Revolutionary grounds: political ontology of Zapatista land relations

Abstract

This study explores Zapatista communities' relationship with the land and their participation in transnational networks of coffee distribution, focusing on the political ontologies behind their resistance to capitalist destruction. The research highlights how their collective fight challenges privatization and extractive economies by analyzing their approach to land through the lens of political ecology and anthropology. Rooted in indigenous ontologies blended with anticapitalist ideologies, the Zapatistas' rejection of private property and their creation of autonomous territories represent a radical stance in the ongoing struggle for indigenous rights and agrarian reform in Mexico. Ethnographic fieldworks with both Zapatista producers and European solidarity networks reveal tensions between autonomy, processes of political subjectivization, and resistance to commodification, as well as the risk of romanticizing indigenous and peasant movements. The research contextualizes these dynamics within broader challenges posed by increasing violence, state repression, and organized crime in Chiapas. The findings contribute to ongoing debates about the commons, indigenous autonomy, and the contradictions of participating in transnational markets. By integrating insights from anthropology, political ontology, and social movement studies, this research offers a deeper understanding of how Zapatista communities and their allies strive to build sustainable economic lives, underlying their significance in reimagining dignifying alternatives to current predatory capitalism.