Land and freedom 'Tierra y libertad'

Feudalism and the introduction of coffee to Mexico (1880-1900)

Coffee was imported to Mexico as a colonial product in the 1880s, with German capital among other sources. It was supposed to be produced exclusively for export. The Mexican state expected an economic upturn from this foreign investment, as the country faced bankruptcy after the armed raid and land seizure by the US in the 1840s. During the 35-year-long dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz, the so-called Porfiriate (1877 to 1911), Mexican real estate had been redistributed to the benefit of mestizos [1] and major landowners [2]: Land owned by Spanish colonial lords before Mexican independence and subsequently re-appropriated by indigenous communities was declared as 'no man's land' due to the lack of land titles. It was distributed as debt payment to public employees, who thus became major landowners and frequently established coffee fincas. As a consequence, about 90% of the rural population lost their land and had to hire themselves out as slave labourers. In southern Mexican Chiapas, home to the majority of today's Zapatistas, coffee enterprises doubled between 1890 and 1910.

With the establishment of fincas and major landowners, feudal relations from Spanish colonialism were resurrected. Indigenous communities were not merely landless, but deprived of any rights and self-rule and therefore doomed to serve their landowners. Abuse and corporal punishment until death were the order of the day.

Social unrest and revolution (1900-1920)

Resistance across several social strata grew against the Porfiriato. Landless and indigenous people wanted their land back and to break free of feudal relations. The middle class also distanced itself from Diaz because it suffered the repercussions of the economic crisis in the US since 1907. Wealth was distributed only to benefit the upper class.

In 1910, Diaz was supposed to be re-elected as president, staging a fraudulent election. A powerful opposition movement following Francisco Madero contested this by military means. Among the rebels was Emiliano Zapata, leading an army of landless rural workers from Mexico's southern regions. After a successful rebellion that spread across the country, Diaz was forced to flee in 1911, and Madero was elected president. However, he disappointed hopes of army renewal, the replacement of old public officials, and land reform. Madero thus turned against his own ideals and former associates. Zapatistas fighting for 'Tierra y Libertad' (land and freedom) were therefore opposing him now as well. Finally, only two years after he was elected president, he was murdered in a military coup by Victoriano Huerta. Huerta seized power but could maintain it for only one year. Zapata was murdered in 1919, and until 1920 the land was shaken by civil war.

Agricultural reform and institutionalisation (1920-1970)

Álvaro Obregón was elected president in 1920, and during his term the Mexican Revolution was supposed to have calmed down and political conditions consolidated. However, many of the people's demands and hopes had not yet been fulfilled. Only Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) managed to implement long-demanded reforms like nationalisation of the oil industry and the foreign-owned railway company. He also rolled back the influence of still-powerful provincial landowners by implementing the agricultural reforms demanded by the Zapatistas.

But this hesitant land reform, meant to benefit indigenous farmers, was hardly implemented in the Chiapas region. Thus, between 1930 and 1980, 750,280 hectares were officially allocated to indigenous applicants, but of these, only 141,383 hectares were really transferred. Of these, one quarter had already been communities' land before, and the remainder was mostly very poor soil.'[3]

Indigenous uprisings and self-organisation (1970-1984)

In the 1970s, the indigenous population began organising into farmers' organisations. Under the church's umbrella, the Congreso Indigena took place in 1974, marking the birth of the Chiapas indigenous movement. Indigenous people from all major ethnic groups met to discuss their political situation and common problems. This meeting kicked off organised resistance, and they were conquering land between 1972 and 1983.

Important conditions for the success of self-organisation and empowerment have been:

Major landowners had been converting to extensive stock farming, promising higher profits than coffee cultivation. Additionally, more and more machinery was implemented in coffee production. Many workers lost their jobs because of these developments and were driven off the fincas.

A public dam project for energy production was threatening thousands of hectares of land. However, only major landowners were compensated for their land. (In 1981, the project was cancelled due to the resistance, but it has been resurrected in the context of the Puebla-Panamá plan.)

Growing disgruntlement among the rural population prevailed due to a lack of real agricultural reforms and land redistribution.

Due to injustice and existential poverty, indigenous people were beginning to organise as a farmers' movement. Marxist intellectuals radicalised in the students' movement in the 68s supported this self-organisation.

Liberation theologians, Father Joél Patron of San Cristobal in particular, are regarded as champions of indigenous people's rights and were substantially supporting resistance.

The state was reacting repressively to the squatting of land despite the land being frequently in the official ownership of the farmers for quite some time! Subsequently, representatives from some 600 communities came to Mexico City in 1984 and succeeded not only in releasing political prisoners but also in obtaining official entitlement to squatted land.

An atmosphere of change prevailed: alphabetisation took place, and farmers began collectively establishing new communities for the first time and cultivating coffee for their own benefit.

Organisation and drawbacks (1980s to 1994)

Many farmers were organising in the Maoist farmers' organisation Unión de Uniones. Unión was successful and led to the creation of a credit union. This allowed them to purchase additional land legally. Supported by urban counsellors, some communities began organising collectively in coffee cultivation. This experiment, however, failed because of resentment, envy, and a collectivisation model that did not consider local conditions and traditions. This was aggravated by constantly fluctuating market prices, dependence on intermediaries, and the free fall of coffee prices in 1989. Only the debts remained.

Additionally, Unión de Uniones, formerly in opposition to the state, changed into a propaganda tool for land privatisation. Thus, during the presidential election campaign, Unión speakers turned against indigenous farmers and attempted to privatise common land not for sale. The indigenous movement appeared devastated.

 

Zapatista uprising and new coffee cooperatives (1994 till today)

The coffee price crisis and the NAFTA agreement [4] abolishing import tax on US agricultural products and forcing small-scale farmers into direct competition with big US corporations threatened the existence of the indigenous population: 'With NAFTA, they will kill us without bullets.'[5]

In their view, there was only one way to break free from poverty and marginalisation: armed rebellion. They organised as indigenous rebels, as Zapatistas, and squatted in five regional capitals in Chiapas and declared war on the Mexican government on 01/01/1994, the effective date of the free trade agreement. (see also 'Who are the Zapatistas and how are they organising?').

Due to pressure from civil society, the armed struggle with the government ended after 12 days, and two years later indigenous people's autonomy rights were defined in the San Andrés agreement. However, subsequently the Mexican state refused to accept and implement these rights and used military force to fight the Zapatistas. Zapatistas, in turn, responded with an international mobilisation for their rights, thereby inspiring the globalisation-critical left with significant impulses.

In 1996, visitors from around the world were invited to the 'Inter-galactical Meeting Against Neo-liberalism and for Humankind'—opening the communities to about 3000 visitors from 54 nations and enabling strong cooperation with supporters. Consequently, international practical solidarity instigated the establishment of Mut Vitz, the first Zapatista coffee cooperative producing for export. The coop's objective was to break the dependency on intermediaries by using contacts abroad to export their coffee directly. They succeeded: they finally received a fair coffee price, and the Zapatista movement as a whole benefited from support, including financial sponsorship, for their ambitions of autonomy.

Meanwhile, two major Zapatista coffee cooperatives with more than 1200 members export to eight countries. The coffee co-ops' success contributes significantly to Zapatista economic autonomy. This independence helps them avoid government programs or projects that often serve as camouflage to create new dependencies or undermine autonomy ambitions.

 

[1] This term goes back to colonialism and describes descendants of Spanish and indigenous ancestors in Latin America. 'Mestizos' elevated themselves above indigenous people, enjoying more rights and privileges.

[2] http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ende-eines-regimes.871.de.html?dram:article_id=127344 (03.02.2018)

[3] P. Gerber (2005): Das Aroma der Rebellion, p. 25.

[4] North American Free Trade Agreement

[5] Subcomandante Marcos en: Marta Durán de Huerta (1994/2001): Yo Marcos. Gespräche über die zapatistische Bewegung, p. 94