The Independent Media Center is a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth. We work out of a love and inspiration for people who continue to work for a better world, despite corporate media’s distortions and unwillingness to cover the efforts to free humanity.

Indymedia-Chiapas is a collective of women and men dedicated to developing a network of communication focusing on the struggle of the indigenous communities of Chiapas, as well as other popular movements in resistance in Mexico and the rest of the world. We emerged as a direct response to the EZLN’s call for the creation of alternative media and communication networks. Indymedia-Chiapas provides a space for the indigenous communities of Chiapas to distribute their written, photographic, video and audio material at the state, national and international level.

The Independent Media Center (IMC) in Seattle received wide recognition due to its excellent coverage of the protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) from November 30 to December 6, 1999. After the boisterous success of the protests in Seattle, Independent Media Centers have sprung up all over the world to cover the major protests against corporate-led globalization, from Melbourne, Australia to Prague, the Czech Republic. Independent Media Centers have also offered an alternative source of information in other complex situations, such as the coverage of the resurgence of violence in the Middle East provided by the Israel-Palestine Independent Media Center.

Indymedia-Chiapas seeks to provide improved coverage of events in the indigenous communities of Chiapas, especially in the Zapatista zone of influence. Our objective is to disseminate information about the Zapatista movement and other popular movements in resistance throughout Mexico and the world. Our hope is that this information and analysis in turn contributes to the construction of peace with dignity and social justice in Chiapas.

With its commitment to freedom of expression, Indymedia-Chiapas offers the opportunity to present visions and perspectives different from those found in the mainstream media. Our goal is to break the monopoly of the corporate-controlled press, and guarantee a space for those voices not heard in the mainstream media.

Only with the support and participation of compañeros and compañeras from the indigenous communities in Chiapas (many already trained in communication skills) can we achieve our goal of Indymedia-Chiapas becoming a tool and weapon for the people.

For this purpose, one of the first steps that we took as Indymedia-Chiapas was to open a semi-permanent office in San Cristóbal de las Casas, where people from indigenous communities are free to produce and publish their work on the Indymedia web site. It is equipped with computers, scanners, printers, Internet access, and technical support to facilitate access to the Indymedia-Chiapas web page.

Indymedia-Chiapas has an open structure that allows any person or organization to publish material in written texts, photos, audio or video form. We are asking that all material published in Indymedia-Chiapas be news (rather than opinion pieces) and that it be related to the topics addressed in this web site. Although our primary commitment is to freedom of expression, we reserve the right to remove material from the web site that does not meet these minimal requirements.

The information in this site will be immediately accessible to all Indymedia-Chiapas users around the world. Unless indicated otherwise by the author, this material can be freely reproduced, re-transmitted and published by all independent media (community radios, public access and local television, popular and alternative newspapers and magazines) as long as the source is cited.

We have attempted to create a space dedicated to words of truth and dignity. We invite everone who shares this commitment to participate in Indymedia-Chiapas.