified; and II. Public institutions, national or foreign.
[11] Animal Politico , “Only 5 of the 32 generals who lead the National Guard are trained as policemen”, at:
https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/09/ ... -policias/
[12] Animal Politico , “Military police take over from civilians in road surveillance”, at:
https://www.animalpolitico.com/2021/08/ ... ras-relevo
[13] Process , "Military and public security communications: The 4T removes a monopoly... but creates another", at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... militares- of-public-security-the-4t-removes-a-monopoly-but-creates-another-272273.html
[14] Energy Regulatory Commission, federal institution in charge of the general regulation of fuels and energy.
[15] La Jornada , “LP Gas Price Will Increase in Some States”, at:
https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/0 ... -aumentara -in-some-states/
[16] El Horizonte , “Artemio Garza company monopolizes the LP gas market”, at:
https://www.elhorizonte.mx/finanzas/aca ... mio-garza- /4054219 and Common Sense , “Cofece detects lack of competition in LP gas distribution”, at:
https://www.sentidocomun.com.mx/articul ... ?id=102899
[17] Milenio , “Only five families distribute more than 50% of domestic gas”, at:
https://www.milenio.com/businesses/solo ... 50-del-gas -domestic
[18] In short, increase energy subsidies.
[19] AMLO, “Presented report on reform initiative in electrical matters; “it suits the people”, affirms the president”, at:
https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2021/10/11/ ... nvenir-al- people-says-president/
[20] La Jornada , “Lithium does not enter into negotiations on electricity reform: AMLO”, at
https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2021/1 ... un-arreglo -on-the-electric-industry-AMLO/
[21] Proceso , “EZLN condemns operations against migrants: “it is shameful””, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/est ... os-contra- migrants-dare-271316.html
[22] Process , “AMLO criticizes self-government in rural normal schools; proposes direct delivery of resources”, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... os-directa -269089.html
[23] El Financiero , “Carso, ICA and Alstom, the consortium behind the failed Metro Line 12”, at:
https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/cdmx/20 ... /carso-ica -and-alstom-the-consortium-behind-the-failed-subway-line-12/
[24] Proceso , “MORENA blocks the creation of a commission on the collapse of Line 12”, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... a-creacion -of-a-commission-on-the-collapse-of-the-line-12-271941.html
[25] Milenio , “Santa Lucía airport construction workers protest”, at:
https://www.milenio.com/politica/comuni ... anta-lucia
[26] Chiapas Paralelo , “State riot police repress workers protest in Dos Bocas”:
https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticia ... de-obreros -in-two-mouths
[27] El Universal , “”I'm going to lose my eye!”; video shows wounded in Dos Bocas protest”, at:
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/ ... sta-de-dos -mouths
[28] El Financiero , “Workers and riot police clash at the Dos Bocas refinery”, at:
https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/naciona ... -enfrentan -in-dos-bocas-refinery/
[29] Proceso , “The train that leaves a town”, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/reportajes/2 ... blo-277359. html
[30] La Silla Rota , “Corruption is denounced, it is not tolerated”, at:
https://lasillarota.com/opinion/columna ... era/592513
[31] “López Obrador will appoint former opposition governors to Mexican embassies”, at:
https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/méxico-gob ... ajadas-de- mexico/47027882
[32] Senate of the Republic (Coordination of Social Communication), "Importance of private investment in the energy sector during the pandemic highlighted," at:
http://comunicacion.senado.gob.mx/index ... /boletines /49842-highlight-importance-of-private-investment-in-the-energy-sector-during-the-pandemic.html
[33] Proceso , “Grupo Carso de Carlos Slim, obtains a contract from Pemex for 196 million dollars to drill wells”, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/economia/202 ... upo-carso- de-carlos-slim-obtains-pemex-contract-for-196-mdd-to-drill-wells-271655.html
[34] Julio Astillero, ““I am convincing myself to rescue those at the top”, AMLO jokes about his social policy in a pandemic (Metapolitics note)”, at:
https://julioastillero.com/me-estoy-convenzando- of-rescuing-those-from-above-ironics-AMLO-on-his-social-policy-in-pandemic/
[35] BBVA , “What is the Keynes or Keynesian model?”, at:
https://www.bbva.com/es/keynes-para-dum ... a-when-se- speaks-of-the-keynesian-model/
[36] Expansión , “3 benefits that Mexico obtains with the financial aid of the IMF”, in:
https://expansion.mx/economia/2021/08/2 ... ico-con-la -financial-aid-from-the-imf
[37] Process, Government will “always” respect private investment; we are mixed economy: AMLO at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... 72479.html
[38] Process, AMLO warns China's global economic dominance if North America is not strengthened, at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... economico- china-world-world-if-north-america-is-not-strengthened-277870.html
[39] Think of Alemán Valdez's so-called agrarian counter-reform, the so-called "Mexican miracle during the dissimilar regimes of López Mateos and Diaz Ordaz, the subsequent oil boom, the resurgence of nationalizations in the face of the crisis of the 1980s with which banking was saved, the privatization movement under Salinas-Zedillo that gave birth to today's monopolies, and the subsequent Pact for Mexico in which what was left of the "welfare" state was cannibalized in favor of the "free market," in favor of of foreign monopolies.
[40] Proceso , "The function of companies is to pay taxes, not to do philanthropy: AMLO", at:
https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/202 ... uncion-de- companies-is-paying-taxes-not-doing-philanthropy-AMLO-274162.html
Texto completo en:
http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/
http://elcomunista.nuevaradio.org/el-ma ... -crisis-y/
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Tye Zapatistas (By ‘A Better Hell’)
The perennial seeds of Zapata
Originally published: Science for the People on Volume 25, no. 1, The Soil and the Worker by Simon P. Tye and Eric R. Hagen (more by Science for the People) | (Posted Jul 08, 2022)
Land and Liberty
Industrial agriculture has increased global food production over the past century while accruing disproportionate economic and societal benefits for industrialized nations. Across North America, these benefits have primarily been achieved by increasing production efficiencies, issuing extravagant corporate subsidies, and engaging in widespread habitat destruction that has transformed about half of the contiguous United States into cropland and pasture.1 Since the Industrial Revolution, and especially after scientific and economic developments of the early twentieth century, the cumulative effects of industrial agriculture have rapidly transitioned land ownership to a visible handful of shareholders.
Some of those hardest hit by mass consolidation of agricultural production are Indigenous people who struggle to maintain agrarian lifestyles and subsist in modern economies. Many Indigenous resistance movements have fought agricultural colonialism across North America, however few movements have countered oppressive economic, cultural, and societal conditions mediated by agricultural colonialism as successfully as the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) of Chiapas, Mexico. Under the banner of Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata, their movement has maintained territorial control for over twenty-eight years without official recognition by the Mexican government beyond the failed San Andrés Accord.2 Their movement has also captured worldwide public attention, in part due to writers like Homero Aridjis and Gabriel García Márquez and bands like Rage Against the Machine that skillfully described the formation, momentum, and endurance of the Zapatistas to their audiences.3
We are among those who have been inspired by the Zapatistas, both as socialists of some form who wish to see their project of radical democracy and Indigenous empowerment prevail, and as biologists who believe their agricultural practices can help form sustainable alternatives to the climate-ravaging, profit-oriented pursuits of industrial agriculture. We are not affiliated with the EZLN, nor do we speak for them; instead, we wish to outline their history and agricultural practices for those who are unfamiliar. In particular, we believe that previous writing on the Zapatistas has paid insufficient attention to imminent environmental threats facing their agricultural autonomy, and we wish to partially fill that gap.
Maize and Revolution
The Mexican Revolution and ensuing constitutional reforms promised widespread land reform and redistribution, which was primarily enacted by government-mediated partitioning of foreign-owned plantations into ejidos (or small cooperative farms).4 Although these government programs substantially increased land opportunities for agrarian workers, the revolutionary momentum waned under immense pressure from estate owners and corporate influence over the twentieth century. Then, in 1992, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari amended Article 27 of Mexico’s constitution to facilitate the dismantlement of ejidos and rapid growth of industrial agriculture.5
This rapid privatization further impoverished Indigenous agrarian workers across southern Mexico, who had already struggled to grow food and build homes on their stolen land. That same year, the Mexican government signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which allowed American farmers to sell maize below the cost of production across much of Mexico due to extensive subsidies.6 In turn, many Indigenous farmers were forced to give up agrarian lifestyles, and over 100,000 would leave to work at urban factories by the year 2000.7
After the passage of NAFTA, members of Indigenous groups across southern Mexico, including the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolab’al, and Ch’ol, rejected neoliberal tyranny across North America and revolted against the federal government. Rather than kneel on Zapata’s spilt blood, the EZLN declared territorial independence and began forming autonomous communities in central and eastern Chiapas. Today, the Zapatistas maintain tenuous, semi-peaceful relations with the Mexican government, and about half of Chiapas comprises the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities where “the people rule and the government obeys.”8 They have since expanded their territory to encompass forty-three communities, where they educate people, expand human rights of historically excluded groups, maintain agricultural independence, and peacefully persist amidst unabated globalization.9 These community-based goals are often implemented through regional schools, which, unlike state-sponsored schools, provide educational opportunities for both children and adults in native languages.10
While community education and outreach are key to the Zapatistas’ enduring persistence, another key element of their empowerment has been their focus on agroecology and sustainable community-owned farming. We believe that agricultural and other biological scientists have paid insufficient attention to how Indigenous knowledge can help form sustainable alternatives to industrial agriculture. In particular, we believe that weaving Indigenous knowledge into mainstream scientific inquiries can simultaneously increase the sustainability of food systems, reduce the use of environmentally destructive agricultural practices, and promote local food autonomy across societies. We hope this case study about the Zapatistas encourages discourse about the benefits of radical agricultural practices and growing costs of industrial agriculture.
Maize and Persistence
Maize has been a dominant crop in the Americas since it was domesticated in south-central Mexico around nine thousand years ago. The cultivation of maize also led to the development of the milpa system, a slash-and-burn farming method that is low-intensity and may even help ameliorate regional deforestation. In milpa systems, multiple crops are grown simultaneously for around two years, then left fallow for several years before subsequent use.11 This innovative system preserves topsoil and prevents excessive erosion, which are critically important in the nutrient-poor highlands of Chiapas.
Milpas include diverse compositions of crops, such as maize, beans, squash, tomatoes, and peppers, that are intentionally arranged to form intricate symbiotic relationships. Specifically, these crop arrangements allow squash leaves to shade the ground and retain moisture on rainfed farms, as beans fix nitrogen in the soil and climb sturdy corn stalks without additional structural support. Collectively, this forms a small agroecosystem that conserves resources, repels common pests without synthetic chemicals, and limits habitat destruction. These polycultures and regenerative agricultural methods are a far cry from the acres of monocultures that now dominate the once Great Plains and their fertilizer runoff that has made part of the Gulf of Mexico uninhabitable for most marine life.12
Defenders of industrial agriculture often argue that milpas produce lower yields than industrial farms, and thus they cannot be used along with other small-scale or organic practices to feed billions of people. But this is actually a matter of fierce debate: the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates about 75 percent of farms worldwide are the size of an average city block, and small diversified farms have been estimated to produce two to ten times as much food per acre as large monocultural farms.13 Moreover, beyond being a more sustainable food system, milpas also strongly reaffirm the Zapatistas’ food autonomy. For example, if the EZLN wished to engage in monoculture-style farming, they would become economically dependent on companies like Bayer that sell highly-integrated networks of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and hybrid seeds. These hybrid seeds must be repurchased annually at exorbitant prices to avoid lawsuits for copyright infringement and may interfere with the use of native maize seeds due to interbreeding or gene introgression.
These worries are not unfounded, as a gene present only in genetically modified (GM) maize was found to have introgressed into native varieties of maize in Oaxaca in 2001, soon after Mexico banned imports of US maize used for human consumption.14 Indeed, despite the Zapatistas’ early victories against industrial agriculture, they have been increasingly faced with agricultural colonization through maize homogenization. These fears have been realized for other small farms across North America, with companies such as Monsanto (which has since been acquired by Bayer) having filed over ninety lawsuits and spending about ten million dollars annually to prosecute farmers that infringe on hybrid seed patents.15 Such oppressive litigation tactics and financial penalties would be insurmountable for Indigenous groups.
Merely acknowledging Indigenous knowledge is insufficient and, instead, we must include Indigenous researchers in the production of science.
In response, Schools for Chiapas—a nonprofit organization that provides educational and building assistance to remote regions of the state—and the EZLN began working with ecologist Martin Taylor to develop the Mother Seeds in Resistance Project. This program created a seed bank to protect regional agrobiodiversity, began genetic testing to preserve native maize varieties, and is part of a growing number of Indigenous seed sovereignty initiatives created to protect heirloom varieties around the world, including the Anishinaabe Seed Project and the Indigenous Seed Sovereignty Network.16 While non-Indigenous movements against GM organisms have largely focused on more controversial claims of health risks, the Mother Seeds of Resistance Project is an anti-colonial and ecological project that preserves the autonomy of agrarian farmers and rejects the environmentally destructive practices of industrial agriculture.
Climate and Nature
However, regardless of whether the Zapatistas are able to preserve native maize diversity, all maize varieties are expected to experience detrimental climate change over coming decades that will reduce crop yields. For example, both native and hybrid maize varieties that have relatively high yields over consecutive years are strongly affected by environmental stressors compared to varieties with low yield stability.17 Under an optimistic perspective, standing genetic variation within native maize could provide selective breeding opportunities for adaptations, such as increased yield stability, that may be beneficial under future climates. Even so, sustained increases in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide are expected to decrease the nutrient content of most crop plants due to energetic trade-offs. Without substantial global cooperation to mitigate future climate change, environmental degradation will exacerbate nutrient deficiencies already experienced by the global poor, including the people of Chiapas.
In southern Mexico, climate change is expected to primarily manifest in the forms of increased mean annual temperature and precipitation variability, as well as increases in the frequencies of droughts and floods during critical growing seasons.18 These increases in environmental variability may profoundly impact regional maize production and potentially result in mass crop failures during extreme years because most regional farms are rainfed rather than irrigated.19 If realized, these extreme environmental conditions may also cause a suite of less predictable negative feedbacks that additively or synergistically diminish regional maize yields. One prominent example is that heavy rainfall can cause nitrogen to leach from soils, especially in regions with limited topsoil with low nutrient content such as the highlands of Chiapas.
Yet, while climate change has become the focus of global change activism, habitat destruction is an oft-overlooked element of the global environmental crisis. For example, Chiapas harbors some of the richest biodiversity across Central America but experienced one of highest global rates of deforestation during the 1970s and 1980s.20 In total, about half of the Lacandon Jungle was destroyed between 1975 and 2000.21 Regional deforestation has been driven by cattle ranching, natural resource extraction (such as a ten-fold increase in land used for palm oil production since the enactment of NAFTA), and human population growth.22 These economic pursuits for regional resources extend beyond the land, with major corporations such as Coca-Cola extracting over 300,000 gallons of water daily. In the neighboring town of San Cristobal, inhabitants have greater access to soft drinks than pure water, which has eroded local health conditions.23 Collectively, these circumstances unequivocally threaten the land, water, and forests that Emiliano Zapata and other Mexican revolutionaries fought and died for.
Autonomy and Camaraderie
The case of the Zapatistas is one of many Indigenous communities that are adamantly combating environmental degradation caused by the remnants of colonialism and the rise of neoliberalism. From the Standing Rock protests and other movements for water sovereignty, to northeastern Ecuadorians filing a class action lawsuit against Chevron for poisoning their people through oil spills, to Oceanic nations that beg the international community to abandon fossil fuels so their islands don’t disappear, it is clear that some of the most powerful movements against environmental destruction are led by Indigenous people. Amplifying their voices and knowledge is imperative to combat global change and enact global reform to include diverse community members as decision-makers and shareholders.
As scientists, we can counter the erasure of Indigenous peoples and work to build more sustainable global agrosystems by removing barriers between scientists, agrarian farmers, and Indigenous people. This idea is not new, and was notably proposed by biologists and SftP veterans Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin. Indeed, Indigenous agricultural systems have been studied by anthropologists and other theorists but largely ignored by agriculturalists and biologists in favor of industrial techniques, despite a few exceptions. Moreover, such biases have materialized as the deep entrenchment of agricultural corporations across American universities.
In general, scientists across fields need to increasingly consult and attribute Indigenous knowledge, as well as other knowledge from outside academia, to facilitate scientific progress. For example, Richard Levins frequently invoked the case of Cuban meteorologist Fernando Boytel, who incorporated knowledge of wind patterns from charcoal workers to make a more accurate wind map of Cuba’s Oriente province. Beyond regional environmental conditions, Indigenous knowledge can also greatly increase biodiversity and conservation efforts across agricultural landscapes by promoting transitions toward low-intensity farming methods and reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and other pollutants. However, without substantial funding increases for Indigenous researchers, particularly those that focus on enriching and understanding their cultures, such as the Mother Seeds for Resistance Project, calls to incorporate Indigenous knowledge will not empower autonomous research. Merely acknowledging Indigenous knowledge is insufficient and, instead, we must include Indigenous researchers in the production of science. Thankfully, there is a growing list of innovative, scientific methods and practices that include Indigenous people and share their perspectives.24
Outside of science, we can all assist the Zapatistas, in particular by donating to Schools for Chiapas, buying their native maize, and advocating against the violence they face. Soon after their revolution, militants supported by the Mexican government brutally murdered forty-five members of a Tzotzil pacifist organization Las Abejas in the village of Acteal. Also during this time, more than 115,000 people were displaced from Chiapas due to generalized violence.25 The Mexican government has inadequately addressed these conflicts about farmland, religion, and political power, while Indigenous people continue to endure rampant food insecurities. More recently, drug cartels have expanded their presence in Chiapas, which previously had relatively low narco-violence compared to greater Mexico. Last year, members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel fought on the streets and left several dead.26
We strongly suggest scientists across fields increasingly attribute, study, and use Indigenous knowledge while also advocating for their self-empowerment and persistence. If we do not, we would be knowingly complicit in furthering the very environmental colonialism that led to the Zapatista Revolution and oppression of Indigenous people worldwide. We also hope that scientists who read this piece will think critically about how to use their work to support Indigenous movements like that of the Zapatistas and spread word of their struggles. Future inclusion efforts across science and society must extend beyond offering short seats to tall tables and include greater considerations of radical perspectives. To start, please consider donating to Schools for Chiapas and planting your own Seeds of Resistance in solidarity with and in economic support of the Zapatistas. ¡No país sin maíz!
Notes:
Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby. “Here’s How America Uses its Land,” Bloomberg, July 31, 2018,
www.bloomberg.com.
Nicholas P. Higgins, “Mexico’s Stalled Peace Process: Prospects and Challenges,” International Affairs 77, no. 4 (October 2001): 885–903, doi.org.
Tom Hayden, The Zapatista Reader (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2002); Rage Against The Machine, Evil Empire, Epic Records, 1996.
T. R. Fehrenbach, Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995), 540.
James J. Kelly, “Article 27 and Mexican Land Reform: The Legacy of Zapata’s Dream,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review 25 (1993–1994): 541–570.
George A. Collier and Elizabeth Lowery Quaratiello, Basta!: Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas (Oakland, CA: Food First Books, 2005).
James D. Plourde, Bryan C. Pijanowski, and Burak K. Pekin, “Evidence for Increased Monoculture Cropping in the Central United States,” Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 165, no. 15, (2013): 50–59, doi.org; Nancy N. Rabalais et al., “Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia, A.K.A. ‘The Dead Zone’,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33 (2002): 235–263. doi.org.
Associated Press, “Zapatista Rebels Extend Control Over Areas in South Mexico,” ABC News, August 19, 2019, abcnews.go.com.
Subcomandante Insurgente Moises. “Communique from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee,” General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation, August 17, 2019, enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx; Marisa Brandt, “Zapatista Corn: A Case Study in Biocultural Innovation,” Social Studies of Science 44, no. 6 (2014): 874–900,
www.jstor.org.
Leanne Reinke, “Globalisation and Local Indigenous Education in Mexico,” International Review of Education 50 (2004): 483–496,
www.jstor.org.
S. Ochoa-Gaona, “Traditional Land-Use Systems and Patterns of Forest Fragmentation in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico,” Environmental Management 27, no. 4 (April 2001): 571–86, doi.org.
Plourde, Pijanowski, and Pekin, “Evidence for Increased Monoculture Cropping”; Rabalais et al., “Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia.”
High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE), Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security(Rome: Committee on World Food Security, 2013),
https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_uplo ... ulture.pdf; David R. Montgomery, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), 159.
Brandt, “Zapatista Corn.”
Center for Food Safety, Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers, January 3, 2005,
www.centerforfoodsafety.org.
Tania Aguila-Way, “The Zapatista ‘Mother Seeds in Resistance’ Project: The Indigenous Community Seed Bank as a Living, Self-Organizing Archive,” Social Text 32, no. 1 (2014): 67–92, doi.org; Reinke, “Globalisation and Local Indigenous Education.”
A. T. Mastrodomenico et al. “Yield Stability Differs in Commercial Maize Hybrids in Response to Changes in Plant Density, Nitrogen Fertility, and Environment,” Crop Science 58, no. 1 (2018): 230–241, doi.org; Carolina Ureta et al, “Maize Yield in Mexico Under Climate Change,” Agricultural Systems 177 (2020): 102697, doi.org.
Götz Schroth et al., “Towards a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Coffee Communities and Ecosystems in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico,” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 14 (2009): 605–625, doi.org.
Rodrigo G. Trevisan et al., “Multiyear Maize Management Dataset collected in Chiapas, Mexico,” Data in Brief 40 (2022): 107837, doi.org.
Rhiannon Elms, “Mexican Coffee Production Continues to Rebound from Coffee Rust Disease,” USDA Foreign Agricultural Information System, May 31, 2019,
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/ap ... 1-2019.pdf; Eduardo Mendoza and Rodolfo Dirzo, “Deforestation in Lacandonia (Southeast Mexico): Evidence for the Declaration of the Northernmost Tropical Hot-Spot,” Biodiversity and Conservation 8 (1999): 1621–1641, doi.org.
Luis Cayuela, José María Rey Benayas, and Cristian Echeverría, “Clearance and fragmentation of tropical montane forests in the Highlights of Chiapas, Mexico (1975-2000),” Forest Ecology and Management 226 (2006): 208–218.
Richard E. Bilsborrow and David L. Carr, “Population, Agricultural Land Use and the Environment in Developing Countries,” in Tradeoffs or Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development, and the Environment, ed. D. R. Lee and C. B. Barrett (Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 2001); Héctor B. Fletes-Ocón and Alessandro Bonanno, “Responses to the Crisis of Neo-liberal Globalization State Intervention in Palm Oil Production in Chiapas, Mexico,” International Journal of Society of Agriculture and Food 20, no. 3 (2013): 313–334; David L. Carr et al., “A multilevel analysis of population and deforestation in the Sierra de Lacandon National Park, Peten, Guatemala.” Documents D’analisi Geografica 52 (2008): 49–67.
Oscar Lopez and Andrew Jacobs, “In Town with Little Water, Coca-Cola Is Everywhere. So Is Diabetes,” The New York Times, July 14, 2018,
www.nytimes.com.
Saima May Sidik, “Weaving Indigenous Knowledge into the Scientific Method,” Nature 601, no. 7892 (January 2022): 285–87, doi.org.
Redacción Yessica Morales, “Chiapas suma 37 desplazamiento forzados desde 1994; más de 115 mil personas desplazadas,” Chiapasparalelo, June 3, 2020,
www.chiapasparalelo.com.
“Cartel Territorial Battles Escalate in Chiapas as CJNG Attempts to Muscle in,” Mexico News Daily, July 12, 2021, mexiconewsdaily.com.