Oaxaca on my Mind - a promise to Brad Will...

Last night as we put the finishing touches on an altar for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at a local gallery, I stepped back to take in all of our tribute to the spirits of the dearly departed. Photos of the dead, family and friends, lovingly arranged with flowers, candles and items from their everyday lives that we identify with them. Their favorite foods, a musical instrument, an old metal comb. Among those items I had placed an old film camera and a photo of a guy that I had never met. His name was Bradley Will, an American indie documentary filmmaker and reporter. He was killed by government forces in Oaxaca, Mexico on Friday.

As a filmmaker and activist, I feel a deep connection with Bradley Will. As an American citizen who lived in Mexico for 3 years, I fear what is about to befall my beloved adopted country. But what is really happening in Oaxaca, Mexico?
Imagine if teachers in Philadelphia finding out their salaries were being cut, without possibility of a raise and the man responsible was the governor, a man who was already under suspicion of rigging his own election the previous year. Imagine taking to the streets to protest and being met by thugs and police in plainclothes, shooting rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Brad Will died on the front lines of a barricade, shot by goverment officials, with a camera still in his hand. He wanted to bring the truth of this uprising to the world and it cost him his life.
You would have heard about it in the news, no?
It is happening in Oaxaca, Mexico, but it might as well be on a planet in another galaxy.The silence of the MSM on this conflict is deafening, maddening and completely understandable. Populist movements are to be ignored until they come to power, when they can be openly reviled.
Now as the federales march into Oaxaca to "RESTORE ORDER" I cringe at the thought of more violence - and I make a promise to Brad Will as I light the candle in front of his photo.
You won't have died in vain, compadre, the future will know what peace really means, the future will know what justice really means, the future will know what democracy really means.
Please Kossacks, take this cause on as your own- push this into the news and save some lives, for Brad Will and for us all.

•  Gracias, companero....

  Beautifully written...and of course I agree. Oh, how I agree..
  The MSM is taking a LITTLE notice, now that perhaps 4,000 Preventative Police have flooded Oaxaca.
  And reviled Governor Ulises Ruiz is STILL in charge....

  by la urracca on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:34:36 AM PDT

  •  As is often the case

    ...the MSM tends to arrive for the eulogies.

    Article Link Today on Brad Will From the Washington Post.
    
    
    BRAD WILL 1970 - 2006
    
    
    

    by Robert Davies on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 09:03:32 AM PDT

    •  Thanks to Colleen and Rebecca of the AP

      Who are the two journalists responsible for getting this AP wire story written and into the Washington Post.

      We all need to support journalists like them who work within the MSM to get the story out.

      by AskQuestions on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 09:10:26 AM PDT

•  Pinche Chota

  Boinboing has a really good post up on Ruiz's Oaxaca murders.

  I'm gonna see if I can post a picture of one of the gunmen...

  by TustonDAZ on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:48:58 AM PDT

•  There is some news filtering through,

  but even google searches yield very little current news. Most of it is slanted toward the government.

  by slatsg on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:51:56 AM PDT

•  Can you post his photo?

  Are there any links to news about the uprising?  Websites?  This diary makes me think we should remember all the journalists and activists and ordinary citizens being killed in this cause in a dKos photo gallery and with links to follow the story.  If there is video, I know some Kossacks know how to get it on Crooks and Liars and other sites.  I wish I knew how to do this myself, but I have seen it done with Keith Olbermann's diaries and comments.

  If you can scan in the photo or get a copy onto PhotoBucket and link to it here, it would help bring this tragedy home.  I wonder if the Mexican government is making its move right now because they know the elections are clogging the arteries of the news in the US.  With the paltry capacity of the MSM news already down to a trickle of real news, it creates the opportunity for "friendly" governments to avoid extensive (or any) coverage for their dirty little police actions and wars.

  It might not hurt to send email to Keith Olbermann in case he might pick up the story.  I don't know that he would, but a few emails to MSM outlets might get them to look at it.  Such a tragedy needs our attention and the people need our prayers.  This link is to a diary about how to blitz emails in support of Countdown.  We could use some of these links to email them about this story.

  I am glad you have posted this diary so we can remember the price of liberty and the life of a brave journalist and filmmaker.    

  by eOz on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 08:57:52 AM PDT

  •  Above

    by Robert Davies on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 09:03:58 AM PDT

  •  A good place to start

    on assainations , kidnapping and assaults of Journalists in Mexico is Here, at
    The Committee to Protect Jounalists.

    Reporters Without Borders released this Statement on Will's Death.

    Also some Traction on Oaxaca and Brad Will's murder with CBS STORY and the WaPo link above.

    _______________________________________________________

    Despite what Bush and Cheney surrogates say,
    Media bashing  Republican mouth breathers on the Hill and
    Administration shills comfortably "embedded" in the Armchair punditry,

    In IRAQ, MURDER IS THE TOP CAUSE OF JOURNALIST DEATHS, and they're not getting killed in "hotel rooms" in the Green Zone - -

    A good place on Jounalist killed on duty in IRAQ is here, also from The Committee to Protect Journalists  

    by Robert Davies on Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 10:10:56 AM PDT