Zapatistas Dissolve Government to Survive Cartel War

Zapatistas in Chiapas:

In 2025-2026, Chiapas is a war zone. Cartel turf wars between Sinaloa and Jalisco, a militarized state response via the “Pakalis” special forces, and government mega-projects have created what analysts call a “criminal-state complex.” Yet within this inferno, Zapatista territories remain a “peace belt”—a bubble where disappearances and drug trafficking are virtually nonexistent. This is not coincidence; it is the result of a radical, ongoing experiment.

Facing the failure of their old centralized model, the EZLN dissolved its own government in late 2023. In its place, they built a decentralized “non-system” of Local Autonomous Governments (GALs) in every hamlet. Power now sits with the neighbors, not regional councils. The goal is resilience: you cannot decapitate a swarm.

Simultaneously, they reimagined land itself. Abandoning communal ownership, they now practice “non-property”—land for use, not possession. Crucially, they have opened it to non-Zapatista neighbors (partidistas), undermining the state’s strategy of pitting poor communities against each other over titles.

This is all in service of a 120-year horizon. Their decisions are made for Deni, a girl who will be born a century from now. This “sowing without reaping” mindset extends internally: women now run the economy, the radio, and the keys, having seized real power through their cooperatives.

The Zapatistas are not a relic of the 1990s. They are a political laboratory for the collapse we all sense, proving that when the state fails, you can build a world based on care, shared labor, and thinking in centuries—not election cycles.

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