-----Original Message-----
From: Ricardo Dominguez [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 10 January 2005 18:25
To: Interdisciplinary academic study of Cyber Society
Subject: radioinsurgente.org
It's dark - the kind of profound darkness that a lack of electricity ensures
in
a mountainous jungle region.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20932/
http://www.radioinsurgente.org/
A dull pulse carries through the night of the southeastern Mexican state of
Chiapas like an old woman's heartbeat. It's 4 a.m., and one can hear what
has
been a regular soundtrack at this hour for hundreds of years: a steady
pounding
as creased and callused brown hands massage dough for the day's tortillas.
And for the past year, Chiapas has greeted 4 a.m. with another soundtrack.
Fade in crackle, which quickly disappears, replaced by a clear and youthful
female voice: "Muy Buenos Dias."/"A very good morning."
The voice is that of an insurgent fighter with the Ejército Zapatista de
Liberación Nacional (EZLN), perhaps one of the world's quietest and most
powerful rebel armies. The world knows them as the Zapatistas. "Estás
escuchando Radio Insurgente, la voz de los sin voz."/"You are listening to
Radio Insurgente, the Voice of the Voiceless."
The voice is being relayed to nearby Zapatista autonomous communities from a
makeshift and very clandestine radio studio. The Zapatistas have built egg
carton-lined studios, erected transmitters and trained themselves to operate
a
radio station. Hundreds of years of media voicelessness ended in August 2003
with daily, 16-hour broadcasts. "...voz oficial del Ejército Zapatista de
Liberación Nacional."/ "...official voice of the Zapatista National
Liberation
Army."
She is the official voice of the EZLN on the Zapatista radio network. The
intimacy and immediacy of this uncensored mass communication is something
that
the indigenous rebel army has never before had. "Son las cuatro de la
madrugada."/"It's four in the morning."
Zapatista time. Daybreak. Fade in Zapatista national anthem.
The EZLN has said that access to and control of the media are vital for its
community's survival. And while successive Mexican governments have
surrounded
Zapatista communities with armies and allowed soldiers and paramilitaries to
unleash terror on indigenous peoples, the Zapatistas have worked quietly to
build the capacity to speak directly to their people. So quietly in fact,
that
when the Zapatista broadcasts first hit the airwaves, playing popular music
and
reading saludos from listeners, even government loyalists unwittingly tuned
in.
"Radio Insurgente is a radio station that is completely independent from the
bad
Mexican government," explains the network's Web site, radioinsurgente.org.
This
past Nov. 17, the day the EZLN celebrated its 21st anniversary, the station
launched an Internet audio version of the clandestine network. From
recordings
of local indigenous musicians and story-tellers to political speeches by
EZLN
leaders, the Internet audio archive serves as a history of Mexico's
indigenous
people. "... transmitiendo desde algun lugar de las montanas del sureste
Mexicano."/ "... transmitting from someplace in the southeastern Mexican
mountains."
Stories circulate about the Zapatistas' masked leader, Subcommandante
Marcos,
sitting in a mud hut in the jungle writing communiqués on his newly upgraded
Dell lap-top. Indeed the Zapatistas have taken full advantage of new
technologies.
Mexico's indigenous insurgents have kept close to the ground, expanding
their FM
community radio reach to between two and four radio stations and teaching
radio
skills to young women insurgents. Zapatista division of labor assigns men
the
technical roles and women the programming, on-air and reporting roles. "Las
reporteras de radio insurgente estuvieron en el lugar de los hechos. Asi que
podemos transmitirles un resumen de lo que grabaron ..."/ "Radio Insurgente
reporters were on the spot and we bring you this summary of what we recorded
..."
Radio Insurgente reports breaking news from Zapatista and indigenous
communities, blending political education with on-the-ground reporting. Take
the April 10 incident this year in the community of Zinacantan, when
community
leaders went to see municipal authorities to demand access to potable water
for
their communities and were attacked en route by thugs from the Party of the
Democratic Revolution. Reporters from Radio Insurgente were on the spot.
They
transmitted interviews with witnesses and those who were attacked about both
the incident and their opinions about the revolutionary peasant leader
Emiliano
Zapata, whose death 85 years ago was being commemorated in Zinacantan when
the
attack occurred. That program is now archived on the new web site.
While providing information on the Zapatista struggle for autonomy and
acting as
a lifeline to the world, the web site also serves as the legal arm of Radio
Insurgente. It is archiving for posterity what has been broadcast to the
inhabitants of the Chiapan jungles just in case the Mexican army shuts down
the
daily radio signal.
Mexican broadcast law, similar to Federal Communications Commission laws in
the
United States, requires that one have a license to send out a radio signal.
Red
tape and corporate control of the media make it next to impossible for
anyone to
succeed in getting a license. Yet, tiny low-power wattage stations exist all
over Mexico - all subject to threats and harassment by the Mexican military.
In mid-September an indigenous station in the neighboring state of Oaxaca
was
violently raided by some 200 soldiers and police. Equipment was seized and
destroyed, and 14 people were arrested.
Fear of reprisal, however, has not daunted the Zapatistas. Programming has
blossomed. The new web site makes hour-long news specials available for
radio
stations to download and play. It features public service announcements that
educate the public about violence against women and advertise upcoming
programs
like a special on Che Guevara. The web site also archives speeches and
communiqués by EZLN leaders, blending everything with Zapatista liberation
songs and local music. "Este programa va dirijido a todos los campesinos y
tambien a los indigenas que luchan por una vida major."/"This program is
dedicated to all the farmers and indigenous people who are fighting for a
better world."
By adding to the thriving landscape of independent media in Mexico, Radio
Insurgente is fulfilling a long-held dream of El Sup (Marcos), who once
noted
that "independent media tries to save history - today's history - tries to
save
it and tries to share it so it will not disappear." One wonders if Marcos
had
any idea back in 1997 when he issued this communiqué that a
Zapatista-controlled, internationally accessible public audio archive of its
people's history was only a few years away. "Ahora vamos a escuchar a
Mercedes
Sosa que nos canta Alcen la Bandera. ..."/ "Now let's listen to Mercedes
Sosa
singing 'Alcen la Bandera.' ..."
Some worry that the Mexican government may try to shut down the web site and
the
radio stations. The insurgent women who are responsible for the bulk of the
programming, whose voices grace the airwaves from 4 a.m. through the night,
realize the signal could be squelched at any moment. But for now, with the
eyes
and ears of the world drinking in the MP3 sounds of Radio Insurgente, it
seems
like the Fox government may have missed its chance to silence the voiceless.
"Mucho animos para sus trabajos y que pasa una buena noche."/ "Keep up your
spirits in your work and have a good night."
Deepa Fernandes is the host of the nationally syndicated Pacifica radio news
show "Free Speech Radio News."
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