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Difficulty: MediumCalls for Reform and Responses after 1900

Read the passage below and answer the following question.

'We are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents... then during the French invasion... and later when the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz denied us the application of the Reform Laws... We have been denied the most elemental conditions of life so that others can pillage the wealth of our homeland. They do not care that we have nothing—no land, no work, no health care, no food, no education... Today we say: Enough is Enough!'
— Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), *First Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle*, Chiapas, Mexico, 1993

Which of the following best explains the historical context of the concerns expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    It reflects a total rejection of foreign interactions to prevent the complete homogenization of indigenous culture by Western media.
  2. B
    It was a military campaign organized to overthrow direct Spanish colonial administration and regain indigenous territorial sovereignty.
  3. It represents a reaction against the socio-economic inequalities and loss of local autonomy associated with neo-liberal economic integration.Answer
  4. D
    It represents a campaign to support moderate state-sponsored legislative reforms to limit working hours within the existing capitalist framework.

Answer

The correct answer represents a reaction against the socio-economic inequalities and loss of local autonomy associated with neo-liberal economic integration.
The correct answer is correct because the Zapatistas (EZLN) rose up in late 1993 and early 1994, coinciding with the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They protested the negative impacts of neo-liberal economic policies, which they argued would exploit indigenous land and labor while exacerbating economic inequality, representing a major late-20th-century response to globalization.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the citation and source of the excerpt.
The source is the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) from Chiapas, Mexico, dated December 1993.
Identifying the author, location, and date provides the chronological framework for the response.
2
Connect the date and location to major global developments of the late 20th century.
The end of 1993 and beginning of 1994 marked the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which represented the spread of free-market capitalism and economic globalization in Latin America.
Understanding the specific historical context helps explain the immediate trigger and broader context of the protest.
3
Evaluate the core message of the text and match it with the options.
The text calls for land, work, health care, and political representation, protesting against economic pillaging, which matches the option describing resistance to the socio-economic effects of neo-liberal economic integration.
Aligning the text's demands with historical trends allows for identifying the correct explanation of context.

Key Concept

Responses to economic globalization and demands for reform in the late twentieth century.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Calls for Reform and Responses after 1900

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