RAND_MR1382

Acting in tandem with these organizations were the second type: the networkfacilitating
and infrastructure-building NGOs. These are not defined by specific issues;
rather, they assist other NGOs and activists, no matter what the issue. They specialize in
facilitating communications; organizing demonstrations, caravans, and other events;
and fostering education and exchange activities.
Of these, the most important from a technological and training standpoint is the
Association for Progressive Communications (APC), a global network of computer
networks that has many affiliates, such as the U.S.-based Peacenet and Conflictnet, and
La Neta in Mexico. All are attached or have access to the Internet. The APC and its
affiliates amount to a worldwide computer-conferencing and email system for activist
NGOs. It enables them to consult and coordinate, disseminate news and other
information, and put pressure on governments, including by mounting fax-writing and
email campaigns. The APC also helps activist NGOs acquire the equipment and the
training their members may need to get online. 21
Of course, using the Internet to accomplish all this depends on there being good
telecommunications systems for making Internet connections. In Mexico, such systems—
including APC affiliates like La Neta, which came online with a weak presence in 1993,
as well as direct connections available only at universities or through a few commercial
providers, many of which are expensive for activists—were pretty reliable in Mexico
City, other major cities, and at universities. Connecting to the Internet from a place like
San Cristóbal de las Casas is another story; it can be done, but only at slow speeds and
not very reliably. Faxes and telephone calls afford better communications. 22
The APC itself did not have activists in Mexico specifically for Chiapas, but other
important infrastructure-building NGOs did. These included an American NGO, Global
Exchange; a Canadian networking NGO, Action Canada; and Mexico’s CONPAZ. Again,
cooperative connections existed among all such organizations. (At the same time, it
should be noted that issue-oriented NGOs also serve as disseminators of information to
other NGOs. One of the most important and reliable has been the “Miguel Agustín Pro”
Center for Human Rights, which issues daily and weekly bulletins.)
Few transnational NGOs had or would install a permanent presence in Chiapas—a key
exception was Global Exchange (not to mention some international governmental
organizations, like the International Red Cross). Most had representatives who would
come and go episodically, with their timing often depending on meetings organized by
the EZLN, activities organized by other NGOs, or on their own plans to visit and draw
up a report. Nonetheless, the new communications technologies enabled many NGOs to
maintain a “virtual presence” by being on mailing lists of supporters, signing petitions,
participating in fax- and letter-writing campaigns, and circulating NGO-derived reports
on the Internet and in other media. Such a “virtual presence” may be important to the
conduct of a transnational social netwar.