On several occasions, we have noted that self-criticism has been disappearing from the left worldwide, even from those that call themselves revolutionary or radical. The absence of a central political practice among those who seek to change the world is part of the collapse of the left and of anti-system movements.
During the first week of August, we witnessed something absolutely new among movements that struggle to change the world. It happened in the Semillero (place called seedbed by zapatistas)in the Caracol Morelia, at the Encuentro de Resistencia y Rebelidas ”Algunas partes del todo (Some Parts of the Whole).” For several days, the zapatistas staged plays ranging from an assembly of the dead (those who fell in the struggle) teaching the Zapatistas not to repeat old mistakes, to a dialogue between people who have not yet been born (performed by one hundred sperm cells and eggs), to whom they conveyed their reflections.
All the participants were able to watch and listen to the plays — from national and international attendees to support bases, militiamen and militiawomen. The most striking part was how they displayed the mistakes made by the Good Government Councils and the autonomous municipalities, the various forms of corruption — from theft of collective funds to abuses and misconduct by authorities.
One key point to highlight is that hundreds of Zapatistas acted in the plays, all of them very young, with gender parity between young men and young women. The way they explained themselves and carried themselves on the huge stage at the center of the seedbed (the size of a soccer field) revealed months of rehearsals among bases from different communities and caracoles, showing a massive effort of regional coordination, scriptwriting, and long-term practice. What was invisible seems to me as important as what we heard.
But what I find almost unbelievable — because it had never happened before and I had never seen it in more than 55 years of activism — is the how, the where, and the for whom. The self-criticism was public, in front of the support bases and Mexican and international attendees, as well as those watching through social media. It was carried out by ordinary young Zapatistas questioning the conduct of their own authorities. They staged it with generous doses of humor — which does not mean the criticisms were not rigorous and profound — revealing a calm and reflective state of mind.
In the political culture we were shaped by during the world revolution of 1968 (as Wallerstein called it), self-criticism was important, but over time it became almost nonexistent, and all faults began to be blamed on the enemy. Perhaps that is why Subcomandante Moisés, who spoke on many occasions during the gathering, emphasized that “not all problems come from capitalism” (I quote from memory). In general, when there is self-criticism, it comes from the leadership — never (absolutely never) from the grassroots. Leaders were the ones who decided what was done right or wrong, and the rest of the organization followed their line. “Every support base must be able to criticize its own government,” was said in one of the performances.
In Zapatismo, there is a complete reversal of this hierarchical practice. Self-criticism is not only public and open, but it is carried out from the bottom up. It would have been very different had it been summarized in a communiqué. The fact that grassroots Zapatistas are the ones doing it shows two central things: unyielding, persistent ethical consistency; and the political decision that organized communities are the ones to chart the course of the movement. This does not mean that Captain Marcos, Subcomandante Moisés, or the CCRI (Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee) have no role, but that they have made the ethical-political decision to “lead by obeying” — not as a slogan, but as a concrete and real practice guiding their actions.
From there, taking the step to dismantle the pyramid was only one step further — a step taken collectively, from the bottom up. Beforehand, they recalled the positive aspects of the Good Government Councils and the autonomous municipalities, because it was not all problems; they had also been a school of autonomy.
At this point, like the other attendees I spoke with, I believe we must bow to the EZLN and its support bases — for their consistency, for being who they are, and for showing us paths no movement had ever walked before, anywhere in the world, in all of history. Zapatismo is a true revolution that does not play with words but demonstrates practices of profound change — non-capitalist, non-patriarchal.
I was formed in the years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which I embraced enthusiastically because I believed it was the continuation of the struggles after taking power, unlike what had happened in the Soviet Union, where all bottom-up criticism was crushed. Later we learned that the mass mobilization had been driven by party leadership to settle disputes among elites using the masses — as always. This is horrifying because blood from below was spilled to strengthen the pyramid.
In these times of global darkness, of genocides and massacres from above, Zapatismo is the only hope — intact, unstained, with mistakes but without horrors. It is an exception in the small global anti-systemic world, and we must recognize it as such. They have achieved this without surrendering, without selling out, without giving in… and without handing over their weapons.
Original text by Raúl Zibechi published by Desinformémonos on August 11th, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.