Number 233, March 2001
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Despite brutal military defeats since first appearing on 1 January 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took force, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or EZLN, a group of mainly indigenous, poor rural people are waging a worldwide information war with unparalleled success.
Anuradha Vittachi
Half a century ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that information was a fundamental human right: 'Everyone has the right to seek, receive and impart information... regardless of frontiers.'
John Samuel, National Centre for Advocacy Studies, Pune, India.
The new mantra is "Information is power". But who is being empowered by the dotcom revolution? The consumers who are rushing for their daily online fix? The thirsty villagers who have access to neither technology nor plastic money? Or the merchants and brokers of information, money and images?
A short excerpt from a thought-provoking message which has been widely circulated for international friendship week:
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this:
In early February 2001, Chilean Court of Appeals Judge Jaime Rodríguez sealed the fate of Alejandra Matus, exiling the journalist from her native land for at least 13 years. Matus is the author of El libro negro de la justicia chilena (The Black Book of Chilean Justice), an expose of corruption among Chilean authorities.
As the Arab-Israeli conflict continues in deadlock, its punctuation by the US and UK bombing of Iraq shows the involvement of the West. Are we witnessing the final collapse of the peace process? Is the region heading for a new war? And is the political confrontation between Arabs and Israelis about to give way to a conflict of religions?
The WACC-Pacific Region Pre-Congress Consultation on Communication: from Confrontation to Reconciliation 14-18 February, 2001, Auckland, New Zealand. Fourteen delegates from seven Pacific island countries attended the consultation.
The oppressor's best weapon is the mind of the oppressed, said Steve Biko, the South African apartheid activist before he was assassinated. Nothing could be more certain.
Sulak Sivaraksa
Everyday we find ourselves in conflict situations, ranging from minor inconveniences to serious confrontations. Conflicts can flare up over backyard fences or national borders, over cleaning up the kitchen or cleaning up the environment. They can involve our most intimate relations or the briefest acquaintances.