Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

708 • ZAPATISTAS– Z –ZAPATISTAS. The Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN),Zapatista Army of National Liberation, which undertook an insurgencyagainst the Mexican government in Chiapas State on 1 January1994, has been hailed as the first “postmodern” insurgency involvingthe systematic use of netwar to achieve its political objectives.The name is taken from that of the revolutionary hero of southernMexico, Emiliano Zapata (1879–1919).Unlike other former leftist insurgencies, or the contemporary insurgencyof the Popular Revolutionary Army, the EZLN did notseek a complete revolution changing the political regime in Mexiconor to secede from Mexico, but rather sought specific limited redressof grievances. The EZLN also did not seek foreign state sponsorshipbut rather sought moral support from nongovernmental organizationsboth within and outside Mexico. Whereas previous insurgencies oftenviewed revolutionary violence as the only legitimate means forseeking their political goals, the EZLN has used insurgent violenceprimarily to attract the support of various allies in civil society whothen have brought tremendous pressure on U.S. and Mexican governmentofficials to desist from military retaliation against the EZLN infavor of dialogue and negotiation.The “social netwar” used to apply this moral pressure consists ofthe coordinated actions of various groups sympathetic to the EZLN,such as advocates of the rights of indigenous peoples, environmentalists,human rights advocates, and anti-NAFTA (North AmericanFree Trade Agreement) groups, as well as labor groups and left-winggroups opposed to Mexican government development policies. Byadroit use of the Internet, such groups coordinated protests outsideMexican consulates in the United States and in Canada, as well asbombarding offices of elected officials and news organizations withprotests against the Mexican government and on behalf of the EZLNand its Mayan Indian allies. Finally, unlike traditional leftist insurgencies,the EZLN abandoned a rigid hierarchical structure in favorof a looser network structure in which the combatants play a largerrole in forming a community consensus rather than simply obeyinga central command.The EZLN was founded on 17 November 1983 by young intellectualsfrom northern Mexico involved in the Fuerzas de Liberación