Days after NASA's Curiosity landed safely on the surface of Mars, it's still a breathtaking accomplishment. That humans can drop an SUV-sized machine onto another planet with such precision is a bewildering achievement.

Today, scientists are tediously testing Curiosity’s cameras and systems, making sure nothing was damaged during the nearly nine-month voyage from Earth to Mars. After 352 million miles and a landing that saw the rover slow from 13,000 mph to stop in seven minutes, a tire-kicking is in order.

But while millions of earthlings are wowed by new photos from the Red Planet, many others ask: “Why?”

It’s a reasonable question. At a time when the United States is cutting food stamps for the poor and tens of millions are out of work, how can we justify $2.6 billion to launch robots into space?

Practically speaking, it’s a step toward manned Mars missions. NASA’s goal is to get there by 2035. These robot missions are a toe in the water, teaching scientists how to get astronauts safely there and back.

Beyond that, Mars exploration is a study of our friendliest neighbor. Mars has water. It’s closest to Earth in size and gravity. It has four seasons and a 24-hour day. Did it ever sustain life? Does it? Could it? The answers are clues to Earth’s past and future.

But, mostly, the exploration of Mars carries out the inherently human impulse to explore and discover. How many asked: Why explore the depths of Earth’s oceans or jungles? Why set sail for new worlds, or fly? Humans have been launching spaceships at Mars for decades — 40 since 1960. NASA’s Viking missions in the 1970s cost $1 billion.

Some will say it’s too expensive, there are other priorities. They’ll ask: Why now? We haven’t even finished exploring the oceans. The answer: Mankind relishes the challenge, striving always to know what’s around the next corner.

Since announcing in 2010 the retirement of the space shuttles, NASA has been eager for this landing. Now and for the next two years, the rover will send back an encyclopedia of pictures and data. With Curiosity, we return to the forefront of human exploration. If not us, someone else surely will.

In 2010, President Obama said, “Space exploration is not a luxury, not an afterthought in America’s brighter future. … It is an essential part of that quest.”

Still, economic realities back home on Earth led Obama’s administration to call for cuts to the 2013 Mars exploration budget of more than $200 million — close to 40 percent — effectively freezing the program at the height of its success. A TechCrunch report, however, shows Curiosity’s $2.6 billion price tag comes to about $8 per American. That’s less than 1 percent of the U.S. defense budget. That’s a fraction of London’s $14.5 billion budget for the 2012 Olympics.

More and more, private dollars are being spent on space exploration. Private firms, such as SpaceX, promise that industry and innovators will have a hand in the competition for celestial knowledge.

One discovery leads to the next. Maybe the Curiosity mission leads to new commercial products — the Next Big Thing in communication or technology. Maybe photos from Mars will inspire a new generation of scientists — and who knows what they’ll discover? Or, maybe, we simply learn something about our universe we didn’t know before.

Every dollar that does that has been spent well. If we stop now, what might we never learn?


Q:

Why rsync creates an unnamed folder on destination?

I use the following script to put folders with the prefix old_ and their contents on an usb hard disk.
For some reason, rsync creates a nameless folder into which the data is copied.
rsync -vrhm --stats --progress --include='**/' --include='**/old_*/**'  --exclude='@Recycle' --exclude='*' /share/Projekte/ /share/02-18-Harburg/

How can i change this?
Also, I would like to know if it is possible for rsync to delete these files that have been previously transfered from source?
EDIT:
This is what i get when try to tab the directory:
$ cd 02-18-Harburg/^M/2017/

The folder has following name:
$ ls -lisah
total 0
27 0 drwxr-xr-x 1 admin administrators 0 2018-05-18 13:32 ?/

A:

The ^M in 02-18-Harburg/^M/2017/ is the carriage return character. Your script has a Windows-style CRLF line ending, so the path rsync sees, is /share/02-18-Harburg/<CR>. It dutifully creates a path of that name.
(The ^M notation usually refers to hitting Ctrl+M. A more common notation for the carriage return as a character is \r.)
Fix the line ending in the script with something like dos2unix, or sed -i 's/\r//' script (assuming GNU sed).
ls doesn't like to output special characters in filenames to the terminal, so it prints a ? instead. Which is actually a good thing here, since you couldn't see the real CR on the terminal anyway. Use ls --quoting-style=shell-escape to have it print the filenames in a less ambiguous format.


1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to the deaeration of water in a boiler system. More particularly, this invention involves increasing overall boiler efficiency by reducing the temperature of boiler feedwater before the feedwater enters a boiler flue gas economizer.
2. Background of the Related Art
It is well known that dissolved oxygen must be removed from boiler system feedwater to prevent corrosion of steel surfaces that come in contact with the feedwater such as boiler tubes, surge tanks, and connecting conduits. Oxygenated feedwater also causes the formation of iron oxide deposits on the surfaces of the boiler tubes which restrict the flow of feedwater therethrough and consequently, reduces the transfer of heat to the water passing through the boiler.
Fresh water at 55.degree. F. has an oxygen content of approximately 10 ppm. It is preferable to reduce the oxygen content in boiler feedwater to 0.007 ppm or less, thereby maintaining the heat transfer characteristics of the boiler system and reducing maintenance costs.
A method well known in the art for removing oxygen from feedwater, also called feedwater deaeration, is to raise the temperature of the feedwater to its boiling point so that the oxygen will degas from solution. Feedwater deaeration may be accomplished with this method by passing the feedwater through a deaerator nozzle in which pressurized steam and feedwater are mixed together to cause oxygen to separate from the feedwater. The deaerated feedwater is then collected in a pressurized enclosure while the oxygen is removed by the steam as it exits the enclosure through a vent. The diameter of the orifice in the vent is selected to allow all of the oxygen to be removed while sustaining a sufficient back pressure in the tank. A method of deaerating water in a similar manner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,132 to Schellenberg.
A conventional deaerator system includes a deaerator tank, as described above, and an unpressurized vented surge tank for collecting boiler condensate. Fluid flows in a loop through these components to continually supply deaerated feedwater to the remainder of a boiler system in a manner that will be described hereinbelow. Water is added to the surge tank as necessary to make up for lost fluid and thereby maintain the level of fluid in the boiler system.
The flow of fluid through a boiler system that includes a conventional deaerator system, a flue gas economizer, a boiler, and load components such as, for example, room heaters, autoclave equipment, and laundry equipment, operates as follows. Hot deaerated feedwater (approximately 227.degree. F.) is pumped by a boiler feed pump from a pressurized deaerator tank to a flue gas economizer for preheating. The solution then travels to the boiler and is transformed to steam. The steam then travels to the load components. Some load components lose steam to the atmosphere by venting. Losses also occur through system leaks. Typically, 20% to 30% of feedwater is lost as it circulates through a boiler system. Thereafter the steam condenses.
The condensed feedwater then returns to the vented surge tank of the deaerator system. Relatively cool makeup water, which is typically softened tap water at approximately 55.degree. F., is added to the feedwater in the surge tank to replace the feedwater that was lost due to venting and leaks. Because the surge tank is vented to the atmosphere and oxygen rich makeup water has been added to the surge tank, the solution in the tank becomes oxygenated. Thereafter, the oxygenated feedwater is pumped to the deaerator tank.
All of the fluid that is pumped to the deaerator tank is then deaerated as it passes the deaerator nozzle and enters the tank. The hot deaerated feedwater, the temperature of which is again raised to approximately 227.degree. F., then starts the cycle again as it is pumped by the boiler feed pump from the deaerator tank to the flue gas economizer. A deaerator system for a boiler similar to the conventional system described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,366 to Chikamori, et al.
There are several disadvantages associated with the prior art deaerator system described above. For example, the high temperature of the deaerated feedwater pumped directly from the deaerator tank to the flue gas economizer provides a relatively small differential feedwater temperature across the flue gas economizer. It is readily understood by those skilled in the art that boiler efficiency gains are obtained with flue gas economizers by developing a differential temperature between the feedwater inlet and the feedwater outlet. The greater the differential temperature therebetween, the greater the efficiency gain. Therefore, prior art deaerator systems allow only marginal efficiency gains when used with flue gas economizers in a boiler system.
Another disadvantage is that both the makeup water and the deaerated condensate return must be deaerated continuously. This is because the condensate return becomes oxygenated after entering the vented surge tank as it is exposed to the air in the tank and mixed with the oxygen rich makeup water fed into the tank. Also, inasmuch as there is oxygen mixed into the fluid in the surge tank, the tank and conduits connecting the surge tank to the deaerator tank corrode prematurely.
An additional disadvantage is that boiler feedwater pumps in prior art systems fail prematurely since the hot deaerated feedwater that flows through the pumps tend to induce cavitation. Cavitation leads to pitting in the pump impeller--causing seal and bearing failure.
Yet another disadvantage associated with conventional deaerator systems involves the use of high efficiency hot water heaters. Such heaters are designed to extract heat energy from boiler steam in excess of that extracted by standard hot water systems. Consequently, the condensate return coming from a high efficiency hot water heater system is cooler. This apparent gain in efficiency, however, is lost when the cooler condensate return is reheated in the deaerator nozzle, since the deaerator must utilize a greater amount of energy to reheat the cooler condensate to 227.degree. F. In addition, the increase in boiler efficiency that could have been had by providing the cooler feedwater to the evaporator--and thus increasing the differential temperature across the evaporator--is lost because the cooler feedwater in prior art deaerator system is pumped to the deaerator and not the evaporator.
Clearly there is a need in the art for a deaerated water supply system that increases the differential temperature across a flue gas economizer so as to improve boiler efficiency. There is also a clear need for a deaerator system in which feedwater is not continuously deaerated.


BA plane lands after 'engine surge'

A British Airways plane has had to turn back to Heathrow after experiencing engine problems on take-off.

BA said the aircraft, an Airbus A319 bound for Lyon in France had had "an engine surge" and had landed safely at Heathrow following the incident at around 9pm last night.

An eyewitness told the BBC he had seen flames "spitting out" of an engine and that the plane was making spluttering noises as it was taking off.

Tom Puttick, who works near Heathrow said: "I was in the petrol station opposite the airport which is when I heard the bang, so I turned around and the airplane had flames spitting out of the engine with a spluttering noise as it was taking off.

"I then watched it continuer to climb and the engine was still emitting flames intermittently. Lots of blue lights then emerged on the airport while the plane, I guess, turned around to make an emergency landing."

A BA spokeswoman said: "A flight experienced what's known as an 'engine surge' as it took off from Heathrow, but it returned and touched down safely.

"Our crew cared for our customers on-board and kept them informed. We train our pilots to the very highest standards including how to respond to these type of events, and the engine was immediately shut down."

She went on: "Of course, we gave our customers who were on the flight hotel accommodation last night and they have been rebooked to fly today.

"We have also scheduled a larger aircraft to operate to Lyon to ensure we can get all our customers there as soon as possible. We can understand how frustrating the delay to their plans must be.

"The aircraft is being thoroughly checked over by engineers. The safety of our customers, crew and aircraft is of the utmost importance to British Airways."

Last year a BA Airbus A319 bound for Oslo was involved in a dramatic return to Heathrow after smoke was seen pouring from one of the engines.

Investigators later found that doors of the engines had been left unlatched during maintenance.

The coverings of the two engines - called fan cowl doors - then fell off as the aircraft left the runway, puncturing a fuel pipe on the right engine.

Dramatic film of the incident in May was captured, with the plane seen flying over London.


Q:

How to get rid of everything except letters in python?

I have a text file like this:
Sally ... went .. to the store !!# and bought an apple and a bagel..@@
Then she went home.

How do I remove all the extra things like "..." and ".." and "@" and get the words as items in a list?
I tried
filename.rstrip().split()

A:

Use a regular expression. In python, this is done with the re module.
[^a-zA-Z ] means characters that aren't letters (or space). You can use re.sub to replace all of them with whitespace:
import re

def remove_non_letters(string):
    return re.sub("[^a-zA-Z] ", " ", string).split()

EDIT:
Read in the text file with
with open('data.txt', 'r') as file:
    string = file.read()
    result = remove_non_letters(string)

result is the list you are looking for.


Abstract/Summary

Aluminium is not a physiological component of the breast but has been measured recently in human breast tissues and breast cyst fluids at levels above those found in blood serum or milk. Since the presence of aluminium can lead to iron dyshomeostasis, levels of aluminium and iron-binding proteins (ferritin, transferrin) were measured in nipple aspirate fluid (NAF), a fluid present in the breast duct tree and mirroring the breast microenvironment. NAFs were collected noninvasively from healthy women (NoCancer; n = 16) and breast cancer-affected women (Cancer; n = 19), and compared with levels in serum (n = 15) and milk (n = 45) from healthy subjects. The mean level of aluminium, measured by ICP-mass spectrometry, was significantly higher in Cancer NAF (268.4 ± 28.1 μg l−1; n = 19) than in NoCancer NAF (131.3 ± 9.6 μg l−1; n = 16; P < 0.0001). The mean level of ferritin, measured through immunoassay, was also found to be higher in Cancer NAF (280.0 ± 32.3 μg l−1) than in NoCancer NAF (55.5 ± 7.2 μg l−1), and furthermore, a positive correlation was found between levels of aluminium and ferritin in the Cancer NAF (correlation coefficient R = 0.94, P < 0.001). These results may suggest a role for raised levels of aluminium and modulation of proteins that regulate iron homeostasis as biomarkers for identification of women at higher risk of developing breast cancer. The reasons for the high levels of aluminium in NAF remain unknown but possibilities include either exposure to aluminium-based antiperspirant salts in the adjacent underarm area and/or preferential accumulation of aluminium by breast tissues.


This week I thought I would have a bit of fun and explore image manipulation using Core Image. This sounds like it could be pretty tough, but Apple has actually made this very easy. In this Recipe we’ll be creating a photo filter app that will let you choose a photo or take a photo using the camera and filter it.

Assumptions

You have a developer account and can run this app on hardware, This will be necessary if you want to capture an image using the camera

Setting Up the Project

Setting Up the Framework

Go ahead and start with a single view controller application using storyboards and title it “ImageFilterApp”.

For this App we’ll need to use the Core Image framework. To add a framework select the top level project from the project navigator on the left and scroll down in the main window to “Linked Frameworks and Libraries”. Here you can press the “+” button to add the new framework. When the dialogue opens choose the “CoreImage.framework” and press the “Add” button.


For nearly 150 years, Rider University has been serving the academic needs of adult students with innovation and distinction.

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Tuition for RN to BSN Program / St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing

St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing employees are offered a 30% discount from Rider’s standard part-time tuition rate for the 2016/2017 academic year.

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#pragma once

#include <Microsoft.Graphics.Canvas.native.h>
#include <d2d1_2.h>
#include <d2d1_3.h>
#include <dwrite_3.h>
#include "ColorTextAnalyzer.h"
#include "GlyphImageFormat.h"
#include "DWriteFontAxis.h"
#include <vector>

using namespace Microsoft::Graphics::Canvas;
using namespace Microsoft::Graphics::Canvas::Text;
using namespace Microsoft::WRL;
using namespace Windows::Foundation;
using namespace Windows::Foundation::Collections;
using namespace Platform;
using namespace CharacterMapCX;

namespace CharacterMapCX
{
	public ref class CanvasTextLayoutAnalysis sealed
	{
	public:
		inline CanvasTextLayoutAnalysis() { }

		property bool HasColorGlyphs
		{
			bool get() { return m_hasColorGlyphs; }
		}

		property bool ContainsBitmapGlyphs
		{
			bool get() { return m_containsBitmapGlyphs; }
		}

		property bool ContainsVectorColorGlyphs
		{
			bool get() { return m_containsVectorColorGlyphs; }
		}

		property bool IsFullVectorBased
		{
			bool get() { return !m_containsBitmapGlyphs; }
		}

		property bool IsMultiLayerColorGlyph
		{
			bool get() { return m_glyphLayerCount > 1; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// The number of glyphs that make up this rendered character. For
		/// COLR fonts this defines the number of glyphs composited together
		/// to create the color version of the glyph.
		/// </summary>
		property int GlyphLayerCount
		{
			int get() { return m_glyphLayerCount; }
		}

		property IVectorView<GlyphImageFormat>^ GlyphFormats
		{
			IVectorView<GlyphImageFormat>^ get() { return m_glyphFormats; }
		}

		property Array<Windows::UI::Color>^ Colors
		{
			Array<Windows::UI::Color>^ get() { return m_colors; }
		}

		property Array<IVectorView<uint16>^>^ Indicies
		{
			Array<IVectorView<uint16>^>^ get() { return m_indicies; }
		}

	internal:
		CanvasTextLayoutAnalysis(ComPtr<ColorTextAnalyzer> analyzer, ComPtr<IDWriteFontFaceReference> layout);

	private:
		bool m_hasColorGlyphs = false;
		bool m_containsBitmapGlyphs = false;
		bool m_containsVectorColorGlyphs = false;
		int m_glyphLayerCount = 1;

		IVectorView<GlyphImageFormat>^ m_glyphFormats;
		Array<Windows::UI::Color>^ m_colors;
		Array<IVectorView<uint16>^>^ m_indicies;
	};
}


    Develop web applications with 100% JavaScript and web standards. 🚀

**[RE:DOM](https://redom.js.org)** is a tiny **(2 KB) UI library** by [Juha Lindstedt](https://github.com/pakastin) and [contributors](https://github.com/redom/redom/graphs/contributors), which adds some useful helpers to create DOM elements and keeping them in sync with the data.

Because RE:DOM is so close to the metal and **doesn't use virtual dom**, it's actually **faster** and uses **less memory** than almost all virtual dom based libraries, including React ([benchmark](https://rawgit.com/krausest/js-framework-benchmark/master/webdriver-ts-results/table.html)).

It's also easy to create **reusable components** with RE:DOM.

Another great benefit is, that you can use just **pure JavaScript**, so no complicated templating languages to learn and hassle with.

## Supporting RE:DOM

RE:DOM is an MIT-licensed open source project with its ongoing development made possible entirely by the support of these awesome [backers](./BACKERS.md).

**If you'd like to join them, please consider:**

- [Become a backer or sponsor on Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/redom).

## Installation

```bash
# Using npm
npm install redom

# Using Yarn
yarn add redom
```

## Documentation

To check out [live examples](https://redom.js.org/#todomvc) and docs, visit [RE:DOM](https://redom.js.org/).

## Questions

For questions and support please use [community chat](https://gitter.im/pakastin/redom/).

## Tools

- [NO:DOM](https://github.com/redom/nodom) (server-side rendering)
- [Project generator](https://github.com/redom/redom-cli)
- [Dev tools for Chrome](https://github.com/redom/redom-devtools)
- [Babel RE:DOM JSX transform](https://github.com/tomerigal/babel-plugin-transform-redom-jsx)

## Performance

- [RE:DOM is one of the fastest UI libraries out there.](https://rawgit.com/krausest/js-framework-benchmark/master/webdriver-ts-results/table.html)

## Issues

Please make sure to read the [Issue Reporting Checklist](./.github/CONTRIBUTING.md#issue-reporting-guidelines) before opening an issue. Issues not conforming to the guidelines may be closed immediately.

## Changelog

Detailed changes for each release are documented in the [release notes](https://github.com/redom/redom/releases).

## Contribution

Please make sure to read the [Contributing Guide](./.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) before making a pull request.\
Thank you to all the people who already contributed to RE:DOM!

## License

[MIT](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Copyright (c) 2016-present, [Juha Lindstedt](https://github.com/pakastin) and contributors


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disposable umbrella and in particular to a disposable umbrella with chemical light.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional umbrellas require the mechanical assembly of many parts made of a wide variety of materials. Such multiplicity of parts and materials makes the umbrella expensive. A desired alternative is a disposable umbrella of simple design and inexpensive manufacture. U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,756 discloses a disposable umbrella with supporting struts joined by living hinges which when folded is contained with a protective tube. What is needed beyond the prior art is an even simpler design. A second need beyond the prior art is for an umbrella with an inexpensive means of illumination.


Q:

Objectify - ofy() in method defined outside of transaction

A basic transaction looks like this:
import static com.googlecode.objectify.ObjectifyService.ofy;
import com.googlecode.objectify.Work;

// If you don't need to return a value, you can use VoidWork
Thing th = ofy().transact(new Work<Thing>() {
    public Thing run() {
        Thing thing = ofy().load().key(thingKey).now();
        thing.modify();
        ofy().save().entity(thing);
    }
});

When ofy().load() and other ofy() methods called from within the transaction they have all the benefits of the transaction, such as being atomic. However, does using a Util method that contains a ofy() method escape the transaction? Something like the following.
// If you don't need to return a value, you can use VoidWork
Thing th = ofy().transact(new Work<Thing>() {
    public Thing run() {
        Util.modify(thingKey);
    }
});

Where Util is defined somewhere like so.
public class Util {

    public static modify(thingKey) {
        Thing thing = ofy().load().key(thingKey).now();
        thing.modify();
        ofy().save().entity(thing);
    }

}

A:

The two cases you describe are exactly equivalent.
If you wish to run something outside of the transaction then Objectify provides a .transactionless() method to "escape" the transactional context.


The sentencing of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the controversial leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, has raised questions about the functioning of deras in India.

A Dera is a social welfare and spiritual organisation with a leader at its head who commands the trust and devotion of their followers.

Singh, known by his moniker Ram Rahim, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for raping two female followers in 1999 at the sect's headquarters in the city of Sirsa in Haryana state.

Singh has led a flamboyant and opulent lifestyle. He has produced music albums and films that he has starred in.

Gory details of Singh sexual encounters with his followers, as well as the castration of hundreds, have come to light during his trial.

In recent years, many sect leaders, or babas as they are known in India, have come under scrutiny over allegations of sexual harassment and corruption.

At the same time, some deras have forged close ties to political parties. Under Singh, Dera Sacha Sauda has openly supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules at the federal level as well as in Haryana.

"I think where all these babas and deras go wrong is in getting enticed by the corrupting politician's allurements; or, in thinking that they can exploit the politician for their own use. No one - and, that means, no one - ever gets the better of the politician," wrote Harish Khare, editor-in-chief of the Tribune newspaper.

But not all deras are centres of corruption and exploitation.

There are about 10,000 deras with millions of followers in northern Punjab state alone. The majority of those who attend the deras come from the least privileged castes or classes, which make up one-third of the state's population.

Ronki Ram, a professor at Panjab University in Chandigarh, the capital of both Haryana and Punjab states, says people find equality at deras and do not face discrimination.

"In a society like India, which is hierarchical in terms of caste and religion, the people who belong to lower castes and class mostly go to deras. But some people from the upper or rich class and caste also go there. But the majority of people, nearly 80 percent, belong to the lower caste," Ram said.

"They also provide many services such as the free community kitchen or langar, subsidised items for the household. Deras also run schools and colleges providing good education at cheaper rates."

READ MORE: Who is Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh?

The proliferation of deras

According to Ram, deras were started by Sufis in the 11th century in what is now Pakistan.

"The word Dera comes from Persian; it means a place where a dervish lives," he said, explaining that the Punjab region, including Pakistani Punjab, has long been home to vibrant socio-religious movements.

"Punjab has remained a centre of the Indian bhakti [religious] movement," Ram said, referring to the precursors of contemporary religious orders. Even today, he added, "there are cities in Pakistan named as Dera Baba Ghazi Khan or Dera Ismail Khan".

In India, the proliferation of deras began after the advent of the Green Revolution in the early 1970s, which marked the introduction of high-yielding seeds and chemical fertilisers to boost crop production.

The agricultural boom was accompanied by the rising prosperity of the least privileged castes and Dalits, the former "untouchables", who continued to face discrimination from the more privileged caste groups belonging to both Hinduism and Sikhism.

Deras emerged as places that offered a sense of equality to these discriminated groups.

"Primarily after the advent of globalisation and the neoliberal economic regime [in the 1990s], the state withdrew from welfare activities. Education and hospitals have mostly been privatised," Ram said.

"The state is there only to look after law and order. So, in this situation, those who were already poor and did not have much resources, found this new system of [the] neoliberal economy a lot more difficult. This can be the one reason they go to dera," he said.

M Rajivlochan, writing in the New Delhi-based Indian Express newspaper, said: "Dignity, social support, medical help, and food security. These are precisely the things that the modern Indian state - at least in its Haryana/Punjab version - refuses to offer to the people."

He continued: "The deras here seem to go beyond providing people with mental succour and start providing those services that should have been given by the state."

Some people believe that babas, or gurus, will help them reach God and many hope their mannats, or wishes, will be fulfilled with the grace of the babas. For the followers, sect leaders carry psychological and spiritual solace.

But as deras grew rapidly in the past two decades, political parties started to make the rounds of these communities to gain electoral support.

Political science professor Jagroop Singh Sekhon, from Guru Nanak Dev University, has called deras the "ATMs of vote banks".

"Once babas become powerful they attracted [a] large number of people, who are not only followers, they are also voters, and that brought politicians to babas," Ram said.


Council OKs decals 3-2

Public divided on decision to place ‘In God We Trust’ on police vehicles

Rebecca Neipp

News Review Staff Writer

After more than an hour of discussion, much of which expressed opposition, the Ridgecrest City Council voted 3-2 at its Wednesday night meeting to place decals bearing the phrase “In God We Trust” on Ridgecrest Police Department vehicles.

The item originally appeared on a June council agenda, but was pulled from discussion. A heated discussion still followed, drawing mixed support from the public. Opponents’ primary objections hinged on the lack of inclusivity and potential violation of the separation of church and state.

“Since I am the main sponsor, I would like to start,” said Vice Mayor Wallace Martin. In introducing the item, he held up a sticker bearing the American flag with the phrase printed beneath. He noted that decals will be funded by donations, not government money.

He said the phrase has been included in historically significant songs and anthems, as well as minted on official currency.

Bakersfield recently adopted the decals, he noted, as have several other Kern County communities. However, it was noted later in the meeting that Tehachapi recently voted down a similar action, 3-2, on the same objections that arose locally.

However, Martin said, the phrase does not pertain to a single religion, ideology or party.

RPD Chief Jed McLaughlin was invited up to the dais to address the issue.

“One thing I can assure you is that this will in no way affect how we serve the community,” he said. “We will treat our residents the same way we always do — with respect. This will not change the way we respond to our citizens or those who visit our great city.”

Martin invited religious and civic leaders of other communities that adopted the motto-bearing decals to express their support for the initiative, as well.

During the public comment period that followed, residents spoke mostly in opposition to the proposal.

Sarah Wersan said that although she is a person of faith, worshiping at Temple Beth Torah, she does not believe the phrase represents her religion. She added that she believes there is a movement afoot to make America a Christian nation, and that violates the religious freedoms upon which our country was founded.

Bob McDiarmid said that if the council feels compelled to adopt a motto for its police force, he’d suggest something more inclusive and applicable to the mission of the PD.

Gary Burgner expressed appreciation of McLaughlin’s assurance that RPD policies and attitudes would not change. “Jed has been, for many years, one of my favorite heroes,” adding that he believes Ridgecrest lucky to have such competent leadership.

However, Burgner took issue with Martin’s statistics showing that some 90 percent of Americans believe in a higher power. Burgner said he believes that the action was part of a disturbing trend in government that officials have to endorse a majority opinion in order to earn public trust.

“Stop trying to come down on the side of the majority. You probably don’t have the firm ground you think you have.”

“If its not going to change anything, than why do it?” asked David Burdick.

Mary Ann Arnold noted that we live in divisive times. “This is a little thing where I feel like we are going down the wrong path.” She said that patriotism should not be connected to a belief in God. She suggested that patriotism would not be enhanced by the addition of the decal.

Renee Westa-Lusk said that although she is a Christian, she still upholds the principle behind separation of church and state. She added that in the past, similar actions have caused conflict for first-responders entering volatile environments.

“I would like to express my support of the proposed decal,” said Ron Merrill. He said that it’s a reminder that the freedoms we enjoy are granted by God and that this belief is rooted in the founding of our nation.

“The word God is all-encompassing,” said Carol Wilson. “I think it’s a good thing to have on police cars. It gives people comfort to know that our police are trusting in God.”

“Please don’t do this,” said Scott Garver. He asked that his patriotism and service to country — which included two tours to the Middle East — not be confused with Martin’s proselytizing and disingenuous pitch for religion. “We all know what this is about here.”

Garver noted that the previous discussion about the casino, although necessary, was brutally divisive in the community. The present conversation is contentious, but also unrelated to the council’s role of governance, he said.

“This is a self-inflicted wound … this is not an appropriate use of the city’s time.”

Loren Culp said he was “very much in favor” of the action. “We’re going too far away from Our Lord.”

Mike Neel said that even a rudimentary scan of history reveals that Christian values are a foundation of our country. “In God We Trust” is printed on our currency, and the council presently opens its proceedings with a prayer.

Margaret Martin supported the action, and said the small line of people in opposition “do not speak for all of Ridgecrest.”

Councilman Mike Mower asked McLaughlin if the department supports the action. He responded that his officers have not expressed an opinion one way or the other.

Mayor Pro Tem Lindsey Stephens said that the First Amendment doesn’t say anything about the separation of church and state.

She added that the Founding Fathers did not intend for that separation to prevent them from acknowledging a divine influence.

She read a series of quotes from early architects of the Constitution that directly reference a higher power.

“You can clearly see they never intended that they didn’t want religion involved in government,” she said. “I agree with Loren Culp. Our country is moving too far away from our original roots ... it’s part of our heritage, it’s part of our country, we are proud to put it on our police cars.”

Mayor Peggy Breeden said she was conflicted. Although she expressed her Christian faith, she said it was not the council’s job to dictate belief.

“As someone said, it’s a self-inflicted wound.”

Martin made a motion for adoption, and Stephens seconded it. Ultimately it passed with Breeden and Mower dissenting.

Additional items of discussion will be published in next week’s edition of the News Review.

Pictured: Vice Mayor Martin holds up the decal that will be added to RPD vehicles. — Photo by Laura Austin

Story First Published: 2019-09-20


The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas, is a revolutionary leftist political and militant group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.

Since 1994, the group has been in a declared war "against the Mexican state", although this war has been primarily defensive, against military, paramilitary and corporate incursions into Chiapas.[citation needed] In recent years, it has focused on a strategy of civil resistance. The Zapatistas' physical base is made up of mostly rural indigenous people but includes some supporters in urban areas and internationally. Their main spokesperson is Subcomandante Marcos (a.k.a. Compañero Galeano and Delegate Zero in relation to "the Other Campaign"). Unlike other Zapatista spokespeople, Marcos is not an indigenous Maya.[1]

Since their 1994 uprising was countered by the Mexican army, the EZLN has abstained from military offensives and adopted a new strategy that attempts to garner Mexican and international support. Through an Internet campaign, the EZLN was successful in disseminating an understanding of their plight and intentions to the public. With this change in tactics, the EZLN has received greater support from a variety of NGOs. The Zapatistas have achieved documented improvements in Chiapas in the areas of gender equality and public health, although they remain unable to establish political autonomy for the province.[6]

We don’t want to impose our solutions by force, we want to create a democratic space. We don’t see armed struggle in the classic sense of previous guerrilla wars, that is as the only way and the only all-powerful truth around which everything is organized. In a war, the decisive thing is not the military confrontation but the politics at stake in the confrontation. We didn't go to war to kill or be killed. We went to war in order to be heard.

The Zapatista Army went public on January 1, 1994, the day when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect. On that day, they issued their First Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle and their Revolutionary Laws. The declaration amounted to a declaration of war on the Mexican government, which they considered so out of touch with the will of the people as to make it illegitimate. The EZLN stressed that it opted for armed struggle due to the lack of results achieved through peaceful means of protest (such as sit-ins and marches).[8]

Their initial goal was to instigate a revolution throughout Mexico, but as this did not happen, they used their uprising as a platform to call the world's attention to their movement to protest the signing of NAFTA, which the EZLN believed would increase the gap between rich and poor people in Chiapas—a prediction that has been vindicated by subsequent developments.[9] The EZLN also called for greater democratization of the Mexican government, which had been controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for 65 years, and for land reform mandated by the 1917 Constitution of Mexico but largely ignored by the PRI.[10] The EZLN did not demand independence from Mexico, but rather autonomy, and (among other things) that the natural resources extracted from Chiapas benefit more directly the people of Chiapas.

On the morning of January 1, 1994, an estimated 3,000 armed Zapatista insurgents seized towns and cities in Chiapas, including Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, Huixtán, Oxchuc, Rancho Nuevo, Altamirano, and Chanal. They freed the prisoners in the jail of San Cristóbal de las Casas and set fire to several police buildings and military barracks in the area. The guerrillas enjoyed brief success, but the next day Mexican army forces counterattacked, and fierce fighting broke out in and around the market of Ocosingo. The Zapatista forces took heavy casualties and retreated from the city into the surrounding jungle.

Armed clashes in Chiapas ended on January 12, with a ceasefire brokered by the Catholic diocese in San Cristóbal de las Casas under Bishop Samuel Ruiz, a well known liberation theologian who took up the cause of the indigenous of Chiapas. The Zapatistas retained some of the land for a little over a year, but in February 1995 the Mexican army overran that territory in a surprise breach of ceasefire. Following this offensive, the Zapatista villages were mostly abandoned and the rebels fled to the mountains after breaking out of the Mexican army perimeter.

The extraordinarily complex and rich history of political discussion and organizing in Chiapas from the 1970s to the 1990s produced something genuinely original, a new leftist language and vision. This includes negotiation about what it means to be Indian within a larger Mexican nation. It includes discussion about new forms of democracy and an inventiveness regarding civil society—exemplified by the convention in the jungle; by the Zapatistas’ national consulta, in which they asked people around the nation to comment and vote; by Marcos’s communiqués; and by the accords on Indian autonomy hammered out with government negotiators in 1996. The new leftist vision also includes a communication and public debate deeply rooted in popular cultural idioms—indeed, in the language of rock and roll and its progeny.

Army camps set up along all major thoroughfares failed to capture the guerrilla movement's commanders. Instead, the Mexican government pursued a policy of negotiation, while the Zapatistas developed a mobilization and media campaign through numerous newspaper communiqués. After the First Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle, subsequent declarations have focused on non-violent solutions, both through political channels and through the assumption of many of the functions of government in the state of Chiapas. After the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, the Zapatistas have not engaged in further military actions. Other groups in Chiapas, such as the pacifistLas Abejas, support many of the goals of the Zapatista Revolution without condoning the use of violence to achieve those goals. A strong international Internet presence prompted numerous international left-wing groups to support the Zapatista movement.

With the coming to power of the new government of President Vicente Fox (the first non-PRI president of Mexico in over 70 years) in 2001, the Zapatistas marched on Mexico City to present their case to the Mexican Congress. Although Fox had stated earlier that he could end the conflict "in fifteen minutes,"[12] the EZLN rejected watered-down agreements and created 32 "autonomous municipalities" in Chiapas, thus partially implementing their demands without government support but with some funding from international organizations.

Subcomandante Marcos in 1996

On June 28, 2005, the Zapatistas presented the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle[13] declaring their principles and vision for Mexico and the world. This declaration reiterates the support for the indigenous peoples, who make up roughly one-third of the population of Chiapas, and extends the cause to include "all the exploited and dispossessed of Mexico". It also expresses the movement's sympathy to the international alter-globalization movement and offers to provide material aid to those in Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and elsewhere, with whom they make common cause. The declaration ends with an exhortation for all who have more respect for humanity than for money to join with the Zapatistas in the struggle for social justice both in Mexico and abroad. The declaration calls for an alternative national campaign (the "Other Campaign") as an alternative to the presidential campaign. In preparation for this campaign, the Zapatistas invited to their territory over 600 national leftist organizations, indigenous groups, and non-governmental organizations in order to listen to their claims for human rights in a series of biweekly meetings that culminated in a plenary meeting on September 16, the day Mexico celebrates its independence from Spain. In this meeting, Subcomandante Marcos requested official adherence of the organizations to the Sixth Declaration, and detailed a six-month tour of the Zapatistas through all 31 Mexican states to occur concurrently with the electoral campaign starting January 2006.

Federal Highway 307, Chiapas. The top sign reads, in Spanish, "You are in Zapatista rebel territory. Here the people command and the government obeys." Bottom sign: "North Zone. Council of Good Government. Trafficking in weapons, planting of drugs, drug use, alcoholic beverages, and illegal selling of wood are strictly prohibited. No to the destruction of nature."

The ideology of the Zapatista movement, Zapatismo, synthesizes traditional Mayan practices with elements of libertarian socialism, anarchism,[14][15] and Marxism.[16] The historical influence of Mexican Anarchists and various Latin American socialists is apparent in Zapatismo. The positions of Subcomandante Marcos add a Marxist[17] element to the movement. A Zapatista slogan is in harmony with the concept of mutual aid: "For everyone, everything. For us, nothing" (Para todos todo, para nosotros nada).

The EZLN opposes economic globalization, arguing that it severely and negatively affects the peasant life of its indigenous support base and oppressed people worldwide. The signing of NAFTA also resulted in the removal of Article 27, Section VII, from the Mexican Constitution, which had guaranteed land reparations to indigenous groups throughout Mexico.

Another key element of the Zapatistas' ideology is their aspiration to do politics in a new, participatory way, from the "bottom up" instead of "top down". The Zapatistas consider the contemporary political system of Mexico inherently flawed due to what they consider its purely representative nature and its disconnection from the people and their needs. In contrast, the EZLN claims to reinforce the idea of participatory democracy or radical democracy by limiting public servants' terms to only two weeks, not using visible organization leaders, and constantly referring to the people they are governing for major decisions, strategies, and conceptual visions. Marcos has reiterated, "my real commander is the people". In accordance with this principle, the Zapatistas are not a political party: they do not seek office throughout the state, because that would perpetuate the political system by attempting to gain power within its ranks. Instead, they wish to reconceptualize the entire system.

In an unusual move for any revolutionary organization, documents released by the EZLN[18] (in Spanish) before the initial uprising in 1994 explicitly defined a right of the people to resist any unjust actions of the EZLN. They also defined a right of the people to:

demand that the revolutionary armed forces not intervene in matters of civil order or the disposition of capital relating to agriculture, commerce, finances, and industry, as these are the exclusive domain of the civil authorities, elected freely and democratically.

It added that the people should "acquire and possess arms to defend their persons, families and property, according to the laws of disposition of capital of farms, commerce, finance and industry, against the armed attacks committed by the revolutionary forces or those of the government."

From the First Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle, the Zapatistas presented to the people of Mexico, the government, and the world their Revolutionary Laws on January 1, 1994. One of the laws was the Women's Revolutionary Law,[19] which states:

Women, regardless of their race, creed, color or political affiliation, have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in any way that their desire and capacity determine.

Women have the right to work and receive a fair salary.

Women have the right to decide the number of children they have and care for.

Women have the right to participate in the matters of the community and hold office if they are free and democratically elected.

Women and their children have the right to Primary Attention in their health and nutrition.

Women have the right to an education.

Women have the right to choose their partner and are not obliged to enter into marriage.

Women have the right to be free of violence from both relatives and strangers.

The Zapatistas' response to the introduction of NAFTA in 1994 reflects the shift in perception taking place in societies that have experienced colonialism.[20] The theory of postcolonial gaze studies the cultural and political impacts of colonization on formerly colonized societies and how these societies overcome centuries of discrimination and marginalization by colonialists and their descendents.[21] In Mexico, the theory of the postcolonial gaze is being fostered predominantly in areas of large indigenous populations and marginalization, like Chiapas. Over the last 20 years, Chiapas has emerged as a formidable force against the Mexican government, fighting against structural violence and social and economic marginalization brought on by globalization.[22] The Zapatista rebellion not only raised many questions about the consequences of globalization and free trade; it also questioned the long-standing ideas created by the Spanish colonial system. Postcolonialism is the antithesis of imperialism because it attempts to explain how the prejudices and restrictions created by colonialism are being overcome.[21] This is especially obvious in countries that have large social and economic inequalities, where colonial ideas are deeply entrenched in the minds of the colonials' descendents.

An early example of the Zapatistas' effective use of the postcolonial gaze was their use of organizations like the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to raise of awareness for their rebellion and indigenous rights, the Mexican government's lack of respect for the country's impoverished and marginalized populations.[23] Appealing to the ECOSOC and other traditionally Western-influenced non-governmental bodies allowed the Zapatistas to establish a sense of autonomy by using the postcolonial gaze to redefine their identities both as indigenous people and as citizens of Mexico.[24]

Since December 1994, the Zapatistas had been gradually forming several autonomous municipalities, called Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ). In these municipalities, an assembly of local representatives forms the Juntas de Buen Gobierno or Councils of Good Government (JBGs). These are not recognized by the federal or state governments; they oversee local community programs on food, health, education, and taxation. The EZLN political formations have occurred in two phases generally called Aguascalientes and Caracoles.

After the cessation of fighting in mid-1994, the EZLN called for a Democratic National Convention. As part of the call, they began the practice of setting up cultural spaces for exchanges and meetings between the EZLN and Zapatistas, on the one hand, and political and cultural sectors of civil society in Mexico and the international community, on the other. These spaces were called Aguascalientes, in memory of the city of Aguascalientes that had harbored the Supreme Revolutionary Convention of Aguascalientes that brought together, among others, the most progressive forces of the Mexican revolution (such as the Magonistas, the Villa, and the Zapatistas). This new "Aguascalientes" was created in the Lacandon Jungle, near the community of Guadalupe Tepeyac Tojolabal, in the municipality of Las Margaritas, from August 6 to August 9, 1994.

At the end of 1995, the EZLN again proposed to build new Aguascalientes, as a symbol of resistance and rebellion. In 1996, the Aguascalientes I (Reality), Aguascalientes II (Oventic), Aguascalientes III (La Garrucha), Aguascalientes IV (Morelia), and Aguascalientes V (Roberto Barrios) became headquarters of the political and cultural initiatives of the Zapatistas in the form of the National Indigenous Forum, National Civil Committees Meeting for National Dialogue, Special Forum for State Reform, First American against Neoliberalism and for Humanity, and First Intergalactic. These cultural centers, which had auditoriums, health clinics, toilets, baths, libraries, stairs, and bedrooms were always surrounded by army camps and federal databases.

In January 1996, the "governor" insurgent Chiapas, Amado Avendaño Figueroa, inaugurated another Aguascalientes in Tijuana, Baja California. In the heart of University City, built by students who had participated in the 1999–2000 strike at UNAM, would the Water Mirror Aguascalientes, where the Zapatistas sent a message to young people and students in the country under The March of the Color of the Earth. The same happened in Xochimilco, where a group of indigenous organizations founded another Aguascalientes.

More ephemeral and symbolic was the Aguascalientes in Cuernavaca, Genaro, opened by one of the delegates who visited Zapatista lands Morelos in March 1999 in connection with that year's consultation, and Aguascalientes El Angel in Mexico City. Both spaces worked as statements about the Lacandon Jungle and the San Andrés Accords, and voting, then disappeared.

Caracoles and the Councils of Good Government (JBG) of the Zapatistas were formed in summer 2003. A feast was held to mark the founding from 8 to 10 August 2003, in Aguascalientes Oventic. This was a the culmination of a series of changes in the EZLN and the 27 Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ). The changes came after a long analysis of MAREZ and Aguascalientes, the problems they had faced, and their relationship to Mexican and international civil society. The new organizations were meant to represent a major advance in the autonomy of communities and indigenous peoples of Mexico.[13] The EZLN declared that the Councils of Good Government also marked a transition where the EZLN military would no longer give orders in civil matters in the autonomous communities. The Caracoles is an attempt to unilaterally implement San Andres expression and culture and rights of Indigenous people in Mexico.

Carcoles replaced the old Aguascalientes, respecting to a greater or lesser extent areas comprising (about four, and up to eight, municipalities each). The Good Government Councils were arranged and persist in what is called the center of Caracol, where there are also offices of governance monitoring, reporting, in some clinical cases, in cases secondary regions, etc.

From the beginning, the EZLN has made communication with the rest of Mexico and the world a high priority. The EZLN has used technology, including cellular phones and the Internet, to generate international solidarity with sympathetic people and organizations. Rap-rock band Rage Against the Machine is well known for its support of the EZLN, using the red star symbol as a backdrop to their live shows and often informing concert crowds of the ongoing situation. As a result, on trips abroad, the president of Mexico is routinely confronted by small activist groups about "the Chiapas situation". The Zapatistas are featured prominently in Rage Against the Machine's songs, in particular "People of the Sun", "Wind Below", "Zapata's Blood", and "War Within a Breath".[25]

Before 2001, Marcos' writings were often published in some Mexican and a few international newspapers. Then Marcos fell silent, and his relationship with the media declined. When he resumed writing in 2002, he assumed a more aggressive tone, and his attacks on former allies angered some of the EZLN's supporters. Except for these letters and occasional critical communiqués about the political climate, the EZLN was largely silent until August 2003, when Radio Insurgente was launched from an unknown location.

In mid-2004, COCOPA head Luis H. Álvarez stated that Marcos had not been seen in Chiapas for some time. The EZLN received little press coverage during this time, although it continued to develop the local governments it had created earlier. In August, Marcos sent eight brief communiqués to the Mexican press, published from August 20 through 28. The series was entitled Reading a Video (possibly mocking political video scandals that occurred earlier that year). It began and ended as a kind of written description of an imaginary low-budget Zapatista video, with the rest being Marcos' comments on political events of the year and the EZLN's current stance and development.

In 2005, Marcos made headlines again by comparing the then presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Carlos Salinas de Gortari (as part of a broad criticism of the three main political parties in Mexico, the PAN, PRI, and PRD), and publicly declaring the EZLN in "Red Alert". Shortly thereafter, communiqués announced that the EZLN had undergone a restructuring that enabled them to withstand the loss of their public leadership (Marcos and the CCRI). After consulting with their support base, the Zapatistas issued the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle.

Since the Zapatistas' first uprising, the newspaper La Jornada has continuously covered them. Most communiqués and many of Marcos's letters are delivered to and only published by La Jornada, and the online edition of the newspaper has a section dedicated to The Other Campaign.

The independent media organization Indymedia also covers and prints Zapatista developments and communications.

On June 28, 2005, the EZLN released an installment of what it called the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle. According to the communiqué, the EZLN had reflected on its history and decided that it must change in order to continue its struggle. Accordingly, the EZLN had decided to unite with the "workers, farmers, students, teachers, and employees ... the workers of the city and the countryside." They proposed to do so through a non-electoral front to talk and collectively write a new constitution to establish a new political culture.

On January 1, 2006, the EZLN began a massive tour, "The Other Campaign", encompassing all 31 Mexican states in the buildup to that year's presidential election, which the EZLN made clear they would not participate in directly.

On May 3–4, 2006, a series of demonstrations protested the forcible removal of irregular flower vendors from a lot in Texcoco for the construction of a Walmart branch. The protests turned violent when state police and the Federal Preventive Police bussed in some 5,000 agents to San Salvador Atenco and the surrounding communities. A local organization called the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), which adheres to the Sixth Declaration, called in support from other regional and national adherent organizations. "Delegate Zero" and his "Other Campaign" were at the time in nearby Mexico City, having just organized May Day events there, and quickly arrived at the scene. The following days were marked by violence, with some 216 arrests, over 30 rape and sexual abuse accusations against the police, five deportations, and one casualty, a 14-year-old boy named Javier Cortes shot by a policeman. A 20-year-old UNAM economics student, Alexis Benhumea, died on the morning of June 7, 2006, after being in a coma caused by a blow to the head from a tear-gas grenade launched by police.[26] Most of the resistance organizing was done by the EZLN and Sixth Declaration adherents, and Delegate Zero stated that the "Other Campaign" tour would be temporarily halted until all prisoners were released.

In late 2006 and early 2007, the Zapatistas (through Subcomandante Marcos), along with other indigenous peoples of the Americas, announced the Intercontinental Indigenous Encounter. They invited indigenous people from throughout the Americas and the rest of the world to gather on October 11–14, 2007, near Guaymas, Sonora. The declaration for the conference designated this date because of "515 years since the invasion of ancient Indigenous territories and the onslaught of the war of conquest, spoils and capitalist exploitation". Comandante David said in an interview, "The object of this meeting is to meet one another and to come to know one another’s pains and sufferings. It is to share our experiences, because each tribe is different."[27]

The Third Encuentro of the Zapatistas People with the People of the World was held from December 28, 2007, through January 1, 2008.[28]

In mid-January 2009, Marcos made a speech on behalf of the Zapatistas in which he supported the resistance of the Palestinians as "the Israeli government's heavily trained and armed military continues its march of death and destruction." He described the actions of the Israeli government as a "classic military war of conquest". He said, "The Palestinian people will also resist and survive and continue struggling and will continue to have sympathy from below for their cause."[29]

On August 8, 2013, the Zapatistas invited the world to a three-day fiesta to celebrate ten years of Zapatista autonomy, in the five caracoles in Chiapas. 1,500 activists from all over the world will join the event, named the Little School of Liberty according to the Zapatistas.[30][31]

Recently, the Zapatistas have been steadfast in resisting the violence of neoliberalism by practicing horizontal autonomy and mutual aid. Zapatista communities continue to build and maintain their own anti-systemic health, education, and sustainable agro-ecological systems, promote equitable gender relations via Women's Revolutionary Law, and build international solidarity through humble outreach and non-imposing political communication. In addition to their focus on building 'a world where many worlds fit', the Zapatistas continue to resist neocolonial state-sanctioned low-intensity warfare. The Zapatista struggle re-gained international attention in May 2014 with the death of teacher and education promoter Galeano who was murdered in an attack on a Zapatista school and health clinic led by 15 local paramilitaries.[32] In the weeks that followed, thousands of Zapatistas and national and international sympathizers, mobilized and gathered to honor Galeano. This event also saw the famed and enigmatic unofficial spokesperson of the Zapatistas, Subcomandante Marcos, entomb himself, which symbolized a shift in the EZLN to completely Indigenous leadership. It was also a welcoming re-emphasis to the international community to focus on organizing collectively, and through listening, which are key principles and practices of the Zapatistas.

The Zapatista idea is the use of tactical media to draw public attention to a political cause. Used as a form of political activism, the Zapatista idea is the notion that "the important thing is the spectacle that you make out of an event in the media, as opposed to the event itself".[33] The concept derives from the Zapatistas' ability through new media to communicate and generate universal solidarity in Mexico and worldwide. An example of the use of new media technology is through the Chiapas Media Project.

The "communications revolution has generally shifted the 'balance of power' from the media to the audience".[34] This has allowed the Zapatista idea to flourish, opening up new channels and providing a powerful forum for political participation by citizens (see e-democracy) on an unprecedented scale. "Digital, networked media allow for faster, diverse, two-way communications between users who have both more control and more choice"[35] as they become simultaneously users, producers, and agents of social change.


Q:

PERFORM THRU VARYING : exact behavior?

I am trying to understand the behavior of a COBOL program and I am stumbling upon the following lines:
PERFORM  525-NUMERIC    THRU  525-EXIT
    VARYING K FROM 1  BY 1   UNTIL  K > CAR-L.

I understand the global concept that it is some kind of loop based on the value of K, but I fail to understand the impact of the THRU  525-EXIT words?

A:

A PERFORM can execute a range of paragraphs or SECTIONS serially. This is done by using THRU/THROUGH to name the last paragraph/SECTION of the series, the PERFORM having already named the starting point.
A simple PERFORM of a paragraph:
       PERFORM                      10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES

This establishes a "range" for the PERFORM starting with 10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES and ending with the last statement of that paragraph.
A PERFORM of multiple paragraphs, one after the other:
       PERFORM                      10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES
         THRU                       10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES-EXIT

This establishes a wider range for the PERFORM, starting from 10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES and ending with the last statement of 10-OPEN-INPUT-FILES-EXIT.
This isn't really a good or useful thing, but it gets used a lot in a specific way, and that is perhaps what you have. This is to have an "exit paragraph" associated with each paragraph that is PERFORMed. One original paragraph, followed by one unique exit-paragraph associated (by the second paragraph's position, nothing else) with that original paragraph.
This is never necessary, programs work fine without them. However, since there is an "exit-paragraph" of course there is now a label which can be the target of a GO TO. Code something stupid, or come across something already coded that way, and just jam a GO TO in to get you (but perhaps not the next person) out of trouble. This is not a good thing to do, although it will often be seen as "expedient". And the next time in the same code the expedient route will be taken, and the next time, and then something which should always have been simple has become... complex.
Stunningly (my opinion, for many this is normal practice), more than a few sites have it in their local standards that an exit-paragraph must be included for each PERFORMed paragraph and PERFORM ...  THRU ... must be coded.
As well as asking for trouble by inviting the use of GO TO, another problem is that the physical location of the code is now relevant. If you put a new paragraph before the exit-paragraph, then it becomes part of the PERFORM range, whether intended or not. Some people intend, even going so far as to code several paragraphs to be within the range of a PERFORM, with the ever-handy GO TO as their "get out of mess" tool.
A further problem is that when you encounter the PERFORM ... with THRU ... you don't know how many paragraphs (or SECTIONS) are included in the PERFORM without looking at the paragraphs (or SECTIONS) themselves.
You can also PERFORM a SECTION. This is a procedure label followed by the word SECTION and terminated by a full-stop/period.
A SECTION can contain paragraphs. When you PERFORM a SECTION, all paragraphs in the SECTION are within the PERFORM range, until the last statement of the SECTION. It is like a PERFORM ... THRU ... without the THRU ... bit. It has the same problems as the PERFORM ... THRU ... plus the additional one that if unique paragraphs are used as the target of a GO TO, great care must be taken if a SECTION is copied to make a new one. It is perfectly legal to GO TO out of a SECTION (or paragraph) but this would usually be unintended and can cause chaos, as program control wanders of somewhere else. If using a GO TO to an exit-paragraph in a SECTION, the best thing to do is to use identical names for the exit-paragraph. Any GO TO within a SECTION will be automatically "qualified" by the compiler to the paragraph within that SECTION (if there are non-unique paragraph-names referenced in a SECTION, but no paragraph of that name in the SECTION itself, the compiler will spot the error).
With your code, locate the paragraph being PERFORMed, and search sequentially for the paragraph named on the THRU. It is probably just a dumb exit (a paragraph with just an EXIT statement and a full-stop/period). There may be other paragraphs in between those two, if you are very unlucky. Any such paragraphs are included within the range of the PERFOR, without being explicit on the PERFORM statement. The
It is worth noting that the EXIT statement itself does nothing. It is a "No Operation" or NOP (or NOOP). At the end of a paragraph which is PERFORMed a number of instructions will be generated to do the exit-processing, this is automatic and does not (and never has) relied on the presence of an EXIT statement.
It used to be the case, prior to the 1985 Standard, that EXIT had to be coded in a paragraph on its own. This is no longer the case. You can fill a paragraph with EXIT statements (say 20) and then finish the paragraph with a DISPLAY. PERFORM the paragraph, and you will see the DISPLAY output.
A paragraph which is PERFORMed without a THRU should not contain a GO TO. It is not a compile-error if it does contain a GO TO. It is an accident waiting to happen.
People who feel the need to use GO TO have to use PERFORM ... THRU ... or to use a PERFORM of a SECTION. Unfortunately, even if the original coder does not use GO TO, the use of PERFORM ... THRU ... or PERFORM of a SECTION does make it easy for someone in the future to use GO TO. If there is somewhere for a GO TO to go to, then it is more likely that a GO TO will appear at some point. If there is no existing target for a GO TO, then the next coder will be put off from using GO TO by having to make additional changes.
In the current Standard, from 2014, there are some new versions of EXIT. (The EXIT PROGRAM version of EXIT has been around a long time already, although these days the IBM-inspired GOBACK is more likely to be used to return to the CALLing program).
The new possibilities include EXIT PARAGRAPH and EXIT SECTION. Check the documentation for your compiler to see what variants of EXIT are available. All the variants of EXIT generate executable code, it is just the plain EXIT which does not.
If your compiler does allow EXIT PARAGRAPH and EXIT SECTION, it means you no longer need to have a label to allow use of a (now "secret") GO TO, it just won't be called GO TO, it'll be called EXIT somevariant. Just remember that all those (except EXIT PROGRAM) are GO TOs in disguise, and that code can always be rearranged (and often simplified) to obviate the need for GO TO.
It does require experience to structure for no-GO TO code, so don't be too concerned with it for now. If your site uses GO TO (implied by the use of THRU) then it will be very important that you understand the ramifications of the use of GO TO because existing code will use it.
Then start in a small way to avoid GO TO yourself, increasing the scope of your efforts as you become familiar with techniques to do so. Remember, the aim is to simplify the code, or at least not make it worse, not just to not code GO TO by rote. If you make your code complicated simply to avoid a GO TO, then use GO TO until you know how to do it better.
Many, many, good and experienced COBOL programmers write understandable programs using GO TO. Unfortunately the majority of programmers are not "good and experienced" so are happy to short-circuit something with GO TO and move on.
The VARYING on a PERFORM is a means to repeat the execution, with a starting point, an increment and termination condition. This is the same whether or not THRU is coded.

An example of what can happen with an errant GO TO going outside the range of a PERFORM can be found here: https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/20889/16411. That is coded with SECTIONs but it could equally be done with PERFORM ... TRHU ...

Very good to read this in conjunction with Bruce Martin's answer.

A:

Following on on from Bill's answer, I will try and add a more visual answer.
         Perform Proc-A thru Proc-D.
         ...

     Proc-A.
        ....

     Proc-B.
        ....

     Proc-C.
        ....

     Proc-D.
        ....

In the above, the Perform Proc-A thru Proc-D executes procedure's Proc-A, Proc-B, Proc-C and Proc-D. It is a shorthand for
     Perform Proc-A
     Perform Proc-B
     Perform Proc-C
     Perform Proc-D

The Perform Thru syntax has several problems:

It is not always clear what is being executed.
 Perform B100-Load-From-DB thru B500-Save-To-Db

I think the following tells you more
 Perform B100-Load-From-DB
 Perform B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases
 Perform B300-Adjust-Stock-for-Sales
 Perform B400-Calculate-Markdowns
 Perform B500-Save-To-Db

It makes it easy to introduce problems i.e. if you add a procedure in the wrong position, you will be introducing code without realizing it
 Proc-B.
    ....

 Proc-in-wrong-position.
    ....

 Proc-C.
    ....

An error like the above is easy to make but hard to spot
It is one of those Cobol features that Seemed like a good idea at the time it was introduced; but should be avoided !!!

A:

Expounding on both Bill's and Bruce's excellent answers.
Starting with code from Bruce's example.
    Perform B100-Load-From-DB thru B500-Save-To-Db
...
B100-Load-From-DB
...
B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases
...
B300-Adjust-Stock-for-Sales
...
Some-Danged-Ol-Thing
...
B400-Calculate-Markdowns
...
B500-Save-To-Db

This still seems reasonably simple enough.  Code in each paragraph will be processed in top down order: B100-Load-From-DB, B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases, B300-Adjust-Stock-for-Sales, Some-Danged-Ol-Thing, B400-Calculate-Markdowns, B500-Save-To-Db
As Bill indicated, the addition of GO TO statements to a PERFORM ... THRU block introduces the author of said code to a special quadrant in the Ninth Circle of Hell.
    Perform B100-Load-From-DB thru B500-Save-To-Db
...
B100-Load-From-DB
...
    GO TO B400-Calculate-Markdowns
...
B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases
...
B300-Adjust-Stock-for-Sales
...
    GO TO B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases
...
Some-Danged-Ol-Thing
...
B400-Calculate-Markdowns
...
B500-Save-To-Db

The Hell is exacerbated by yet more "clever thinking" when someone decides to run a portion of the PERFORM ... THRU block.
    Perform B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases thru B300-Adjust-Stock-for-Sales
...
    Perform B100-Load-From-DB thru B200-Adjust-Stock-for-Purchases
...
    Perform B100-Load-From-DB thru Some-Danged-Ol-Thing

There are numerous opportunities to fall through the Looking Glass and continue on into several Alternate Realities.  I'm not just pontificating about theoretical possibilities.  I'm talking actual experiences in code I've had over the years.
Whilst I was growing up, er I mean learning to code in COBOL, I was all but threatened with being beaten by a large man with a rattan stick if I stepped outta line.  As such, I know how to walk on the edge of the precipice and use PERFORM ... THRU with GO TO interspersed throughout and not fall off the edge of the world.  However, it makes for very dangerous code that can kill, so more importantly I know how to de-fang code like this and turn it into something civilized.