The evolution of digital activism in Mexico: A story of two movements "EZLN" and "43 Ayotzinapa"

Abstract

There is an important tradition in Mexico related to the use of the Internet as a communication strategy for distributing subversive and alternative political discourse since mid-1995, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), named after Manuel Castells as the first "informational guerrilla," until now with the use of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) as optimal spaces to promote alternative social movements such as "I am 132." The purpose of this paper is to make a comparative study in between the movements "EZLN" and "43 Ayotzinapa." Methodology is based on the comparative analysis of cases through the revision of academic literature and original material generated by activists. It focuses not only on studying their political propositions, but particularly on their tactics and the role played by technology in the construction of their discourse. Final outcomes will show in what way the technological change along the years has conditioned the form by which unsubordinated groups create and spread information and how technological platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have facilitated the communication and social participation of movements, but the research also pretend to understand until which level activists use tactics that have somewhat altered in more than 20 years.

Hay una tradición importante en México relacionada con el uso de Internet como estrategia de comunicación para difundir el discurso político subversivo y alternativo que se extiende desde mediados de 1995, con el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), nombrado por Manuel Castells como el primera "guerrilla informacional", hasta el siglo XXI con la consolidación de las redes sociales como espacios óptimos para la promoción de movimientos alternativos. El trabajo es un estudio comparativo entre los movimientos "EZLN" y "43 Ayotzinapa." La metodología se basa en el análisis comparativo de casos a través de la revisión de la bibliografía existente sobre el tema, así como de los materiales generados por los activistas. La investigación se focaliza no solo en estudiar sus proposiciones políticas, sino particularmente sus tácticas, así como el papel desempeñado por la tecnología en la construcción del discurso de ambos movimientos.