Dan Rather Reports

Episode Number: 223

Episode Title: Going Behind the Mask

Description: here is a mysterious masked man who speaks for the poor and dispossessed of Mexico who are the descendants of an ancient empire. And he has a message he thinks Americans need to hear. And what if you could hail an airplane like you hailed a taxi? A new group of jets are on the horizon that may revolutionize air travel, but can they return the romance of flight?

TEASE:

DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER)
TONIGHT, THE HIDDEN FACE OF MEXICO. A MYSTERIOUS MASKED LEADER AND THE POVERTY STRICKEN PEOPLE HE LEADS.

SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, THE LEADER OF THE ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY
We are fighting for one thing maybe the American people can understand very well. We want freedom.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THEN, THE LEGACY OF LOST EMPIRES. HOW SOME OF THE POOREST MEXICANS TODAY ARE DIRECT DESCENDENTS OF GREATNESS.

DR. JEREMY SABLOFF, AN ANTHROPOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERISTY OF PENNSYLVANIA
In certain areas, science for example, the Maya had few peers anywhere in the pre industrial world’ if we are looking at things like astronomy and mathematics.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
AND, HAILING A WHOLE NEW KIND OF JET PLANE. AIR TAXIS AND HOW THEY MAY BE COMING SOMEDAY SOON TO AN AIRPORT NEAR YOU.

VERN RABURN, FOUNDER OF ECLIPSE AVIATION
I think it’s a huge deal if you live in communities that don’t have the commercial support. And that’s most of the small communities that live in the United States.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
TONIGHT, A REVOLUTION IN THE SKIES AND A MEXICAN REVOLUTIONARY, ON DAN RATHER REPORTS.

GOING BEHIND THE MASK:

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
GOOD EVENING. WE THINK WE KNOW THE FACE OF MEXICO, BUT THERE IS SO MUCH ABOUT THE POOR AND, SOMETIMES, VOLATILE COUNTRY TO OUR SOUTH THAT MOST OF US KNOW LITTLE ABOUT. FAR FROM BEING THE MONOLITH IT’S OFTEN PORTRAYED AS, MEXICO IS A COUNTRY FULL OF INTERNAL DIVISIONS- A WIDENING GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, FOR EXAMPLE, WHICH IS DRIVING SO MANY OF ITS CITZENS OVER THE BORDER AND INTO THE UNITED STATES. BUT THERE IS ALSO A PART OF MEXICO THAT REMINDS US OF A TRAGIC CHAPTER IN OUR OWN HISTORY: THE TREATMENT OF ITS NATIVE INDIANS. WHILE OUR SO-CALLED “INDIAN WARS” ENDED MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO, IN MEXICO, THEY CONTINUE TO THIS DAY. THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, SOME OF MEXICO’S INDIANS ROSE UP IN ARMS AGAINST THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. THEIR LEADER: A MYSTERIOUS MASKED MAN WHO SAYS HE SPEAKS FOR THE POOR AND DISPOSSESSED -- THE DESCENDANTS OF AN ANCIENT INDIAN EMPIRE. HE IS THE HIDDEN FACE OF MEXICO, AND HE HAS A MESSAGE HE THINKS WE AMERICANS NEED TO HEAR.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
HE IS SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, THE LEADER OF THE ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY – AN ARMY OF REBEL INDIANS BASED IN THE JUNGLES OF THE STATE OF CHIAPAS. THEY TAKE THEIR NAME FROM EMILIANO ZAPATA, A LEADER OF THE 1910 MEXICAN REVOLUTION, AND FOR MORE THAN A DECADE NOW THE ZAPATISTAS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING AGAINST THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT FOR THE FREEDOMS THEY SAY THEY’VE BEEN DENIED. BUT MEXICO HAS CHANGED CONSIDERABLY IN RECENT YEARS, AND SO HAS THE ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT. TO HELP UNDERSTAND HIS PEOPLE’S OBJECTIVES, MARCOS AGREED TO MEET US AT A SECRET LOCATION IN MEXICO CITY FOR A RARE TELEVISION INTERVIEW. AND TO OUR SURPRISE, HE INSISTED ON DOING IT IN ENGLISH, SO HE COULD EXPLAIN HIMSELF DIRECTLY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

MARCOS
We are fighting for one thing. Maybe the American people can understand very well. We want freedom. We are Indian people, we are proud of being Indian people. We don't want to be like American people. We are Indian people. We want peace. We want to live with dignity. That's-- that's the way.

RATHER
You haven't done many television interviews. Why are you doing this?

MARCOS
Because the TV expect short answers. Is very difficult for me to express in a very short time our think, our fight about the Indian people in Mexico.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
HE TALKED TO US AT LENGTH ABOUT A FIGHT ON BEHALF OF A PEOPLE HE SAYS THE WORLD HAS FORGOTTEN. AND NO PLACE HAS THIS BEEN MORE TRUE THAN IN THE ZAPATISTAS HOME STATE OF CHIAPAS, IN MEXICO’S SOUTH-EASTERN CORNER.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF CHIAPAS HAVE LIVED HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. BUT EVEN TODAY, THEIR LIVES ARE AMONG THE POOREST, MOST DESPERATE IN NORTH AMERICA. THOUGH THE SURROUNDING REGION IS RICH IN NATURAL RESOURCES, MOST OF THESE PEOPLE ARE BARELY ABLE TO EEK OUT A LIVING FROM SUBSISTENCE FARMING. MORE THAN A THIRD ARE WITHOUT RUNNING WATER OR ELECTRICITY. SEVENTY PERCENT SUFFER FROM MALNUTRITION. AND EVERY DAY, BABIES DIE HERE FROM DIARRHEA AND OTHER PREVENTABLE DISEASES.

MARCOS
There is many forms and many ways to kill the people. One of them are to forget them. So, in some region of Chiapas, there was not roads. There was not government. There was not hospital. There was not schools. There was not nothing. Because they don't exist. The real Mexico is this Mexico of pain and hopeless. A lot of people, million of Mexicans must cross the boarder to United States to look for a job. For a dignity like they don't have here in the country.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THAT QUEST FOR DIGNITY LIES AT THE HEART OF THE ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT, ACCORDING TO MIGUEL DIAZ-BARRIGA, A PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WHO HAS STUDIED THE ORGANIZATION FROM THE BEGINNING.

RATHER
Dignity is a word that I heard over and over again.

MIGUEL DIAZ-BARRIGA, PROFESSOR ANTHROPOLOGY
AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
Absolutely.

RATHER
This is huge to them.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Yes. Yes. And the feeling that they have not been respected at all. And you know, Mexico unfortunately has a lot of racism against indigenous peoples. They've not been included, kind of in the national project. And so all of this is kind of a long line of, what they feel is-- is a complete lack of respect. For being indigenous. For respecting indigenous cultures. So human dignity because a way to sort of say this movement is not just about electoral processes, this movement’s not just about us getting a set of rights, it’s about us being able to express our humanity, our culture. To take control of our lives.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THEY DID THIS BY QUIETLY ORGANIZING AND ARMING THEMSELVES. THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, THE ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY – LED BY SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS - DECIDED THE TIME HAD COME TO GRAB THE WORLD’S ATTENTION.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
IT WAS IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF NEW YEAR’S DAY, 1994, WHEN MARCOS AND THE ZAPATISTAS SEIZED CONTROL OF SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS AND THREE OTHER TOWNS IN THIS REGION. THE FIGHTING LASTED LESS THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE REBELS FADED BACK INTO THE JUNGLE. BUT WHAT HAPPENED BACK THEN SHOOK MEXICO TO ITS FOUNDATION, AND THERE WERE REVERBERATIONS FELT AROUND THE WORLD.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
WHEN IT WAS OVER, MORE THAN 150 PEOPLE WERE DEAD. IT WAS A VIOLENT AND BLOODY REMINDER OF THE HARSH CONDITIONS PLAGUING MEXICO’S INDIANS -- A REMINDER THAT MANY PEOPLE IN MEXICO WELCOMED, EVEN IF THEIR GOVERNMENT DID NOT.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
The reaction in Mexico as a whole was one of surprise, of hope, of wondering what was this revolution about. And almost immediately the state responded militarily but it knew that it could not, as it were, go in and wipe the Zapatistas out. It would have been an outrage for citizens of Mexico, if the Mexican army had simply gone in, and captured all the leadership and engaged in sort of a cleaning up operation. So what happened very quickly after those first two weeks, was a standoff, where the Mexican states basically surrounded the Zapatistas, but was unwilling to go into and pay that high political price, to actually go into the rainforest and remove the Zapatistas by force.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
EVEN BEFORE THE FIGHTING HAD ENDED, POLITICAL ACTIVISTS AROUND THE WORLD HAD EMBRACED THIS RAGTAG BAND OF REVOLUTIONARIES, PARTICULARLY THEIR CHARISMATIC LEADER, MARCOS.

RATHER
In some of the writings about you from abroad, you are described as, quote, "Mexico's Che Guevara." Do you see yourself in that same vein?

MARCOS (TO SOMEONE OFF STAGE, TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
He’s asking if I’m like Che Guevara of Mexico?

MARCOS
No! No way! No way.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
HE MAY REJECT THE COMPARISON, BUT THAT ICONIC STATUS HAS MADE THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT RELUCTANT TO INTERFERE WITH HIM AS HE TRAVELS NOW AROUND THE COUNTRY.

RATHER
He moves about Mexico City -- it seems to me the Mexican authorities could arrest him at any time.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Well I think they know that it would be a huge political mistake to arrest Marcos. It would be a call to arms for many parts of the-- many aspects of the Mexican population. So yes. Very difficult to reconcile.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THE GOVERNMENT HAS DROPPED ITS ARREST WARRANT FOR HIM, BUT MARCOS STILL TAKES ELABORATE SECURITY MEASURES WHEREVER HE GOES. INDEED, THE POLICE OFFICERS SURROUNDING HIM HERE ARE NOT THERE TO PROTECT HIM, BUT TO MONITOR HIM. MARCOS’S FACE HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN PUBLIC, BUT FEAR OF ARREST IS NOT THE REASON HE HIDES IT.

RATHER
But after all these years, you still wear the mask. Why keep it on now?

MARCOS
Because I am so ugly. Well, it's the reason.

RATHER
I hear from ladies that they find you quite romantic. Describe you as a rock star.

MARCOS
Yes, because they don't look my face.

RATHER
That excuse will not work.

MARCOS
There is one reason. When the people look to us, look with the mask. When we don't wear mask, nobody look at us. Nobody listen us. But when we hiding our face, everybody looks. So when we took the guns and began to fight to the government and put our mask, everybody goes back and said, hey, there are Indian people in Mexico. And they are in poor conditions.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THE ZAPATISTAS ARE TRYING TO DEFEND THE INDIGENOUS CULTURES – NOT WITH GUNS THIS TIME, BUT BY SIMPLY GOVERNING THEMSELVES. IT’S THE ONLY WAY, MARCOS SAYS, THAT THEY CAN MAINTAIN THEIR DIGNITY. WE DECIDED TO SEE FOR OURSELVES, BY VISITING SOME COMMUNITIES IN THE REMOTE MOUNTAIN AND JUNGLE TERRITORY CONTROLLED BY THE ZAPATISTA IN CHIAPAS, NEAR THE GUATEMALAN BORDER. IT’S NOT AN EASY JOURNEY.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
THE MEXICAN ARMY HAS STATIONED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS IN THESES SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS – BY SOME ESTIMATES ALMOST ONE THIRD OF THE ENTIRE MEXICAN ARMY. THEY’VE BEEN HERE FOR WELL OVER A DECADE NOW, WITH ONE MISSION: TO SURROUND THE ZAPATISTAS AND THEIR CORE FOLLOWERS AND CUT THEM OFF FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD.

RATHER:
How can you have much dignity when the army--

MARCOS
You will see.

RATHER
--of the-- of Mexico has you surrounded?

MARCOS
You will see These people is different of the other people. I mean, they have 500 years fighting against Spain, the British, the North American the French, the Mexican. Everybody. And they will resist.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
IT’S BEEN A TENSE STANDOFF, ONE THAT HAS OCCASIONALLY ERUPTED IN VIOLENCE, AND HAS MADE THE INDIANS’ ALREADY-DIFFICULT LIVES ALMOST UNBEARABLE. IN RESPONSE, THE ZAPATISTAS HAVE CREATED THEIR OWN AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES – DOZENS OF THEM – THAT NEITHER WANT, NOR RECEIVE, ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNMENT. IN ORDER TO GET TO ONE, WE DROVE NEARLY FOUR HOURS FROM THE REGION’S ONLY MAJOR AIRPORT, TRAVELING ON A SUNDAY, WHEN THE MILITARY CHECKPOINTS WERE LIKELY TO BE UNMANNED. OUR DESTINATION, THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY OF MORELIA.

BUT WHEN WE ARRIVED, WE LEARNED JUST HOW AUTONOMOUS THEY REALLY ARE. THOUGH OUR VISIT HAD BEEN APPROVED BY MARCOS HIMSELF, THE VILLAGERS – ALL OF THEM WARY OF OUTSIDERS – TOLD US THAT THEY ALONE WOULD DECIDE IF WE’D BE ALLOWED TO STAY. FINALLY, AFTER A DEBATE THAT LASTED INTO THE EVENING, WE WERE GRANTED PERMISSION TO INTERVIEW THE MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL – ORDINARY VILLAGERS WHO GOVERN FOR JUST TWO WEEKS BEFORE RETURNING TO THEIR FARMS. NONE WOULD GIVE US THEIR NAMES OR ALLOW US TO SHOW THEIR FACES. THEY SPOKE TO US IN SPANISH, RATHER THAN IN THE INDIAN LANGUAGES THEY USUALLY SPEAK.

RATHER
Please I want you to know that I’m very sorry that I don’t speak Spanish, certainly not well enough to conduct this interview, and my apologies that I can’t conduct this interview in Spanish with you.

MAN (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
Thanks. It’s the same with us – we’re not so good at Spanish because our language is the mother tongue. We are Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Tojolab’al.

RATHER
With your permission may I ask the lady what her dreams are for her children and grandchildren?

WOMAN (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
That the children learn our history, of our ancestors. And that they are more prepared, which we are not. What we’re lacking is that not all of us understand Spanish very well.

RATHER
Why do the local councils wear the masks? Symbolic or necessary?

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Well, probably more symbolic than necessary. Probably more symbolic – that they're all Zapatistas, that they're not in this for individual gain. I would have to say it’s very symbolic. There may be some security concerns in that course.

RATHER
Well, the-- the army has the place surrounded.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Absolutely.

RATHER
You can make the argument--
DIAZ-BARRIGA
Absolutely.

RATHER
--that in itself might be a security concern.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
And-- and even more difficult are the paramilitaries who no one seems to put any responsibility towards in terms of the state.

RATHER
The paramilitary would be those operating for big land owners, big corporations, monied people.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Yes, outside of the sort of official army.

RATHER
Are we in any danger here with all these lights. Are we in any danger from the soldiers here?

MAN (TRANSLATED FORM SPANISH)
The government is always persecuting us. What’s happening now is that the government has never left us in peace If it’s not the Mexican army it’s the paramilitaries, the intelligence agents, all that. We’ve never lived a quiet life because there have always been threats.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
AS IN ANY AREA OF EXTREME POVERTY THERE ARE MANY THREATS EVEN GREATER THAN THE MILITARY. THE NEXT DAY WE WERE TAKEN TO ANOTHER ZAPATISTA VILLAGE SEVERAL MILES AWAY, WHERE WE TOOK A TOUR OF WHAT THE PEOPLE CALL THEIR “PHARMACY.”

PHARMACY WOMAN (TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH)
We use a lot of plants because we don’t have the money needed to buy medicines- so here we work mostly with plants, nothing else, and right now we’re out of everything.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
AT ANOTHER VILLAGE DOWN THE ROAD, MORE OF THE SAME. THESE YOUNG BOYS ASKED US FIVE TIMES, WHICH ONE OF US WAS THE DOCTOR. WE TOLD THEM WE COULDN’T HELP THEM. DESPITE THEIR DESPERATE POVERTY, THE VILLAGERS DO THE BEST THEY CAN, RUNNING THEIR OWN SCHOOLS, FOR EXAMPLE – NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN, BUT FOR ADULTS AS WELL. THEY’RE MAKING THEIR OWN DECISIONS, PASSING THEIR OWN LAWS, AND TRYING TO RECLAIM THE DIGNITY THEY’VE BELIEVE THEY LOST 500 YEARS AGO.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
They are still attempting to articulate this perhaps utopian vision of grassroots democracy and participation. Forming community councils, forming councils of indigenous groups, creating dialogue, of saying, "We wanna know what democracy should look like. We wanna know how to get there. We need to form that vision together." So they're calling people to come together and create a new vision of what society should be like.

MARCOS
Our condition of life are very poor. But we have something that the other Indian people doesn't have. Is we are convinced that we will win.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
COMING UP NEXT.

DR. JEREMY SABLOFF, AN ANTHROPOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERISTY OF PENNSYLVANIA
I think in relation to the thrust of what's happening in modern Chiapas, I think the important point is that the people there today are descendents of a great tradition.

DAN RATHER (ON CAMERA)
THE STORY OF MEXICO IS LARGELY FORGOTTEN HERE IN THE US – IN FACT, MOST OF US NEVER REALLY LEARN IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT’S A STORY THAT BEGINS WITH MAGNIFICENT AND HIGHLY ADVANCED INDIAN CIVILIZATIONS, MANY OF WHICH LASTED HUNDREDS – EVEN THOUSANDS – OF YEARS. UNTIL, THAT IS, THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH CONQUISTADORS LED BY HERNAN CORTES NEARLY FIVE CENTURIES AGO. SINCE THEN, THE INDIANS’ HAVE LIVED AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS IN THEIR OWN A COUNTRY – A SITUATION THE ZAPATISTAS ARE DETERMINED TO CHANGE. LITTLE REMAINS OF THE WRITING AND ARTWORK FROM THAT ANCIENT TIME, BUT OVER THE YEARS ARCHEOLOGISTS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT SOME OF THE GRANDEUR OF THE ANCIENT MEXICAN INDIANS.

SABLOFF
I think in relation to the thrust of what's happening in modern Chiapas, I think the-- the important point is that the people there today are descendents of a great tradition.

RATHER
So where are we now?

SABLOFF
This is our Mesoamerican gallery…

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
DR. JEREMY SABLOFF, AN ANTHROPOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERISTY OF PENNSYLVANIA, HAS BEEN STUDYING THESE CIVILIZATIONS HIS WHOLE LIFE.
RATHER
We should have learned this, all of us, in no later than seventh grade. So let's review. When the Spanish conquistadors came into Mexico in what, 1519-

SABLOFF
1519.

RATHER
What happened?

SABLOFF
Well-- actually need to take a step back. We know that Columbus came, the first voyage in 1492, and four subsequent voyages through 1502. So by the time that Cortés and his soldiers began their march in 1519 on Mexico City, peoples of-- of Mexico had been in contact with shipwrecked sailors. Cortés conquered the Aztecs and their allies in-- in two years, had control of what became Mexico City with Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital by 1521.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THE CONQUISTADORS KNEW MEXICO WAS INHABITED, BUT THE AZTEC CAPITAL OF TENOCHTITLAN WAS SOMETHING THEY NEVER EXPECTED TO FIND. “GAZING ON SUCH WONDERFUL SIGHTS, WE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY,” BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO WROTE LATER, “SEEING THINGS AS WE DID THAT HAD NEVER BEEN HEARD OF OR SEEN BEFORE, NOT EVEN DREAMED OF.”

SABLOFF
The Spanish were absolutely bowled over by Tenochtitlan when they saw it. I mean these were people who were cosmopolitan in the sense that they-- they knew Seville and you know, the major cities of-- of-- of the Mediterranean. And they come and see Tenochtitlan, and they said they'd never seen a city like this-- so many people, so well-organized the city was built on an island in the center of a lake in central Mexico. It had causeways connecting it. It had a dyke separating salt water from fresh water. They had tens of thousands of people coming across you know, bridges every day. The Spanish had not seen the like anywhere in Europe.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
ANOTHER THING THEY HADN’T SEEN BEFORE WAS THE AZTEC RELIGION, WHICH CENTERED ON HUMAN SACRIFICE – A PRACTICE THAT HORRIFIED THE CATHOLIC CONQUISTADORS. BUT THEY MARVELLED AT THE AZTECS ACHIEVEMENTS IN ART AND SCIENCE.

SABLOFF
The Aztecs had a system called Chinampa agriculture, which is in effect, floating gardens. These were swamp lands that they reclaimed. And these were incredibly rich in soils, they grew corn, beans, squashes. They had large stone buildings, temples, palaces. And this is all decorated in high style with paintings, carvings and so on of the principle deities. They had an elaborate tribute system. As they conquered an area they allowed the area to keep its local government, but the government had to pay tribute in food or in cotton or on a variety of goods back to central Mexico, which was ruled by an Emperor.

RATHER
And roughly what dates were the Aztecs at their height?

SABLOFF
From 1400 up to 1519 is really the height of the Aztec Empire.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
BUT FOR ALL THEIR ACHEIVEMENTS, THE AZTECS WERE NO MATCH MILITARILY FOR THE SPANISH. WITHIN A FEW YEARS CORTES HAD DESTROYED THE CITY OF TENOCHTITLAN AND EVEN DISMANTLED THE RUBBLE. TODAY, WHATEVER REMAINS OF THE GREAT AZTEC CAPITOL IS BURIED BENEATH THE THRIVING METROPOLIS OF MODERN-DAY MEXICO CITY. BUT THE AZTECS WEREN’T THE ONLY INDIAN EMPIRE IN MEXICO. FARTHER SOUTH, IN AN AREA THAT INCLUDES THE ZAPATISTA STRONGHOLD OF CHIAPAS, WAS THE HOME OF THE ANCIENT MAYA.

SABLOFF
The Maya have a much longer history. The height of classic Maya civilization is about 300 A.D. to 800 A.D. And that continues to flourish from 800 right on up till the Spanish arrival in the 16th century.

RATHER
What a wonderful room.

SABLOFF
Well, thank you.

RATHER
This stands out in the room.

SABLOFF
Yeah. This is a wonderful monument. This is on loan from the government of Guatemala from a site called Piedras Negras. The museum actually worked there in the 1930s. This is – I think – gives you a remarkable sense – that’s a Maya ruler. But up until the 1950s into the 60s, it was often felt that these were deities and the hieroglyphic inscriptions that you see here were talking about esoteric matters like astronomy and mathematics and so on.
Several great scholars made the strong argument that this was actually an historical figure, a ruler, and that these glyph raises talked about his ascension to the throne; when he became king, when he was born, how long he lived and ruled. This is in- you know, writing in stone, the equivalent of going to you know, Lincoln Memorial or you know, Washington Monument and so on and telling us about the great person. These are some wonderful examples of the sophistication of Maya art. You have two Maya vases. These actually come from the Guatemalan Highlands. You can see, first of all, the remarkable sophistication of the figures and you have, in this case, you actually have a ruling figure with acolytes and the one up there actually has a ruler being carried and this is depicting Maya travel. So we can appreciate them aesthetically but they also have a great deal of information. The use of color and space and so on is really quite remarkable. In certain areas, science for example, the Maya had few peers anywhere in the pre-industrial world, if we're looking at things like astronomy and mathematics.

RATHER
This, as you described it, very sophisticated, very advanced civilization, collapsed. When did it collapse and why?

SABLOFF
It fully collapsed in the early 16th Century, when they were militarily conquered by-- by the Spanish. But they were defeated, in a sense, before they were militarily by disease.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
FOR THE MODERN DAY DESCENDENTS OF THE MAYANS, IT’S A BITTER HISTORY THEY KNOW ALL TOO WELL.

SABLOFF
In 1519 when Cortés arrives, the population in that area at minimum was 10 to 15 million. 50 years after the first contact with Cortés, that population was 1.5 million.

RATHER
In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception modern people have about the Mesoamericans?

SABLOFF
They can't believe that Native American peoples without contact with either peoples in Europe or the Near East were able to achieve this by themselves. You see them, even places like Chichen Itza-- you know or walking around they’re saying, "Wow." In a sense they're having the same reaction in 2007 that Cortés and his soldiers had in 1519. They couldn't believe their eyes.

RATHER
I certainly was taught, I think school children are still taught to a very large degree, that it goes something on the order of ancient Mesopotamia, Chinese, The Egyptians, The Greeks then The Romans. Do we still teach history from too much of a Euro-centric standpoint rather than at least dealing with the hypothesis that there were these indigenous people that had very advanced societies and accomplished a great deal without intermingling with the rest of the world.

SABLOFF
We’re doing a better job today than we did you know, 100 or 20 years ago but we’re not anywhere close.

RATHER
With the Mayans, what would you say was their greatest achievement?

SABLOFF
Their achievement was to take what was really an inhospitable environment and control it. They were felling the trees, clearing the jungle, reclaiming the swamps -- all without metal tools. And they-- moreover, they didn't have beasts of burden. So unlike civilizations of-- of-- you know in ancient Mesopotamia or Egypt, they didn't have horses or cattle or anything. So all this was done on the backs of human beings. So if you look at their technological level, and then look at what they achieved for such a long period of time, to me that an unbelievably remarkable achievement.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
TO SEE THE INDIANS IN CHIAPAS TODAY, IT’S EASY TO FORGET THAT THEY’RE THE REMANTS OF ONE OF THE ANCIENTS WORLD’S GREATEST EMPIRES. BUT SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS BELIEVES THAT IF THE U.S. AND MEXICO ARE TO LIVE TOGETHER IN PEACE, IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER’S HISTORY.

MARCOS
We are Indian people, you are people of the city. Okay. Learn to live together. To respect each other. In the same way, United States must learn to live together with Mexico. And respect of the other country doesn't mean fear. Respect, there is not fear. But knowing the story of each other, Mexico must to know the story of United States. And United States must to know the story of Mexico.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
COMING UP, SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, THE MAN WHO’S TRYING TO HELP THE INDIANS RECAPTURE AT LEAST SOME OF THAT PAST GRANDEUR, IS IN MANY WAYS AN UNLIKELY CANDIDATE TO LEAD AN INDIGENOUS REBEL ARMY. IN OUR TWO-HOUR CONVERSATION IN MEXICO CITY, WE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND NOT JUST THE MOVEMENT, BUT THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT MARCOS HIMSELF, BUT THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT BELIEVES HE IS REALLY THIS MAN -- A WHITE, FORMER COLLEGE PROFESSOR, BORN IN THE NORTH OF MEXICO 50 YEARS AGO.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Raphael Sebastian Guillen Vicente. They believe that he taught philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. We also believe that he's from a middle class family. And that he also had some Jesuit training.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
PROFESSOR MIGUEL DIAZ-BARRIGA BELIEVES YOUNG MARCOS’ POLITICS MAY HAVE BEEN SHAPED BY THE TUMULTUOUS CAMPUS PROTESTS OF THE 1960s – ESPECIALLY AN INCIDENT IN OCTOBER 1968, WHEN THE MEXICAN ARMY MASSACRED HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS IN A SINGLE AFTERNOON.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Student activism shifted from this sort of direct engagement with the states, to going in a sense underground. So you had a whole generation of Mexican youth who went to these areas, and you'll see this very strongly in Marcos' writing, with the idea that we go there to serve the people. So in a sense, the Zapatistas movement is an outcome of the student massacre of 1968. And we have to understand Marcos' life, or Raphael Sebastian Guillen Vicente’s life, as part of this larger context.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
MARCOS WON’T SAY WHO HE REALLY IS, OF COURSE, BUT HE MAKES NO SECRET OF THE FACT THAT HE IS NOT AN INDIAN HIMSELF.

RATHER
You're not from the jungles of Chiapas. But you've lived among the people for 25 years. Why?

MARCOS
Well, I used to be -- I used to be urban people.

RATHER
You once were an urban person?

MARCOS
Yes. I like the movies. The books. The magazines. The music. I was studying in the University and I finish my studies. And then I go to Chiapas, in Mexico. And meet these people, the Indian people. And I began to learn. I learned the language of the Indian people. The culture. I feel that that was the point and I must decide to go ahead and forget or stay and fight. So I decide to stay.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
IT’S A DECISION, HE SAYS, THAT HE HAS NEVER REGRETTED.

MARCOS
I can see now when I walk the city, when I talk with the citizens-- with the people of the city, when I look how they live. How they think. How they feel. And I said everyday, this is not my place. This is not my world. I must to come back to my world. And my world is-- is there in the mountains of the Sud-est of Mexico.

RATHER
By the way, I see you smoke a pipe. Have you always smoked a pipe?

MARCOS
Yes. -- even when I-- when I go to the bathroom, I go with my-- my pipe. In our traditions, the tobacco and the smoke was the way to make your word be true and to rise to the God.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
IN RECENT YEARS, IT LOOKED AS IF MARCOS MIGHT SPEND THE REST OF HIS DAYS QUIETLY SMOKING HIS PIPE IN THE JUNGLE. MEXICO WAS CHANGING RAPIDLY AND SO WAS THE REST OF LATIN AMERICA. ALTHOUGH LEFT-LEANING POLITICIANS WERE COMING TO POWER IN BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, BOLIVIA, AND VENEZUELA. FOR MORE THAN FOUR YEARS, MARCOS ALL BUT DISAPPEARED.
THEN IN 2005, DURING A HOTLY CONTESTED MEXICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, HE SUDDENLY REAPPEARED – HE WASN’T RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, HE SAID, BUT HE WAS CAMPAIGNING NONETHELESS – FOR FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND DIGNITY, NOT JUST FOR HIS INDIAN FOLLOWERS, BUT FOR ALL THE POOR AND MARGINALIZED PEOPLE IN MEXICO. THE ZAPATISTAS CALL THIS CAMPAIGN SIMPLY, “THE OTHER CAMPAIGN.” IT REJECTS CONVENTIONAL POLITICS, BECAUSE MARCOS BELIEVES MOST POLITICIANS ARE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY.

MARCOS
They are not thinking about the people. And our people -- I'm not talking only about the Indian people from Chiapas, but all the people in Mexico -- are dying. Are suffering a lot of injustice. That's the reason, because a lot of people cross the boarder to United States. Because in Mexico, there is not life conditions of dignity.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
BUT WHILE THE ZAPATISTAS STILL REFERED TO THEMSELVES AS AN ARMY, FROM NOW ON, HE SAID, THEIR ONLY WEAPONS WOULD BE THEIR WORDS.

RATHER
You have renounced violence. Why?

MARCOS
Because the violence doesn't listen words. Doesn't listen reasons. It’s only rage. And that is the problem.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
MARCOS HAD RARELY VENTURED OUTSIDE OF CHIAPAS SINCE THE ZAPATISTA UPRISINGING 1994, BUT NOW HE’S TRAVELING THE COUNTRY, DISCOVERING, HE SAYS, THAT THE SITUATION IN CHIAPAS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

RATHER
During the presidential campaign, you went on what we would call in the United States a “listening tour” all around the country. What did you hear?

MARCOS
Rage, anger and desperation. The sense of community in the Mexico of the country was broken.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THOSE COMMUNITIES ARE BROKEN BECAUSE SO MANY OF THE MEN WHO LIVE IN THEM BELIEVE THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO MAKE THE DESPERATE JOURNEY INTO THE U.S. IN SEARCH OF WORK. THE CULPRIT, MARCOS SAYS, IS CAPITALISM - PARTICULARLY NAFTA, THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT, WHICH WENT INTO EFFECT ON NEW YEAR’S DAY 1994. IT’S NO COINCIDENCE THAT THE ZAPATISTAS CHOSE THAT VERY DAY – NEW YEAR’S - TO BEGIN THEIR UPRISING. MANY INDIANS MAKE THEIR LIVING OFF THE LAND, BUT WITH HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED FARM PRODUCTS NOW STREAMING IN FROM THE US, MEXICO HAS LOST OVER A MILLION AGRICULTURAL JOBS SINCE NAFTA BEGAN. YET MANY OF THOSE OUT-OF-WORK FARMERS ARE PREVENTED FROM COMING TO THE U.S. TO EARN MONEY.

MARCOS
I mean the merchandise for United States can cross the border without problem, but the people of Mexico cannot cross the border without problem.

RATHER
You're a very educated man. And you know the history, that to have the kind of freedom that you dream of for you and your people, there is many, many people who believe that you can't have that kind of freedom unless you have Capitalism.

MARCOS
But it's a lie. I mean, for each Bill Gates that exists in the capitalismo exists hundreds of millions of people that don't have any option of freedom. The most quantity of Mexican that cross the boarder to United States is to look at job. For remain there. Not for look the Liberty Statue – Estatua de Libertad. Okay, is a good trip, but most people doesn't go for that. For-- for us-- for the Mexican people, that-- that freedom doesn't exist.

DIAZ-BARRIGA
Some say Marcos has in a sense been so pure in his critique and that his notion of democracy is so idealistic that in a sense, he's sort of run his course. Others see him as a person who has enrichened the Mexican political scene. Of-- whose voice is extremely important in calling for these sort of large-scale reforms. So imagine you have this very small movement in Chiapas. They're politically isolated. But on the other hand thousands of people will still hear Marcos speak.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THE MESSAGE THEY COME TO HEAR IS INCREASINGLY ABOUT BREAKING DOWN BORDERS – THE BORDERS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, BETWEEN INDIANS AND NON-INDIANS, AND BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES.

MARCOS
Our story is in some kind the same as the story of the American people. I remember - that is the meaning of democracy: “the government of the people, for the people and from the people.” Am I right? Maybe Jefferson said something like that.

RATHER
Abraham Lincoln said, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

MARCOS
Yes. That's what we're fighting for.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
NEXT UP, AN AVIATION REVOLUTION THAT’S READY FOR TAKEOFF.

VERY LIGHT JETS:

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
THE SUMMER TRAVEL SEASON IS UPON US, AND THAT MEANS LONG LINES AT AIRPORTS, CROWDED AIRPLANES WITH NO EMPTY SEATS AND BELT TIGHTENING THAT MAKES GETTING A BOTTLE OF WATER A CHALLENGE. SO MUCH FOR THE ROMANCE OF FLYING. FOR MANY IT’S MORE LIKE A NIGHTMARE. NOW SUPPOSE, JUST SUPPOSE, YOU COULD HAIL A JET PLANE MUCH LIKE YOU WOULD A TAXI AND WHAT IF YOU COULD FLY THAT PLANE OR HAVE SOMEONE FLY IT INTO ONE OF THOUSANDS OF SMALL AIRPORTS IN THE COUNTRY, NEARER TO WHERE YOU HAVE TO DO BUSINESS OR VISIT RELATIVES? SOUND LIKE FANTASY? PERHAPS NOT. AIR TAXI SERVICES, USING NEW, SMALLER, FUEL EFFICIENT JETS ARE POISED TO TAKE OFF THIS SUMMER. PROPONENTS SAY WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF AN AVIATION REVOLUTION BUT SOME CRITICS SEE STORM CLOUDS AHEAD AND WORRY THE REVOLUTION IS NOT WITHOUT PERIL.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
WHAT COULD BE MORE SIMPLE THAN HAILING A TAXICAB? NOW, WHAT IF YOU WANTED TO GO A COUPLE OF HUNDRED MILES INSTEAD OF A COUPLE OF BLOCKS? SOME SAY THE AGE OF THE MINI JET HAS ARRIVED AND THESE TINY PLANES ARE USHERING IN THE JET POWERED AIR TAXI.

VERN RABURN, FOUNDER OF ECLIPSE AVIATION
Well a lot of people would say that this is very similar to what Henry Ford did. One of his descents, Edsel Ford, seems to thinks that, he keeps calling me the Henry Ford of aviation.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
VERN RABURN FOUNDED ECLIPSE AVIATION IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO. WHETHER CALLING HIM THE HENRY FORD OF AVIATION IS AN ACTIVE HYPERBOLE OR NOT, THE FACT IS RABURN USED FORD’S ASSEMBLY LINE PRODUCTION OF THE MODEL-T AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY AS AN INSPIRATION FOR HIS PRODUCTION OF CUTTING EDGE AIRPLANES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY. WHEN WE TOURED HIS 400 THOUSAND PLUS SQUARE FOOT FACTORY, WE SAW 50 VERY LITE JETS IN PRODUCTION.

RATHER
Now, you know you’re history. There was a time in the automobile business when Henry Ford-

RABURN
Yes.

RATHER
-said, “I want to build a car that’s not for the elite. I want to build a car that everyman can dream of owning.”

RABURN
Henry re-thought the production paradigm, obviously introduced mass production. But more than mass production, he introduced a lot of concepts in supply chain management, he introduced a lot of concepts about data management. We’ve done the same thing in aviation, we’re trying to do more for less. And if we can do more for less, then the whole idea is that we’ll revitalize existing markets, we’ll create whole new markets and we’ll see growth.

RATHER
And what’s different about your Eclipse aircraft?

RABURN
Well the most obvious one is, it’s cheap. And now I’m not supposed to say cheap, I should say inexpensive. But it’s a very high quality aircraft where we’ve set new standards in reliability, new standards in maintenance for this class of aircraft but it’s also about half the price of the nearest competitor. And so you get a lot of airplane for not much money.
RATHER (VOICE OVER)
VERY LITE JETS ARE NOT ONLY LESS EXPENSIVE BUT THEY GET THEIR NAME BECAUSE, SIMPLY PUT, THEY WEIGH A LOT LESS THAN THE MAMMOTH AIRLINERS OR THE SMALL BUSINESS JETS NOW FLYING. THE ECLIPSE SEATS 6, INCLUDING 2 PILOTS, HAS A RESPECTABLE RANGE OF 1400 MILES AND CAN REACH SPEEDS OF MORE THAN 400 MILES AN HOUR. AND AS THIS LUSHLY SCORED PROMOTIONAL SALES VIDEO SHOWS, THE ECLIPSE AND OTHER VERY LITE JETS ARE BEING MARKETED AS A RETURN TO THE ROMANCE OF FLYING. AT A COST OF ABOUT A MILLION AND A HALF DOLLARS A PLANE, THE ECLIPSE MIGHT NOT BE THE ‘EVERYMAN AIRPLANE,’ BUT IT IS BEING SOLD AS AN ACCESSIBLE RETURN TO THE FREEDOM OF THE AIR. AND IT’S NOT JUST THE ECLIPSE, ADAM AIRCRAFT IN COLORADO IS MAKING THIS BIZZARRE LOOKING MINI JET, WHILE VENERABLE CESSNA IS WEIGHING IN WITH ITS CITATION MUSTANG.

RATHER
Well some analysts say that the development of these light jets is revolutionary. Do you consider it so?

RABURN
The debate of what’s revolutionary and what is evolutionary has raged eternal and it will always go on. I think here are definitely revolutionary elements of this.

RATHER
Where are we and what’s happening?

RABURN
Well this is our final assembly facility and so these are where aircraft come down the line after coming to this facility from our primary assembly.

RATHER
Now this is a made in USA aircraft, but not all of the components come from here.

RABURN
The engine’s made by Pratt Whitney in Montreal, Canada. The landing gear is made in Milan, Italy. The nose section is made in Santiago, Chile. But what we did is we’re the designers of the aircraft, all of the engineering was done here. So the high value work was done here and then we went out and found the best vendors in the world.

RATHER
If I ordered an aircraft today—I’m not, I can’t afford it.

RABURN
For you, a special deal.

RATHER
We’ll talk later. But if I’m ordering an aircraft today, how many airplanes are ahead of me already sold?

RABURN
Round numbers, about 2000 and so, if you ordered an airplane today, it would be sometime in mid/late second quarter, 2009. So about 2 plus years from now.

RATHER
Well it’s good looking aircraft even if you don’t have it all dressed up yet.

RABURN
There’s an old adage in aviation, ‘if it looks good it’ll fly good.’ And some airplanes look really good on the ground, other airplanes look really good in the air. And this one of the ones, I think personally, looks better in the air. Which is just another way of saying it was meant to fly.

RATHER
Well I intend to see what it looks like in the air from the inside.

RABURN
We’re gonna get you up in an airplane here real shortly.

RATHER
Thank you.

PILOT
Any questions at all so far? We are basically going to fly about a 90 knot take off and we’re gonna take off, raise the gear and head off down to the south, basically away from that grate thing. Do a little bit of flying, let you fly around, ask whatever questions you’d like for about 15-20 minutes and then we’ll come back and let you do a few touch-and-go’s.

RATHER
Good.

PILOT
So you can get a feeling for what that’s like. Alright sir, you ready to go?

RATHER
Ready to go.

PILOT
Let’s do it. Here we go. 30 knots. Like I said we are going to rotate at 90. All the instruments look good.

RATHER
Much roomier than I thought and much quieter than I thought.
PILOT
Yeah, I mean it’s kind of like more of a car than it is a gulf stream or some sort of more exotic corporate jet. Would you like to give it a shot, Dan, fly it around? Side stick works exactly the same. You’ve probably been in some Navy airplanes. This is trim; I’ll help you out with that. But you’ve got the airplane, go ahead and fly and we’ll just, you can go wherever you want.

RATHER
It’s harder to keep on an even keel than I would have thought.

PILOT
It’s alright.

RATHER
It doesn’t seem to want to go up.

PILOT
As you can see it’s pretty simple.

RATHER
It is pretty simple. Although I have a feeling landing might be a little something else.

PILOT
Well I’ll show you how that is.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
THE PROMSIE OF VERY LITE JETS IS THAT THEY MAY OPEN SOME TEN THOUSAND SMALLER AIRPORTS TO JET TRAVEL, MOST FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
BECAUSE THE ECLPSE AND OTHER VERY LITE JETS ARE SO LIGHT, THEY CAN TAKE OFF AND LAND AT MUCH SLOWER SPEEDS THAN LARGER PLANES MEANING THEY CAN USE SMALLER RUNWAYS.

RABURN
These airplanes aren’t going to operate at Hartsfield, they aren’t going to operate at DFW, they’ll operate at Peach Street Acobber, Charlie Brown or Adison or all the other little airports. And around all the nation’s major cities there are lots and lots and lots of little airports. Today what we find is that most people on a trip of under 400 miles are driving. And that’s really the opportunity, the town car of the air.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THIS ECLIPSE JET IS DECKED OUT IN THE COLORS OF DAY JET, A FLORIDA BASED COMPANY PIONEERING THE IDEA OF TURNING THESE LITTLE JETS INTO AIR TAXIS.

ED IACOBUCCI, OWNER OF DAY JET
We have a 5 year order with an eclipse that’s with over 1000 aircrafts.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
ED IACOBUCCI OWNS DAY JET AND YOU HEARD HIM RIGHT, HE PLANS TO BUY OVER 1000 MINI JETS, A BIGGER FLEET THAN MANY LARGE AIRLINES.

IACOBUCCI
What we are doing some people call air taxis, but it’s really on demand commercial transportation. It’s an on demand service at commercial scale. It’s being able to build your own schedule for when you want to go from A to B, but do it in a way that we’re sharing the airplane as you do with commercial airliners on a seat by seat basis.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
AND THAT IS THE KEY TO THE AIR TAXI CONCEPT. WHEN A COMPANY CHARTERS A BUSINESS JET, IT RENTS THE ENTIRE AIRCRAFT USUALLY FOR AN ENTIRE DAY, EVEN IF THE PLANE SPENDS MUCH OF ITS TIME ON THE GROUND. DAYJETS VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING, BRAD NOE, EXPLAINED HOW THEIR UNIQUE COMPUTERIZED BOOKING SYSTEM IS A KEY PART OF MAKING THE AIR TAXI IDEA FLY.

BRAD NOE, DAYJETS VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING
So our DayJet members log into our website, and it’s a membership website. We are going to say if you’re willing to check in as early as 7AM and get to Tallahassee as late as 12PM, we are going to take all the reservations in the system, and we are going to optimize a flight plan for the next day. When we’re done with that, we’re going to notify you via email and say, “You gave us 7 to 12, but really what you have to do is you have be at the airport at 8 o’clock, and we are going to get you to Tallahassee at 10 o’clock.

IACOBUCCI
I think it’s a huge deal if you live in communities that don’t have the commercial support. And that’s most of the small communities in the United States. Frankly, the transportation system that we have today is better oriented toward serving the needs of people that live in communities that have a lot of volume going between them.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
IACOBUCCI SAYS THE PRICES WILL RANGE FROM ABOUT 300 TO 1200 DOLLARS ONE WAY, DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU BOOKED, YOUR FLEXIBILITY, AND WHERE YOU’RE GOING.

IACOBUCCI
We really do know who are customer’s gonna be. They’re not the CEO’s and COO’s and CFO’s, those guys they want to charter, want a charter today and they charter big iron and they know how to do that and they like that. Our customer’s the middle manager, professional services, attorneys, engineers, service and support people, sales, regional sales manager, operations managers, that have the need to go between smaller cities and don’t have a real easy way to do that today.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
IF THERE IS ONE TOWN THAT KNOWS THIS ALL TOO WELL, IT JUST MAY BE VALDOSTA, GEORGIA, POPULATION ABOUT 50 THOUSAND, ABOUT 170 THOUSAND IF YOU INCLUDE THE SURROUNDING COUNTY.

JOHN FRETTI, MAYOR OF VALDOSTA, GEORGIA
In our state if you look at the map, we are the prominent city within 14 to 15 counties—45 to 50 miles. And we are pleased that people come to our city to workshop, play, live and tour.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
JOHN FRETTI IS VALDOSTA’S MAYOR. 14 YEARS AGO WHEN THE TOWN’S POPULATION WAS MUCH SMALLER, IT WAS SERVED BY 6 COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS. NOW IT’S DOWN TO 3 ON A SINGLE AIRLINE.

FRETTI
We were so active that we were ready for a second airline to come into Valdosta.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
SO THE TOWN IS HOPING DAYJETS AIR TAXI SERVICE WILL PICK UP THE SLACK. IF DAYJET DECIDES TO ADD VALDOSTA TO ITS LIST OF STOPS, THE TOWN’S MAYOR IS CONVINCED THERE WILL BE NO SHORTAGE OF CUSTOMERS.

FRETTI
Independent business owners, international companies, if they can have an option like DayJet, and they could make it to Raleigh, DC, even Atlanta or Augusta or Birmingham in a matter of hours, meet for one hour, turn around and come back, they will pay that money because the deal that they’ve just made will help our city and will help their bottom line.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
THE IDEA OF THOUSANDS OF VERY LITE JETS MIXED IN WITH JUMBO JETS CRISSCROSSING THE SKIES BEGS SOME SERIOUS QUESTIONS, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT IT MEANS FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AND OUR CROWDED SKIES. PATRICK FORREY IS PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION.

PATRICK FORREY, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION
Well, it’s at a capacity for one thing and anytime you get further east of this country and on the east coast from all the way up from Maine to Miami, or to Chicago to Atlanta, you have a very high capacity air space system where it’s very tough to get other aircraft into that system. If we’re talking about major taxi or taxi services, you’re talking an influx of thousands of more aircraft into that very overstressed and saturated airspace.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
ADVOCATES OF VERY LITE JETS ARGUE THAT MOST OF THEM WILL BE FLYING INTO SMALLER AIRPORTS, LEAVING THE LARGER AIRPORTS TO THE BIG GUYS. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AGREE THAT COULD HELP EASE CONGESTION AROUND MAJOR AIRPORTS, BUT THEY ARGUE THAT MAY NOT BE GOOD ENOUGH.

FORREY
Although they’re jets and they go fast, and I think they could probably keep up with most of the major carriers, they could still pose a problem when they are transitioning on the short hauls up and down through the air space, through the flight level stratums. That is where we have our biggest difficulty, most complexities in the airspace system is the transitioning up and down through the airspace or other aircraft traversing the airspace. So that kind of stuff adds to the complexity, it adds to the capacity and it adds to the, you know, the stress of what we’re trying to do out there to keep those airplanes separated.

RABURN
In terms of the airspace we have two sets of issues here. The first one is once you get up into the higher altitudes and, you know, for anybody who flies a lot, whether as a pilot or a passenger, you know, I’d sort of ask the first question, how often do you see other airplanes up there? The answer is-

RATHER
Not often.

RABURN
Not often. There’s a lot of sky. It’s a very, very, very big sky.

RATHER (VOICE OVER)
FOR THOSE LIKE ECLIPSE’S VERN RABURN, WHO LOOK TO THE MINI JETS AS THE DAWN OF A WHOLE NEW ERA IN AVIATION, THE NAYSAYERS ARE JUST AFRAID TO DREAM BIG.

RABURN
Right now, mid-day, there’s probably 6 thousand, 65 hundred planes in total over all of the United States. Think about the number of cars on the freeway in New York or Las Angeles in any given moment, that tells you how much space there really is. But we can increase that with the same levels of safety and arguably improve safety by up to as many as 20 or 30 thousand aircrafts. There’s a technology solution to any potential crowding in the sky, the crowding on the ground is not really an issue because we’re going to be using the airports that aren’t being used.

RATHER (ON CAMERA)
A FEW WEEKS AGO ON THIS PROGRAM WE TALKED TO SOME NEW YORKERS, INHABITANTS OF AMERICA’S GREATEST MELTING POT, ABOUT THEIR ATTITUDES ON IMMIGRATION JUST AS THE DEBATE IN WASHINGTON WAS HEATING UP. IT’S CLEAR THAT IMMIGRATION IS SOMETHING THIS COUNTRY WILL NEED TO COME TO TERMS WITH, AND SOONER RATHER THAN LATER. BY NOW, MOST OF US ARE WELL VERSED IN THE ARGUMENTS SURROUNDING IMMIGRATION HERE. THE BUZZ WORDS—SUCH AS AMNESTY AND GUEST WORKERS, TO QUESTION ABOUT ECONOMICS AND FAIRNESS. WE STILL KNOW VERY LITTLE, HOWEVER, ABOUT THE ATTITUDES AND AMBITIONS THAT DRAW SO MANY PEOPLE TO AMERICA FROM COUNTRIES SUCH AS MEXICO AND WE TEND TO THINK VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE WAYS THAT AMERICAN CULTURE AND GOODS CROSS BORDERS, HEADED IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. FOR GOOD OR BAD, THIS UNAWARENESS IS A LUXURY OF LIVING IN THE RICHEST NATION ON EARTH, A PLACE THAT FOR SOME IS A DREAM DESTINATION AND FOR OTHERS, A WAY STATION ON THE ROAD OF NECESSITY. FOR HDNET, DAN RATHER REPORTING. GOOD NIGHT.