Times and places of Radio Rebelde Zapatista: The Ritualities of Social Uses

Abstract

This article analyzes the ritualities of Radio Rebelde in the autonomous communities of the Mexican Zapatista insurgent movement, located in Oventic, in the State of Chiapas. To do that, the times and spaces of the station’s formats and listeners are investigated, realizing the relationship proposed by Jesús Martín-Barbero. It is possible to notice a rupture between temporal organization and commercial radio, since the station does not have defined programs, operating in the fractured hours between 5 am and 9 am and between 5 pm and 8 pm, following the Zapatista time zone of the Southeastern Combat Front. These characteristics point to the autonomy of the format. Some of the listeners interviewed, mainly from autonomous rural communities, appropriate this temporality in the various listening spaces. Other listeners have difficulty adapting to the station’s rhythm.