In front of the fire were the sacred Peace and Dignity staffs carried by runners via Alaska and Chile. Living in subservience was no longer an option. A large Chiapas delegation -- symbolically representing the Quetzal of the Mayans -- spoke with a sense of urgency. The fire roared even higher into the cold Otomi sky. It was a prelude to Jan. 1, 1994, the Zapatista insurrection, timed to coincide with the first day of implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion (EZLN) -- which had been building for a decade -- chose that day to protest the brazen inhumanity and the unconstitutional nature of the agreement. The drive to implement it included the stripping of article 27 from the Mexican Constitution -- which formerly protected the integrity of the nation's communal lands.

The year before, there had been a huge indigenous gathering at the sacred site of Teotihuacan, Mexico, on Oct. 11, 1992. Many had come to greet the runners carrying the sacred staffs and prayers from throughout the continent (Abya Yalla, Pacha Mama, Semanahuak, Turtle Island). Others were there to affirm their sovereignty in the face of 500 years of European occupation. Before that, there had also been a historic gathering of indigenous peoples in Quito, Ecuador.

Something was in the air. Rigoberta Menchu had been named the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and then came the United Nation's Decade of Indigenous Peoples. After the initial Zapatista insurrection shocked the world, support arrived from the four winds. "Todos somos Zapatistas" -- "We are all Zapatistas" -- became the mantra for its supporters worldwide, though everyone was sent home with the same message: Don't come here simply to help us. Fight for your own dignity. And thus everyone returned home, all with their own tasks.

For indigenous people worldwide, it was not about others, but about us. There had always been contact between indigenous peoples. But now, it was more sustained, affirming a historic acknowledgement that the continent is one. Whereas before, the enemies of indigenous peoples had been European colonizers and their descendants, the new enemy was U.S. multinational corporations, come to take the little communal and indigenous land, resources and sustenance that remained.

The Zapatista struggle was not just another political movement. It was the first struggle of the electronic age, and it was a new "flower war" -- a poetic and humanistic war from deep within the Chiapas jungle, which the Zapatistas clearly won. Their "pasamontanas," their masks, gave indigenous people a face and a heart. A large part of that face was organizing and creating autonomous, self-governing municipalities or zones. While an indigenous rights law -- guaranteeing land, cultural and language rights -- remains elusive, the Zapatistas have changed the face of Mexico and the continent. They've also inspired the worldwide anti-globalization movement.

Since the initial uprising, the continent has seen other major indigenous uprisings from Bolivia to Peru to Ecuador and Guatemala. No one can predict whether the recently negotiated Central American Free Trade Agreement (between the United States, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) will trigger other indigenous (or even broader) uprisings, though what's certain is that the same NAFTA dynamic will be unleashed.

Close to 2 million campesinos have been displaced from their lands due to U.S.-subsidized agricultural imports (maize) flooding into Mexico. This has greatly accelerated a century-old uprooting and migration process to the cities and into the United States. NAFTA has also meant huge job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector (estimated at 3 million). At least a half-million have been certified by the U.S. government as NAFTA-related.

The recent turmoil and protests in Miami (against the Free Trade Area of the Americas) and in Cancun, Mexico, (against the World Trade Organization talks) indicate that forthcoming agreements are not a done deal. They call for handing the continent's and world's natural resources (including the DNA of all living things) -- at the expense of environmental, wage, labor, safety and human rights laws -- over to multinational corporations. If anything, these proposed agreements may be a prelude to a worldwide Zapatista insurrection based on respect for our sacred Mother Earth. That can't spell good news for the best-laid plans of the multinationals.

Gonzales is the author of 'The Mud People: Chronicles, Testimonios & Rembrances' ($19.95, Chusma House, ISBN: 1-891823-05-1). Email: chusmahouse (at) earthlink.net She can be reached at: patigonzaj (at) aol.com

Rodriguez is the author of 'Justice: A Question of Race' - Bilingual Review Press and the electronic books, 'The X in La Raza' and 'Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human' . Both are coeditors of 'Cantos Al Sexto Sol' - Wings Press