‘Así que y la solucion fue el neoliberalismo? Así que la democracie existe en realidad? Así que el ejercito defiende al pueblo? Así que los medios nos dicen la verad?’/ ‘So the solution was neoliberalism? So democracy actually exists? So the army defends the people? So the media tells us the truth?’ (EZLN)

Repression of Mexico’s Indigenous population has been endemic since colonial times, morphing from military brutality to slow economic violence.  This entrenched socio-economic marginalisation dramatically worsened as neoliberalism arrived in Mexico during the 1980s.   In response, rural communities began to explore political alternatives – Zapatismo – rooted in land reform, class struggle, and communitarian organisation, filtered through the lens of their Indigenous identity.

Mexico’s neoliberal turn culminated in the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, which sparked the Zapatistas in the southern state of Chiapas to declare war on the Mexican government.  The armed struggle lasted 12 days before an agreement was reached that granted greater autonomy to rural municipalities.  It was a system that survived under informal Zapatistas stewardship until its dissolution in 2023, as a direct result of escalating cartel violence.

Revolución X were a band born of that Zapatistas movement in the US border state of Chihuahua.  They formed in the direct aftermath of the 1994 revolt and were active between then and 1997, maintaining their anonymity throughout, and largely distributing their music by copied cassettes.

Revolución Permanente (Permanent Revolution) brings together all of the band’s recorded material – their 1994 self-titled debut, 1995’s Política Y Esparcimiento… (Politics And Entertainment), and 1997’s Canciones Electorales (Electoral Songs), plus a live performance in El Paso in 1996, and a bonus track recorded in 2015, Esto No Es Una Democracia (This Is Not A Democracy).

The album opens with the solemn spoken word of the EZLN’s original declaration of war to sparsely martial percussion, before plunging into a barrage of raw, politically charged hardcore punk, barring a satirical leap into pop punk on I’m Making My Future With The Border Patrol.  It is an intensity perfectly captured by the chaotic live set.  Lyrically, they challenged the state violence endemic to Mexico, its rampant socio-economic inequality, and democratic deficit as well as the malign history of US intervention in Central American politics.

The insert includes a short Spanish essay from the band, placing their original message, and their understanding of what punk is, within the context of a contemporary world defined by surveillance capitalism, growing authoritarianism, and the paramilitary violence of ICE on the streets of the US.