Land, the foundation of rebellion: Similarities between the causes of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico were both preceded by a period of “prosperity and modernization” drafted around liberal, open market, capitalistic policies that enriched a few but brought increased poverty and hardship to the poorest in society. Coupled with changes to and abuses of land tenure and agrarian reform, the peasantry paid a high price for Mexico's progress. As a result, both periods led to violent uprisings and rebellion.; This paper explores the causes behind each rebellion with particular emphasis on land ownership. In a comparative format, it looks at the political and economic policies that impacted land tenure and how these policies devastated the rural, mostly indigenous campesino. It concludes that both the 1910 Revolution and the 1994 Zapatista uprising were spawned by very similar circumstances, especially in terms of the government's maltreatment of and lack of concern for the poor.