McGill Sociological Review, Volume 2 (April 2011): 77–91
Ya Basta! A Cry that Echoes Beyond Borders: Zapatismo and International Solidarity Networks in the Zapatista Uprising Nicole Gulewitsch University of Guelph, Guelph
During the Zapatista rebellion, a vast network of organizations and activists came together to struggle not only alongside the Zapatistas, but as Zapatistas themselves. The formation of a transnational network as far reaching and powerful as this is as intriguing as it is rare and surely deserves further explanation. This paper will seek to address how and why a transnational solidarity network was formed during the Zapatista uprising. I argue that the transnational solidarity network was formed as a result of the strategic framing of ‘Zapatismo’ through neoliberal injustice and radical democracy frames, political imagination, and a collective Zapatista identity in ways that resonated with activists beyond the borders of Mexico.
“What is happening in the mountains of the Mexican Southeast that finds an echo and a mirror in the streets of Europe, the suburbs of Asia, the countryside of America, the townships of Africa, and the houses of Oceania?” (Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos as cited in Khasnabish 2008b: 155)
The Zapatista rebellion began as a radical movement in the south-eastern jungles of Mexico, but quickly became one of the most widespread and well known political movements of the twentieth century. Cries of “Ya Basta!” were heard throughout North America and in many other parts of the world; those cries did not go unanswered. A vast network of organizations and activists came together to struggle not only alongside the Zapatistas, but as Zapatistas themselves. The formation of a transnational network as far reaching and powerful as this is as intriguing as it is rare and surely deserves further explanation. This paper addresses why a transnational solidarity network was formed during the Zapatista uprising. Much of the literature on the Zapatista uprising uses network analysis to explain the development of the transnational solidarity network within the movement (della Porta and Tarrow 2005; Olesen 2004, 2005). However, there is less scholarship that seeks to understand why a transnational network emerged within the Zapatista movement. Thomas I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
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