Chiapas Media Project to Visit Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Alexandra Halkin, a representative of the Chiapas Media Project, will give a presentation, titled "Zapatistas, Indigenous Media and Self-Representation," at Holy Cross on Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. in Haberlin Hall, room 103. The presentation will include a screening of a selection of video clips and a discussion on the role of indigenous produced alternative media in the context of the current political situation in Southern Mexico. The event is free and open to the public.

The Chiapas Media Project helps indigenous and campesino communities in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Guerrero gain access to communication technologies so that they can represent themselves with their own words and images. Their work comes in response to the fact that, for centuries, indigenous cultures have been represented by people from the outside. For most indigenous peoples, the use of televisions, video cameras, VCRs and computers to represent themselves is just a dream. The Chiapas Media Project is working to change that.

As a result of conversations with the Zapatistas - an indigenous movement that includes Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Mum and Tzeltal Mayan Indians - the Chiapas Media Project has been training indigenous communities to produce and distribute their own stories since 1998. The Zapatistas are the most documented indigenous movement in the history of the world with hundreds of videos, films, Web sites, and books created by people from the outside. Through the Chiapas Media Project, the Zapatistas have released nearly 5,000 of their own videos - many of which tell stories quite different than what has been produced about them.

Giving firsthand perspective on the lives and struggles of indigenous peoples in Southern Mexico, the videos cover a wide range of topics, including education, fair trade organic coffee, and non-violent resistance to the military occupation of their communities. They have been shown at museums, film festivals and at college and universities around the world.

This event is sponsored by Latin American and Latino Studies, the Sociology and Anthropology Department and Peace and Conflict Studies at Holy Cross, and the Clark University Government Department.