h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've put Commies from outer Space's account of living as an observer in Chiapas up for reveiw. www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F48874?thread=207045&latest=1 If i am not to edit it too much it will need some referenced articles - which yours gives a pretty broad veiw, any chance of you submitting your article?

I was thinking of writing a couple more quickies - one on the Army (FZLN) and its history and structure, and one on the EZLN and the civil structure, policy and practice of rebellion.

Fancy joining in?

Let me fix it up a little. I'd need to take out the parts where I'm bitching about the BBC.

Are you sure there's enough here to use? It's only a couple paragraphs about what happened in 1994 and a couple paragraphs about Subcom. Marcos. At the least, I need to look up what's been happening since 2001.

I thought it would be a start - at least to give an outline to who the Zapatistas are, where and how they operate and what they stand for.

I had envisaged a series of articles, one a broad overview, another on the Army, one one the communities, and one on Marcos.

The overveiw, which yours seems to fit quite nicely, was to include the history of the region, the genesis and development of the FZLN, the structures or the EZLN and the communities in Rebellion and the movements 'internationalism'. My origonal outlines for what should be mentioned in this section was as follows:

History: Zapata & the revolution / The Institutional Revolutionary Party and stagnation in the democratic structures / multinational operations in Central America / the Sandanistas / North American Trade Agreement.

The Armys history: 1984, and the establishment of the guerrilla camp (marxist-leninist) / contact with locals and ideological change / the Jan 1st take over / the summits in the jungle / San Christobel / The march to Mexico city / recent trouble following Sept 11th.

And the EZLN's communities: Not demanding power / building new comunities / the indigenous bill / the structure of organisation and voting / equallity / drugs and logging / the notion of 'command obeying'.

Internationalism : Who is a Zapatista - "We are You" / Ya Basta / Marcos as an icon & spokesman.

In this introduction these things were to be outlined, then in the expanded articles, more detail and less dramatic events could be illustrated.

So though your piece isn't exactly what i had envisaged, it would work in a very similar way (with a little more emphasis on Marcos than i might have had in to begin with).

So do you fancy it as a join project at all?

There is a guide entry in outline also by Commies from outer Space on Zapata that i was thinking of using as the basis for my intro here: A364736

Wow, sounds like an h2g2 University project. Not sure how much time I could devote to it, but I'd like to participate. Could I take a smaller section or two?

It might be better to write the broad, general Zapatista entry after the rest of those detailed ones are written. By some of those bits in your outline, it sounds like I have more to learn about them.

I've followed them fairly closely since 1994, but i'm still fairly sure that i don't know a lot of what has occured. Most of the books i own or have seen are about specific aspects or periods of Zapatismo, rather than broad 'histories'. Quite rightly people are giving printspace to ideology and practical resistance rather than lists of dates. My own anal nature though would like to see just such a history. (I notice that a history 1994-2000 has just been published in the US).