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 Editorials | Opinions | May 2007 
Greatest Ever Mexicans - Subcomandante Marcos
 Gary Denness - Ay Caramba!
| | Marcos T-Shirts are popular with tourists in particular. |
Subcomandante Marcos is the fourth person in my Dirty Dozen (view list HERE), and so far the third who is still alive, and all of them have been men. There is only one more living Mexican to come in my chart, and I'm afraid only two women. Whether that says anything for me or for Mexico is for you to decide!
The Ninth Greatest Mexican
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos (allegedly born June 19, 1957 in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico), also known as Delegado Zero in matters concerning the Other Campaign, describes himself as the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) but, due to his prominence in the EZLN, he is considered by many to be one of its main leaders.
The Mexican government believes Marcos to be Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente. Guillén attended high school at Instituto Cultural Tampico, a Jesuit school in Tampico, Tamaulipas, where he presumably became acquainted with Liberation Theology. Guillén later moved to Mexico City where he graduated from the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), then received a masters' degree in philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and began work as a professor at the UAM. After that he left (possibly to begin his revolutionary activity). While Marcos has always denied being Rafael Guillén, Guillén's family are unaware of what happened to him and they refuse to say if they think Marcos and Guillén are the same person or not. Guillén's family is deeply involved in Tamaulipas politics. Guillén's sister, Mercedes del Carmen Guillén Vicente, is General Attorney of the State of Tamaulipas, and a very influential member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the party that governed Mexico for more than 70 years. During the Great March to Mexico City in 2001, Marcos visited the UAM and during his speech he made clear that he had at least been there before.
Like many of his generation, Guillén was radicalised by the events of 1968 and became a militant in a Maoist organisation. However, the encounter with the outlook of the indigenous peasants of Chiapas transformed the Zapatistas' ideology, and Marcos has embraced an approach to social revolution that has been described by some as post-modernist; others argue that his philosophies and actions are more closely related to the revisionist Marxist ideals of Antonio Gramsci that were popular in Mexico during his time at university.
From 1992 through 2006, Marcos wrote more than 200 essays and stories and published 21 books in a total of at least 33 editions, amply documenting his political and philosophical views (see Bibliography). The essays and stories are recycled in the books. Marcos tends to prefer indirect expression; his writings are often fables. Some, however, are earthy and direct. In a January, 2003, letter to Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (the Basque ETA), titled "I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet," Marcos says "We teach [children of the EZLN] that there are so many words like colors and that there are so many thoughts because within them is the world where words are born...And we teach them to speak the truth, that is to say, to speak with their hearts."
One of Marcos's most widely known books, La Historia de los Colores, is a story written for children. Based on a Mayan myth of creation, it teaches tolerance and respect for diversity. The book was to have been published in English translation with support from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, but in 1999 the Endowment abruptly cancelled its grant after questions to its chairman, William J. Ivey, from a newspaper reporter.The Lannan Foundation stepped in with support after the NEA withdrew.
Subcommander Marcos travels with an animal mascot, a deformed rooster he calls "the penguin." According to a New York Times article of January 6, 2006, Marcos uses the animal as a symbol of the various disenfranchised people he champions. The rooster derives its name from its penguin-like feet; their unusual shape makes it difficult for him to stand correctly. Marcos uses his mascot both for comic relief and as a symbol. From the New York Times article:
"Marcos brought guffaws from the crowd as he described his rooster's attempts to find love in the barnyard, which always ended in Penguin falling over before he could mate. This particular story was told to convince people to accept same-sex relationships, which are typically frowned upon in the Hispanic world."
Gary Denness says: I'm a lazy assed Englishman chilling out in Mexico City, enjoying the tacos, quesidillas and other chilli filled food that's on offer! I love the sights and sounds of this city, but sometimes the smell is more than you'd wish for! Otherwise I'm on my laptop churning out pointless websites, running my photos through Photoshop or kicking people around on Medal of Honour - the occasional chess or backgammon game breaks the monotony! Web site: http://www.garydenness.co.uk |
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