John Ross (activist)

John Ross (March 11, 1938 – January 17, 2011) was an American author, poet, freelance journalist, and activist who lived in Mexico and wrote extensively on its leftist political movements.

Born in New York City, he was part of the Beat movement, migrated to San Francisco and Arcata, California and first came to Mexico in the late 1950s. He lived in Michoacán, and the Hotel Isabel in Mexico City. He was one of the earliest draft resisters during the Viet Nam War, for which he served time in federal prison at California's Terminal Island.

Ross was the author of many books, including a gritty portrait of Mexico City, where he spent almost all of his time since 1985.

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

He died at Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, Mexico. He is survived by his 3 children Dylan, Dante Ross and Carla and his grand children Honore and Zoe.

A prolific journalist, Ross wrote countless articles for San Francisco newspapers, CounterPunch, 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 with 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, potential environmental threats from the introduction of genetically modified plants— in particular those utilizing genetic use restriction technology— and the Iraq War. His articles have appeared in San Francisco Bay Guardian The Nation, CounterPunch, The Progressive, La Jornada, and The Rag Blog.

Ross's work reflected a deep and abiding interest in rebel movements like the Zapatistas in southern Chiapas state. John Ross wrote several books about the Zapatistas (1995 American Book Award winning Rebellion from the Roots, The War Against Oblivion, and ¡ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible), as well as a somewhat autobiographical memoir (Murdered by Capitalism), and several chapbooks of poetry. Most recently, he had initiated the publication of IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq.