The incursion of federal forces into Oaxaca has grabbed international attention, with protests all over the U.S. and Europe. The United Nations and Amnesty International have called for a full investigation of human rights violations, condemning last weekend’s violent events.

On Sunday, October 29th Mexican military entered the city of Oaxaca, Mexico to put down a popular uprising that was sparked in June when the Governor of the State of Oaxaca ordered the police to violently evict striking teachers and their supporters from the central plaza. Since then the teachers and the People’s Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) have set up barricades throughout the city and have been calling for the resignation of the Governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. For months the Mexican government has been saying that a military incursion was an option for quelling the unrest. Scores of people have been detained or disappeared. Many have been killed, including teachers and a U.S. independent journalist, Brad Wil.

The film by independent journalists in Oaxaca and documents the taking of the radio stations of Oaxaca by protesters. The short film will be followed by a discussion on how folks in the US can and are responding to the situation in Oaxaca and a presentation on current updates from Oaxaca.

Please join us for this important screening. A discussion and update on the situation will follow the film.

Background:
The People’s Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) and Section-22 of the state-wide teachers’ union, together constituting a group in the tens-of- thousands, non-violently seized control of the city in June, at which time they also made their uncompromising demand that the state governor, Ulises Ruíz Ortiz, accused of repression and irresponsible management of public funds, resign from office. The teachers initiated the resistance after June 14, when Oaxaca state police tear-gassed and arrested members of their annual protest, which included ongoing demands for increased education funding, better salaries, and more services for poor students.

Oaxaca, Mexico’s second poorest state, has high rates of migration—150,000 Oaxacans move to northern Mexico and the U.S. every year looking for work—and a growing gap between the rich elite and the poor majority: currently 76% of Oaxacans live in poverty and 72% earn less than $6.40 per day. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA, promoted by the U.S. government, are said to decrease poverty and instability, yet most people are more impoverished now than ever. Social pressure has peaked, especially as the needs of an agriculturally based population, which lost many subsidies and the ability to compete under neoliberal structural adjustment and NAFTA, continue to be ignored by political leaders who are aligned with the interests of large international corporations. Implementation of this form of U.S.-backed economic violence has led to the emergence of the popular movement and the resulting situation of impending military and state- sponsored repression. As U.S. citizens, we are responsible not only to pressure the U.S. government to change these disastrous trade policies but also to realize our government’s responsibility for the instability that these policies create—and to do what we can to stop any resulting bloodshed.

According to La Jornada, the troop build-up—along with the arrival of thousands of state police officers outside the city of Oaxaca—is the largest since the violent response of the Mexican Federal Government to the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas.

Negotiations between the federal government and the APPO and the teachers have come to a virtual standstill. While the federal government has promised a peaceful resolution, the threatening presence of thousands of military troops surrounding the city and flyovers by military helicopters sends a very different, and foreboding, message to the citizens of Oaxaca. It is very worrisome that there are no signs of renewed dialogue capable of addressing the APPO’s demands, especially since the Fox Administration has promised that the conflict will be resolved, before president-elect Felipe Calderón takes office on December 1. In the meantime, the APPO has declared a state of maximum alert.

For ongoing updates see:
www.witnessforpeace.typepad.com/mexco
www.nyc.indymedia.org
www.narconews.org