Popularizing Autogestión: Punk, Zapatismo, and Anarchist Ethics in Mexico City

Abstract

Autogestión (self-management), has been a popular articulation of radical politics since its emergence in the 1960s. This article examines how Mexico City's anarcho-punk scene transformed autogestión in the 1990s from an anarcho-syndicalist principle into a unique ethical practice detached from industrial material production. It was then popularized and made more mainstream through university rock festivals. As these were Zapatista benefit concerts, autogestión became inadvertently attached to Zapatismo and detached from anarchism and punk. This history is a crucial one for understanding the political development of an entire generation of the political left in Mexico City who were young in the 1990s. This article presents materials and oral histories at the intersections of punk and Zapatismo that are broadly relevant to an understanding of Mexican social movements but are not widely known or accessible. It is essential for understanding how autogestión practice and discourse is deployed in the 21st century.