Information warfare is no longer the exclusive purview of three-letter government agencies. In the remote, mountainous region of Chiapas, Mexico, an underground army has mounted a technology battle of a different order.
The Zapatistas are using computers, the Internet, and radio communications to weave what some have called the "electronic fabric of struggle." The rebels are among the most connected political groups in the world, using technology to take political protest to an unprecedented level.
On Friday, that struggle gained added bandwidth when a group of American and Costa Rican peace activists launched "Chiapas the World Speaks," a weekly shortwave radio program broadcasting news in Spanish about the struggle for human rights and political reform in the Mexican countryside.
"I think that the popular movements that are successful are the ones that keep information ... in the public eye," said James Latham, station manager of Radio for Peace International, located outside of San Jose, Costa Rica.
Along with Atlanta-based NPC Information Associates, Radio for Peace International produces the show that organizers promise will "shake the Mexican mainstream media to its foundations."
"In the case of the Zapatistas, they ... [are] maintaining a daily flow of information about their cause," said Latham. "By doing this, they are tying into the new technologies that are widely used in [other] countries by colleges and businesses."
