Guide to Recurring Symbols by Natasha Siyumbwa ’17

Drawing from indigenous, Catholic, and communist imagery, the Zapatistas rely on a diverse symbolic language to communicate their message of resistance and solidarity. This key offers a more in-depth look at some of the recurring symbols present in Zapatista propaganda.

43: The number 43 rep- Maize: The people of Mexico Red Star: The red star is Sickle: Another communist Skull: José Guadalupe resents the disappearance have been farming maize for a revolutionary symbol symbol; the constitution born Posada, a printmaker and of forty-three students of thousands of years, an ances- of communism as well as out of the Mexican Revolu- engraver, used skulls, calaveras, the Ayotzinapa Teaching tral heritage that positions socialism. It has been used tion was socialist-inspired; and bones to make political School, who, on September the crop as a prized cultural in movements and flags all Rivera promoted communist critiques in the early half of 27, 2014, went missing after icon. The signing of NAFTA over the world to represent ideals and heroized leading the 20th century. It is thought an altercation with state jeopardized this longstanding the communist ideology. communist figures such as that he is the creator of the police. “43” is shown like practice, as it allowed U.S. It is often used in EZLN Lenin and Trotsky in his mu- calavera, humorous drawings shadows on the grieving agricultural conglomerates to posters and ephemera, and rals, but he had complicated of clothed skulls or skeletons protesters, who vary in gen- sell corn at nearly 1/2 the price is also the the most promi- relations with the Mexican engaged in various activities. der, age, and identifiability, of Mexican farmers. Depictions nent feature on their flag. Communist Party, due to his The artists in this exhibition suggesting a oneness with of maize reflect the precarious own idiosyncratic politics and use skulls to criticize capitalism, the forty-three student state of the time-honored tra- his opportunistic acceptance consumerism, and to fight for victims. dition in the context of global of the patronage of U.S. indigenous political justice. capitalism. capitalists.

Mask: The Zapatistas use an Paliacate: The paliacate iconic black ski- mask to iden- is the red bandana worn tify themselves as part of the by protesters, in a similar movement, simultaneously manner to the black ski granting them anonymity and masks. Zapata: Imagery of folk-national Sacred Heart: This multifacet- unity. The act of covering their heroes — particularly the peasant ed symbol can be tied to both faces makes them recogniz- revolutionary Emiliano Zapata — Catholic doctrines involving the able as activists and resistors constitute a symbolic language Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary against the establishment of transnational solidarity in its and indigenous Mexican beliefs. and its treatment of indige- appropriation by the Zapatistas. The Aztecs thought that the heart nous people.The presence As a leader of the peasant revolu- contained the most personal and Paliacate: The paliacate of the Zapatista mask in later tion and agrarian reform, Zapata dynamic aspects of human will. is the red bandana worn Mexican activist art articulates was considered an outlaw during Particularly in the Ayotzinapa post- by protesters, in a similar memories of persistent local the combat phase of the Mexican ers, a realistically-rendered human manner to the black ski injustice and revolution. Revolution. His image was later heart appears frequently. masks. appropriated by the Mexican state as a symbol of the government’s purported commitment to revolu- tionary reforms, which were never fully realized in the 20th century.