La otra campaña Zapatista : pursuing radical change beyond the ballot and the bullet

During the Mexican presidential election season of 2006, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) launched a political campaign unlike any other in history. The “Other Campaign,” as it came to be known, had no candidate or party, nor did it seek to vie for votes. Instead, it entailed an eleven month, 45,000 kilometer tour by the EZLN’s delegate, Subcomandante Marcos, across the Mexican territory in an effort to “listen and learn” from the nation’s marginalized majority. The objective was to begin to organize a unified movement of those “below and to the left” capable of challenging Mexico’s bankrupt and autocratic political class to “rule by obeying” the people. This thesis explores the logic, methods, actors and objectives of this innovative campaign and its “new way of doing politics” through an examination of the questions that it raises, the debates it engenders and the possibilities it presents to revolutionize Mexico beyond the well-worn paths of the ballot and the bullet.