2 December 1999 Edition
Militarisation continues after Robinson visits Chiapas
BY NICK JONES
The green Hummer vehicles stream in a long line past a row of grimy restaurants and taco joints that mark the entry to the town of Ocosingo, located on the verge of the Zapatista ``conflict zone'' and scene of a bloody shootout six years ago during the 1994 uprising. The boys have been out on patrol again. Except for those special - and infrequent - times when the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is on a visit, this is a daily occurrence, part of the business of intimidating the Indian population and reminding them of the massive influx of army units and equipment that has taken place since 1994.
Federal President Ernesto Zedillo recently claimed there was no war in Chiapas, and there never had been one. Amnesia in Mexico is peculiarly restricted to high-ranking officials of the governing elite. He was obviously overlooking the seventy thousand soldiers stationed in this the poorest state in the country, often in camps thrown up on land belonging to ragged indigenous peasants. According to official government discourse, the troops are here on social duty, to administer to the needs of the population. Between them all they manage an average of about seven haircuts a day.
The indigenous people are harassed constantly, at a plethora of checkpoints dotted around the areas where they live and farm. They are also conscious of the five crack commando regiments, trained at the School of The Americas in the U.S. and always ready to intervene. New airbases have sprung up, and the peasant communities are watched over in a paternalistic way, by means of overflights and helicopters trailing cameras. A bit like a Saturday night on O'Connell St in Dublin, except that they all have guns.
Then there are the paramilitaries, government supporters in the tradition of loyalist death gangs. Their task is to terrorise the Zapatista support communities and stir up civil war between indigenous people. Normally they keep a low profile by killing and disappearing people in ones and twos, too few to attract the attention of the international and many of the national media. However the odd wholesale massacre has not been beyond their capabilities. It's common knowledge that they receive funding and training from the government and the regular army, and that they were set up according to the prescriptions of U.S. manuals on low intensity warfare.
The 17th of November this year marked the 16th anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). It was a time for reflection and reappraisals. Despite the atmosphere of celebration, the most commonly held view was that the peace process which initially promised a path towards land rights and indigenous autonomy was now pretty well on the rocks. There has been some movement recently on prisoner releases, but most of these people were still awaiting trial on extremely shaky evidence.
In overall terms, the peace offered by the goverment has meant nothing but humiliation. It remains to be seen who will make the next move.
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
``Security forces around the world are on alert'' claimed one Dublin radio station this week, while ``Battle in Seattle'' was the headline in both the Financial Times and the Irish Times. In October, the Observer newspaper told us to prepare for the ``battle of the millennium''. These are quotes from the understated sections of the media.
Then it happened, or sort of. On Tuesday this week, the U.S. government set hundreds of riot police and the National Guard against 100,000 plus peaceful protesters at the World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle.
The results was a series of disturbances as police set out to move protesters who were blocking roads to the summit conference centre. The pepper gas canisters and rubber bullets were fired and confrontation flared. The opening meetings of the Summit were cancelled. This was, we were told, a threat to global security.
The `threat to world security' is from what the institutional media call ``anarchists and eco warriors''. Peaceful protests were being held to protest the negative aspects of WTO treaties, which have increased poverty and acted as a barrier to the economic development of heavily indebted third world states. This too, by extension of media logic, must also be a threat to global security.
What many news organisations have overlooked is that over 100 international consumer rights groups as well as the US AFL-CIO labour federation, their equivalent of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), are in fact hosting the Seattle march. One wonders when will the ICTU anarchist witch-hunts begin, as their US brethren have obviously succumbed to mad dog extremist ideologies. We must stop it happening here.
The first picture shows two highly threatening abseilers, armed with ropes and a banner, obviously about to attack unwitting police officers who are all looking away from this deadly threat to global security. You have been warned. Lucky for us the protesters were successfully arrested.
The second shows a more realistic threat - riot police firing rubber bullets indiscriminately into the WTO protesters.
The green Hummer vehicles stream in a long line past a row of grimy restaurants and taco joints that mark the entry to the town of Ocosingo, located on the verge of the Zapatista ``conflict zone'' and scene of a bloody shootout six years ago during the 1994 uprising. The boys have been out on patrol again. Except for those special - and infrequent - times when the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is on a visit, this is a daily occurrence, part of the business of intimidating the Indian population and reminding them of the massive influx of army units and equipment that has taken place since 1994.
Federal President Ernesto Zedillo recently claimed there was no war in Chiapas, and there never had been one. Amnesia in Mexico is peculiarly restricted to high-ranking officials of the governing elite. He was obviously overlooking the seventy thousand soldiers stationed in this the poorest state in the country, often in camps thrown up on land belonging to ragged indigenous peasants. According to official government discourse, the troops are here on social duty, to administer to the needs of the population. Between them all they manage an average of about seven haircuts a day.
The indigenous people are harassed constantly, at a plethora of checkpoints dotted around the areas where they live and farm. They are also conscious of the five crack commando regiments, trained at the School of The Americas in the U.S. and always ready to intervene. New airbases have sprung up, and the peasant communities are watched over in a paternalistic way, by means of overflights and helicopters trailing cameras. A bit like a Saturday night on O'Connell St in Dublin, except that they all have guns.
Then there are the paramilitaries, government supporters in the tradition of loyalist death gangs. Their task is to terrorise the Zapatista support communities and stir up civil war between indigenous people. Normally they keep a low profile by killing and disappearing people in ones and twos, too few to attract the attention of the international and many of the national media. However the odd wholesale massacre has not been beyond their capabilities. It's common knowledge that they receive funding and training from the government and the regular army, and that they were set up according to the prescriptions of U.S. manuals on low intensity warfare.
The 17th of November this year marked the 16th anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). It was a time for reflection and reappraisals. Despite the atmosphere of celebration, the most commonly held view was that the peace process which initially promised a path towards land rights and indigenous autonomy was now pretty well on the rocks. There has been some movement recently on prisoner releases, but most of these people were still awaiting trial on extremely shaky evidence.
In overall terms, the peace offered by the goverment has meant nothing but humiliation. It remains to be seen who will make the next move.
Load up, load up with rubber bullets
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
``Security forces around the world are on alert'' claimed one Dublin radio station this week, while ``Battle in Seattle'' was the headline in both the Financial Times and the Irish Times. In October, the Observer newspaper told us to prepare for the ``battle of the millennium''. These are quotes from the understated sections of the media.
Then it happened, or sort of. On Tuesday this week, the U.S. government set hundreds of riot police and the National Guard against 100,000 plus peaceful protesters at the World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle.
The results was a series of disturbances as police set out to move protesters who were blocking roads to the summit conference centre. The pepper gas canisters and rubber bullets were fired and confrontation flared. The opening meetings of the Summit were cancelled. This was, we were told, a threat to global security.
The `threat to world security' is from what the institutional media call ``anarchists and eco warriors''. Peaceful protests were being held to protest the negative aspects of WTO treaties, which have increased poverty and acted as a barrier to the economic development of heavily indebted third world states. This too, by extension of media logic, must also be a threat to global security.
What many news organisations have overlooked is that over 100 international consumer rights groups as well as the US AFL-CIO labour federation, their equivalent of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), are in fact hosting the Seattle march. One wonders when will the ICTU anarchist witch-hunts begin, as their US brethren have obviously succumbed to mad dog extremist ideologies. We must stop it happening here.
The first picture shows two highly threatening abseilers, armed with ropes and a banner, obviously about to attack unwitting police officers who are all looking away from this deadly threat to global security. You have been warned. Lucky for us the protesters were successfully arrested.
The second shows a more realistic threat - riot police firing rubber bullets indiscriminately into the WTO protesters.