| While on his Mexican presidential election campaign in 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada was quoted as saying that he would be able to 'clean up' the situation in Chiapas in fifteen minutes. The conflict was not resolved in a mere fifteen minutes and the Zapatista resistance continues to exist, arguably stronger than ever, more than fifteen years later. Drawing on a series of field and archival research, including a few personal interviews, and volunteer work with two human rights organizations from 2007 to 2009, my dissertation analyzes a series of strategies used by the Zapatista movement to sustain social change that have helped to maintain the revolution since the creation of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) on November 17, 1983. By focusing on four determining factors, I first examine how this revolution sustains itself by means of globalizing revolution. I offer a historical overview of revolutionary Chiapas and a reframing of theories of revolution, from Marx to Marcos, in which emerges what I term a "sustainable revolution". Next, I trace the trajectory and the development of the Zapatista autonomous education system throughout rebel territory highlighting the new generation of rebels and their integral role within the movement. Then, I analyze the steps a few Zapatista communities are taking in order to protect and preserve the environment along with the creation of their own protection measures. I give detailed accounts of three specific locales and how they are dealing with commercial development, access to potable water, and preservation of the biosphere. Finally, I ask what is at stake when Marcos, a guerrilla leader himself, writes and publishes books that results in an inventive strategy to generate income for communities living in resistance through the distribution of royalties from copyrighted material. This study suggests that these collective and alternative projects not only offer a vision into the future of the revolution but also work to sustain the revolution over time as it continues its quest for liberty, justice, and democracy in Chiapas. |
