Anti-Capitalist

1990s

By the 1990s, neoliberalism had asserted a hegemonic influence over the global economy. In reaction against the rise of neoliberalism, a new anti-capitalist movement began to take shape. The contemporary anti-capitalist movement first emerged in January 1994, with the Zapatista uprising against the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Zapatista spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos explicitly expressed solidarity with minority groups throughout the world, seeking to make a common cause with others who experienced oppression under globalized capitalism. The Zapatista autonomous region in Chiapas inspired a new generation of anti-capitalists worldwide. Anti-capitalists began to defend cultural pluralism and stand in solidarity with indigenous rights movements, breaking from the 20th century's anti-capitalist movement, which had few links with the decolonial and anti-racist movements of its period.