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Oaxaca...The Basics

Friday, October 27 two teachers and one U.S. journalist were shot to death in Oaxaca, Mexico. MECC will do its part and offer information.

by Victorya McEvoy

Since May, 2006, a peaceful protest had occupied the central plaza of Oaxaca city. The protest began as an annual teachers' union strike, now in its 26th year, demanding better conditions for teachers and students. SNTE (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Educativo) has over 70,000 members, making it the largest union in Mexico. Strikers initially occupied the plaza as a response to the state government's refusal to negotiate with them; demands included free breakfasts for students, school uniforms and shoes, books and supplies, minimally adequate school buildings, and a teachers' pay raise to cover the cost of living.

The government responded brutally in the early morning hours of June 14th. As the teachers slept, Oaxaca state Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz ordered 3,000 armed state police to attack the occupied plaza. After a day's effort, much teargas and many wounded, the police where unsuccessful in removing the strikers; by nightfall, the teachers were again in possession of the city center. Now, however, the teachers were reinforced by a growing myriad of social, student and peasant organizations who joined forces with them in outrage over the tactics used by Ruiz.

Hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals throughout the state united in solidarity: transportation workers, university employees, local business and market employees have all gone on strike for various periods of time. Public health workers also declared an indefinite strike (only attending to emergencies) until the governor is removed from office. "Mega-marches" have put more people in the city streets than populate the city itself. The Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People (APPO) was formed to unify the masses and to declare the people's demand for the removal of Governor Ruiz, whose PRI party was formerly in power at the federal level and currently controls politics in Oaxaca. The teachers of the SNTE have refused to return to work until the governor has been removed.

The strikers and their supporters have intentionally created what they call an atmosphere of "ungovernability" to clarify that their demand for the exit of the governor is nonnegotiable. Their tactics have been nonviolent: they've built barricades (consisting primarily of vehicles) that are closed at night to protect various neighborhoods ; they have occupied all government offices in the city and have taken over all radio stations (though recently appear to have departed from several). Citizens have successfully blockaded banks, car dealerships, multinational fast-food chains and highways. Women have even moved their washing machines down steep hills and into the middle of normally busy intersections, filling them with rocks to help keep paramilitaries from gaining access to their neighborhoods.

As a community, strikers and supporters (including many internationals) are self-governing, providing necessary services themselves. Women and children empty the city's trashcans to maintain the cleanliness of their 'home'. Food is donated by locals, many of whom are impoverished themselves, to sustain the now income-less strikers. They've even begun a campaign to clean up graffiti on buildings placed there by strikers in the early days of the protest. Envisioning the necessary conditions for the construction of a more just society, the people have held a national forum: "Constructing Democracy and Governability in Oaxaca", to discuss the need for a new state constitution based on politics of inclusion and respect for diversity

The strikers resisted using violence in response to the violence used on them, until the sniper attacks this past Friday which killed three and injured dozens. That violence escalated today (Sunday, 10/29), with federal riot police being sent in by president Vicente Fox, resulting in many more injuries.

The teachers and their Mexican and international supporters have put out an urgent request to contact Mexican consular offices (a list for North America can be found at http://www.mexonline.com/consulate.htm ) to let them know that the world is watching, and to demand an end to the violence and a peaceful and fair resolution to the strike.