The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
#YoSoy132 Aguascalientes, 7 July 2012. Photo courtesy of the author.Today we cannot imagine the world without the internet. 23 years ago we could not imagine a world with it, nor the social movements and rural indigenous movements that utilise it, but it happened. This article reflects on the link between the internet and social movements in Mexico. First, I describe some cases of uprisings and mobilisations, transnational organisations, and local activist collectives. Then I point out some key elements about the internet and public expression, and conclude reflecting on the power of networks.
Uprisings and mobilisations
1 January 1994 was the day that NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) went into force, in Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as a neoliberal conquest. But on that same day, a voice emerged in the Mexican jungle: the Zapatistas took up arms in Chiapas. In their first declaration — “Today we say stop!” — they tried to make visible the inequities caused by neoliberal politics. They also situated their struggle in a global arena.
