Brudflader

I have written an article about "Los Zapatistas", which has recently been published in the book "Brudflader" on Frydenlund. It will also be available on ebog, where downloads of separate articles will be possible.

My article follows the Zapatist Movement during the last 22 years. From they begin to organise themselves in the jungle of Chiapas in the south of Mexico. In the story about the movement I am mixing personal experiences from travelling in Chiapas and Mexico in general with a more formal presentation of the movement.

The Zapatist Movement has been known through the carasmatic spokeperson Sub-commander Marcos. On of my arguments in the article is that Marcos does not exist. He is always appearing disguised so anybody could be behind the mask. It can easily be backed up, if you travel around in Chiapas.

One morning in Roberto Barrios a young boy come to me and introduces himself. His name is Marco ... as he says: just like Marcos. In spanish -s indicates plural and very many boys and men in Mexico are called Marco. Marcos is just the symbol of everybody.

Another discussion in the article is how "Los Zapatistas" has influenced the way we think about political movements. In the mid 1990es they invited the whole world to a meeting against neoliberalism and for humanity in the jungle of Chiapas. By doing so they proved it possible to set an alternative agenda.

In general the article focus on the use of symbolic language and action as an important part of forming a political movement.