UPDATED - Insurgent Oaxaca: La Lucha Continúa

The struggle of the Teacher's Union and APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca) to oust the corrupt governor of Oaxaca State, and to construct a new, more justice social order, continues, despite serious repression.

In the summer of 2006, members of Section 22 of the Teacher's Union, other members of the working class, students, indigenous people, peasants and others, took control of much of Ciudad Oaxaca, and other parts of Oaxaca State, in an effort to oust the corrupt and brutal governor - Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. What had started as a teacher’s strike for better wages and improved funding for schools turned into a community wide rebellion and lead to the formation of APPO. As the working class of Oaxaca, in the face of government neglect and incompetence, took power into their own hands, a new future for the people of this long improvised part of Mexico seemed a real possibility. But by the fall of 2006, backed a federal government under the control of a illegitimate president, Ruiz and his thugs resumed control of the state by killing dozens and jailing many more. This past summer, the teacher’s and members of APPO returned to the streets to remind the governor they have not gone away.

During my visit in July, APPO was calling for a boycott of the "official Guelaguetza”. The Guelaguetza, a ancient tradition of the indigenous communities of Oaxaca, has been turned into a commercial, tourist orientated celebration by the state government – a celebration that few indigenous people can actually afford to attend. Last year, when the city was in the hands of the popular movement, a free peoples Guelaguetza was organized. This July, APPO organized the second peoples Guelaguetza, and called for a boycott of the commercial, government sponsored version.

During my visit, I interviewed documentary filmmaker and community radio activist, Jill Friedberg – producer of Granito de Arena, a film about the teacher’s movement in Oaxaca - about the current state of the popular struggle. You can listen to that interview here…
http://www.archive.org/details/JillFriedbergOaxaca

The photos you see here are mostly related to the Guelaguetza boycott campaign, including two marches and the political graffiti that covered almost every wall of central Ciudad Oaxaca...

Photobucket Album

Comments

Best Films of 2023...

Best Films of 2023 Well, it's already early February somehow and award season for the 2023 film year is well underway. 2023 was the first year post-pandemic I was able to see the volume of new films to warrant a top 10 list - a practice I started in 2017 but abandoned after 2020 when like the rest of the world I was mostly forced to watch releases from years past on streaming services. Last year, despite my ongoing poverty, through a host of tricks, streaming services, tight budgets, and the generosity of friends, I was able to see around 40 new releases. For most of 2023, I considered it the YEAR OF DISAPPIONTMENTS . That's still my primary description of the year in film. Long anticipated and ballyhooed new films by Nolan, Scorsese, Fincher, and Wes Anderson to name a few all left me dissatisfied. Not because I am an adoring fan of these directors, but given the high regard with which they are held and given the rich subject matter on which ...

In memory of Rafael Gomez Nieto, the anti-fascist COVID victim two wars could not kill, on the first anniversary of his passing…

When I was an up and coming young socialist high-school, then college student, moving gradually away from Liberation Theology, towards some form of democratic socialist-humanism, the example of the Spanish Revolution of 1936-1939 made a major impact on my thinking. I knew instinctively and without question Stalinism and Maoism had nothing to offer. How could two of the century's most brutal dictators have anything to say about creating a future free of oppression. What I was looking for was historical examples of a new stage in the movement toward full human freedom, one in which working class people were in control of their lives and their future. No bosses, no party bureaucrats, no cults of personality and increasingly, in a departure from my past, no gods. Probably the first and certainly one of the most influential works of revolutionary literature that I encountered was Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia , hence my Orwell attachment to this day. Soon following were the equall...

Financial Crisis Brings Historic Opportunity…

www.whatnowtoons.com Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make. Less than a month ago, every mainstream mass media outlet, U.S. politician, economic analyst, and probably the majority of average citizens would still have been singing the praises of the unfettered free market. Regulation was still a dirty word and privatization was still equated with efficiency and prosperity. Granted, the sand had already begun to shift under this ideological edifice of 30+ years. The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble had seriously shaken the confidence of some in the system. I had mentioned repeatedly on Labor Express Radio over the Summer the glaring contrast between the soaring gas prices we experienced here in the laissez-faire fuel market of the U.S. as compared to the low and stable prices maintained by the state oil company of our neighbor to the south. But none of that seemed to really change the mainstream belief in this country that free markets solve all prob...

Search This Blog