It was New Year’s Day of 1994. As dawn was about to break, a group of indigenous Mayan fighters attacked cities and towns across the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico. They called themselves the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and wore black ski masks and red paisley bandanas known as paliacates.

The United States had just signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. It was supposed to make trade easier between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. It would also flood Mexico with imported corn, which the Zapatistas and other farmers said would kill them and their livelihood.

Between 600 and 2,000 armed Zapatistas took the municipal palace of the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Most of the troops were young adults from farming backgrounds, and almost all were indigenous Mayans from the state of Chiapas. The Zapatistas read a declaration of war, proclaiming “Ya basta,” which translates to “Enough is enough.” They declared war on the army, the state and federal government, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which had been in power for 65 years.

“We are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents, then to avoid being absorbed by North American imperialism,” their declaration read.

Their declaration of war was a last resort, but seen as necessary in order to achieve “work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice, and peace,” they said. They took the name Zapatista from the early-20th-century Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who said: “The land belongs to those who work it.”

Unlike many revolutions in the Global South, these indigenous rebels never sought to take power. They have always operated under the democratic principle of “mandar obedeciendo,” which translates to “leading by obeying.” Other key principles include “convince, don’t conquer,” and the construction of a “world where many worlds fit.”

The Mexican government sent thousands of soldiers to Chiapas to combat this rebellion, killing over 100 people, most of whom were Zapatistas. After threatening to attack the capital, the government agreed to negotiate with the Zapatistas on January 12, 1994. The Zapatistas’ spokesperson, Subcommander Marcos, said that they would stop using their weapons, but that they would give them up over their dead bodies.

The Mexican government agreed to a cease-fire, but in reality they were supporting non-government groups call paramilitaries. The paramilitaries violently attacked thousands of indigenous people, some of whom had no relationship to the Zapatistas (Anderson). The conflict continued for years, and in 1997 a horrendous massacre
occurred in Acteal, a peaceful indigenous community allied with the Zapatistas. The paramilitaries killed forty-five indigenous members of the Acteal community while they prayed at church.

The Zapatistas met during mediated talks to guarantee indigenous’ communities’ rights. Prior to the massacre at Acteal, the government and the EZLN signed an agreement, known as the San Andrés Accords. The San Andrés Accords would guarantee certain political, social, economic, and cultural rights to indigenous communities. However, the government did not follow the accords, which the Zapatistas saw as a betrayal.

After the San Andrés Accords failed in the 1990s, a new law was passed called the indigenous reform. This new law allowed Mexico to begin mining in indigenous communities and limited those communities’ ability to reject mining projects on their land. Mexico’s current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, plans to create a train network that will cross Zapatista territory. Subcommander Moises announced that the Zapatistas see no benefit for them in these plans (Moisés).

Still, this doesn’t mean that the Zapatistas’ revolutionary efforts were for nothing.

Chiapas, the southern Mexican state where the Zapatistas operate, is one of Mexico’s poorest states, but also one of the richest in natural resources. The Zapatistas have built schools and provided health care in communities where there were no schools or doctors before. The area still needs more resources, but there have been major improvements.

The 1994 indigenous revolution was a dream for the Zapatistas, but it’s the reality for Zapatista teenagers today. Because of the Zapatistas, they have grown up in fully independent communities with bilingual schools and health clinics, and hold rotating volunteer roles in their government. They tell their own stories in the media, and women and men participate in the government as determined by the women’s revolutionary law (Marcos). This law was implemented shortly before the Zapatista uprising in 1994. Women were granted the right to participate in the revolution according to their individual abilities. It also includes other clauses protecting their right to work, choose who to marry, and access health care and education.

Fast forward to January 1, 2019, where a group of teenagers, dressed in red with black ski masks, are dancing to the song “Latinoamérica” by the Puerto Rican rap group Calle 13. The lyrics in Spanish ring out: “You can’t buy the sun. You can’t buy the rain. You can’t buy my life. My land is not for sale.”

This dance is just one part of the celebration of the uprising’s 25-year anniversary in La Realidad, a Zapatista administrative center. Over 5,000 Zapatistas from all across Chiapas were there, in addition to several thousand allies from Mexico and all over the world.

“More than 500 years ago, our grandmothers and grandfathers were not taken into account by the capitalist system, because for them they were not worth anything, and were just slaves of the bosses,” said a young Zapatista named Berenice. “They gave up their lives, so that we, the new generations, can have better lives.”
It is estimated that at 250,000 strong, the Zapatistas make up approximately 5 percent of the Chiapas population. Throughout the state, they have five local government centers known as caracoles, which is Spanish for “snail.” The caracoles are all the jungle, mountains, and rainforest areas of Chiapas. Each caracol is a colorful rainbow of murals, celebrating women’s and indigenous rights and criticizing multinational corporations and Mexico’s army. The “meetings of the good government” are held at the caracol in each region’s indigenous language, including Tojolabal, Chol, Tzotzil, Zoque, and Tzeltal.

Six years ago, the Zapatistas launched the “Escuelita,” or Little School program. Outsiders young and old spent a week living with a Zapatista community and took the first-grade course of “Freedom According to the Zapatistas.”

“The change we want is that one day, the people—the world, men, and women—[will get] to decide how they want to live and that no group can make decisions about the lives of millions of human beings,” Subcommander Moises said on December 31.

An estimated 2,500 militants cheered his message that the Zapatistas will not let the government take back all they have gained in the past 25 years. “They think we’re still ignorant and backwards, compañeros and compañeras. But we’re here ready and willing to defend ourselves,” Moises says. The supporters chanted back, “You are not alone.”

Note: This article originally appeared in Teen Vogue on January 30, 2019.