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one year on: The mirror of Mexico - Claudio Albertani

June 13, 2007 at 14:37 pm (

test)

Claudio Albertani

Rebellion War

is peace freedom is slavery, ignorance is force

George Orwell

Oaxaca is at peace and reflects a climate

quiet Ulises Ruiz, May 10, 2007
A year after the outbreak of the conflict teachers, Oaxaca is the mirror of Mexico. The process is advancing by leaps and bounds rightward, but also advances the rebellion that seeks and sometimes finds new ways. The poverty they live about 67% of the Oaxacan (2 million 349 000 570 people from a total of 3 million 506 thousand 821, according to official figures) and inequality "is a feature that they can not form an active part in society", according to the World Bank. [1] Crucible

indigenous and mestizo cultures in recent years, the state capital has become a huge showcase for tourists who provides money to local investors, domestic and foreign, but very little to ordinary citizens foot. With the arrival of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) for governor in late 2004, this situation was exacerbated by a renewed authoritarian cycle, characterized by the discretionary use of public resources, increased drug trafficking the destruction of historical and natural heritage, the harassment of independent media, and all kinds of repression. Clumsy and ruthless man, Ruiz Ortiz won at the polls, but, as Felipe Calderon, by way of fraud.

URO wars

Far from being a remnant of the past, the despotism that prevails in Oaxaca summarizes and illustrates the sharp contradictions of contemporary Mexico. Some speak about it, a process latent fascism. [2] Without going into the debate, the fact is that the right wing oligarchy in archaic and modernization drives aggressive power and exclusion while at the same time, there emerges a social insurgency wide, unknown and threatening. This right goes for everything, does not seek legitimacy and agreements but merely enrich and perpetuate itself. In Oaxaca and elsewhere, the program is the same: to dismantle the last vestiges of the welfare state, subjecting the country to the needs of transnational capital and end with what smells right. The specific political and internal wars, which do exist, they matter little, beyond dispute as needed this right encompasses not only the PAN, but much of the PRI and even the so-called institutional left.

The perpetuation in office of URO and has received support from two executives consecutive federal (that of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón) do not clash with the national picture: the first months of the new PAN administration is characterized by the militarization of the country's main indigenous regions, numerous killings by the army and the application United States to implement in Mexico a "Plan Colombia" under the pretext of combating drug trafficking. [3]

ruling in the case of Oaxaca, its arbitrary character was perceived from his campaign. On July 27, 2004, at a ceremony held at proselytizing Huautla de Jimenez, his followers killed Professor Serafin Garcia sticks on the sole crime to oppose his candidacy. Like many others, the crime went unpunished. [4]

August 1, election day, the vote counting system crashed three times, so that the "triumph" of URO-dubbed the largest raccoon [5] - was challenged by a coalition "Todos Somos Oaxaca" championed by Gabino Cue. It did not help: the cards were drawn and then, apparently, the governor was a payment for the dirty war, years before, had coordinated URO Tabasco against Andrés Manuel López Obrador, archenemy of PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo.

Anyway, the first act of the governor was brand new trigger another war, this time against an independent newspaper, Noticias de Oaxaca, judged guilty of the crime of dissent. On June 17, 2005, thugs led by the PRI deputy and "union leader, David Aguilar, stormed the premises of the newspaper. The refusal of the newsroom to join a "strike", the attackers detained the 31 journalists present for more than a month. [6]

However, news because the hostages went out found a way to get information through Internet and the newspaper began printing in Tuxtepec, more than 200 miles from Oaxaca. When police ordered Ruiz Ortiz intercept the truck carrying it, its owner, Ericel Gómez, rented a plane for the newsboys be picked up at the airport, with the help of the teachers union. The dispute continued, the circulation dropped considerably, but ultimately survived News official harassment. Radicalized, yes, its editorial line by becoming the biggest selling newspaper entity. URO picking up his first loss.

Another characteristic event is the attack on Santiago Xanica, a Zapotec Indian community located in the Southern Highlands that for years fought for the respect of their collective rights. In December 2004, a few days of taking possession of URO, the army began to patrol the town and the January 15, 2005, the Preventive Police opened a crossfire against 80 Indians who were making a municipal cemetery near tequio. In the action was seriously wounded Abraham Ramírez Vázquez, leader of the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI). Since the time of the murderers the victims are always guilty, the social activist was arrested without charge and to date is being held at the Pochutla. [7]

Soon after, URO embarked on a costly and environmentally harmful restructuring Oaxaca socket which earned him the antipathy of the local middle class, but allowed him to distribute huge amounts of money from their relatives.

the end of May 2006 in Oaxaca had about seventy political prisoners. Not satisfied, the governor opened fire on Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers has about 70.000 members and a long tradition of independent struggle.
For years, in proximity to the Teachers' Day (May 15), teachers rented a camp in the center of the city to make their claims. The public complained, grumbled, but they rarely haggled sympathy. Catalysts of social consciousness, from dedicated and knowledgeable local deep reality, teachers are highly respected in the state.

On that occasion, called for the approval of his meager salary to national standards, a demand that also involved federal authorities. In the spring of 2006, however, closed all the doors of negotiation. URO launched threats trying to manipulate one of the factions of the movement against the other while the federal government disowned the case PAN is thought to strike and a blow to the PRI.

The camp started on May 22, without meeting much echo in the population. Emboldened, June 14, URO ordered their eviction relying on the element of surprise. Around 4:50 am, officers of several corporations backed by helicopters that dumped toxic grenades attacked the teachers with guns firing. In addition to causing panic among the public, the police destroyed everything they could, including the magisterial station facilities, "Radio encampment." The balance was about 200 injured and an unknown number missing. URO

and showed his willingness to tackle social discontent, as he had done weeks before the governor in Atenco PRI-also-the State of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, with the enthusiastic cooperation of the federal executive PAN. [8] On the eve of the presidential election, the governor of Oaxaca, it sent the message of their leader, Roberto Madrazo, the PRI is the party of order. By then, elections were already bleeding.

Fire
What happened next illustrated once again that when the powerful are too eager to show just hurting their own interests. [9] The population that until then had remained passive, if not overtly hostile attitude changed pouring to the streets in solidarity with teachers.

They regrouped
facing the soldiers with stones and sticks, now aided by academics, civil society and ordinary citizens. Within hours, the angry crowd took up the socket reinstalling the camp despite URO. Then, the teachers ignored the governor, demanding, since that time, his resignation as a prerequisite and essential to resolve the dispute.

Day 16, a mega-march of about 300 thousand people showed the drag of the teachers. Citizens-students, parents, workers, bureaucrats and even, traders received them with applause, and when someone pulled out a banner that read "Ulysses was" everyone cheered.

Meanwhile, the Union de Comunidades Indigenas de la Zona Norte del Istmo (UCIZONI) Matías Romero protested by blocking the road for several hours transisthmic. Both events were a foretaste of things to come soon: the massive demonstrations in the capital and the ramifications of the movement in the rest of the state.

The movement took a turn when, on 18 June, it announced the establishment of the People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), which, in addition to teachers, some 350 organizations converged very nature varied: unions, collective libertarian groups on the left old Marxist-Leninist, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples, workers, artists, students and individuals without party affiliation. APPO emerged and initiative of teachers as a way of channeling social support to their protest movement, but soon surpassed. On day 20, its members agreed to create an interim collective leadership made up of thirty people posing form a common front "to initiate a prolonged struggle to achieve the disappearance of powers, the removal of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and the arrival of popular power." [10]

While the term "People power" may upset by evoking historical experiences, expressed the idea of \u200b\u200btransforming the living conditions of laying the foundations for a new relationship between society and government. Soon

born internal committees, such as news, barricades and propaganda. "We began to form a network of organizations, and any action that we would do was go through a consultation basis, both the teachers and the APPO itself." [11]

Anyway, job demands had already passed in the background before the demand for Ruiz's ouster, which in turn raised demand for democratization.

According Gustavo Esteva, within APPO together three different democratic struggles. [12] The first formal struggle for democracy: how to improve the conditions of representation, how to stop cheating and fraud in the electoral system, to limit manipulation of the media and ensure proper functioning of the institutions of rule of law. These demands are very strong in Oaxaca and highly visible within the APPO. Raises a second stream of participatory democracy, ie the strengthening of the popular initiative, the institution of legal figures of the referendum and the plebiscite, the possibility of revoking the mandates and the choice of what is called participatory budgeting, or the public services are made with the participation of citizens and not arbitrary. The third, radical democracy could be named said: we do not need up there is no political power, we need forms of administrative coordination, but nothing more. This current struggle for a society in which the origin of the law lies in the individual and collective autonomy of all human beings. It is a cross-current in Mexico is based on the experience of indigenous peoples, but also in urban struggles and anarchism.

In the words of David Venegas, "El Alebrije" APPO counselor, jailed since April 13, 2007 in Criminal Ixcotel, "it is possible Living together in a social order itself, emanating from the collective will and not the imposition of a government that is alien to the interests and needs of the people, a social order where the values \u200b\u200bthat prevail [...] are the fraternity, solidarity, cooperation and community defense and no longer a social order based on fear of punishment, the authority, public humiliation or jail. [13] expresses

What David has to do with the demand for self-organization and self-government of the masses who joined the movement and the aspiration to create a new world from the bowels of the old. In addition to explaining the overflow of trade unions and Marxist-Leninist these aspirations are still the best guarantee that the threat of fascism comes across a barrier.

Far from being an extremist, "radical democracy" is a realistic position, ie not far from the facts. It is not ideological, and that is not identified with any particular organization. It is also aware that it is dominant in the whole country. In Mexico, there is a caricature of formal democracy, a little participatory democracy, while democracy is radical expressions in indigenous communities, the Zapatistas and, as an aspiration, in some urban struggles. "So," concludes Esteva- We coexist with the first two streams, because we live in Mexico. We do not intend to separate from Mexico. Still here and we will accept some things of formal democracy, but we will try to do things our way. "

The party

At the end of June 2006, converged on the APPO not only a multitude of organizations, but approaches, individuals and feelings that somehow also refer to the old libertarian tradition that remains alive in magonismo the entity.

As outrage grew, the movement was seizing power, creativity and wealth. In the presidential elections of July 2, the APPO raised a punishment vote Ulises Ruiz. Although many of its members advocated a clear position abstention-and despite the usual manipulations and tricks ", the result was clear: Lopez Obrador won by a wide margin and the PRI was in third position, something never seen in the state.

What followed is a story narrated complex and still the only interests us here review some milestones. From the beginning, the APPO was inspired by the democratic practices of the Zapotec, Mixtec, Mixe, Amuzgo and other peoples. For this, he soon changed his name somewhat anachronistic-in "People's Assembly (the singular) for" People's Popular Assembly "(the plural), which involves several purposes. If the idea of \u200b\u200b"assembly" meant self-management forms which remain in force in 80 percent of the 570 municipalities in Oaxaca, so it was necessary to note that these assemblies have multiple and diverse expressions.

state capital itself is, among other things, an Indian metropolis since several of its colonies are built mainly by migrants going to and from their hometowns. Many of them joined the protests, some were teachers, more artisans and vendors. [14] Upon learning the facts, communities also joined bringing his vast experience and unflagging of grievances, poverty, oppression, marginalization, chiefdom, dispossession, neglect ...

Along came urban youth whose collective identity is constructed the neighborhood, music, clothing and art. "Marginalized and discriminated groups, not only by the government, as a prostitute @ s, gays, lesbians and other loves, were present, albeit discreet" making "the wrongs they suffer ell @ s were part of the collective cry for justice and freedom for tod @ s ". [15]

From June to October 2006, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in massive demonstrations in dozens of previously unseen proportions. Together they forged a plural control where various segments of society learned to live without giving up their differences and peculiarities. Ulises Ruiz detained together in hiding the facts eclipsing all government powers. Together they took public office, created self-government and justice administered by the "Honourable Corps Topiles" militia inspired by Indian tradition. [16]

was not a class movement in the traditional sense, because the working class is almost nonexistent in Oaxaca. [17] It was, perhaps, a movement of movements. There were people with the sickle and hammer on one side of the banners of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the A of anarchy, although most identified by their territorial belonging: neighborhood, district or community.

was not just a local movement, "the experience that we have today is thanks to what has been done in Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. We have been aware of all the processes that have occurred in Latin America and also in the United States with our fellow immigrants. " [18]

Despite the media immediately met people like Flavio Sosa who hang tag, the APPO was also not a movement of leaders. In an interview I did a few days before his arrest, the same Flavio denied that role, "began to run this statement someone made a sign saying:" This movement is not leadership, it's cost base, and finished signing as a group. After a while, some smart guys loved him below boom "is not leadership, nor did the groups". "[19]

Much less was a movement to take power, despite the delusions of some Stalinist of its members. This was recorded, for example, in a graffiti that read the end of October 2006 in the street near the center Tinoco y Palacios Oaxaca's historic, "We want to force to govern, we will not fall into this provocation." What does it mean? Gustavo Esteva responds: "we are not interested in taking this government that this government is a structure of domination to control people and we do not want to occupy that role." [20]

face the atrocities of URO, people started a new process of self-organization and for many months, the capital city went through the unique experience of a life without a government and bureaucracy, but open to dialogue and innovation. The collective wisdom prevailed in a peaceful manner on the caravan of death, disappearances widely enforced and the abuses documented by human rights organizations nationally and internationally.

As a social revolution, many people discovered the hidden action capabilities. Women's participation was intense. Some of the participants had even voted for the PRI, but the movement awakened a new consciousness. One woman, grown up, all alone and without dignity rebel weapons, hijacked a bus, to make it serve the cause. And it was a group of women who operated the TV for 20 days on the facts proving the alternative communication exists.

have to study the role of the media were recovered as the spearhead of the movement. Taking the 12 commercial radio stations and Channel 9 local television began as defensive measures against the destruction of Radio Plantón and the damage inflicted on Radio Universidad, the only independent voice in the city. It is clear that the movement would not have developed so quickly without the radio, which continues to be an important lesson in and out of Oaxaca.

star

Announcer medical movement was 58 years old, the now world-famous Dr. Berta-transmitting from college radio day and night drinking coffee Delicate and smoking cigars. When I went was to meet the victims of repression: I myself saw the demonstrators distributing water from a Red Cross car.

all learned to recognize his voice hoarse with calm and serenity conveyed the needs of the protesters while raining bullets and gas. On November 3, day following the battle of CU who saw the PFP ignominious defeat, he said on Radio Universidad, as in the law, Plantón Radio, Channel 9, the communication is as it should be round trip, with connections via phone and internet open for overseas. If a man comes right now and says I want to pass a message Mr. pass and then give your message. People come and talk to his words, his thought, but also people are very objective. Maybe he does not speak English very well, but he knows what he wants. That no one's for. " [21]

Much has been made of the barricades and there has been evidence of "violence" exercised by the APPO. The reality is that the barricades came as defensive measures to curb the killings of the caravans of death of URO. There were at least 1500 of them, but nobody had any and never know the number for sure. Clear that its members-largely colonists experienced during long nights new forms of sociability and a true collective party.

festive appearance suggests, I think, the only relevant comparison with the Paris Commune, which, in turn, was defined as the biggest party of the nineteenth century. Should add that the Commune of Oaxaca was cut like his illustrious predecessor: there was in Mexico-nor out-large demonstrations in favor of the APPO.

should be added that the people of Oaxaca do not speak of "commune" but of "commonality", a term that refers to the local indigenous experiences. Anyway, it is clear that the boys from the barricades, which held the street fighting, were not "professional" and militants in the traditional sense. Were pure people-including street children as seen in a video of the collective evil eye [22] - people who knew nothing about urban warfare and the training in the heat of the facts.

And now?

The great social movement that shook Oaxacan society is one of the most important events in Mexico's recent history, something that can be compared only with the Zapatista uprising of 1994. The popular response to the abuses of URO was as unexpected as massive, creative and encouraging. The ecology of fear of Oaxaca responded to the ecology of the party that is deeply rooted local tradition. Against the delusions of power, reaffirmed their right to nonviolent tyrannicide expressed in the motto "already fallen, Ulises has already fallen."

The APPO is the result of a long process of accumulation of historical experiences, successes and errors, which converge in the common goal of democratizing the structures of power. Even when he saw the contents of that democratization is in dispute, the truth is that it was the axis that brought together a multifaceted movement that can not be understood from the traditional analysis of a sociological or Marxist.

"What is outlined in Oaxaca is in the line of continuity of the Paris Commune and the communities of Andalusia, Catalonia and Aragon created during the English revolution of 1936-1938, in which self-management experience laid the groundwork for a new society, "Raoul Vaneigem wrote in an appeal for international solidarity published in Mexico by La Jornada. [23]

Vaneigem is right in the sense of what happened in Oaxaca in 2006 is encouraging for all who seek alternatives to the prevailing barbarism within and outside Mexico. However, it is also true that repression annihilated those same hopes. Not evoke here the ordeal experienced by the people of Oaxaca from October 27 2006, the day they were murdered journalist Brad Will in Santa Lucia del Camino and an unknown number of people in Santa Maria Coyotepec.

The best source about that report remains the CCIODH the conclusions read as follows: "The Commission considers that the events in Oaxaca are a link in a legal strategy, police and military, with psychosocial and community whose goal last is to control and intimidate the civilian population in areas where processes are developed civic organization or social movements, non-partisan character. " [24]
participated in the experience and I bear witness that this conclusion is only moderate, but even it falls short to reality. While we found that there were at least 23 victims until the second fortnight of January 2007 (all on the side of motion), we could not document the large number of missing there since the beginning of the conflict. Why? Because terror is such that people did not dare to report the disappearance of their relatives, even before an as reliable as CCIODH.

The excesses of the security forces were not "excessive" or "errors", but a cool experiment in social engineering where the federal authorities acted in coordination with the locals. What did they want? Measure how much repression possibly hold a people without them escape the situation. Armando Bartra well you say, "prepare to face inflamed masses is to assume that they will appear." [25]

masses appeared in Oaxaca and, as in Central America in the 80's, the purpose was "to remove the water from the fish" (as they pray the counterinsurgency manual), spreading terror and show the average citizen what he can happen if you pass the line. The unprecedented penalty of 67 years recently inflicted on the leaders of Atenco, Oaxaca prisoners and their brothers, the horrendous crime of dissent, cast a sinister light on the Mexico Calderon.

What is the balance of seven months of counterinsurgency? The state of terror continues, despite official statements to the contrary. Given the gradual withdrawal of mass participatory silent voices of plurality and the Old Left groups gain spaces previously lacked. Or, rather, had some of their leaders as legitimate participants in the movement, not as part of this or that group.

Some of them work day and night to transform into a political organization APPO vertical Stalinist. This was, for example, Congress Establishing the APPO (10-12 November 2006) or the "Popular Assembly of Peoples of Mexico," largely failed attempt to "export" the APPO model, when a well-known exponent of the "Popular Revolutionary Front ( FPR) said unfettered "The movement in Oaxaca is a movement of leaders." [26]

A traditional struggles between the old organizations carrying costs 30 years of defeats, joined in February 2007 the division over the election issue: whether to participate in local elections to be held at end of June. Formed within the APPO, an electoral bloc (RPF FALP, NIOax, etc.) Which launched a battle to the death against the block abstention (VOCAL, CODEP, CIPO, POS, etc.).. In turn, the voting bloc is fractured by internal conflicts: who would stay with what application and how the party.

Eventually garnered much as anyone, with his usual generosity, the PRD were given a single application. The damage, however, were incalculable. One is, most likely, the arrest of David Venegas, APPO counselor, chosen by the barricades-sector member of VOCAL, libertarian and abstention. April 13, David was arrested while addressing a meeting of the APPO, under office fantasy of owning 30 grams of cocaine and two bags of heroin.

Weeks later released from jail serious allegations against some electoral bloc known leaders who claimed responsibility for his capture. Without going into the merits of the case, the fact is that David was arrested on the same complaint that they had circulated against him before his arrest. [27] There is more: in March, as part of its counter, the police had planted explosives in the vicinity of what had been the roadblock Brenamiel, a charge immediately denied by David himself at a press conference. [28]

So, it would be a futile exercise organizations find pure, separate the "good" from "bad" or "revolutionary" of the "reformers." The dividing lines do not pass through the organizations, but through them. Even among the Stalinists of the FPR are comrades valuable asset @ s. Revitalize the movement is not, either, an ethnic. The contribution of indigenous people is essential, no doubt, but they are not immune to corruption and the deadly lure of professional politics, as many have expressed to me personally.

David suggests that "if channel that offers the APPO [...] is narrow and limited, this heroic people know to search and find ways for their release. "[29] The diagnosis is severe, but is not very far from reality. Yet all is not lost. In Oaxaca, runs a question: how to recreate the magic moment we experienced last year? Only women and men who participated in the movement can find the answer.

Mexico City, June 10, 2007

[1] Quoted in Luis Arellano Mora, "Oaxaca: Poverty in figures"
http://www.transicionoaxaca.com.mx/index.php?option = com_content & task = view & id = 42 & Itemid = 75

[2] Carlos Fazio, "Toward a state of emergency?" La Jornada, December 4, 2006.

[3] La Jornada, June 9, 2007. See the paradigmatic cases of rape and murder of the old Ernestina Ascension in Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz (La Jornada 27 February) and the slaughter of a family of 5 people in Sinaloa. guilty of "not having stopped at a checkpoint" (La Jornada, June 3).
[4] See International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation (CCIODH), Report on the events in Oaxaca, http://cciodh.pangea.org/quinta/informe_oaxaca_cas.shtml

[5] In Mexico, call " raccoons' scrubbers not only bears but also the operators of electoral fraud by manipulating the votes cast at the polls turn defeat into victory, or nullify the victory of one party, usually from the opposition.

[6] Interview with Sanmartín Ismael Hernández, editor of Noticias de Oaxaca, December 29, 2006,
[7] See mexico.indymedia.org / tiki-download_file.php?

fileId = 62 [8] Committee on Civil International Human Rights Observation, Preliminary report on the events in Atenco, 2006, http://cciodh.pangea.org/cuarta/informe_preliminar.htm

[9] For this I relied rapid reconstruction in my own interviews, the report on Oaxaca, op. cit. and the story of Gustavo Esteva on the occasion of the Meeting of analysis of the social movement in Oaxaca. Dialogue between members of civil organizations and academic institutions in Oaxaca and Mexico City, Universidad de la Tierra, Oaxaca, March 18, 2007.

[10] La Jornada, June 19, 2006.

[11] Interview with Miguel Linares Rivera, by Hernán Ouviña, Mexico City, October 29, 2006, http://www.espacioalternativo.org/node/1731

[12] Interview with Gustavo Esteva, University Earth, Oaxaca, November 3, 2006

[13] David Venegas Reyes, "Alebrije", letter from Ixcotel, April 23, 2007, http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=144954
[14] Interview with Nicephorus Urbieta, May 3, 2007.
[15] David Venegas, letter cited.
[16] In indigenous communities, the "topiles" are elected assembly and free exercise of justice by baton and without carrying weapons.
[17] This led to the angry criticism of an anarchist group that was at the APPO movement of the petty bourgeoisie (¡!). See: "Oaxaca: APPO and reformism as usual" http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/463625.php
[18] Miguel Linares Rivera, interview cited.
[19] Interview with Flavio Sosa, November 4, 2006.
[20] G. Esteva, interview cited.
[21] Interview with Dr. Berta Muñoz, Oaxaca, Ciudad Universitaria, November 3, 2006.
[22] This group has done an outstanding job of collecting the events in Oaxaca. See http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/555.shtml
[23] Raoul Vaneigem, "Call of a partisan of individual and collective autonomy", La Jornada, November 11, 2006.
[24] CCIODH, "Conclusions and preliminary recommendations" http://cciodh.pangea.org/quinta/070120_inf_conclusiones_recomendaciones_cas.shtml.
[25] Armando Bartra, "The size of the challenges," Guillotine No. 56, Spring 2007.
[26] 11-12 November 2006, local SITUAM, Mexico City.
[27] David Venegas, letter of May 15, 2007,
http://www.vocal.lunasexta.org/davidvenegas/carta-de-david-15-de-mayo.html
[28] La Jornada, April 14, 2007.
[29] David Venegas, April 23, letter cited.