By Casa Chapulín
October 29, 2006. 10am.
PFP helicopters circle the city. The radio urges people to go outside with mirrors to blind the helicopters. We watch from our roof as, all around our house, old women and small children hold up their mirrors as the helicopters fly overhead. The valley below us is filled with the constant glitter of bright light from citizens doing the same.
The night was long and filled with anxiety for Oaxaca’s citizens. Glued to our radio, we listened to their calls for peaceful resistance and reinforcement at the barricades under attack. At 2am there was an urgent knock at our door- a friend who had been at a nearby barricade had run for his life when an estimated 40 priistas showed up and opened fire.
We are shocked and appalled at the recent attacks on barricades in the city of Oaxaca, which led to the death of three APPO sympathizers and one American journalist Friday, October 27th. More than fifteen people have been killed since June 14th, the day when the state police, using tear gas, firearms, and dogs, attempted to remove the protesting teachers from the zócalo. Assassinations, illegal detentions, and intimidations have occurred not only at the barricades, but also in broad daylight near the homes of teachers and social movement participants and around peaceful meetings of civic associations.
Every morning, news of shootings by local police dressed as civilians and priistas against the barricades spreads over the city. Some news comes as a rumor, some appears in the papers. The spin in the international media has been simplified and biased. Thousands of women teachers embroidering under the tarps, with modest demands for improvements in education and authentic democracy in Oaxaca, have been depicted by some media as subversive radical leftists prone to violence. In contrast, the groups of hitmen have been portrayed as honest citizens tired of barricades, violence and graffiti. These hitmen, among them local police dressed as civilians, are, in fact paramilitaries paid by the state governor. The media has consistently discredited the social movement, which seeks to open up a democratic space where different cultures and ideas can converge to shape the future of Oaxaca. Diverse voices merge in a unique recognition of the plurality of Oaxacan society: indigenous people, middle class teachers, businesses, students, artists, academics and civic associations call for change.
Notable is the tenacity and the will of the people of Oaxaca to achieve the resignation of Ulises Ruiz and enact a process of social change, despite the campaign of intimidation the state government has led. Together with the Section 22 teachers’ strike and the APPO’s barricades, a strong movement towards active citizenship and authentic participation has begun to develop.
Following the most recent wave of violence, including the murder of the American journalist, Mexican President Vicente Fox announced yesterday that he would send the Federal Preventive Police (PFP by its Spanish initials). All commercial and civil flights were cancelled; yet the Oaxacan sky yesterday was busy with planes shipping federal police to the local airport. While the movement holds onto some small hope that these forces could be used as peacekeeping troops and even serve to prevent some of the violence constantly unleashed by the state paramilitary, they fear the possibility of an attack similar to the one last May in San Salvador de Atenco, and continue to demand that the PFP that surround the city be pulled out of Oaxaca immediately.
Radio Universidad is the last remaining voice of the social movement, keeping all the barricades informed about shootings and provocations carried out by priistas and local police. The radio transmitting from the Ciudad Universitaria is the only media link between the different locations of the social resistance. The broadcasters continue to call for people to resist armed priistas and local police dressed as civilians, but not to enter into confrontations with the PFP. They constantly stress the pacifist nature of the movement. Last night at 1am we could hear shots in the background as Radio Universidad announced that there were provocations outside. They continue to broadcast, but people fear that transmission may be cut at any time.
In the last weeks, people in the corner shops, the zócalo and in the barricades have expressed emotions of hope and joy as Oaxaca begins to shape a kind of government that would serve the interests of the people who live here. Now their faces show heavy anxiety and exhaustion. We wish that today not bring them any more sorrow. Last night at one of the barricades, a compañera called Esperanza reminded us that despite the apprehension and adversity, “hope is always the last one to die”.
DAY OF DEAD – INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SOLIDARITY
To support the movement organize demonstrations in front of your local embassy.
This week’s Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Oct 31st – Nov. 2nd) people in Mexico will be celebrating one of the most important religious holidays of the year, the Day of the Dead. During this holiday people prepare altars to honor their loved ones who’ve passed away.
One way of showing solidarity with the people of Oaxaca would be to prepare a small altar with a picture or name of one of the murdered, candles, and flowers, and take your altar to a Mexican embassy.
Ideas for signs or banners include:
Fox: ¡Desaloje a Ulises, no al movimiento!
Fox: Evict Ulises, not the movement!
¡Ya basta con la represión y violencia hacia los maestros en Oaxaca!
Stop the repression and violence against teachers in Oaxaca!
!Fuera Ulises maldito perro de Oaxaca!
(This is a common writing on the walls of Oaxaca)…
During the previous months more than 15 people have been killed with many more detained, assaulted or disappeared. Please find ways to show your solidarity with the people and help stop the escalation of human rights violations.
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