My Reflection on Emiliano Zapata

by Brenda Ngum

Emiliano Zapata, the great revolutionary from Mexico, is remembered not only as a fighter but as a voice for justice, land, and dignity. Born in 1879 in the state of Morelos, he grew up among peasants who struggled under the weight of a system that concentrated land in the hands of a few wealthy landowners while dispossessing indigenous and rural communities. When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, Zapata emerged as one of its most passionate leaders, carrying forward the cry of “Tierra y Libertad” — “Land and Liberty.” For him, the revolution was not just about removing a dictator, but about transforming a system that denied ordinary people the right to live with security, autonomy, and justice. His movement, the Zapatistas, fought relentlessly for land redistribution to peasants, insisting that true freedom would never exist while land and resources remained in the control of elites.

Among his many ideas and actions, three suggestions or principles stand out. First, Zapata emphasized land reform as the foundation of justice. He argued that peasants who worked the land deserved to own it, and that collective or communal landholding reflected the traditions and survival needs of indigenous communities. Second, he called for local autonomy and direct participation, insisting that villages should govern themselves rather than remain dependent on distant elites or central authorities. His Plan de Ayala of 1911 outlined a vision for a Mexico where peasants directly reclaimed land stolen under the hacienda system. Third, Zapata believed in liberty tied to material dignity. For him, political freedom meant little if people remained hungry, landless, and powerless. Justice had to be concrete, grounded in food, shelter, and livelihood.

Learning about Zapata fills me with a deep sense of respect and a quiet fire. As a humanist, I admire his clarity of purpose: he knew that real justice could not be abstract, and he gave his life for the principle that every person deserves the means to live with dignity. His courage  facing powerful armies, betrayal, and eventually assassination in 1919 — shows the price often paid by those who speak for the voiceless. At the same time, his story makes me reflect on how difficult it is to transform deeply entrenched systems. Zapata achieved some victories, inspiring agrarian reform movements far beyond his lifetime, but many peasants continued to struggle after his death, and inequality persisted.

What I take away most from Zapata’s life is the reminder that social justice begins with the basics: land, food, shelter, dignity. Ideals such as liberty, democracy, and independence only matter if they are rooted in the daily lives of ordinary people. Zapata’s legacy is both heartbreaking and empowering — heartbreaking because he died before seeing his vision fully realized, but empowering because his cry for Tierra y Libertad still echoes as a call for justice wherever inequality endures. For me, his story is a reminder to never separate freedom from fairness, and to measure progress not only by laws or leaders but by whether the most vulnerable can live with dignity and hope.