USA

This essay builds on research concerning net worked activism, utilizing Couldry’s theory of media pilgrimage to examine an activist event coordinated by a new social movement network, which was an ‘‘alternative media pilgrimage’’ to the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Using ethnographic narrative excavation, qualitative content analysis, and fantasy theme analysis, I explored resistance in testimonial narratives presented in Zapatista communities, as well as the rhetorical vision used by activists to make sense of such resistance. The research showed that the activists used a rhetorical vision based on conceptual narratives about ethical consumerism, which acted as a discursive blindfold hiding the resistance found in the Zapatistas communities and reinforced the resistance found in the alternative media world of new social movement networks.