MEXICO - MEXICO CITY, OAXACA

Building Power

After the death of my friend and media activist Brad Will, I made the difficult choice to go into the heart of the civil resistance in Oaxaca with my video camera. It was a tough choice for me to make because I knew that, in part, Brad was killed because he was a journalist. I knew I was taking a risk. I was afraid, but also felt compelled to go to Oaxaca and continue filming where Brad's camera had brutally stopped rolling.

The zócalo in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, is the site of a massive teachers' strike. Of note, 2006 was the 25th year running that Oaxaca's teachers have staged a strike. Usually it lasts a week or two: they receive a small raise, and then get back to work. The demonstrations have been violent at times and have also caused damage to the city's center. The strike was initially called in protest against the lack of funding for teachers and rural schools but is now calling for the resignation of the state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, after he sent over 3000 police into the city centre to break up the occupation early in the morning of June 14, 2006. The several hour street battle was initially thought to have resulted in several deaths.

With all that the indigenous people of Oaxaca have suffered over the last 25 years, it is amazing they're still standing. I found that not only are they standing, they're dancing and singing while they are fighting back.

When I arrived in Oazaca in November of 2007, protesters had taken over the historic center of Oaxaca. After the attack on teachers by police Oaxaca has been in a state of civil rebellion. Forming the APPO, "The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca," the people have created a "movement of the bases, not of leaders, and asserted their demands for broad political and social change. On June 17 APPO, declared itself the governing body of Oaxaca. The Popular Assembly (which formed in June) convened representatives of Oaxaca's state regions and municipalities, unions, non-governmental organizations, social organizations, cooperatives, and parents. APPO urged everyone to organize popular assemblies at every level: neighborhoods, street blocks, unions, and towns. "No leader is going to solve our problems," members of APPO repeated.

I went into Oaxaca feeling certain that violence was never the way, and that one of the parameters of being a spiritual activist was to never take a violent stance. Something changed for me when I arrived in Mexico in the heart of the struggle. It was here I begin to see that it is far more complex and not a simple absolute.

WEB LINKS
APPO on Wikipedia
CIPO on Wikipedia

BLOG THE ANGEL by Claudia Medina

VIDEOS

Video Diary #2 - Oaxaca Mega March 

Video Diary #3 - Oaxaca Update