Book

The Zapatista Movement and Mexico's Democratic Transition: Mobilization, Success, and Survival

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Abstract

What happens to insurgent social movements that emerge during a democratic transition but fail to achieve their goals? How influential are they? Are they able to survive their initial mobilizing boom? Using the development of the Zapatista movement during Mexicos democratic transition in the 1990s, this book seeks to answer these questions. The Zapatista movement is probably the best example of an influential and salient insurgent social movement emerging during a democratic transition that successfully mobilized sympathy and support for the indigenous agenda inside and outside of the country, yet failed to achieve its goals vis--vis the Mexican state. Why did such an influential movement fail to have its demands fully met? The answer is illustrated using a sliding door analogy to explain how the Zapatista movement developed within almost simultaneous openings and closings of political opportunities for its mobilization, success, and survival. Framing the relative achievements and failures of the movement within Mexicos democratization is essential to understanding how social movements develop and survive and how responsive an electoral democracy can actually become. As such, this book offers a test of the quality of Mexicos democracy and the resilience of the Zapatista movement, identifying the extent to which emerging political forces have incorporated dissident and previously excluded political actors into the new polity.
... Pugnas y divisiones en el seno del neozapatismo y, posteriormente, del movimiento zapatista terminaron por debilitar local y nacionalmente al primero. A largo plazo, los rebeldes sortearon la represión gubernamental, pero perdieron influencia en la arena política nacional al concentrar sus esfuerzos de sobrevivencia y consolidación de su orden autonómico en Chiapas, desaprovechando la oportunidad de involucrarse en las negociaciones de la reforma política y electoral entre las élites políticas nacionales y lograr que sus intereses -y los de sectores populares más amplios-fueran incluidos y representados efectivamente en el nuevo marco legal e institucional que se estaba creando (Inclán, 2018). 17 Estas reformas garantizarían la competencia electoral libre y auténtica para acceder al poder. ...
... Algo similar sucedería en las negociaciones truncas entre el gobierno federal y el EZLN en San Andrés Larráinzar (1996) y en la discusión de la reforma constitucional sobre cultura y derechos indígenas (2001). El EZLN y el movimiento prozapatista no alcanzaron a elaborar una estrategias más realista y efectiva para alcanzar sus metas políticas (Inclán, 2018). Es probable que no les haya interesado ni convenido llegar a un entendimiento con el gobierno y los legisladores, en la medida en que esto hubiese significado una posible pérdida de poder e influencia entre la población indígena de Chiapas y el país. ...
... La decisión de no participar en el proceso de negociación de la transición democrática fue, en parte importante, responsabilidad del propio EZLN(Inclán, 2018), pero también fue un elemento de la estrategia del gobierno federal para que el conflicto chiapaneco quedara constreñido al estado del sureste y, más concreto, a la zona de conflicto(Pérez, 2009). 18 En los comicios estatales para la gubernatura de Chiapas en 1994, el EZLN apoyó al candidato del PRD, Amado Avendaño. ...
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Este artículo se ocupa de mostrar el balance de los logros sociales y políticos del zapatismo, a lo largo de distintas etapas. Se propone utilizar la periodización de su historia como herramienta analítica tomando en consideración, además, los cambios en la composición y organización interna del movimiento y la variación de sus fines, objetivos y proyectos políticos.
... He further differentiates between a given society's central social move ment, which is oriented to that society's "central conflict," and social movements in gen eral, which involve various actors oriented to specific goals. In practice, scholars of LASMs refer to a continuum ranging from small, informal grassroots organizations at the local level to enduring movements of larger territorial scope and with recognizable lead ers and structures, such as Brazil's Movement of Landless Rural Workers (Ondetti, 2010) or Mexico's Zapatistas (Inclán, 2018b). This wide scope can cause definitional problems. ...
... However, Almeida also shows that when the state committed to repressing movements and restrict ing civil liberties, holdover civic organizations from pre-authoritarian regimes tended to promote more radical, violent protests. In a similar country-specific and innovative study of the Zapatista movement in México, Inclán (2018b) uses the metaphor of sliding doors to show how protracted democratic transitions may open opportunities for mobilization yet restrict opportunities for political victories. The parallel creation of transnational soli darity networks, however, allowed the Zapatista movement to survive over the decades despite not achieving its political goals. ...
... Likewise, Rice's (2012) comparative study of indigenous movements in four Latin American countries shows that institutional ized party systems can better represent the popular sectors and therefore depress radical protest, while inchoate party systems lead to greater radicalization (see Rice's chapter "Indigenous movements in Latin America: tensions, contradictions, possibilities" in this volume). A third theme of the political context approach is the openness of institutional actors to social movement demands-a classic dimension of political opportunity theory (Inclán, 2018b). Explicitly working from this theory, Ondetti (2010) finds that the ebb and flow of Brazil's Movement of Landless Rural Workers between the late 1970s and 2006 was heav ily determined by the national government's responsiveness to the movement. ...
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The study of social movements is currently one of the most active research fields in Latin American sociology. This article maps the vast literature on Latin American social move ments (LASMs) from the late 1980s to the present. After briefly discussing how scholars have conceptualized LASMs, it presents seven influential approaches: structuralism, po litical economy, political context, organizational fields, "new social movements," frames and emotions, and transnational activism. Then it discusses some works that zero in on the specificity of LASMs. It closes with a brief summary of the five coming chapters, each of which is devoted to a specific social movement "family": labor, women's, student, in digenous, and anti-globalization.
... Indeed, according to a recent study, in the 1990s, 79.4% of the indigenous peoples in Chiapas lived in municipalities with Zapatista presence, and by 2010, this number had only decreased to 74.06%. This indicates that indigenous people yield a significant support base for the Zapatistas (Inclán, 2018), which might urge the Mexican government to win indigenous ''hearts and minds" via social assistance services for purposes of counterinsurgency. ...
... Their continuing struggle for autonomy is also inhibited by regional authorities' abuse of power through social programs that limit individual expression and produce low intensity conflicts among communities (Camargo & Rivera, 2015;Gil-García, 2016;Ramirez, 2017;Stahler-Sholk, 2010). As such, social movement actors still face many obstacles for their efforts to achieve political power (Inclán, 2018). Therefore, the Zapatistas endeavor to establish indigenous autonomy with ''pride and self-esteem" by organizing the ''provision of social programs and services [. . ...
... Hükümeti ile yapılan görüşmelerde EZLN'nin taleplerinden biri de adalet, bağımsızlık, ev, toprak, sağlık, iş, demokrasi, yerli halkların kültürlerinin tanınması ve aktif politikaya katılmalarının önündeki engellerin kaldırılmasının yanında zorunlu ve nitelikli bir eğitimdir (Inclan, 2018). Zapatistalar yerli toplulukların eğitimle ilgili sorunlarının sonlandırılmasını, daha nitelikli ve özgür bir müfredatı uygulayabilecekleri ilk ve ortaöğretim düzeyindeki eğitimi ve üniversite eğitimi almış öğretmenlerin Chiapas'ta öğretmen olarak görevlendirilmelerini bültenlerinde talep etmişlerdir (Collier ve Quaratiello, 2005). ...
Article
Zapatistaları konu edinen bu çalışmada ilk olarak 1 Ocak 1994’te Meksika’nın güneydoğusundaki Chiapas’ta, yaşamı ezilenler için ve onlarla birlikte inşa eden günümüz Zapatista hareketinin (Zapatista Ulusal Kurtuluş Ordusu- Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional/ EZLN) tarihine yer verilmiştir. EZLN’nin tarihselliğinin daha iyi anlaşılabilmesi için de devrim süreci, 1910’da Emiliano Zapata ve yoldaşlarının, toprakların topraksız köylülere dağıtılmasını talep ettikleri Ayala Planı ile somutlaşan Meksika Köylü Devrimi’nden itibaren ele alınmıştır. Yazının devamında Zapatistaların neoliberalizme ve kolonyalizme karşı mücadelelerine, yeni bir hayatı/başka bir dünyayı inşa etme sürecindeki yöntemlerine, EZLN’nin temel ilke ve özelliklerine, Zapatista dayanışma ağlarına yer verilmiş, son olarak da Chiapas’taki Zapatista eğitim sistemi ele alınmış ve Zapatista eğitim sisteminin demokratik eğitim ve Freireyen pedagoji ile bağlantılarına değinilmiştir.
... En efecto, al tomar distancia crítica para abordar el análisis desde la teoría de los movimientos sociales, en particular desde el enfoque de la estructura de oportunidades políticas, ofrece un aporte novedoso. Publicado originalmente en inglés (Inclán, 2018), el libro traducido al español permite una lectura sincró nica de las actividades de protesta del EZLN y los procesos de transición democrá tica electoral en México, en particular durante el periodo 1994-2003, aunque el trabajo se ha actualizado hasta 2012. ...
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Se presenta la reseña de libro El movimiento zapatista y la transición democrática en México: Oportunidades para la movilización, el éxito y la supervivencia (Inclán, 2021), que trata del análisis de la estructura de oportunidades políticas para el movimiento indígena insurgente radicado en el estado de Chiapas, y cómo ocurrió el cierre de oportunidades para obtener el éxito de las demandas políticas referidas a las reforma constitucional en materia de derechos y cultura indígena. A partir de la conclusión que apunta al cierre de oportunidades políticas y la tendencia del movimiento hacia la red de solidaridad transnacional, se visualizan nuevas líneas de investigación e interrogantes que abre el texto.
... In practice, scholars of LASMs view collective action as a continuum ranging from small, informal grassroots organizations at the local level to resilient movements of larger terri torial scope with recognizable leaders and structures, such as Brazil's Movement of Land less Rural Workers (Ondetti, 2010) or Mexico's Zapatistas (Inclán, 2018). For example, Paul Almeida and Amalia Pérez Martín's chapter on anti-globalization movements shows how market-driven liberalization has boosted some of the largest mass mobilizations in Latin America. ...
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In this introductory chapter, we develop a brief history around the institutionalization process of sociology in Latin America. At the same time, we revisit some of the core de bates and contributions of the sociology of Latin America, identifying some of the topics and fields in which sociology from this region has made key contributions to the disci pline. The chapter is divided into three sections: development and institutionalization of the discipline, selected debates and contributions to sociology from Latin America, and, finally, the roadmap to this Handbook, which covers eight research fields.
... As for the revolutionary and transnational movements of this period, the former largely took place in Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua) and were driven by the breakdown of the military authoritarian model that had dominated the previous pe riod of state-led development (Robinson, 2003). As for transnational movements, some fo cused on solidarity with Cuba and Central American peace initiatives, while the 1994 in digenous Zapatista movement in southern Mexico was the most notable of the early ne oliberal period (Inclán, 2018). ...
Chapter
Economic globalization in Latin America over the past four decades has resulted in some of the largest mass mobilizations in the region and has influenced electoral outcomes. This chapter traces the evolution of economic liberalization over time from the early years of the debt crisis to the institutionalization of neoliberalism as the dominant devel opment strategy. Different forms of collective resistance to market-driven globalization are examined at the local, national, and transnational levels of social and political life. The authors also explore the current stage of globalization, characterized by intensifying environmental threats of resource extraction and climate change that are generating new rounds of popular mobilization. This overview concludes with a theoretical discussion of the key conditions driving the emergence of defensive mobilization in response to neo- liberalism, including resource infrastructures, oppositional political parties, strategic experience, and the construction of meaning, grievances, and economic threats.
... No obstante, no ha sucedido lo mismo con la participación no electoral. Existe un grupo importante de trabajos sobre movimientos sociales y de protesta, sobre todo desde perspectivas sociológicas y antropológicas (Davis 1991;Escobar y Álvarez 1992;Bensusán y Middlebrook 2013;Béjar 2015;Ramírez 2016;Inclán 2018), pero hay pocos estudios que intenten explicar y tipificar la participación no electoral con datos de encuestas (Klesner 2009). ...
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The lack of political participation is usually identified with apathy and disenchantment with democracy. However, little has been theorized and studied about the relationship between political participation and other forms of civic involvement, including the possibility that some citizens prefer to participate outside of or at the margins of institutional politics. In this study, we analyze different forms of political and community participation. We begin with the assumption that lack of participation in politics does not necessarily imply lack of citizen’s participation altogether. Based on survey data, we identify types based on different empirical patterns of participation in Mexico. The typological k-means analysis shows that at least four types of participation can be identified: conventional, apathetic, apolitical and hyperactive. Through a multinomial model we examine the bases of this typology.
... Boletín Onteaiken N° 27 -Mayo 2019de la Selva Lacandona, reivindicando "trabajo, tierra, techo, alimentación, salud, educación, independencia, libertad, democracia, justicia y paz" (http://enlacezapatista. ezln.org.mx/1994/01/01/primera-declaracion-de-la-selva-lacandona/.Lo que parecía ser, por aquel tiempo, un acto bastante naíf y similar a lo que habían hecho decenas de guerrillas que habían caracterizado décadas atrás la región Latinoamérica, logró, por distintas razones, convertirse en una de las experiencias de rebeldía más importantes a nivel internacional, con amplias bases y consecuencias sociales, tanto da convertirse en un punto de referencia para innumerables luchas en el futuro. Más allá de los impactos políticos del movimiento(Inclán, 2018) lo que se destaca en este dossier, son los impactos culturales y biográficos que raramente son puestos en evidencia en el zapatismo. Estos impactos, muchas veces invisibilizados, y difícilmente medibles, además de haber sido en muchos casos inesperados e involuntarios, son los que permiten explicar la trascendencia del zapatismo. ...
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En un contexto desalentador, el primero de enero de 1994, desde una remota región de México, en el estado del Chiapas, una chispa de esperanza prendió los ánimos de los inconformes de todo el mundo poniendo las bases para un nuevo imaginario. En coincidencia con la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte entre Estados Unidos, Canadá y México el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), de forma sorpresiva, inició una insurrección armada en el estado de Chiapas. Una vez ocupadas distintas cabeceras municipales, los rebeldes emitieron la Declaración de la Selva Lacandona, reivindicando «trabajo, tierra, techo, alimentación, salud, educación, independencia, libertad, democracia, justicia y paz» El boletín Onteaiken N°27 pretende visibilizar la historia y los impactos del movimiento zapatista, a sus veinticinco años. Lejos de querer hacer un recuento historio y/o político de la experiencia de las comunidades zapatistas rebeldes o del EZLN, cosa que compete solamente a sus protagonistas, las aportaciones que hemos reunido, proporcionan diferentes perceptivas y miradas hacia el zapatismo.
Article
O artigo analisa a participação política e social dos povos indígenas na América Latina, compreendida como o engajamento em processos decisórios formais e informais, incluindo eleições, movimentos sociais e outras formas de organização política que visam à defesa de seus direitos, à preservação de seus territórios e à construção de modelos de desenvolvimento autônomos e sustentáveis. O objetivo é examinar a relação entre essa participação, a preservação do território e a organização socioeconômica, destacando desafios e avanços. A metodologia adotada é qualitativa, baseada em uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática, abrangendo estudos publicados entre 2014 e 2024. Os resultados apontam para a importância do reconhecimento e respeito aos direitos territoriais e à autodeterminação dos povos indígenas, ressaltando a relevância do empreendimento social e da organização econômica sustentável como caminhos para o desenvolvimento, a preservação cultural e a proteção ambiental. O artigo também discute questões de desigualdade, exclusão e conflitos socioambientais enfrentados por esses povos, enfatizando a necessidade de políticas públicas que promovam a participação e o respeito à diversidade cultural.
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Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic, as a holistic event of cultural trauma, significantly influenced social structures and behaviors globally. Under its impact, social movements leveraged digital platforms to sustain and amplify their causes, creating new forms of solidarity and resistance, and fostering a rise in digital and hybrid collective actions. Concurrently, social media thrived as a transformative tool for social change, revolutionizing communication, mobilization, and advocacy. Platforms like WhatsApp and X redefined traditional activism by enabling rapid information dissemination and facilitating global grassroots movements. This technological evolution has provided marginalized communities, including the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa, with a powerful voice. These communities face challenges such as land rights disputes, environmental degradation, and socioeconomic marginalization. Social media allows them to raise awareness, galvanize support, and engage with a broader audience beyond their geographical confines. The paper hypothesizes that social media plays a multifaceted role in supporting indigenous movements, by not only providing a platform for activists to organize and advocate, but also enabling engagement with the general public and influencing the perspectives and actions of policymakers and other audiences. Through the lenses of rural or indigenous activists who leverage these digital platforms to drive change, audiences who consume and interact with digital content and feeds, and policymakers who are increasingly mindful of the power of social media narratives, this paper aims to understand the complex interplay of forces that shape the trajectory of digital indigenism (indigenous digital activism). Methods The paper employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate the influence of social media on social movements among indigenous communities in Southern Africa. The methodology incorporates (a) netnography and in-depth interviews to explore the experiences and strategies of indigenous activists, (b) the counterpublics framework to understand the formation and dynamics of indigenous digital activism, and (c) the Technology-Media-Movements Complex (TMMC) as a theoretical anchor to analyze the interplay between technology, media, and social movements. The case study of the Community Leaders Network (CLN) of Southern Africa is used to contextualize the findings. Results Findings reveal that indigenous activists recognize the power of social media in amplifying their voices but use these platforms out of necessity rather than preference. They find social media solutions often misaligned with their contextual needs, citing concerns over platform constraints, privacy issues, cultural insensitivity, superficial engagement metrics, and breaches of consent. Additionally, they reckon that the global emphasis on social media engagement can divert focus from essential field activities that directly benefit local communities, causing social media fatigue. It was also revealed that trying to convey practical information to an audience with preconceived notions is incredibly time-consuming and often feels like an endless loop for indigenous activists. Subsequently, they expressed a desire for platforms that consider users’ mental well-being in their architectural design and incorporate cultural and linguistic practices, suggesting a preference for digital environments that are more aligned with values and modes of communication that contrast with western models. Discussion The results underscore social media’s complex role in indigenous movements, highlighting its empowering potential while also presenting significant challenges due to algorithms and platform dynamics. While the ability to share stories, disseminate information about rights abuses, and mobilize support has significantly transformed social movement dynamics in rural communities, social media’s potential for advocacy and mobilization is tempered by challenges that can limit their effectiveness. The findings highlight a pressing need for social media innovations that resonate with indigenous cultural identities, ensuring that their narratives are disseminated in a manner that faithfully preserves their authenticity. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for policymakers, activists, audiences and technology developers, emphasizing the importance of creating digital spaces that are culturally sensitive and supportive of indigenous activism.
Chapter
Revolutions and movements for radical social change have defined the contemporary political landscape. They are significant, often inspiring, human‐directed attempts to refashion the social and political world, though they have also typically fallen far short of such aspirations. Whether political or social, violent or nonviolent, the transformation of society by revolution and movements for radical social change have proved a complex and challenging field of study.
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This Element focuses on the linguistic and discursive practices employed by digital citizens to promote their causes on social media, that is to engage in digital activism, drawing attention to the growing importance of this phenomenon in relation to gender identity and sexuality issues. I propose the label LGBTQ+ Digital Activism to join the already existing one Feminist Digital Activism and argue that, while these have been areas of interest from sociology and communication specialists, digital activism is still to be embraced as a field of research by applied linguists. I point out to a number of linguistic and discursive features that are popular among digital activists and support this through the analysis of the use of the hashtag #wontbeerased combining Social Media Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies. I suggest that further research is needed to explore how language is used to propagate and popularize emancipatory discourses online.
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How are social ties formed in the contentious campaigns led by relatives of victims of criminal and political violence? Drawing on the work of Latin American social anthropologists such as Myriam Jimeno, Morna Macleod and Natalia De Marinis, I argue that the contentious campaigns of a victim-led social movement provide the physical and symbolic spaces where the participants form a political-emotional community by sharing testimonios (testimonial narratives) and developing a victim-centered ethos. To substantiate my claim, I discuss the case of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad) in Mexico drawing on twelve in-depth interviews and a documentary review. This article opens a dialogue between the literature on political-emotional communities and the scholarship on social movements offering a new perspective to analyze the development of social ties. In other words, future research projects can make use of the introduced theoretical proposal to understand victim-led activism more in-depth. The approach of this article can be of interest, for example, for scholars dedicated to the study of contention by survivors of genocide, mobilizations against racial violence, and protests in contexts of armed conflict.
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The Mexican democratic transition has been characterized as a protracted one, with no clear foundational elections, but a prolonged liberalizing period of reforms that have gradually regulated electoral competition and opened up opportunities for political opposition and contentious dissent. This entry describes the relationship between contentious and electoral politics in the country in the last 50 years. It analyzes the indirect effects of social unrest on electoral reforms, as well as the consequences of elections on deepening democratizing social mobilization in Mexico.
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Many countries in the Global North use the term “social economy”—also known as the third sector—to describe economies run by citizens rather than by state or business actors. Over the years, many Black feminist scholars that we have worked with also share the view that the concept of the “social economy” is limited to a European understanding. It fails to acknowledge those actors in the third sector who are excluded from interacting with the government or private sector. There is an assumption that the social economy is “socially inclined” and that it is a sector able to “interact” with the state and capitalist firms. What happens when certain groups of people cannot interact with the state or private sectors due to systemic exclusion? We argue that to transform literature on the social economy, we must use the term solidarity economy. Rejecting the sanitized language of the social economy, we use critical discourse and case study analyses to show the worldwide use of the term solidarity. Our work draws on theories of community economy intentional community to argue that the solidarity economy is a site of contestation and a way to push for social change.
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Civil society actors have contested the fifty-year-long transition to a global economy based on the principles of neoliberalism. Mobilization against neoliberal measures represents one of the most common forms of social movement activity across the world. We explore the evolution of resistance to economic liberalization from the 1970s to the current period. Our study highlights several dimensions of civic opposition to the implementation of free market policies, including: forms of neoliberalism; geographic distribution of protest events across world regions and time; and outcomes of movement campaigns. PDF Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/collective-resistance-to-neoliberalism/99C68E546FAF83324F397530AFDD494A
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Dynamicznie rozwijający się ruch na rzecz sprawiedliwości środowiskowej włącza niektóre wątki i postulaty dewzrostu do debat wokół pojęcia rozwoju i szukania alternatyw dla dominujących modeli ekonomicznych. Ruch, który narodził się w Stanach Zjednoczonych na fali sprzeciwu wobec nieproporcjonalnego obciążenia mniejszości etnicznych i biednych społeczności skutkami degradacji środowiska, obecnie nie tylko koncentruje się na protestach przeciwko nowym megaprojektom, kopalniom czy odwiertom, ale też szuka konstruktywnych pomysłów na zmianę łączącą wrażliwość społeczną i ekologiczną. Artykuł przedstawia dyskusję na temat barier i możliwości współpracy pomiędzy ruchem sprawiedliwości środowiskowej a dewzrostem. Chociaż podzielają one przekonanie o potrzebie radykalnej transformacji obecnych ścieżek rozwojowych, nie jest to wystarczający warunek udanej współpracy. Potrzebne jest wzajemne zrozumienie odmienności w postrzeganiu źródeł problemu, priorytetów, a także możliwych alternatyw. Full text available: https://wuwr.pl/pkult/article/view/14068/12705
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In 2013, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) and the national government signed Agreement No. 547, which commissioned to the five main national indigenous organizations of the country the drafting of a bill to propel the strengthening of the indigenous media in Colombia. This political reform would represent a significant advance in the democratization of the historically monopolized and exclusive Colombian media landscape, thus fulfilling one of the mandates of the 1991 Colombian multicultural Constitution. However, due to internal conflicts within the indigenous leadership, these five organizations failed to present any bill to the Congress of the Republic of Colombia, wasting this historic opportunity. Based on this case, the discussion on “radical” Zapatista autonomy, and the concept of “indigenous utopias” proposed by Rappaport (2005) (rather than impossible dreams, objectives to strive for), this article argues that a robust autonomous indigenous governance depends on the constant search for a “utopian balance” between legal protections (centripetal forces) and de facto practices (centrifugal actions).
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