The end of a long, amazing journey together. It took so much planning and encouragement - a dream that became real. And food - more specifically mole - was the glue
Strange bonding ritual at Casa del Sol
Huddling to lay the plot to save the world
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Last supper with Moore Blooms
The end of a long, amazing journey together. It took so much planning and encouragement - a dream that became real. And food - more specifically mole - was the glue
Strange bonding ritual at Casa del Sol
Mega March for Mega Change with a weakened APPO
You’ve probably heard mention here in this blog that Oaxaca was rocked three years ago by a popular uprising. It started with a teacher’s strike and evolved into a full blown popular rebellion in which a million ordinary people participated. Our conversations with Oaxacans inevitably drift at some point or another to what folks were doing in 2006 – how they got around barricades to get to work, how they might have participated in the street protests – by bringing coffee to the barricades or entering into the ranks of the “megamarches”. And how pissed off were they by all the inconvenience. For weeks on end, Oaxaca was at a virtual standstill. From first hand accounts, it sounded like a remarkable coming together of organizations seeking change - from better wages for teachers, to the destitution of the governor, to the respect of indigenous peoples’ rights. The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, the APPO, was born.
Repression was rained upon the movement – causing folks to rally to one another’s aid, but also creating fear and intimidation. The protest energy could not be sustained. In the face of over a dozen assassinations by government forces, people got tired and scared – there was much handy work by police and paramilitaries to arrest, harrass, and assasinate participants. U.S. Journalist Brad Will was killed and an APPO member subsequently framed and arrested for his murder. Traditional political parties, seeing the opportunity to move the masses to get rid of their political opponents – particularly the governor - threw themselves into the protests which more and more galvanized around the removal of the governor but not much else. Demands and visions for change became muddied.
Today, the teachers union remains at the center of APPO, but with demands that are not entirely shared - labor demands to be able to pass on their teaching posts to their children – which is fantastic for the teaching family’s economy but not necessarily stellar for kids’ education. Demands representing the aspirations of ordinary Oaxacans (many of whom see the teachers as a privileged class - some of the few that have stable, formal employment) are not heard. Internal strife wracks the APPO with fierce debates about whether it ought to post political candidates or not. Its congress was taunted by anarchists that claimed APPO had become too institutional and was out of touch. Newspapers have become increasingly vicious about the APPO, blaming them for Oaxaca’s escalating violence. The escalating violence is not disputed – but most people blame the government for creating the environment of violence, not the APPO. The powerful have risen to the top of its ranks, leaving grassroots participation and leadership marginalized. At this point, close to 3 years after the original uprising, it’s hard to define what exactly what is the APPO and what is their strategy for change.
So what's to be done? The APPO can still mobilize hundreds of thousands of people - pretty amazing in a city of only half a million, but its demands aren't clear. It has been hard for APPO to shake the image of a street fighter to evolve into something different. Do you fold up the APPO and start afresh when a new moment presents itself to form another broad front? Or do you fight like hell to make the APPO fully representative and restore its glory? I attended their recent congress and watched people grow tired in a sea of argument.
Nevertheless on June 14th, on the third anniversary since the first round of repression against the uprising, the APPO brought out hundreds of thousands of protestors. The defiance turned to sadness when a car launching fireworks - a Oaxacan parade tradition - blew up and killed the rocketeer. The promised non-violence was marred by 30 or so marauding, bandana-covered anarchists who attacked symbols of political power and globalization en route. Peace marshals were too frightened to intervene. And despite these challenges, the APPO lives on!
A street barricade
Fresh, creative graffiti
My buddy Sergio and his buddy and son.
One anarchist - "University of Hate" and "We are not anything"
Attacking a department store, Chedraui, whose goons had been caught chainsawing trees in a neighborhood park, without authorization, to make way for a new mega store.
A dead dog painted with the governors initials. I heard a comment that the dog was far too nice of a race to be carrying the governor's name.
Repression was rained upon the movement – causing folks to rally to one another’s aid, but also creating fear and intimidation. The protest energy could not be sustained. In the face of over a dozen assassinations by government forces, people got tired and scared – there was much handy work by police and paramilitaries to arrest, harrass, and assasinate participants. U.S. Journalist Brad Will was killed and an APPO member subsequently framed and arrested for his murder. Traditional political parties, seeing the opportunity to move the masses to get rid of their political opponents – particularly the governor - threw themselves into the protests which more and more galvanized around the removal of the governor but not much else. Demands and visions for change became muddied.
Today, the teachers union remains at the center of APPO, but with demands that are not entirely shared - labor demands to be able to pass on their teaching posts to their children – which is fantastic for the teaching family’s economy but not necessarily stellar for kids’ education. Demands representing the aspirations of ordinary Oaxacans (many of whom see the teachers as a privileged class - some of the few that have stable, formal employment) are not heard. Internal strife wracks the APPO with fierce debates about whether it ought to post political candidates or not. Its congress was taunted by anarchists that claimed APPO had become too institutional and was out of touch. Newspapers have become increasingly vicious about the APPO, blaming them for Oaxaca’s escalating violence. The escalating violence is not disputed – but most people blame the government for creating the environment of violence, not the APPO. The powerful have risen to the top of its ranks, leaving grassroots participation and leadership marginalized. At this point, close to 3 years after the original uprising, it’s hard to define what exactly what is the APPO and what is their strategy for change.
So what's to be done? The APPO can still mobilize hundreds of thousands of people - pretty amazing in a city of only half a million, but its demands aren't clear. It has been hard for APPO to shake the image of a street fighter to evolve into something different. Do you fold up the APPO and start afresh when a new moment presents itself to form another broad front? Or do you fight like hell to make the APPO fully representative and restore its glory? I attended their recent congress and watched people grow tired in a sea of argument.
Nevertheless on June 14th, on the third anniversary since the first round of repression against the uprising, the APPO brought out hundreds of thousands of protestors. The defiance turned to sadness when a car launching fireworks - a Oaxacan parade tradition - blew up and killed the rocketeer. The promised non-violence was marred by 30 or so marauding, bandana-covered anarchists who attacked symbols of political power and globalization en route. Peace marshals were too frightened to intervene. And despite these challenges, the APPO lives on!
A street barricade
Fresh, creative graffiti
My buddy Sergio and his buddy and son.
One anarchist - "University of Hate" and "We are not anything"
Attacking a department store, Chedraui, whose goons had been caught chainsawing trees in a neighborhood park, without authorization, to make way for a new mega store.
Anarchists attacking the PRI headquarters
A dead dog painted with the governors initials. I heard a comment that the dog was far too nice of a race to be carrying the governor's name.
Talia Teaching Her Class How to Fly
Clara Elena, Talia's teacher from the Mazateca. She allowed a high level of anarchy in the class room which not surprisingly, Talia loved.
Professor Talia on can humans fly without motorized vehicles
The school, Teizcali, living up to its tag line - active learning!
Talia's good buddy, Sebastian, preparing to parachute
Clara Elena launching a paper glider
Parent participation!
Talia's poster discussing the Wright Brothers, flying suits, parachutes and hang gliders. She gave an amazing presentation in Spanish, which was evaluated by her classmates then and there - probably could have described gravity a bit better!
Home schooling in spite of ourselves
Come around early May, after a 2 week spring break followed by a two week swine flu break, Sabina threw down the gauntlet and said that after 7 months, school wasn't working. She wanted out. We never fancied ourselves home schoolers. What a lot of trouble for the parents! But Tyler had some time and there were certainly lots of things that she and Sabina could learn together in and around Oaxaca. Part of Sabina's home schooling program (modified actually because she participated ocasionally still in the classroom, presenting her work) would be going with Tyler to Casa Hogar to run a children's group. The other part was horses. Lots of horses, as much time as she could bargain for. Her mentor, Sisika, so liked Sabina and her sense of responsibility, that she took her on as a stable hand once a week. And she got to ride the last hour.
A People's Takeover of the Zocolo
The occupation of the Zocolo began in May during the traditional month of teacher work stoppages, through the anniversary of the uprising against a corrupt governor, Ulises Rodriguez Ortiz (URO) and continued until after the elections for Mexico's national assembly.
A poster encouraging abstensionism in the Assembly elections - "among more pigs, more big mouths, better not to vote for them".
Demanding freedom of political prisoners from URO
During the occupation - in front of the offices of the governor, the park was generously painted with graffiti encouraging the governor to leave
An occupation is not complete without the traditional communist left
a politicized bandstand
Sleeping in the corridors of power to protest a mine being exploited on indigenous land
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)