Here is a copy of the letter of explination from Boxfresh for their actions, and how the Zapatista campaign came about. They are also promising here in writing a list of things they are going to do.

Below is a letter we sent back in reply,

For anyone who hasn't been following this or for a more expansive story as to what this is all about please visit our website

www.spacehijackers.co.uk

any responses or suggestions are more than welcome.

Cheers,
 Space Hijackers.

To: Robin Priestley, Spacehijackers
From: Roger Wade, Owner, Boxfresh

Thank you for meeting us today and for your letter. As discussed, the purpose of the campaign was not to sell clothes, but to make a statement about what we stand for. We are trying in the same way, as the Body Shop Esso campaign, to highlight a cause, and give it support through media exposure. Boxfresh is young independent label, run by young people, and we have always strived to buck the system. We regularly support graffiti artists, students and urban sports which are anti establishment.  Most of our customers are students, and we know they feel strongly about these issues. We felt rather than running a silly campaign featuring some beautiful models, we would choose a subject, which our customers could relate to. We hoped that through the media exposure, we would highlight the Marcos campaign.

One of our designers came across the Zapatista struggle  on his  travels to Mexico. We researched more about him, including his article in the Guardian where he coincidentally quoted our slogan, “ We are you”, and we agreed with sentiments. We are you! He said:

 “ Further subjugating himself, Marcos says that he is not a leader to those who seek him out, but that his black mask is a mirror, reflecting each of their own struggles: that a Zapatista is anyone, anywhere fighting for injustice, that “ We are you “. He once said Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the metro at 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student, and of course a Zapatista in the mountains”

 But all of this is words, what we going to do. Firstly we going to donate all the profit from the Zapatista kit  to the  Zapatista Support group in the UK.  We are going to allow our customers to find out more about Marcos through displaying the “Our Word is our weapon” book on Marcos. We are going to give link sites to relevant Zapatista sites. We are happy to display any other additional information on Zapatista.

 We apologise for any offence caused. We are trying to help a worthy cause, by giving it media exposure. 

 Rgds,

Roger Wade

Dear Roger,

Cheers for your letter, I am posting up your letter on Indymedia and Urban75 the two main sites that were covering our campaign , so that will hopefully stop the hate mail, I will try to pop by the shop on Friday to see how things are going and pass on the web adresses of some Zapatista support groups.

As far as the donations go, we thought a good organisation would be Enlace Civil, who are based in Chiapas and are the same group that a donation from "Our Word is Our Weapon" is going to (So I guess Marcos must approve). This would also bypass any trouble with you funding foreign armed struggles etc. With our current improved? Terrorism Laws, a direct donation to the Zapatistas is probably going to be dodgy ground for a licenced company.

Thanks, by the way, for calmly listening to what we had to say, and for not acting in the way I would imagine most company bosses would. I guess we all learnt something about each other with the protest.

Cheers,

Robin.