A Place Called Chiapas
Encyclopedia
A Place Called Chiapas is a 1998 Canadian documentary film of first-hand accounts of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) the (Zapatista Army of National Liberation
or Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the people for whom they fight. Director Nettie Wild
takes the viewer to rebel territory in the southwestern Mexican state
of Chiapas
, where the EZLN live and evade the Mexican Army.
(NAFTA) with the United States, and, by implication, told the Mexicans that allowing unimpeded American business penetration of Mexico's economy would promote Mexico from the Third-World
to the First-World
. Disbelieving that, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation simultaneously arose in armed insurrection throughout Chiapas on New Year's Day 1994—capturing four municipalities (25 per cent of the state); to date, Chiapas is economically and politically, socially and militarily unsettled.
The nationalist EZLN insurrection replies to the NAFTA-induced dollarisation, and consequent deeper impoverishment, of Mexico's economy; the NAFTA did not provide an analogous wage increase or prices decrease. Thus, Chiapas's indigenous Maya
people said: "Basta! [Enough!], we will take ourselves underground and wait to rise up, like corn". In Mayan traditional lore, the Maya are 'the people born from maize'.
gunfire. The EZLN seized six hundred and fifty private ranches that had displaced the native Chiapanecs; afterwards, they controlled a fourth of Chiapas.
In behalf of the EZLN Indian leadership, Subcomandante Marcos
(Sub-Commander Marcos) said in Spanish: "Today there were attacks on four municipalities in Chiapas. This is an insurrection led by our organization, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation".
demands in the internet. In the event, after much ruthless fighting, the Mexican Army and the EZLN called an uneasy ceasefire and truce. The Mexican Army surrounded Zapatista communities, villages, and towns to hunt rebel commanders, as in the town of La Realidad; the Mexican Federal Army iterated its presence with twice-daily tank and truck patrols.
Unforeseen by the right-wing, Neoliberal PRI (Mexico's seven-decade-rule party), the Mexican economy collapsed when the NAFTA allowed the importation of very low-priced American corn, depressing the Mexican Peso's value to negative exchange rate levels, thereby provoking Mexico's greatest economic bailout, by foreign (i.e., American) banks to date; U.S. President Clinton authorised $50 billion in loans; Mexico was in hock to foreigners.
Moreover, in an official bank memorandum, the CHASE Manhattan Bank
(a leading bailout financier) told the Mexican Federal Government to "get rid of the Zapatistas" in exchange for full bailout financing. With a U.S. bank ordering the Mexican PRI-Government about, the Zapatistas said "they have no idea with whom they are negotiating" — the lender or the borrower.... Who is owner of México?
and for all of humanity, was a peaceful mode of obtaining international support and resistance aid. Director Wild considers it "a post-Glasnost revolutionary Woodstock, without the Acid". Three thousand people attended El Encuentro, among them Spanish and Italian communists, Latin American revolutionaries, Chiapanec Indians, and Superbarrio [Super Neighbourhood], the caped professional wrestler
and social activist. The Encuentro demonstrates the importance of civilian support to the Zapatista national liberation movement, whose goals the civilians of the world understand. The Encuentro featured a dance wherein Zapatistas and guests dance "on the edge of romantic ideals and harsh politics, between those who can leave Mexico and those who cannot"; many Zapatista supporters could not reach the Encuentro of 1996.
Yet, director Wild says:"A month before the Encuentro I encountered a group of people [whom] the revolution almost forgot. I followed dark rumours of fear and violence to the north of Chiapas, to Jomajl; here villages are deeply divided, between Zapatista supporters and villagers who work directly with the ruling party and profit from it".
A month later, among three thousand people, she watches the horse-mounted Subcomandante Marcos appear from the jungle, holding a flagpole bearing a small red flag, he was "Reminiscent of the hapless Don Quixote — the fictional Spanish knight who fights for impossible dreams, and can't distinguish reality from what's inside his head".
In press conference, the documentarist Nettie Wild asks Subcomandante Marcos what is the Zapatista plan for their supporters in the north; he replies offensively, but later halts peace talks with the Mexican Federal Government until the north Chiapas refugees are served real peace and justice.
The documentary A Place Called Chiapas shows the startling reality of what is like to live in contemporary Chiapas, a relatively quiet war zone. The viewer must interpret and determine, for him- and herself, the true nature — social, political, military, of the Zapatista National Liberation Movement and its army, the EZLN.
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
or Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the people for whom they fight. Director Nettie Wild
Nettie Wild
Nettie Wild is a Canadian documentary film filmmaker.Wild has directed and produced four full length documentary films:*FIX: The Story of an Addicted City which deals with efforts to provide a safe injection site in Vancouver, Canada...
takes the viewer to rebel territory in the southwestern Mexican state
States of Mexico
The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...
of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
, where the EZLN live and evade the Mexican Army.
North American Free Trade Agreement
In 1993, the Mexican Federal Government signed the North American Free Trade AgreementNorth American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) with the United States, and, by implication, told the Mexicans that allowing unimpeded American business penetration of Mexico's economy would promote Mexico from the Third-World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
to the First-World
First World
The concept of the First World first originated during the Cold War, where it was used to describe countries that were aligned with the United States. These countries were democratic and capitalistic. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term "First World" took on a...
. Disbelieving that, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation simultaneously arose in armed insurrection throughout Chiapas on New Year's Day 1994—capturing four municipalities (25 per cent of the state); to date, Chiapas is economically and politically, socially and militarily unsettled.
The nationalist EZLN insurrection replies to the NAFTA-induced dollarisation, and consequent deeper impoverishment, of Mexico's economy; the NAFTA did not provide an analogous wage increase or prices decrease. Thus, Chiapas's indigenous Maya
Maya peoples
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
people said: "Basta! [Enough!], we will take ourselves underground and wait to rise up, like corn". In Mayan traditional lore, the Maya are 'the people born from maize'.
Chiapanec leadership
In 1994, the EZLN's indigenous Chiapanec soldiers marched from the jungle to the towns in armed insurrection to reclaim their land from the white folk minority. Thus did the Mexicans of the national Capital and of the provincial states awaken to a New Year 1994 loud with AK-47AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
gunfire. The EZLN seized six hundred and fifty private ranches that had displaced the native Chiapanecs; afterwards, they controlled a fourth of Chiapas.
In behalf of the EZLN Indian leadership, Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation , a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas protesting against the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous...
(Sub-Commander Marcos) said in Spanish: "Today there were attacks on four municipalities in Chiapas. This is an insurrection led by our organization, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation".
Federal Army counter attack
The Mexican Federal Army counter-attacked; meanwhile, demanding "Control over our lives and land", the Zapatistas published their social and land reformLand reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
demands in the internet. In the event, after much ruthless fighting, the Mexican Army and the EZLN called an uneasy ceasefire and truce. The Mexican Army surrounded Zapatista communities, villages, and towns to hunt rebel commanders, as in the town of La Realidad; the Mexican Federal Army iterated its presence with twice-daily tank and truck patrols.
Unforeseen by the right-wing, Neoliberal PRI (Mexico's seven-decade-rule party), the Mexican economy collapsed when the NAFTA allowed the importation of very low-priced American corn, depressing the Mexican Peso's value to negative exchange rate levels, thereby provoking Mexico's greatest economic bailout, by foreign (i.e., American) banks to date; U.S. President Clinton authorised $50 billion in loans; Mexico was in hock to foreigners.
Moreover, in an official bank memorandum, the CHASE Manhattan Bank
Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is a national bank that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of financial services firm JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000...
(a leading bailout financier) told the Mexican Federal Government to "get rid of the Zapatistas" in exchange for full bailout financing. With a U.S. bank ordering the Mexican PRI-Government about, the Zapatistas said "they have no idea with whom they are negotiating" — the lender or the borrower.... Who is owner of México?
El Encuentro
For the Zapatistas, "El Encuentro" [The Encounter] against NeoliberalismNeoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
and for all of humanity, was a peaceful mode of obtaining international support and resistance aid. Director Wild considers it "a post-Glasnost revolutionary Woodstock, without the Acid". Three thousand people attended El Encuentro, among them Spanish and Italian communists, Latin American revolutionaries, Chiapanec Indians, and Superbarrio [Super Neighbourhood], the caped professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
and social activist. The Encuentro demonstrates the importance of civilian support to the Zapatista national liberation movement, whose goals the civilians of the world understand. The Encuentro featured a dance wherein Zapatistas and guests dance "on the edge of romantic ideals and harsh politics, between those who can leave Mexico and those who cannot"; many Zapatista supporters could not reach the Encuentro of 1996.
Yet, director Wild says:"A month before the Encuentro I encountered a group of people [whom] the revolution almost forgot. I followed dark rumours of fear and violence to the north of Chiapas, to Jomajl; here villages are deeply divided, between Zapatista supporters and villagers who work directly with the ruling party and profit from it".
Peace and justice
To wit, paramilitary mercenary groups named "Peace and Justice" fight the EZLN and its civil supporters; "Anyone who opposes them, they call 'Zapatistas'. In northern Chiapas, the paramilitary mercenaries have, at gun-point, forced out thousands of people from their villages, farms, and ranches, thus rendering those Mexicans refugees in their own country. Documentarist Wild questions: "If they go home can or will the Zapatistas help them?"; she comments: "My camera is framing the gap between rhetoric and reality".A month later, among three thousand people, she watches the horse-mounted Subcomandante Marcos appear from the jungle, holding a flagpole bearing a small red flag, he was "Reminiscent of the hapless Don Quixote — the fictional Spanish knight who fights for impossible dreams, and can't distinguish reality from what's inside his head".
In press conference, the documentarist Nettie Wild asks Subcomandante Marcos what is the Zapatista plan for their supporters in the north; he replies offensively, but later halts peace talks with the Mexican Federal Government until the north Chiapas refugees are served real peace and justice.
The documentary A Place Called Chiapas shows the startling reality of what is like to live in contemporary Chiapas, a relatively quiet war zone. The viewer must interpret and determine, for him- and herself, the true nature — social, political, military, of the Zapatista National Liberation Movement and its army, the EZLN.
See also
- Chiapas conflictChiapas conflictThe Chiapas conflict generally refers to the Zapatista uprising and its aftermath, but has to be understood in relation to the history of marginalization of indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers in the state of Chiapas, Mexico....
- EZLN
- Subcomandante MarcosSubcomandante MarcosSubcomandante Marcos is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation , a Mexican rebel movement. In January 1994, he led an army of Mayan farmers into the eastern parts of the Mexican state of Chiapas protesting against the Mexican government's treatment of indigenous...
- Samuel Ruiz García
- ProdesisProdesisProdesis was a development project in the Lacandon region of Chiapas, Mexico, that ran from 2004 to 2008.The aim of the project was to reduce pressure on the rainforest and combat poverty among its inhabitants, most of them being Mayan Indians and subsistence peasants.- Plan and objectives...
- A Massacre ForetoldA Massacre ForetoldA Massacre Foretold is a 2007 documentary film by Nick Higgins. The film was released 10 years after the Acteal massacre in Chiapas, Mexico, of which the film is an account.- See also :* Acteal massacre* Chiapas conflict* EZLN...