The Zapatistas through Postcolonial Eyes - What is the Significance of a Postcolonial Approach to the EZLN?

Abstract

Since the uprising of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) in Chiapas, Mexico, on January 1, 1994 the movement has proven significant in multiple ways. This article investigates the significance a postcolonial perspective provides for the Zapatista movement. It is argued that the oppressive structures, originating from the colonial period, continue to marginalize former colonized subjects such as the Maya population. It is these oppressive systems which the Zapatistas’ struggle against through the production of an alternative knowledge system. The theories of the postcolonial thinkers Frantz Fanon, Gayatri C. Spivak and Walter Mignolo serve as the theoretical framework in order to underpin this theory.