[mgj-discuss] Oaxaca: Film and discussion on the current situation, Fri. Nov. 10th

[Morrigan]

Film Screening and discussion on the urgent situation in Oaxaca, Mexico
"La Tomade los Medios estilo Oaxaqueno"- The Taking of the Media - 
Oaxaca Style
(Spanish with English sub-titles)
Friday, November 10^th
6:30 – 8:30 (film starts at 7:00)
La Casa Community Center
3166 Mount Pleasant Street, NW (Columbia Heights Metro, H buses)

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 29^th 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.

*/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 
<http://www.witnessforpeace.typepad.com/mexco>

www.nyc.indymedia.org <http://www.nyc.indymedia.org/>

www.narconews.org <http://www.narconews.org/>