A Place Called Chiapas

On January 1, 1994, Mayan peasants of the southern Mexican state of the Chiapas rose up in revolt on the day that Mexico’s free trade agreement with the USA and Canada came into force. The army moved in and the fighting did not last long. But the rebels were not defeated either. They withdrew to the forests and have since maintained an autonomous territory. Their leader is an enigmatic former philosophy lecturer, a non-Indian, but he prefers to call himself subcommandante Marcos and covers himself in a ski mask while smoking a pipe.

Marcos is an accomplished writer, the author of many books, including children’s stories and mild erotica. This rebel army is known as Zapatistas. They take their inspiration from Emilio Zapata, a legendary Mexican peasant leader. The Zapatistas have combined their peasant base with an impressive use of new technology, including the Internet, and linked with social movements worldwide to keep the army off their backs.

Canadian director Nettie Wild took a lot of risk from state-sponsored paramilitaries to make a documentary on the Zapatistas. Some of the terror is captured in the film itself.