Zapatista

I mentioned last week that rapper Zack de la Rocha of RATM had been and even still is supporting the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. He even in the 1990’s took trips all the way down to the southern most jungles of Mexico to visit the EZLN’s or Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion National. The EZLN want equal opportunities and access to necessities for the native farming minorities of southern Mexico. Why this is such a radical move for an artist to be supporting a movement like this is because the Zapatista movement is a very drastic one.
It got started because the native minorities for a long time in Mexico have been neglected and left at the bottom of the social ladder for many years. The people believe that the neo-liberal government (who RATM believed was backed by USA) has done nothing to help them and has intentionally left them at the bottom as a cheap labor force. The native people in 1994 made non-violent but emotional marches of protest against the government in Chiapas. The protestors were pushed back by the federal authorities who used brute force on the civilians. Later in the jungle the natives got together and created the well armed Zapatista National Liberation Army which is named after Emilio Zapatista who was a famous Mexican revolutionary in the early 20th century and supposedly fought for the native farmers. When the government saw how much of an organized force the Zapatistas had become they began to come to terms with the EZLN’s who still even now are asking for more radical changes. RATM also made a song supporting the movement called the "People of the Sun".