Throughout Mexico's history, no one outside of Mexico could have imagined how difficult life had been for the poor peasants of Chiapas. These difficulties include limited healthcare, education opportunities, and endless poverty. Through the many struggles to maintain a moderate standard of living, came desperate and organized methods of reform. Some poor of the poor people of Chiapas shifted to a life of crime and unwilling to stand and fight a corrupt government. Others looked for an "organized" revolt that led to the birth of the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) which emerged publicly on January 1, 1994 with an all out declaration of war against the Mexican government and its Army. This insurgency was born out of five hundred years of frustration (as dictated on the declaration of war script against the Mexican government) to show the world the full discontent that the poor indigenas (indigenous people) of Chiapas felt towards the Mexico's corrupt leadership.
A member of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación...
English: T shirt vendors with various designs incl...
Zapatista!As the revolt unfolded, a social development occurred. Suddenly, the Zapatista movement took completely different path from other historic armed conflicts throughout the world, a social event that affected society in a way that the world had never seen before. A "social netwar" was born through this new conflict brought on by the Zapatistas. A netwar came to be the constant use of technology for the benefit of the Zapatistas. Mexico had now become the first known country to experience an all out "technological" support of organizations and countries which rallied in favor of the Zapatistas. The social netwar in Mexico gave new challenges to the Mexican government. Challenges that forced the government to develop new positive methods of negotiating, rather than using all out war tactics such as the student revolt in Mexico City during the 1960's. The social netwar in...