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These reports, written by volunteers, summarise information for people not able to attend the sessions. Their comprehensiveness and accuracy are not guaranteed. For more information, please contact the presenters directly. Their e-mail addresses are available at http://www.isoc.org/inet98/program.shtml

Track 2: Social, Legal and Regulatory Policies

Session: Democracy, the Internet and the Organization of Information

By Celia Boyer, 22 July 1998

From Chiapas to the World

Harry Cleaver, Prof. of Economics, University of Texas, USA

According to the Zapatistas community who have been fighting for their rights to keep their culture and political autonomy since Jan. 1994, the Internet is the Voice of the democracy.

The Zapatistas is an example of indigenous rebellion via the Internet. It is interesting to point out that Zapatistas have no telephone, no electricity, and obviously no Internet access. In fact no direct access. Despite this fact, the Zapatistas community is a networked community, as diverse and world-wide as the Internet. The information circulates via the Internet with up-to-date information relating the status of their community in Mexico, bypassing state and mass media through discussion lists, newsgroups, on-line conferences, web sites proliferating texts and images. An example is the Massacre at San Juan de la Libertad on June 13 1998 where information with images and reports were only available on the Web in real time.

The Internet Zapatistas community has encountered difficulties due to the diversity of languages, the understanding of the content provided, and its multiplicity. The solution to their problems seems to lie in the transparency of information related by the author and the critical acceptance of multiplicity.