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John Ross (activist)

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For other people named John Ross, see John Ross (disambiguation).

John Ross
Born(1938-03-11)March 11, 1938
New York City
DiedJanuary 17, 2011(2011-01-17) (aged 72)
Tzintzuntzan, Mexico
NationalityAmerican
OccupationJournalist
Known forAnti-war activism

John Ross (March 11, 1938 – January 17, 2011) was an American author, poet, journalist, and activist who lived in Mexico and wrote extensively on the country's politics, its people and leftwing political movements.

Early life

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Born in New York City, Ross was raised in Soho before it was recognized as a neighborhood. Upon graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, he become part of the Beat movement. As a young man, Ross migrated to Mexico in the late 1950s with his wife Norma and youngest daughter Dylan, living in Michoacán with his family from 1956 to 1962.

Activism

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In 1962, returned to the United States where he became one of the earliest draft resisters in America during the Vietnam War, for which he was prosecuted. He served time in federal prison at California's Terminal Island.[1][2]

Upon his release from prison Ross resumed living in San Francisco and began organizing a San Francisco chapter of the Progressive Labor Party from a storefront in the Mission District. From there, he moved to Arcata, California, in the early 1970s.

Writing

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Active as a journalist living and writing in Mexico from the mid-1980s, Ross moved full-time to Mexico City in the early 1990s, dedicating himself to his journalism and writing non-fiction books and poetry.

A prolific journalist, Ross wrote many articles for San Francisco periodical CounterPunch and Pacific News Service, and the Mexico City daily La Jornada. Since 1993, when Ross first broke the story in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, he regularly covered the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (also known as the EZLN or Zapatistas) rebellion in Chiapas province, his articles appearing in both English and Spanish language news publications.

Ross covered political corruption in Mexico and the United States, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on Mexico's subsistence agriculture, and the Iraq War,[1][2][3][4] and potential environmental threats from the introduction of genetically modified plants— in particular those utilizing genetic use restriction technology. His articles appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian,[5] The Nation,[6] CounterPunch, The Progressive, La Jornada, and The Rag Blog.[7]

Ross was the author of ten books, including a gritty portrait of his beloved Mexico City, El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City.

His work reflected a deep and abiding interest in rebel movements such as the Zapatistas in southern Chiapas state. He wrote several books about the Zapatistas (the 1995 American Book Award-winning[8] Rebellion from the Roots,[9][10] The War Against Oblivion, and ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible[11]), as well as a somewhat autobiographical memoir (Murdered by Capitalism[12]), and several chapbooks of poetry. Lastly, he had initiated the publication of[13] Iraqi Girl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq.

In early 2003 he traveled to Iraq as a freelance reporter, voluntarily serving as a "human shield" to help protect Iraqi civilians during the U.S.-led invasion. The volunteers were eventually forced out of the country because they were critical of the Iraqi government's choice of sites to protect.

Death

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Ross died of liver cancer in Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, Mexico, surrounded by his friends and family. Ross is survived by his oldest daughter Dylan, his son, notable record producer Dante Ross, his youngest daughter Carla and his granddaughters, Honore Ford and Zoe Ross Murray.

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Rebellion from the Roots: Indian Uprising in Chiapas (Common Courage Press: 1995)
  • Mexico in Focus (Latin America Bureau: 1996) ISBN 1-899365-05-2
  • We Came to Play: An Anthology of Writings on Basketball (with Qentin R. Hand)(North Atlantic Books: 1996) ISBN 1-55643-162-7
  • The Annexation of Mexico: From the Aztecs to the IMF (Common Courage Press: 1998) ISBN 1-56751-131-7
  • Tonatiuh's People: A Novel of the Mexican Cataclysm (Cinco Puntos Press: 1998) ISBN 0-938317-41-5
  • Mexico in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture (Interlink Publishing Group: 2002) ISBN 1-56656-421-2
  • The War Against Oblivion: The Zapatista Chronicles (Common Courage Press: 2002) ISBN 1-56751-175-9
  • Murdered by Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life & Death on the American Left (Nation Books: 2004) ISBN 1-56025-578-1
  • ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible: Chronicles of Resistance 2000–2006 (Nation Books: 2007) ISBN 1-56025-874-8
  • El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City (Nation Books: 2009) ISBN 1-56858-424-5
  • Rebel Reporting: John Ross Speaks to Independent Journalists (by Norman Stockwell and Cristalyne Bell, editors), Amy Goodman (introduction), Robert W. McChesney (foreword) (Hamilton Books: 2015) ISBN 978-0761866602

Poetry chapbooks

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  • Jam (Mercury Litho-Bug Press: 1976)
  • 12 Songs of Love and Ecocide (1977)
  • The Psoriacis of Heartbreak (1979)
  • The Daily Planet (1981)
  • Running Out of Coastlines (1983)
  • Heading South (1986)
  • Whose Bones (1990)
  • Jazzmexico (Calaca de Pelón: 1996)
  • Against Amnesia (Calaca de Pelón: 2002)
  • Bomba (Calaca de Pelón: 2007)

References

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  1. ^ "'Human Shields' Booted After Criticizing Iraq's Instructions". Fox News. December 1, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  2. ^ "John Ross interview at Democracy Now!, March 6, 2003". Democracynow.org. March 6, 2003. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  3. ^ "Articles by John Ross collected at Human Shield Iraq". Cranswick.net. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  4. ^ Suzanne Goldenberg in Baghdad (March 3, 2003). "Human shield cracks on Baghdad's cynicism, The Guardian, March 3, 2003". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  5. ^ John Ross search in San Francisco Bay Guardian[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Trillin, Calvin (September 28, 2011). "John Ross search at The Nation". Thenation.com. Retrieved January 4, 2012. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  7. ^ "John Ross search at The Rag Blog". Theragblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  8. ^ "The American Book Awards". Ambook.org. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  9. ^ "The Shadow War by Alma Guillermoprieto, New York Review of Books". Nybooks.com. March 2, 1995. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  10. ^ "review by Saul Landau". Findarticles.com. 1995. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  11. ^ "A Review of John Ross' Zapatistas". Zmag.org. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  12. ^ Bosio, Colin (July 29, 2004). "Review by Colin Bosio-Cady, July 29, 2004". Beyondchron.org. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  13. ^ http://www.cbsd.com/inventory.aspx?id=1657002 Archived December 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine>
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