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The Original Nation’s Path to Recognition Under International Law: The Sovereignty-Making of Zapatista, Cherán, and Neuquén

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Original Nation Approaches to Inter-National Law

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Abstract

This chapter examines the nation’s direct activism undertaken to create an autonomous, self-governing community, including the Zapatista of the armed indigenous Mayan people of the Tzeltal and Tzotzil Nations in the southern state of Chiapas, and the Municipio of Cherán in Mexico in the heart of the P’urhépecha Nation in Michoacán, where indigenous townspeople took over governmental functions and built a self-governing community. These autonomous communities witnessed women’s active participation in politics, cultural affairs, and military tasks. Also explored is Argentina’s recent adoption of the ancient jury model, “Jury de Medietate Linguage (Split Jury)” or “Jurado Indigena (Indigenous Jury).” The affirmative jury model guarantees the inclusion of indigenous members and women among its 12-members in criminal trials and provides substantial fairness and justice for indigenous activists and their supporters who have fought against extractive corporate activities in their homeland.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Smith (2018). See also Woo (2003); see also Bhatia (2012, pp. 159–171).

  2. 2.

    See Burns (2013, pp. 154–155).

  3. 3.

    See United Nations (2008). For the significance of international law and the rights of indigenous peoples, see Thompson (1987), Brolmann (1993), Chakma and Jensen (2001), Anaya (2000), Castellino and Walsh (2005), Gilbert (2016), Iankova et al. (2016), Tobin (2016), Watson (2016), Barelli (2018), Nielsen and Jarrat-Snider (2020).

  4. 4.

    The four countries later reversed their position. See Morin (2017).

  5. 5.

    “General Command of the EZLN, First Declaration of the Lacondona Jungle: EZLN’s Declaration of War, Today We Say ‘Enough is Enough! (Ya Basta!)” (1993).

  6. 6.

    INEGI (2015, p. 3).

  7. 7.

    Central Intelligence Agency (2019).

  8. 8.

    Danver (2012, p. 166).

  9. 9.

    Ibid., p. 167.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., p. 641. See also Herrera (2015).

  11. 11.

    Kelly (1994, p. 542).

  12. 12.

    Sander (1995).

  13. 13.

    Day (2005, pp. 190–192).

  14. 14.

    Solano (2007).

  15. 15.

    See generally Subcomandante Marcos and De Leon (2011).

  16. 16.

    Austin (1997).

  17. 17.

    Callahan (2005).

  18. 18.

    Ojeda (2014).

  19. 19.

    Mexican Constitution, art. 2.

  20. 20.

    Ibid.

  21. 21.

    Soloff (2018).

  22. 22.

    Danver (2012, p. 153).

  23. 23.

    Ibid.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    Ibid.

  26. 26.

    “States with the Highest Number of Homicides in Mexico in 2019” (2020).

  27. 27.

    Pressly (2016).

  28. 28.

    Miroff (2013). (“Michoacán … has been a smoldering battleground for years … [and] drug gangs also squeeze local businesses and villagers with schemes to extort payments.”)

  29. 29.

    Lopez (2020). See also Agren (2018).

  30. 30.

    Pressly (2016).

  31. 31.

    Salazar (2015).

  32. 32.

    “Community Shaken by Woman’s Murder” (2018).

  33. 33.

    Morris (1991), Botello and Rivera (2000), Morris (2009), Nagle (2010), and Jaramillo (2019).

  34. 34.

    “Cultural Survival, Observations on the State of Indigenous Women’s Rights in Mexico: Alternative Report Submission” (2018, p. 14).

  35. 35.

    Dawson (1960, pp. 20–21).

  36. 36.

    Ibid.

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    See generally Fukurai and Krooth (2003).

  39. 39.

    Ramirez (1994, pp. 777–818).

  40. 40.

    U.S. v. Wood, 299 U.S. at 132-33 (citing Crawford v. United States, 212 U.S. 183, 1908).

  41. 41.

    Ramirez (1994).

  42. 42.

    See generally Scherr (2016).

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    Danver, supra, note 137.

  45. 45.

    Harfuch et al. (2016).

  46. 46.

    Ibid.

  47. 47.

    “Censo Nacional de Poblacion, Hogares y Viviendas 2010: Pueblos Originarios: Region Noroeste Argentino: Serie D N 1” (2020).

  48. 48.

    Ibid.

  49. 49.

    Amnistía Internacional (2017).

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Cregan (2015).

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Ibid. The indigenous leader was found guilty of simple damage to a vehicle.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Horne (2015).

  56. 56.

    “Mendoza, Argentina: Governor Suarez Announced the Expansion of the Jury to More Crimes and the Implementation of the Civil Jury” (2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Legal Studies and Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Hiroshi Fukurai

  2. Department of Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Richard Krooth

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  1. Hiroshi Fukurai
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Fukurai .

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Fukurai, H., Krooth, R. (2021). The Original Nation’s Path to Recognition Under International Law: The Sovereignty-Making of Zapatista, Cherán, and Neuquén. In: Original Nation Approaches to Inter-National Law. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59273-8_7

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