Anonymous against the drug cartels.

In what is a totally new kind of conflict, the Anonymous entered in war against the Drug cartel Zeta.

In Mexico there is a real war going on against drug cartels. Violence is escalating and no one knows how this will ends. Since 2006, the fights between cartels and between cartels and the government have made around 43000 victims. Facing the helplessness of the police and the silence of the journalists, inhabitants have reacted on the web, via web pages and social networks, to denounce narco's activities.

It is in this context, that anonymous openly challenged the Zetas cartel. The 6^th october 2011, Anonymous, launched via a youtube video the « cartel operation », nicknamed #opcartel.

In this video, the hackers claim for one of their members, captured by the narcotraficants to be freed within a month. The member of the organization has been kidnapped while he was spreading fliers during an “operation paperstorm”. If the cartel doesn't obey, the Anonymous would reveal the identity of some corrupt officials. Indeed, the masked hacker in the video says he would denounce “policemen, journalists, taxi drivers” in touch with the Zetas. By doing this, the organization clearly has warned of what sensible information it could release about the connection between cartels and the government. This blackmail proved to be efficient, since the 6^th of November, the hostage has been officially released.

But it turned out that the operation was very perilous and has to be canceled. If the names were to be released, the hostage's family would have to pay the consequences.

This was not the first action led by Anonymous. The collective has been acquiring his notoriety with important attacks such as the hacking of internet pages of the Scientology church, the Norwegian killer Anders Breivik or even under Ben ali's regime. But this time the operation seemed way more dangerous. Since last September, 3 persons had been killed for having released information against Zeta on the web. 3 young bloggers and a web activist have been executed, their bodies hung on a bridge with a written warning.

Nevertheless, Barrett Brown, one of the only anonymous member expressing publicly without a mask, announced the resumption of hostilities.

The collective has no formal organization structure, and the members only communicate via chat-rooms on the web. It turned out that the community was divided on the question. Some twitters using the hashtag #opcartel expressed their concerns about the dangerousness of the project. Finally, Brown promised to continue the action on his own responsibility.

But some even wonder, is this whole story true? Has the activist really been kidnapped? No name, age or evidences have been provided. Does Anonymous really have the goods it claims it has? This action also might be an attack by a rival cartel. Some even suspect the Zetas to have set the all history themselves.

This incredible story shows us that social networks are now part of the real world. The war between Anonymous and Zeta's is a new face of this conflict that don't hesitate to kill and kidnap real persons.
Originally fighting for the freedom of expression, the anonymous are now acting politically, becoming a new king of anarchist activism. This operation also questions whether it is the role of such an organization to react when the authorities are not able to, or don't want to.

Clara Hanot