OAXACA ALERT UPDATE: The teachers ask for our help!

There is a new commnunique from the teachers on strike in Oaxaca, Mexico. They have held out for months now, to try and put and end to the unjust, corrupt, and repressive rule of the PRI Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

 They ask for our help.  They are afraid. President Fox of Mexico has said that he will not rule out violence against the strikers of Oaxaca.

 Most of us cannot physically go to Oaxaca, to stand with the teachers. But we can send the messages of support ( don't worry if you don't speak Spanish...someone there will understand).And we can watch carefully what happens, so that the world knows exactly what happens there.

PLEASE keep calling - to Amnesty International,to Democracy NOW ,to the Mexican Consulate in your state, to your congressman and senator.

This is part of what was was posted tonight, on www.Narconews.com
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Communiqué: Encampment for Dignity and Against Repression in Oaxaca
Donate Seventy-Two Hours for Peace
By Civil Society Organizations of Oaxaca

 The undersigned social organizations and Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) members make an urgent call to the people of Oaxaca, of Mexico, and of the world to come and form an "Encampment for Dignity and Against Repression in Oaxaca"; to come out and defend the Oaxacan people and avoid bloodshed due to the lack of vision on the part of our politicians.

All of us who want to see a political solution to the conflict, which will only happen once Ulises is gone, must form peace and solidarity brigades in order to secure and safeguard the welfare of the Oaxacan people, in such a way that we persuade those who think crudely that bloodshed will push this conflict in a new direction.

We cannot allow repression to be the solution. Let us all participate in the encampment for dignity and against repression dressed in white, as a clear signal that we are in favor of a peaceful movement and of a political and dignified resolution. Let us also go out into the streets with bandanas of different colors, to send the signal that we are a movement of many diverse actors that are willing to protect our compañeras and compañeros.

The encampments will be a form of cultural expression, unlike the crude and sterile political and military activity. Oaxaca is a state of immense cultural diversity, stemming from tremendous ancestral struggles, which has always been characterized by the dignity of its people. Let us demonstrate that Oaxaca's dignity is humanity's dignity.

The encampments will be installed beginning Wednesday, October 4 at 12:00 noon, in the Santo Domingo Esplanade, and will be renewed every 72 hours. Participants should bring blankets, tents, napsacks, sleeping bags, nylon, umbrellas and food.

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There is much more. Go to Narco News for the full communique, and if you read Spanish, please go the their website: www.oaxacalibre.org

And please send them messages of strength and hope at:
[e-mail]

GRACIAS, COMPANEROS!

•  Gracias a ti, tambien.

  Thank you for keeping us well informed.  We certainly can't rely on the media for this information.

  by suzq on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 10:01:36 PM PDT

•  Won't rule out violence?

  Against the people responsible for teaching the next generation?  Fox is fucking nuts.  

  Thanks for this diary, I sent an email earlier today and I hope everyone else does the same.

  by fabooj on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 10:31:03 PM PDT

•  They're showing us how to do it...

  Thank you so much for the information-- I will write them to tell them their courage teaches us--as does the passionate tenacity of Obrador in the face of Mexico's stolen election. As we slowly let democracy ebb away, these brave and determined workers to our south keep the flame alive.  

  If only Kerry, Gore and the entire democratic leasdership  in 2000, and 2004, had  had a tenth of the courage of  Obrador and of the nurses of Oaxaca.

  by Duccio on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 10:44:19 PM PDT

•  Oops --Teachers!!!

  Feel like an idiot. I mean Teachers. Am also working on a nurse's walk out at our local hospital and just garbled my job titles--but they're all heroes

  by Duccio on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 10:53:40 PM PDT

•  Problems with this

  Inviting foreigners to join them is not a good idea, IMO. Observers are fine, but encouraging foreigners to join in the actual encampments is not a good idea, for the movement and for the foreigners. It is seriously against the law and will not play well with the general Mexican population, whose support they  need.

  That said, it is important that the world keep watching and keep sending emails to Mexican authorities.

  Thanks for the diary, la urraca. I see your Oct 1  diary is showing up on google news :=).

  Hugo Estrada wrote a diary about Tlatelolco yesterday, that sli`pped away pretty  fast, Oct 2 was the anniversary of the massacre.

  by mariachi mama on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 06:18:24 AM PDT

•  APPO is not the teachers' movement

  APPO is a group of future terrorists who act like the mafia.  I'm all for the teachers' movement, but when APPO got involved it became bad news.  APPO are throwing bombs into banks, they are funding themselves by forcing businesses to pay "protection" money just like the mafia, they are attacking journalists, they are shooting at innocent bystanders, and to put it simply APPO is destroying Oaxaca and it's people.  The teachers were a lot better off before APPO got involved.  Unfortunately at this point, they are too afraid to tell those thugs to back off and let the teachers' movement work without violence.

  
  So count me out of your terrorist guerilla movement.  I'll stand up for the people of Oaxaca, the teachers, and for the removal of the governor.  Just don't expect me to be involved in oppressing and hurting innocent people.

  by theboz on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 06:03:59 PM PDT

  •  Don't believe everthing you read!

    The APPO are NOT the ones throwing the bombs!Or at least not according to the people I have spoken to in Oaxaca.
    All evidence points to a counter insurgency group that is looking to provide the Government an excuse to begin an invasion.

    I, too, support the teachers...I have two friends among the strikers, and I have been in email contact with one or the other almost daily.

    There are definately elements that are undesirable in Oaxaca right now....but the teachers are holding fast, and continue to demand the resignation of Ulises.

    The Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo was with the group in Mexico City today, demanding justice for Oaxaca.

    Please go the the Narco News site, and read the entire post. Also, if you have read the other things that I have posted, you will know that I support NO violence, support ALL the people of Oaxaca...and wish fervently for a peaceful resolution!!!

    Please go read the entire posting.

    by la urracca on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 08:01:11 PM PDT

    •  I've seen it on TV as well

      I forget what reporter it was, but a big-time Mexican reporter that I believe was from TV Azteca went to interview the major players in Oaxaca and report on it.  When he interviewed the teachers, APPO, etc. everything was fine.  However, when he went to interview some of the local politicians, people attacked him and his cameraman.  Some of those people he recognized from meeting with the APPO leaders previously.  I also heard about a French reporter that was attacked by APPO, and I've seen interviews with locals from Oaxaca complaining that they have to pay APPO protection money just to be able to open their stores.

      
      In any case, I am now and will always be skeptical of movements like this.  My background is that my family is from Northern Ireland and outside of my parents and some of their siblings, I still have family there.  I'm very familiar with "people's movements" that always turn out to be nothing more than a new terrorist organization as soon as the people who start it are pushed out by thugs.  The teachers who started their strike in Oaxaca were right, but since then it looks like too many thugs have gotten involved.

      
      How can this mess be resolved?  It's hard to say.  If I were in Vicente Fox's position, I would circulate an open letter asking for the governor to resign, and I would probably work with PRI to see if there is some sort of deal that can be made for them to apply pressure on their own guy to resign since PRI people generally hate PAN and especially Fox.  Additionally, I would get Calderon to start spending a lot of time talking about social programs.  I know PAN is not the party of social programs for the people, but if they want to stop all this they have to learn to do so.  The only unfortunate thing is that APPO refuses to talk with the government and try to come up with some solutions.

      by theboz on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 06:28:42 AM PDT

      •  I am very troubled

        by APPOs refusal to enter into talks with the government. If they really care about the people of Oaxaca, they are going to have to make some concessions, the current situation can not continue.

        by mariachi mama on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 02:16:14 PM PDT

        •  I agree...

          There is some speculation that there is behind-the-scenes negotiation....I sure hope so.

          I have just heard that more than 300 (!!!!!) businesses have gone under, as a result of no tourism.

          The other rumor floating around, is that the APPO has till Monday...then force may be used. I DO want to see U.R. go down...but I do not want to see more violence in Oaxaca.

          by la urracca on Fri Oct 06, 2006 at 04:09:27 PM PDT

•  Oaxaca demo reaches Mexico City

  Thousands of protesters from Oaxaca have marched to Mexico City to demand their state governor's resignation.
  They accuse Ulises Ruiz, governor of the southern state, of rigging elections and using brutal forced to put down protests.

  The protesters have been involved in a bloody struggle with security forces in which five people have died since May.

  Mr Ruiz has denied any responsibility for the violence and has refused to step down.

  The demonstrations started as a demand by teachers for more pay - but it has since become a much wider campaign.

  The demonstrators have walked from Oaxaca city, waving banners and shouting slogans.

  They carried effigies of the Oaxaca state governor, Ulises Ruiz, and coffins - one with the words "the bad government is dead" written on it.

  By marching to the country's capital city, the protesters believe they can pressure the Senate into forcing Mr Ruiz to quit.

  President Vicente Fox says he wants the dispute to end before he leaves office in December.

  But the BBC's Duncan Kennedy, in Mexico, says it is not proving easy to pacify the teachers and their demands for political as well as economic changes.

  Raw Story article

  by illyia on Tue Oct 10, 2006 at 11:35:06 AM PDT