the speaker john ross an adopted zapatista journalist gave an interesting and thoughtful insight into the plight of the people and indigenous cultures the movement espouses its defence of.

an old timer and hardened political activists but sincerity shone out in his everyword the details of the speech and other interesting facts are to be be found in his book the war against oblivion, im just reading at the moment.

his talk at the "news from nowhere" liverpool bookshop was cosy and informal and bit like listening to a cowboy off a western set "exciting tragic and humorous that is how the struggle is in the real world".

the wisdom of his words reflecting the faith credo of the people of Mayan extraction who believe we descended from corn, this being the area maize was first cultivated on the planet 10,000 years ago.fascinating stuff.

the man oozed history and life, the ability to listen is as important as the one to talk and fire questions at people,right or wrong,respect for this dude was profound despite his hoarse voice ill health, diabetes i think, and bad eyesight and hearing difficulties he delivered a most eloquent portrayal of the movement so far right up the beginning of autonomy and the formation of a zapatista university to defend the cultural heritage and languages of the people as global capital roams the world in search of profit.

he realayed there was a lot to be learned from pure simple methods of living,selling coffee "zapatista style" and solidarity with their ancient culture is growing as more and more of recognise this a part of humanities disappearing worlds the changes are not always for the better, but change is inevitable with this spirit he welcomed us to meet him again at the g8 summit.

with honorary zapatistas like john ross ross on their side the voice of indigenous people, seperated by technology,language and oceans and continents will be heard loud and clear.viva zapatas.