About (English/Español)
THE CHIAPAS MEDIA PROJECT | En Español |
The Chiapas Media Project (CMP)/Promedios is an award winning, bi-national partnership that provides video equipment, computers and training enabling marginalized indigenous communities in Southern Mexico to create their own media.
Our fiscal sponsor in the U.S. is the Cuentos Foundation.
Since 1998, CMP/Promedios instructors have worked in close collaboration with autonomous Zapatista communities. Indigenous youth with little formal education, and often working without reliable electricity, have produced videos on agricultural collectives, fair trade coffee, women’s collectives, autonomous education, traditional healing and the history of their struggle for land.
Regional Coordinators from the communities in Chiapas now run the introductory camera, editing and internet workshops for their own regions. Indigenous and non indigenous instructors from outside Chiapas provide advanced training in our Media Center in San Cristobal de las Casas and in the Regional Media Centers located in four of the Caracoles in Zapatista territory.
Why video and internet in the middle of Mexico’s southern jungles? The Zapatistas are the most documented indigenous movement in the history of the world, with hundreds of videos, films, books and websites created by people looking in from the outside. Until recently, these temporary visitors have controlled the medium and the message. With the introduction of video cameras and professional training, the communities can now tell their own stories from their own perspectives. The impact has been profound.
Since 1998, the CMP/Promedios has distributed over 6000 indigenous produced videos. These videos have been screened at universities, museums, and film and video festivals worldwide. For more information on the Zapatista movement please go to
www.ezln.org.mx or www.chiapas.indymedia.org
Promedios/Chiapas Media Project es una organización binacional, ganadora de premios, que provee equipo de video, computadoras y capacitación a comunidades indígenas marginadas en el sureste de México, lo cual lespermite crear sus propios medios de comunicación.
Nuestra agente fiscal en los EE.UU. es la Fundación Cuentos.
Desde 1998, l@s instructor@s de Promedios/CMP han trabajado en estrecha colaboración con las comunidades autónomas zapatistas. Jóvenes indígenas con muy poca educación formal y trabajando bajo malas condiciones de electricidad han producido diversos videos sobre colectivos de agricultura, educación autónoma, café justo, colectivos de mujeres, medicina tradicional y también acerca de la historia de su lucha por la tierra.
Actualmente, son los coordinadores regionales de las comunidades quienes imparten en sus comunidades los talleres de introducción a la cámara, edición por computadora y uso del internet. Instructor@s indígenas y mestizos de otros lugares fuera de Chiapas proporcionan capacitación avanzada en nuestro Centro de Medios en la ciudad de San Cristóbal de las Casas, así como en los Centros de Comunicación Regionales establecidos en cuatro de los Caracoles Zapatistas.
¿Por qué video e internet en medio de la selva del sureste mexicano? Los zapatistas son el movimiento indígena mas documentado de la historia a nivel mundial; existen cientos de videos, películas, libros y sitios de internet creados por personas con una mirada externa. Hasta hace poco tiempo, estos visitants temporales controlaban los medios y los mensajes. Con la introducción de cámaras de video y capacitación profesional, las comunidades ahora pueden contra sus propias historias desde su propia perspectiva. El impacto ha sido profundo.
Desde1998, Promedios/CMP ha distribuido más de 6,000 videos producidos por indígenas. Estos videos han sido proyectados en universidades, museos, y festivales de cine y video a nivel mundial. Para mas informacion sobre los Zapatista por favor visita g
www.ezln.org.mx o www.chiapas.indymedia.org
|En Español|
Guerrero is the second most impoverished state in Mexico after Chiapas, with a long history of violent repression against struggles for land, democracy and protection of the environment. Guerrero’s dismal human rights record has affected indigenous communities disproportionately. Guerrero has the highest incidence of political murders and disappearances in Mexico, but there are very few human rights activists present in the state.
The CMP/Promedios began working in Guerrero with the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists (OCE) in 2000. The OCE formed in 1996 to stop uncontrolled logging by U.S. transnational, Boise Cascade. They succeeded, but this lead to violent repression by the Mexican military and state security forces that resulted in the detention and torture of some of the OCE leadership that continues to this day. CMP/Promedios provided the OCE with video equipment and produced, Defending the Forests. The video was integral to the international campaign to draw attention to the situation facing the OCE and the destruction of Guerrero’s virgin forests.
In Summer 2001, the CMP/ Promedios began video workshops in the Montaña region where most of Guerrero’s indigenous communities are located. These workshops are organized through the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Montaña, in Tlapa, Guerrero.
In 2001, CMP/Promedios began working with the Indigenous Community Police (ICP) based in the montaña and costa-chica regions. Created in 1995, The ICP is now made up of over 60 Mixteco and Tlapeneco communities. Based on their traditional justice system the ICP is a volunteer organization elected at regional assemblies.
In 2002, CMP/Promedios produced, Reclaiming Justice, which tells the story of the ICP and was made to counter the state and federal misinformation campaigns against the ICP and to tell their incredible success story in significantly cutting down crime in their regions. Reclaiming Justice has won numerous awards at film and video festivals worldwide. CMP/Promedios has continued to work with Tlachinollan.
In 2005 we jointly produced the video, Eyes on What’s Inside: The Militarization of Guerrero which looks at the rape of two indigenous women, Inez and Valentina, the militarization and it’s effects on indigenous communities in the montaña region. When we first released Eyes the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, based in Washington, DC, had still not accepted the cases of Inez and Valentina, which had been introduced three years earlier. CMP/Promedios developed a letter writing campaign connected to screening of the Eyes and we estimate that the Inter-American Commission received 1,000 letters collected during 2005-2006. The letter writing campaign gave students a way to become active participants in advocating for the Commission to accept the cases. Many students made their own copies and circulated them among their friends. In 2006 the Commission finally accepted the cases and in October 2007, Inez and Valentina testified before the Commission in Washington.
Currently, CMP/Promedios is producing a video about internal migrants from the montaña region of Guerrero who travel to Sinaloa to work in agricultural fields for six months each year. The particular community we are working with, Ayotzinapa, is a Nahua community where the majority of the population is illiterate. The children of these migrant families do not attend school because they are gone six months of the school year. Entire families travel to Sinaloa to work in agricultural fields that grow exotic Chinese and Vietnamese vegetables for export to Canada and the US. Children as young as six years old, work from 8am to 7pm in the fields, including weekends.
In January 2007, after the death of an eight year old from the montaña working in one of the camps harvesting tomatos, the Mexican government passed a new law regulating child labor. This law now excludes children under the age of 14 from working in the camps. From the outside this law looks like reform but after further scrutiny, other then prohibiting young children from working, the law doesn’t offer these extremely poor families subsidies for the loss of that income either in direct cash payments or in the development of new educational programs for their children. It’s important to also see the region of the montaña within a historical context: i.e. how it became so impoverished, the state and federal policies that over the last three decades have contributed to this poverty. These communities are victims of the intentional creation of an under-class whose function is to provide labor for these camps, a group of people who don’t know their rights and don’t have the means to confront the owners over the substandard conditions in which they work. These are people who without this job would be unable to sustain themselves year round in their own community.
This production should be completed by early 2008.
Guerrero es el segundo estado más pobre de México, después de Chiapas. Tiene una larga historia de represión violenta contra las luchas por la tierra, la democracia y la protección del medio ambiente. El terrible historial en material de derechos humanos de Guerrero ha afectado indígenas y comunidades de una manera desporporcionada. A pesar de que Guerrero tiene el mas alto indice de desparaciones y crímenes por motivos políticos, la presencia de activistas de derechos humanos es muy poca.
En 2000, Promedios/CMP comezó su trabajo en Guerrero con la Organización de Campesinos Ecologistas (OCE). La OCE fue formada en 1996 con el objetivo de detener la tala inmoderada por parte de la compañía maderera transnacional Boise Cascade. A pesar del éxito que tuvo, la gente de la OCE fue reprimida por el ejercito mexicano y por las fuerzas policíacas estatales, esto ha implicado que hasta la fecha los lideres de la OCE vengan sufriendo una seria de detenciones ilegales y de tortura. Promedios/CMP proporcionó equipo de video a la OCE, al mismo tiempo que produjo el video Defender los Bosques: La Lucha de los Campesinos Ecologistas de Guerrero. Este documental fue parte de una campaña integral para llamar la atención mundial acerca de la situación de dicha organización y sobre la destrucción de los bosques vírgenes en Guerrero.
En el verano de 2001, Promedios/CMP comenzó a impartir talleres de video en la región de la Montaña, la cual es una de las regiones donde habita la mayoría de los grupos indígenas de Guerrero. Estos talleres fueron organizados por el Centro de Derechos Humanos Tlachinollan, ubicado en la ciudad Tlapa, Guerrero. En el mismo año, Promedios/CMP comenzó a trabajar con la Policía Comunitaria, la cual cubre las regions de Montaña y Costa Chica de Guerrero.
La Policía Comunitaria fue creada en 1995, y actualmente esta conformada por 60 comunidades mixtecas y tlapanecas. La Policía Comunitaria se basa en su sistema tradicional de impartición de justicia, y sus miembros son voluntaries elegidos a través de las asambleas comunitarias. Promedios/CMP produjo Cuando la justicia se hace pueblo, un video que narra la historia de la Policía Comunitaria y fue hecho para contrarestar la campaña de desinformación que el estado mexicano lanzo contra la Policía Comunitaria; además de contar al mismo tiempo el control que esta organización estableció contra el crimen en sus regiones. Cuando la justicia se hace pueblo ha ganado numerosos premios en festivales de cine y video a nivel internacional.
En 2003 Promedios/CMP estableció su Centro de Medios en Tlapa. La misión de este centro es documentar los casos de violaciones a los derechos humanos en las regiones de la montaña y la costa-chica de Guerrero; además de proprocionar capacitación en video a los defensores de derechos humanos de las comunidades, quienes han sido capacitados en defensa legal por parte del CDH Tlachinollan.
CMP/Promedios Advisory Board:
Abel Barerra, Human Rights Center “Tlachinollan” Tlapa, Guerrero
Sally Berger, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Dorothy Christian Okanagan-Secwepemc, Videomaker, Canada
Tatiana Da Silva, Downtown Community TV, NYC
Ricardo Dominguez, The Electronic Disturbance Theater
William Fisher, William and Mary College
Susan Gooding, PhD candidate, University of Chicago, Educational and Historical Research Consultant
Dr. Faye Ginsburg, Director, Center for Media,Culture and History, New York University
Guillermo Monteforte, Ojo de Agua, Oaxacabr />José Manuel Pintado, COPAL, Mexico Citybr />Patricia Diaz Romo, Huicholes and Pesticides, Guadalajarabr />Dr. Beverly Singer, Director Alfonso Ortiz Center For Intercultural Studies, University of New Mexico
TecsChange, Boston
Daniel Diez, Documentary Filmmaker and Founder TV Serrana, Cuba
The Chiapas Media Project has 4 main sources of income to continue the work we do:
1. Univeristy/Community Presentations
2. Video Sales
3. Newsletter/Diret Mail Donations
4. Foundations
Funded in part by:
Angelica Foundation
Daniele Agostino Foundation
Chace Fund
Departamento de Cooperaciòn
del Gobierno Vasco
France Libertés
Funding Exchange
Fund for Global Human Rights
Goldman Environmental Foundation
Global Fund for Human Rights
Honor the Earth Fund
John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation
Joshua Mailman Foundation
Peace Development Fund
Reebok Human Rights Award
Riverside Sharing Fund
Solidago Foundation
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
US-Mexico Fund for Culture
Vanguard Foundation
William H. Donner Foundation
