From: Mexicana.nihilisten.com

zapatista rebels

May 8th, 2007

In January of 1994, a group of rebels led by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos in the Mexican state of Chiapas calling themselves the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) rose up in a ‘Declaration of War’ against several Mexican army barracks. In doing so, the guerrillas challenged the status quo in Mexico, namely the more than 60 years of political domination by the PRI. Their demands: jobs, housing, health, and education for Mexico’s most impoverished peoples.Many observers inside and outside of Mexico have seen the Chiapas uprising as a call for real change in Mexico, a movement pushing forward truly democratic elections and process in that country.

But what makes the Zapatistas so truly unique is their almost Yippie-esque knack for publicity and their saavy use of the Internet to get their message out unimpeded by the monolith of the Mexican state and the not so “free press” there.

Below are links to several sites devoted to the new form of information warfare pioneered by the Zapatista Rebels. It’s guerilla warfare in cyberspace.

Subcomandante Marcos Interview, part 2 In regards to our failure . . . Spanish with English subtitles. Produced by Kerry Appel RealVideo

Eyewitness Report from the Zapatista Revolution An American perspective on the uprising. An outsider looking in, couple of cool pictures. From anarchist e-zine ‘The Shadow.’

Zapatista Rebels to form political front Article from CNN’s WWW site about Zapatista plans to base the establishment of a broad political movement around their goals. With audio files.

Zapatista Net of Autonomy/Liberation Working space on conflict resolution. Write your protest on a wall, partake in conflict negotiations.

Chiapas 95 Source for older information and debate about the Chiapas uprising in Mexico, including communiques from the EZLN, circa 1995.

Chiapas: A Message from ‘Deep Mexico’ Interesting historical essay about ‘Deep Mexico,’ the Chiapas rebellion and its ramifications beyond the state.

Zapatistas On-line Especially worthwhile essay about the rebel Zapatista movement in Mexico and its use of e-mail and the WWW as a powerful weapon against disinformation. Subcomandante Marcos… we really like your style!

Zapatista Gopher Menu Offers several papers and articles regarding the tactics of the ‘post modernist’ high-tech Zapatista rebels in Mexico and their use of the Internet as an effective means of information dissemination.

Zapatista Front of National Liberation Everything you need to know about the Zapatistas from the inside - in English or Spanish. Up to date on negotiations with the Mexican government, history of the movement, testimony from EZLN prisoners.

Zapatistas in Cyberspace HUGE repository of Zapatista related materials and weblinks.

Information Warfare Wow. A *nicely* Shockwave’d site dealing with the use of the Internet to either further the Zapatista’s propaganda or to counter it. Very interesting.

Zapatista Solidarity EZLN endorsed sites, from the official site.

Subcomandante Marcos Interview In this excerpt, Marcos speaks to the question, “What does a struggle between indigenous peasantry and the Mexican government have to do with the rest of the world? Produced by Kerry Appel. RealVideo.