What is the situation of the Zapatistas?
In 1998 the government organised a series of military attacks on Zapatista base communities. In 1999 however, their strategy has turned to the systematic occupation of these communities, surrounding the EZLN with a ring of steel. It is unclear to me what the EZLN response to this is. * MAM. The response has been very weak. Part of this is that the position of the EZLN, especially of Marcos himself, has been that the Mexican people didnt need to build a solidarity movement with Chiapas, but merely to pursue their own struggles. Today there is almost no solidarity movement, and this aggressive military strategy by the government has not been repudiated or systematically opposed by the Mexican people. The strategy of the EZLN is very contradictory, and has helped to contribute to the stalemate. On the one had they have refused to surrender their weapons – quite rightly. On the other, they do not have an elaborated or aggressive political strategy to fight the government, and have wasted m
