They fight in black ski masks because legend says that from blackness comes light. The light these indigenous Mexicans seek is poorly translated into English as something like liberty, justice, democracy and dignity for all indigenous peoples. They oppose the FTAA, NAFTA,
and all other manifestations of global imperialism that ignore their existence and rights. They call themselves "forgotten people", and have challenged international memories since they first emerged from the jungles of Chiapas.

They are the Zapatistas, and they've been waging a war against the New World Order since New Year,s Eve 1994, when they took over the town of San Cristobal in Chiapas, Mexico, and declared war on President Salinas and the New World Order. Their Declaration of the
Lacandòn Jungle was borne out of the poor living conditions forced on the people of Chiapas.

The Mexican Government uses the term "acute marginalization" to describe the residents of Chiapas, where 80 percent of the population lives in a State of Neglect. Over 800,000 of the citizens are Chol, Lacandón, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Tojolabal, and Zoque Indians. Nearly 40 percent of the working population receives less than Mexico's minimum wage. Mexico's Constitution used to guarantee land to the country's poor. However,
after NAFTA, that stipulation was eliminated, therefore forcing many of the poor peasants into an even greater state of poverty.

In late February, the Zapatistas marched from Chiapas to Mexico City to meet with the new Mexican President, Vincente Fox. Fox is the first president who has spoken in favor of seeking compromise with the Zapatistas, though the movement's leader, Subcomandante Insurgente
Marcos, has expressed some doubt as to the president's sincerity and motives. If Fox is bluffing, though, he will have to face a united front of protesters and campesinos who are camping at the government palace.

Marcos summed up the Zapatista's character in this way: "We are of the color brown and of the color black. But we are also of the color yellow, because the first people who walked these lands were made of corn so they would be true. And we are also red because this is the [color] of blood that has dignity, and we are also blue because we are the sky in which we fly, and green for the mountain which is our house and our strength. And we are white because we are paper so that tomorrow can write its story."

The Zapatistas fight against the New World Order of globalization so that tomorrow,s story might be one of justice, dignity, liberty and democracy for all peoples. And if tomorrow's story is written on paper, then neither the Zapatistas nor the forgotten people they defend, can be
ignored.

Shanna Hammons is an Ithaca College Student who researched the Zapatista movement for the spring semester