<nettime> Electronic_Disturbance_Theater_request_the_removal_of_it?s_splash_page_on_Rhizome.org?

["ricardo dominguez" <rdom@thing.net>]

Because, for us, the nightmare with you is ending today. Another could 
follow it, or the dawn could finally appear, we do not know, we shall do 
everything possible so that it will be the morning which flourishes."

-- Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, From the mountains of the Mexican 
Southeast.
Mexico, November of 2000.

Calling Zapatista rebels freedom fighters and his predecessors tyrants, 
the first opposition candidate to become governor of Chiapas was 
inaugurated Friday, promising to bring great change to the troubled 
state.Pablo Salazar said his first move as governor would be to release 
all "prisoners of conscience in the state, including Zapatista 
prisoners." His remarks echoed sentiments expressed by President Vicente 
Fox, who attended the inauguration. In his first acts as president, Fox 
submitted an Indian rights bill to Congress and began a troop pullback 
in Chiapas.
-- TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) 12/8/00 7:33 PM

Electronic Disturbance Theater request the removal of it92s splash page 
on Rhizome.org, designed and implemented by EDT member Brett Stalbaum, 
entitled "An Anchor for Witnessing". We make this request in order to 
celebrate the shift in policy by the new Mexican government towards the 
Zapatista communities this December 1, 2000, when the new Mexican 
government came into power. The splash page is based on a java applet 
which mediates an art-conceptual performance strategy that had been 
included in previous Virtual Sit-In92s performed by EDT using the 
FloodNet software developed by EDT. In the custom versions of EDT92s 
FloodNet electronic protests system, the applet had been used to flood 
the error logs of the past President of Mexico's (Zedillo) web servers 
with the names of the 45 Tzotzil Mayan women, children and men who were 
gunned down (after gathering in a chapel), by PRI supported 
paramilitaries in the town of Acteal, December 22nd, 1997. This was done 
as a symbolic return of the dead to the machines of those responsible 
for the massacre. As a distributed anchor for witnessing this injustice. 
The technique was also used to flood the search engine on the same web 
site with search queries like "justice" and "egalitarianism", all of 
which are search terms that, not surprisingly, yield no relevant 
documents on the website of the PRI presidency responsible for the 
ethnic cleansing and forced relocation of the Mayan people of southern 
Mexico.

The EDT splash page presented on Rhizome.org uses this latter strategy 
ironically and in a visually apparent manner, without flooding the 
Mexican Presidents website. The green frame on the left contains the 
applet, which uses a database of search terms to form a search URL on 
the targeted site. (http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/) This URL is called 
into the middle (white) frame, actually calling the search results from 
the President of Mexico's server into that frame. The results are always 
similar to the following: "No documents matching the query: 'Equality 
and Peace'." In the right (red) frame, the names of the Acteal dead 
scroll upwards as an act of bearing witness. The green, white and red 
frames symbolize the Mexican flag, inside of which search queries for 
justice can not be found. Since the project depends upon the search 
engine on another web site for it's ironic political critique, (meaning 
that the behavior of this website could be changed without notice by 
Mexican authorities).

EDT realizes that this shift in policy, maybe, yet another trick in a 
long line of governmental efforts to destabilize the autonomous 
communities in Chiapas with more talks followed by very little action. 
But, a small glimmer of light has appeared in the Lacandona dawn and so 
for now we will stand down. This does not mean that we will not be 
vigilant, like many others, EDT will continue to keep our gaze and 
hearts on constant alert and ever watchful of the new Mexican 
governments gestures. EDT will be ready to return if the need arises. We 
hope that will not be necessary and that a new the morning in Chiapas 
will indeed flourish.

EDT would like to thank Rhizome.org and The Thing (bbs.thing.net), as 
well as the many other individuals and groups who have supported our 
electronic actions and the Zapatistas during these past 3 years.

Zapata Vive!!

http://www.ezln.org

Electronic Disturbance Theater

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

P.S. Dear Zaps we will ride our digital horses into Mexico City D.F. 
with you on Feb 14, 2001.

A Day of True Hearts!

*********

A note from Harry Cleaver

A Time to Celebrate

Fox's order for a withdrawal of military forces from Zapatista communities, and
the rescinding of the immigration citation of the Italians bringing a generator
to La Realidad should not only be seen as steps in the right direction --toward
the reversal of the Mexican government's terrorist policies in Chiapas-- they
must also be seen, and appreciated, as victories for the Zapatista communities
that have held out with so much courage during these long years of
repression.

Whatever happens next, these current actions, that reportedly include the
dismantling of military checkpoints on roads and a pull back from Amador
Hernandez, should be celebrated as the fruits of these years of struggle.  Let
us give credit where credit is due: to the communities, to the EZLN and to
everyone everywhere whose actions have staved off worse repression and forced
these reversals in government policy.

Assuming these first steps are followed by continued withdrawal and that Fox
sends Cocopa's version of the San Andres Accords to the Mexican congress and it
passes, the Zapatista movement will gain greatly enhanced room for manoeuvre
and autonomous activity. At the very least, we can hope for the level of
freedom from repression the Zapatistas enjoyed before the February 9, 1995
military assault. Hopefully, there will be more than that. If the military
withdraws to its positions before 1994, rather than before February 9, 1995
things will be even better.

A Time to Stay on Guard

At the same time, however, not only has that withdrawal not yet taken place,
but there are a whole panoply of other forces arrayed against the Zapatistas
that need to be "withdrawn" --from the corrupt local, state and national police
forces to the paramilitaries they have financed, armed and allowed to act with
great impunity. The dismantling of this apparatus of repression and state
terror must be accomplished, and, as with what has been achieved so far, it is
likely to be accomplished only through continued pressure on the Mexican
government. While we should savor each victory in this process, it is only
through vigilance and continued mobilization that victory will follow victory.
It is way too soon to relax.

Moreover, while Fox has given the orders, he is also firmly committed to the
pursuit of the very economic policies that led to the uprising in the first
place: neoliberal policies that subordinate the desires of people to those of
business for profits and social control. The Zapatistas rose up in response to
such policies, including NAFTA, and they have continued to denounce them and
oppose them. The encounters they organized, beginning with the Continental and
Intercontinental Encounters in 1996 (that begat the Geneva, Seattle and Prague
protests) were Encounters "For Humanity, Against Neoliberalism." The reduction
of direct police and military repression will not remove the more subtle
repression of neoliberal economic policies. The struggle will continue in
Chiapas as it is continuing in the rest of the world. And we can be certain
that such state repression is not about to be removed from the capitalist bag
of tricks, neither in Mexico, or elsewhere as the police arrests and beatings
in Prague made quite clear, as so many examples of continuing repression
constantly remind us.

Fox's policies vis a vis Chiapas, and the grassroots movements throughout
Mexico, seem likely to take the form of a mix of repression (currently we hope
being reduced) and co-optation --just like those of the PRI before him. His
embrace of "free market" policies (an oxymoron of course) may involve support
for small business in an attempt to differentiate people and communities, a la
Hernando de Sota, buying time for the final enclosure of the countryside to
take place (whose basis was laid by Salinas who ended protection for ejidal
lands). Fox's man in Chiapas, Pablo Salazar, due to take over as governor of
Chiapas, has toured the US soliciting business investment in Chiapas, offering
peace and cheap labor for maquiladora development, another arrow in the quiver
of neoliberalism, another arrow aimed at the heart of indigenous communities
and everything non-capitalist about them.

It is impossible to say, at this point, exactly how Fox et al will pursue their
goals (which were also those of Salinas and Zedillo and Wall Street and the
IMF) but they WILL pursue them. Assuming their tactics shift from police state
repression to more subtle means, so must ours. Unless "human rights" advocates
shift their understanding of repression in such a manner as to grasp economic
repression as well as police state repression as a problem, such changes in
strategy may well strip the Zapatista support network of many of its militants.
At the moment it seems unlikely that those who have volunteered as
international observers to stand between the Zapatista communities and their
oppressors will know how to replicate something like that role vis a vis
neoliberal economic development. Up to the present, and probably for some time
to come, their role has been vital, but if Fox really carries out these kind of
shifts, then other strategies and other kinds of action will be needed.

Beyond the problem of resistance, however, is the more appealing problem of
building better worlds. Reduced pressure on the Zapatista communities will mean
greater latitude for pursuing their own agendas, and greater ease for others to
support those agendas. Beside inspiring through their courage, the Zapatistas
have inspired through their vision of and efforts to create alternatives to the
current subordination of humanity to capital. In domains as diverse as
agriculture, education and politics they have pursued, as much as circumstances
have allowed, alternatives paths.  There is no reason to assume that any
strategy by Fox to undermine such efforts will succeed. On the contrary,
evidence suggests that despite all the repression and expenditures by the PRI,
Salinas' efforts to undermine collective land in Mexico has mostly failed and
indigenous communities everywhere continue to carve their own roads into the
future. With less repression it will be easier for those of us elsewhere to
learn about and learn from such efforts, as well as to share our own efforts
with those in Mexico. Such accelerated circulation of experience should
strengthen the struggle against capitalism everywhere as it becomes clearer and
clearer that very real alternatives are possible.


*******

2 CommuniquE9s by the EZLN

Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Mexico.


November of 2000.
To the National and International Press:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Here once again. The letters are off, for the one who is now leaving
(fortunately), and an invitation for you to a press conference. We will 
do everything we can to not get hung up and be on time.

Vale. Salud, and, no, you don't have to worry, Martha Sahagu'n is not 
going to be here.

>From the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos

Mexico, November of 2000.

(Zedillo's last moments!)

Yepa! Yepa! Yepa!
Andale! Andale! Andale!

Arriba! Arriba! Arriba!


PLAYWRIGHT's (ja!) PS WHICH SAYS WHAT IT SAYS. -

First Act. - Characters: the political class, announcer, the headlines,
the public.

Place: Mexico. Date: Prior to the elections of July 2, 2000.

(The curtain goes up. There are a television and a radio on the stage,
turned up at full volume. In the background, the headlines of a national
newspaper. The audio on the TV and the radio is the same: commercial
jingles. The newspaper headlines are changing as they are signaled.)

The political class: "We are in the media, therefore we exist. We should now
confront our greatness with the most difficult test in the supreme art of
governing: the ratings. Call for the image consultants! (clapping of hands)."

The headlines: "THE IFE IS CREATED, THE FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF POLLS.

The bother of going to the voting booths will be eliminated, says its 
boss."

The consultant (entering from the right): "Here I am (turning to the public).
Modern political science consists not just of discovering which product will
have the best acceptance in the marketplace, but - and here I have the science
- in converting anything into something which resembles that product as far as
possible (he takes a complete makeup kit out of his briefcase) (He
painstakingly apples cosmetics to the face of the political class)."

The headlines: "CYBERNETIC CHALLENGE A DEMOCRATIC ADVANCE: EZPL"

The political class (sneezing): "Achoo! I think I'm allergic to this
dust. What is it?"

Consultant (offering a handkerchief): "Bless you! It is the latest word
in fashion, it is democratizing dust."

The political class (sighing in resignation): "Okay, anything to 
survive"

The headlines: "CANDIDATES' PRICES WILL BE GOING DOWN: SECOFI."

Announcer (entering hurriedly from the left): "Quickly! Hurry up! The
sponsors are getting anxious! We have to tape the program."

Consultant: "The sponsors? I thought the members of the audience would be the
ones who were anxious..."

Announcer: "No, no, no. The rhythm of politics is not set by clocks or
calendars, but by program times. Hurry up! We don't have much time
between the commercial breaks."

The political class (fixing itself up in front of a mirror being held by
the consultant): "Good, how do I look?"

Consultant (smiling in satisfaction): "Magnificent! You are
unrecognizable..."

The political class (to itself): "Commercial breaks! In the good old 
days
there were no breaks other those produced by the happy sound of the 
rattles
and slogans of "You can see it, you can feel it, the PRI is omnipotent."

(The consultant moves to one side).

Announcer: "Lights! Camera! Action!"

Announcer (turning to the public): "Welcome to our program: 'The Modest Truth'!
Today, as a special guest, we have...the political class! (loud applause is
heard, the public is still, but an audio tape is keeping them from the grueling
task of having to applaud)."

The political class (turning to the announcer): "Is my tie okay?"

Announcer: "Tell us, political class, excuse me, can I call you 'tu'?"

The political class (fixing a decal which looks like a smile on its 
mouth): "Of course."

Announcer: "Good, tell us, what can the audience expect from the 
upcoming election?"

(The political class moves its lips, but no sounds at all come out).

Announcer: "Very interesting! Almost as interesting as these commercial
messages from our sponsors!"

The political class (to the announcer): "Are we still taping?"

Announcer: "No. It went perfectly. Now we're waiting for the consultant
to send us the audio of your response after he's done his marketing
studies."

The political class: "Then can I leave now?"

Announcer: "Yes."

(The political class leaves. Someone comes and turns off the radio and
television. The headlines disappear. The curtain falls. The audience
yawns. An audio breaks into enthusiastic applause.)


Second Act - Characters: The political class, Senora X, a young man, Y;
and Senor Z.

Place: Mexico. Date: July 2, 2000.

(The curtain rises. There is only an empty street on the stage).

The political class (to itself): "We see faces, we do not know votes."

Senora X: "No."

The young man, Y: "No."

Senor Z: "No."

The political class (to the public): "We see faces, we do not know 
votes."

The public (breaking into the script, to everyone's shock): "No!"

This play is a problem. Those directing it are making a huge effort to
convince the audience that it's already over. Not only is the public not
leaving the premises, they're also insisting on getting up on the stage. 

The director and the actors are tearing their hair out. It is no longer
possible to know where the stage is and where the seats are. Suddenly,
apparently without an agreement having been reached, and with stern
expressions on their faces, all the members of the public yell: "Third
act! Third act! Third! Let's begin."

Does the curtain fall?


What? You didn't like it? Well, La Mar did. Okay, at least she smiled.
What? Dari'o Fo, Carballido, Gurrola, Savariego and Lenero are going to
reprove me? Let them do so. They reproved Einstein for his hygiene (or
was it for his mathematics?).

The Sup in the box office.

***************************************************

#2

Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Mexico.

November of 2000.

To Senor Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon.

Enroute to nowhere.

Planet Earth.

Senor Zedillo:

Six years ago I wrote to you in the name of all zapatistas, welcoming the
nightmare. Many now think we were right. Throughout this administration, your
term of office has been a long nightmare for millions of Mexican men and women:
assassinations, economic crises, massive impoverishment, the illicit and brutal
enrichment of a few, the selling off of the national sovereignty, public
insecurity, the strengthening of ties between the government and organized
crime, corruption, irresponsibility, war...and bad jokes badly told.

Throughout your administration you have striven to destroy the indigenous who
rose up in defiance of everything that you represent. You strove to destroy
them.

When you came to power you were free to choose how to confront the zapatista
uprising. What you chose and what you did is now history. In your role as
Commander-in-Chief of the federal army - and with all the power given to the
head of the Executive - you could have chosen the path of dialogue and
negotiation. You could have given signals of de'tente.  You could have carried
out what you signed in San Andre's. You could have reached peace.

You did not do so.

You chose, rather, the double strategy of feigning a willingness to dialogue
and of continuing the path of violence. In order to achieve that, you tried to
repeat the history of the Chinameca betrayal (February 9, 1995), you squandered
thousands of millions of pesos trying to buy the consciences of the rebels. You
militarized the indigenous communities (and not just in Chiapas). You expelled
international observers. You trained, equipped, armed and financed
paramilitaries. You persecuted, jailed and summarily executed zapatistas
(remember Unio'n Progreso, June 10, 1998) and non-zapatistas. You destroyed the
social fabric of the chiapaneco countryside. And, following the slogan of your
putative child, the Red Mask paramilitary group ("We will kill the zapatista
seed"), you ordered the massacre of children and pregnant women in Acteal on
December 22, 1997.

We could understand why, being able to follow the path of dialogue, you opted
to make war against us. It could have been because they sold you the idea that
you could take us prisoners, that you could defeat us militarily, that you
could achieve our surrender, that you could buy us, that you could deceive us,
that you could make the Mexicans forget us and our struggle, that you could
make people from other countries give up their solidarity with the indigenous
cause. In short, that you could win the war against us. That we could
understand. But, Senor Zedillo, why Acteal? Why did you order the assassination
of children? Why did you order your henchmen to finish pregnant women off with
machetes who, wounded or terrified, were unable to escape the massacre?

What, in fact, did you not do in order to finish off the zapatistas?

But were they finished off? They slipped through your ambush of February 9,
1995. They rebelled once more against your failure to fulfill the San Andre's
Accords. They escaped from your military siege as often as they wanted. They
resisted your ferocious offensive, directed by the 'croquetas' Albores, against
the Autonomous Municipalities. Over and over again they demonstrated with
mobilizations that their demands had the support of millions of Mexicans. No,
the zapatistas were not finished off.

And not only were they not finished off. In addition, they spread throughout
the world. Do you remember the times that you had to leave, surreptitiously,
through emergency exits, events being held in other countries, while zapatista
solidarity committees were protesting your Chiapas policies? Is there any
ambassador or consul who has not reported to you with desperation the actions
carried out by international zapatistas at Mexican government events and
buildings abroad? How often was your foreign affairs service estranged because
of the failure to carry out the San Andre's Accords, for the militarization of
Chiapas and the lack of dialogue with the zapatistas? And, when you ordered the
expulsion of hundreds of international observers, did solidarity actions
throughout the world diminish?

And what do you have to say to me about Mexico? Instead of remaining "limited
to 4 chiapaneco municipalities," zapatismo spread to the 32 states of the
federation. It became worker, campesino, indigenous, teacher, student,
employee, driver, fisherman, rocker, painter, actor, writer, nun, priest,
sportsman, housewife, neighbor, independent unionist, homosexual, lesbian,
transsexual, soldier, sailor, small and medium-sized business owner, street
vendor, handicapped person, retiree, pensioner, people.

Such were these 6 years, Senor Zedillo. Being able to choose between peace and
war, you opted for war. The results of this election are obvious: you lost the
war.

You did everything you could to destroy us.

We simply resisted.

You are going into exile.

We will still be here.

Senor Zedillo:

You came to power through a crime which still continues unpunished. And your
administration has been filled with unpunished crimes. In addition to carrying
forward the privatization policies of your predecessor (and now open enemy),
Salinas de Gortari, you disguised as law that other crime which is called
FOBAPROA-IPAB, which involves not just poor Mexicans "rescuing" the rich and
making them richer, but also causing that heavy burden to affect several future
generations.

For more than 70 million Mexicans, the country's purported economic solidity
has meant poverty and unemployment. While you have been scrupulously attending
to the invasion of foreign capital, medium and small businesses were
disappearing in the national market. During your term of office, the borders
which divide government and organized crime were erased, and the continuous
scandals caused serious problems in the press: it was impossible to deduce
which news stories belonged in the political section and which in the crime
blotter: "suicides," former governors on the run, prosperous businessmen who
were "only" tortured, police officers "specialized" in fighting organized crime
taking over universities.

Today, the same as your predecessor, you are leaving with those who worshipped
you, served you, and who served themselves, having now become your worst
enemies, prepared to pursue you. And so, Senor Zedillo, you will know,
beginning tomorrow, what it is to be pursued day and night.  And it will not
last for only 6 years. Because, beginning tomorrow, the line will be very long
of those who want to make you pay for what you owe them and for insults.

It is clear that we were right when, 6 years ago, the zapatistas told you
welcome to the nightmare. But, now that you are going, is it over yet?

Yes and no.

Because, for us, the nightmare with you is ending today. Another could
follow it, or the dawn could finally appear, we do not know, we shall do
everything possible so that it will be the morning which flourishes. But
for you, Senor Zedillo, the nightmare will only continue...

Vale. Salud, and it does not matter where you hide, there will be
zapatistas there as well.

>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, November of 2000.

PS - By the way, before I forget: a year ago, in September of 1999, you sent us
an open letter thorough your Secretary of Government (and current candidate for
the presidency of the PRI). I believe the letter was called "One More Step To
the Abyss," "A More Ignominious Step," "A More Cynical Step", or something like
that. In it, only 3 years late, your government was supposedly responding, with
lies, to the conditions which we had set for the renewal of dialogue in
September of 1996! The open letter was an attempt, more than deceiving us, of
tricking national and international opinion. Something which it certainly did
not achieve. Whatever it was, the lying letter told us we would be pleased with
what was stated there, and it invited us to return to dialogue. It would be
discourteous on our part to let it go without a response, especially now that
you are leaving (finally!). Excuse the delay, but allow me to take advantage of
these lines in order to respond. Our answer is: NO!

You are welcome.

******

December 2, 2000.

Communique' from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation Mexico.


To the people of Mexico:

To the peoples and governments of the world:

Brothers and sisters:

Considering:

1. That it is not possible to conceive of a dignified Mexico without a
dignified place for the country's indigenous peoples.

2. That the constitutional recognition of the rights and culture of the
indigenous peoples is unresolved, and its resolution cannot be deferred 
any longer.

3. That the people of Mexico and the peoples of the world have been
sensitive to the indigenous demands, and they have been in solidarity 
with them according to their abilities.

4. That the EZLN has supported the importance of the indigenous cause.

5. That everyone is aware of the current federal Executive's commitment
to the fulfillment of the San Andre's Accords and to sending the 
indigenous legislative proposal drawn up by Cocopa in December of 1996 to the 
Congress of the Union.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation declares:

First: It calls on the National Indigenous Congress, on national and
international civil society, on political and social organizations and on
everyone in general, to a great mobilization for the purpose of obtaining the
Mexican Congress of the Union's constitutional recognition of indigenous rights
and culture, according to the Cocopa proposal.

Second: That it has decided to send a delegation of the CCRI-CG of the EZLN to
Mexico City for the purpose of heading this mobilization in order to address
the honorable Congress of the Union and to argue the goodness of the so-called
"Cocopa indigenous legislative proposal."

Third: That said delegation will be made up of 24 members of the CCRI-CG
of the EZLN, these companeros and companeras represent the Tzotzil,
Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Chol, Zoque, Mame and mestizo ethnic groups, their
names are:

Comandante David
Comandante Eduardo
Comandante Tacho
Comandante Gustavo
Comandante Zevedo
Comandante Sergio
Comandante Susana
Comandante Omar
Comandante Javier
Comandante Filemo'n
Comandante Yolanda
Comandante Abraham
Comandante Isai'as
Comandante Daniel
Comandante Bulmaro
Comandante Mister
Comandante Abel
Comandante Fidelia
Comandante Moise's
Comandante Alejandro
Comandante Esther
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Comandante Maxo
Comandante Ismael

Fourth: That the zapatista delegation will travel to Mexico City in the
month of February of the year 2001, on a date that shall be subsequently
specified.

Fifth: That we are calling on the National Indigenous Congress, and on
all the Indian peoples of Mexico - independent of their political
affiliation -to organize themselves, mobilize and come together with our
delegation, in order to demand the recognition of indigenous rights and
culture from the Congress of the Union.

Sixth: That we are calling on Mexican civil society to organize
themselves and to mobilize in order to support this demand.

Seventh: That we are calling on solidarity committees, groups and
individuals throughout the world to speak out regarding this demand.

Eighth: The zapatista delegation is calling for, and hoping for, the
accompaniment of civil society as a whole, without distinction or
preference, for which it will shortly be announcing the program and 
route
of the trip to Mexico City, whose organization will be in the sole and
exclusive hands of the EZLN.

Ninth: The trip by a zapatista delegation to Mexico City will take place
regardless of whether or not the dialogue with the federal government has been
resumed. We are going to address the Legislative Branch, certain that we shall
find the sensitivity to be heard.

Democracy!

Liberty!

Justice!

>From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
By the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee -
General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

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