¡Zapata vive, la lucha sigue!

On the 20th of November Mexicans celebrated the Mexican revolution. I will not bore you to much with a history class about it, if you are interested in that sort of things, Wikipedia is your best friend. In the following alinea I'll give you the very short story as they have told it to me (notice that this short story really doesn't contain enough nuances, it was an incredible complex period, I'm just trying to sketch out the context a little bit.). So there was this guy, Porfirio Díaz. He used to be a 'good guy' but then he became a greedy politician. Nothing new under the sun you know... So general Porfirio Díaz promised his Mexican fellows that he would make everything better for the people if they made him president. And so they did. So señor Díaz was 35 years president of Mexico at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. But he didn't make things better, he did a good job in filling his own pockets though. In his reign there occured big technological advancementments in Mexico, but for some reason the hard working Mexicans only got poorer and Porfirio and some of his few friends got only richer, by accident you know. And so after 35 years the Mexican people were afraid the pockets of señor Díaz were about to burst, so they adviced him to take his money, go live a quiet life on a Caribbean Island with a cocktail and leave them alone. But Porfirio Díaz kinda liked stealing from his own people, you know, bad habits are difficult to controle, so he didn't want to go live in paradise, he wanted to keep sitting in his iron throne. And as you know, playing the game of thrones is not for the faint of heart. So in the elections for the new president another politician, Francisco Madero (everybody thought he was one of the good guys, but as you will read not everything is black and white) won. Porfirio didn't like this at all, so they started to fight, this war is a very bloody part of the Mexican history. And when the forces supporting Madero where about to lose there came another guy on the stage, his name was Emiliano Zapata. Zapata had teached his fellow Mexicans to fight and so with this army of the people he came to help Madero. Together they forced Porfirio to resign. Now the problem was, Madero was elected as president and he did really like the idea of being president. But he knew it was Zapata who actually was the popular guy, the people's hero. So he was afraid the people would not support him and Zapata would be more powerful than him. So he decided to use his presidential powers to proclaim Zapata and his army outlaws. Zapata and his merry man were now very angry at Madero. And so there was a new war, even bloodier than the first one. Zapatas forces outnumbered the forces of Madero, but the forces of Madero were trained soldiers with high technological weapons. The people's army of Zapata in the end succeeded in defeating Maderos military, but the cost was very high, many lives had been lost. Madero got assisnated after only being president for a little over a year. And also Zapata died in the end a violent dead being murdered by one of his own generals. Again, this period of the Mexican history is very complex, and if you read more about it I promise you you will get very confused. In the end it is (to me anyway) not clear at all if there was 'a good side and a bad side' and who acted out of good intentions and who acted out of greed.

Anyway... Finding out what was everybody's role in this sad part of history, I leave to the historians, because I do not really understand what happened in these years. What I do know is that the figure Emiliano Zapata has become a symbol, in the minds of the Mexicans he is remembered as the brave revolutionary who fought for and with the people. If you read more about this history you will find out that also Zapatas history is interwoven with events that make you doubt his good intentions. But that doesn't matter anymore. The name Zapata has become more than a reference to the person he was. He is the Mexican equivalent of Che Guevara. The name Zapata has become a symbol for not accepting corrupt leaders. That's why you see many people wearing shirts on 20 November with the words ¡Zapata vive, la lucha sigue! (Zapata lives, the battle still goes on!).

And so on the 20th of November people Remind it is not okay to accept corrupt politicians, the streets color green, white and red, thats why people hang out there Mexican flag and it is why they sing their national anthem with the hand on the heart. It is also why I was invited to one of the schools of our children. Their was a big festival, the children had prepared songs, plays, dances,... It was a very nice event. You can find some documentation in the foto and film sections of my blog.

Critical thought of mine... Although I think Zapata would feel honored his name had become a symbol for revolutionaries and anti-corruption... I think he would be ashamed to be a Mexican if he knew that corruption on the highest Mexican political levels are still tearing the country apart. What good is it to honor a revolutionary as Zapata every year if nobody has the balls to actually change things for the better. I am afraid Mexico needs a new Zapata... Although I wouldn't like to see another one of those violent periods... I just wonder if Zapata in the end really made a difference, yes he helped removing some corrupt empty-heads, but as it seems to me they have just been replaced by some more empty-heads...

Best greetings,

B. Supertramp