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Neoliberalism and the rise of (peasant) nations within the nation: Chiapas in comparative and theoretical perspective

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03066150500267149

1743-9361

Tom Brass,

Indigenous Cultures and History

This analysis places the causes and objectives of the Zapatista uprising in relation both to those of other agrarian movements, and to debates about them. Longstanding disagreements on the political left about indigenous autonomy and micro-level nationalist aspirations are examined with particular reference to 'from above' and 'from below' variants of indigenista discourse in Mexico. Of particular interest is the way in which the discourse about indigenous peasant 'otherness' necessarily generates a disempowering intra-class conflict, an issue linked in turn to the broader political economy of indigenismo. It is argued that, in many respects, the true precursors of the 1990s Zapatistas are the 1920s Cristeros and 1930s Sinarquistas, each of which constitutes a traditionalist form of anti-capitalist peasant movement belonging to the same agrarian populist lineage. The political efficacy of a Zapatista programme (cultural autonomy, human rights, systemically non-specific democracy) that leaves the wider class structure and its state intact is questioned. 'This journey has only served to confirm this belief, that the division of America into unstable and illusory nations is a complete fiction. We are one single mestizo race with remarkable ethnographic similarities, from Mexico down to the Magellan Straits.' – Ernesto Che Guevara [ 2004 Guevara, Ernesto Che. 2004. The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey, London and New York: Fourth Estate. [Google Scholar] ] after having travelled round Latin America on a motorcycle during the early 1950s. 'During the late disastrous season, in the autumn of 1839, in a distant western county, when there was no hope of seed-sowing, the little farmers without capital, whose existence seemed to depend upon it, were cheerful and contented; and this was uniformly more the case in proportion to their poverty. If there came a deluge of rain, they said, "God's will be done." If there came a fine day, they said, "God sent it." And all their conduct and conversation was so resigned and buoyant, as to shame both landlords and merchants, and other rich men, who at the same period were suffering a comparatively small diminution in their prosperity, from the difficulties of the times and the dearness of provisions.' – The idealization by Bosanquet [ 1841 Bosanquet, S. R. 1841. The Rights of the Poor and Christian Almsgiving Vindicated; or the State and Character of the Poor, and the Conduct and Duties of the Rich, Exhibited and Illustrated, London: James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square. [Google Scholar] : 164] of resignation among impoverished Irish farmers occasioned by religious belief as one of the 'Virtues of the Poor'. 'During the third and last general election under the Spanish Republic, a lean, underfed Andalusian land-worker was standing in the queue before a polling booth in Granada. A conservative agent who hung about on the lookout for votes to be bought showed him a silver duro (or crown) in the hollow of his hand. The worker met the manoeuvre with a blank stare. The agent produced a twenty-five peseta note. Another blank stare. Piqued, he produced a one hundred peseta note, almost a fortune for the poor wretch. Unmoved, the worker out of work let fall a lapidary phrase: "En mi hambre mando yo." I am master of my hunger.' – The recognition by a liberal bourgeois theorist [de Madariaga, 1958 de Madariaga, Salvador. 1958. Democracy versus Liberty? The Faith of a Liberal Heretic, London: Pall Mall Press. [Google Scholar] : 1–2] of both the existence and the power of class consciousness among the rural workers in 1930s Spain. 1 1 This particular epigraph is included to make the point that at the rural grassroots consciousness of class not merely exists but is also politically important. Such an observation – which might normally be considered obvious, not to say trite – is currently necessary, because the idea of a consciousness of class has been attacked recently from two directions. First, by the 'new' postmodern populism (see below) that dismisses class as 'foundational' and any consciousness thereof as an act of Eurocentric theoretical 'privileging'. And second, by the many ex-Marxists who are converts to and enthusiastic supporters of this 'new' postmodern populism. Like the original adherents of the latter, such ex-Marxists now see the rural workforce in any/every geographical/historical context as incapable of transcending ethnic/national identity, perceived both by them and by 'new' postmodern populists as 'natural', innate and empowering. 'Depend upon it there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.' – Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson in 'A Case of Identity' [Conan Doyle, 1928 Conan, Arthur Doyle. 1928. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories, London: John Murray, Albermarle Street. [Google Scholar] : 56].