This book traces the growth of a new kind of transnational social movement inspired by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in Mexico that has spread to urban Mexico and abroad. Based on ethnographic data in Mexico City and Los Angeles, this work traces the development of an urban, transnational, and transcultural network of community-based organizations that attempt to implement a Zapatista political vision. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate the complex and problematic linkages between these diverse communities and political discourses originating from indigenous communities in Mexico. This study centers on the influence of indigenous cultural politics on urban political culture in Mexico City and Los Angeles.

A study of the two large communities in San Antonio and Los Angeles shows how Mexican-Americans are beginning to use the coalition-building strategies embraced by Jews, Italians, and black Americans to gain political clout and economic success.