A Place Called Chiapas Video essays

A Place Called Chiapas Video essays This video was a very I opening piece on the situation in the Mexican territory known as Chiapas. I had heard a small amount of things about the problems previous to seeing the video and now realize that I had seen and heard was only the tip of the iceberg. Previously, I had only been told by the media that it was an independence movement by some indigenous peoples of southern Mexico. After watching the Chiapas video I now know the conditions leading to the rebellion in 1994 and how things have progressed since. I admire the makers of the video for not only showing one side of the conflict. In the video I saw the viewpoints of the Zapatista militia, the former ranchland owners, common people, government, and anti-Zapatista militia. This multi-faceted approach is, in my opinion, the most appropriate way to gain a less tainted overall view of any problem. This video really helped me to understand that the Zapatistas are not after complete atounomy, but, are after some self gover nance, more assistance from the government for health and education, and representation in the government. The only thing that I would like to see added to the video are some of the points brought up in class by the presentation given on the subject. One idea is the relation to the problems in Chiapas to the NAFTA agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Also, I would like to see some representation from the United States government on why they choose to ignore the human rights violations performed by the Mexican government but stick their noses in practically everyone elses business. Another issue I would like to see in the video is the support of the Mexican government for the anti-Zapatista militias and their refusal to address the ethnic discrimination involved in this dispute. Overall, the video was strong and I thing that you should continue to use it in the future. If there is ever a video that ...