E-Book Overview
The Zapatista Army for National Liberation burst onto the world stage on 1 January 1994. Zapatista commander Subcomandante Marcos announced a revolution, and declared war on the Mexican government and global capitalism. Since then, the Zapatistas have inspired thousands of activists across the world. They have attracted much attention from political theorists and analysts. Despite this, there is little consensus about the real nature and efficacy of the movement. Zapatistas provides a bold new approach to understanding the insurrection. Mentinis spent nine months visiting the Zapatista autonomous zone, and the result is this unique exploration of the indigenous political theory emerging within the movement. Combining this with an analysis of the integrity of the Zaptista project, Mentinis draws on the concept of the 'event' from Badiou, ideas from Situationism, the 'project of autonomy' of Cornelius Castoriadis and the 'constituent power' of Antonio Negri, to present a rigourous account of the movement and the impact it has had on radical political theory.
E-Book Content
Zapatistas The Chiapas Revolt and what it means for Radical Politics MIHALIS MENTINIS Pluto P Press LONDON • ANN ARBOR, MI Mentinis 00 pre iii 3/3/06 11:24:41 First published 2006 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Mihalis Mentinis 2006 The right of Mihalis Mentinis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN ISBN 0 7453 2487 8 hardback 0 7453 2486 X paperback Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England Mentinis 00 pre iv 3/3/06 11:24:42 Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Preface 1 Zapatista Chronicle The Early Years: The Pre-history of the EZLN Zapatista Chronicle, 1994–2001 ‘Check’! ... but not ‘Mate’ 2 Theories and Perspectives on the Zapatista Insurrection Gramscian Approach Laclau and Mouffe’s Theory of Discourse Academic Autonomist Marxist Approach Non-academic Radical Left Perspectives Problems and Limitations of the Readings of the Zapatistas 3 4 Mentinis 00 pre v The Project of Autonomy, Constituent Power and Empire Ontological Theses The Imaginary of Autonomy From Radical Imaginary to Constituent Power Genealogical Moments: The Re-emergence of Autonomy Empire: The World Order Zapatista Revolt and Revolutionary Subjectivities Fidelity to an Event The Event and Constituent Power Not Just Any Event Constructed Situations Zapatistas: An Evental Situation The Three Subjects of Fidelity Towards a Future Event viii ix xi 1 2 8 29 31 32 36 42 49 54 64 65 67 70 73 82 90 90 93 94 96 97 104 112 3/3/06 11:24:42 vi Zapatistas 5 Reading the Zapatistas Critically Revolutionaries or Reformists Zapatista Nationalism Zapatistas and the State Zapatistas and the Global Struggle Autonomy’s Black Holes 116 117 123 132 136 142 6 The Indigenous Social Imaginary and Zapatista Masks Indigenous Metaphysics Language and Reality Maya Epistemology Zapatista Masks 151 152 155 162 167 7 Conclusi