Tierra y Libertad: Women & the EZLN in Mexico

I decided to center my research around land because of all that it is tied to, from the food we eat to the natural resources that keep the world moving. Going into this project, two things were certain to me. The first was that thinking about the land and the ways that society is organized around and in relation to the land was important for working towards a just society. Secondly, I knew that all over the world, women played essential roles when it came to the land.^[1] While women are central to the land, the two are rarely linked together in a critical manner. As a result, linking the two became central to this project.  I eventually landed in Mexico, figuratively speaking,  and decided to do research on the Ejército Zapatista De Liberación Nacional (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) also known as the EZLN.

Historical Background and Literature Review

 The EZLN includes, within one organization, an insurgent army alongside a grassroots social movement.^[2] The word “Zapatista” makes a connection to Emiliano Zapata, an important figure in Mexican history. In naming their organization after Zapata, the EZLN symbolically links their efforts to those of Zapata. In particular, the EZLN sees their work as deeply rooted in the agrarian reform efforts of Emiliano Zapata.^[3]

 The research question that guided this project was: What are the ways in which the EZLN articulates the role of women in their organization and how are women woven into their emancipatory frameworks?

When I thought about the EZLN, before this project, one of the things that often came to mind were images of Zapatista women wearing traditional clothing and black masks covering their faces. These images stood out to me because these were women, seemingly at the forefront of a social movement centered around the land. These women represented a distinct narrative on women and social movements. Women have often played crucial roles in social movements in Latin America as well as other parts of the world. However, women’s participation in these spaces has often been overlooked.^[4]

My desire to examine women in the EZLN was related to my understanding of the EZLN’s mission and the ways in which their efforts as well as their criticisms of neoliberal policies transcended the indigenous communities of Chiapas. What was happening in Mexico and the ways in which the EZLN responded was mirrored in other parts of the world.^[5]Peasants worldwide from Latin America to Africa were questioning their place in an ever changing world. Moreover, they were examining their place in an ever changing global agricultural system. For the indigenous communities of Mexico, an examination of their place in a changing world and agricultural system was set in motion, largely as a result of  the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. ^[6]

Research Methodology and Findings

The methodology used for this project came about from my early research on the EZLN. One of the first things that stood out to me while researching the early history and literature on the EZLN was the vast amount of knowledge which had been produced by the organization, dating back to 1993. Using archival research, I examined distinct forms of knowledge which had been produced by the EZLN. These included communiques, reports, letters, and other types of literature in which Zapatistas communicated with and to the world. From letters to the press to reports on different events that had taken place, this digital archive represented a way through which the EZLN represented themselves as an organization and their social justice efforts.

This archive showed that the EZLN had woven women and their particular grievances into the organization’s broader frameworks very early on.^[7] This was exemplified through the organization’s “Revolutionary Law of Women”.^[8] The ten laws that make up the document came about after Zapatista women’s dialogue with indigenous women throughout the state of Chiapas.^[9] The EZLN had woven women into their frameworks very early on, this, in turn, facilitated the widespread participation of women throughout the organization. Despite this however, the experiences of Zapatista women differed greatly from those of their male counterparts.^[10]

Conclusion

 Since their emergence on the world stage in 1994, the EZLN has been able to connect their efforts with those of rural communities worldwide. One of the things that has connected these communities around the world is a desire to find their place in an ever changing world. Discussions about land and how society is organized around it are essential to larger discussions regarding equity and justice. Because of this, I believe that women must be central to those discussions. Firstly, because women have and continue to be pivotal to the land. More importantly, because imagining a better tomorrow must take into consideration women. For these reasons I thought it was important to look at the ways in which the EZLN, as a social movement, placed women in their liberatory frameworks.