Chiapas Media Project was formerly known by the Spanish name Proyecto de Medios en Chiapas. The organization is now a Mexican NGO known as ProMedios de Comunicacion Comunitaria (Promedios.) It is now part of the Americas Media Initiative (AMI) and is solely a distributor of CMP/Promedios documentaries.
History
The Chiapas Media Project (CMP) was founded in 1998 by Alexandra Halkin and Paco Vazquez. CMP collaborated with indigenous filmmakers from
Oaxaca in creating a program to teach video and computer skills to the
autonomous Zapatista communities focusing on the communities of
Morelia, Oventic, and , and to provide video cameras, editing equipment, and computers.
[''Chiapas Media Project.'' Tri-fold brochure. Chicago: Chiapas Media Project. Interference Archive Collection.] Special training programs have focused on the empowerment of women.
Extensive documentation of the
Zapatistas
Zapatista(s) may refer to:
* Liberation Army of the South
The Liberation Army of the South ( es, Ejército Libertador del Sur, ELS) was a guerrilla force led for most of its existence by Emiliano Zapata that took part in the Mexican Revolut ...
indigenous movement includes hundreds of videos, films, books, and websites created by external researchers and journalists. The introduction of CMP project represented efforts by the autonomous Zapatista communities to tell their own stories, in their own languages and from their own perspectives.
[''Chiapas Media Project.'' Single page flyer. Chicago: Chiapas Media Project. Interference Archive collection.]
Work
With CMP, the Zapatista communities have produced videos on
agricultural collectives,
fair trade coffee
Fair trade coffee is coffee that is certified as having been produced to fair trade standards by fair trade organizations, which create trading partnerships that are based on dialogue, transparency and respect, with the goal of achieving greate ...
, women's collectives, autonomous education, traditional healing, and the history of their struggle for land.
With the Community Human Rights Defenders Network, CMP produced a video about the work of this group to educate other communities. Videos produced with Community Human Rights Devenders Network were used as evidence in court proceedings related to human rights abuses, resulting in compensation to indigenous families.
In
Guerrero, CMP worked with the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists to document and draw attention to the destruction of
virgin forests
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance (ecology), disturbance, and thereby exhibits un ...
in the region.
CMP/Promedios built four media centers in the state of Chiapas, including facilities for video production and
satellite internet access
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary satellites that can offer relatively high dat ...
. Zapatista videos have been screened at film festivals, college and university campuses, and other locations across the globe.
Training was provided out of a CMP Media Center in
San Cristobal de las Casas.
CMP organized delegations of youth from the United States
to meet with human rights, religious, and women's organizations, travelling to other communities to screen current productions and meet with other indigenous groups.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Chiapas Media Project Homepage
ProMedios de Comunicación ComunitariaResist: Mexico, The Chiapas Media ProjectAmericas Media InitiativeChiapas Media Project Records Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections
Chiapas
Mass media in Mexico
Mexico–United States relations