LA to Oaxaca: state sponsored war on the poor

[Marilyn Langlois <langlois-rine@comcast.net>]

The pre-dawn police action in Oaxaca on June 14 was foreshadowed by events
in Los Angeles the day before.

At 5 am on June 13, LA police and sheriffs in riot gear with helicopters and
bulldozers stormed the South Central Farm, destroying parts of it and
evicting and arresting local residents and activists who were trying to
protect this 14-acre Mesoamerican paradise in the heart of LA.

I had had an opportunity to visit the farm a week earlier and was delighted
by the opulent fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs thriving there, the
welcoming community, delicious food.  I rested and made new acquaintances
under the shade of the magnificent walnut tree, was uplifted by the
spiritual power of Aztec dancers and drummers.

Susan Harman, you are such a gardener, you would love this place.
Joe Navarro, the essence of your poetry would resonate there.

Now this oasis faces destruction, yet the supporters continue to vigil round
the clock on the street.  For info and updates:

http://www.southcentralfarmers.org/
http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/
http://www.la.indymedia.org/

peace and blessings,
Marilyn

From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
Reply-To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:52:36 -0700
To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
Subject: [ca-resisters] Fwd: Oaxaca Under Siege




From: David Riker <riker@igc.org (forwarded through Monty Neil)
Dear Friends,

I'm writing about the situation in Oaxaca. As I write, the capital city is
under siege. At approximately 5AM this morning the state police attacked the
teachers occupation of the city center. Though reports are sketchy, it seems
that three teachers have been killed, as well as a young girl. The teachers
have taken three or four police hostage. A raging battle is underway to
control the zocalo, the center of life in Oaxaca, and the heart of the
teacher's encampment. In the dawn raid the teachers were forced out, but the
local paper, Noticias de Oaxaca, has reported that at 9:30AM local time the
teachers, armed with rocks and sticks, re-took the main square. Police are
firing tear gas from helicopters right now. Thousands (tens of thousands) of
people are involved in running battles in the streets. And there is the fear
that upwards of 3500 federal riot police -- deployed to Oaxaca in the last
two weeks by Vicente Fox -- are about to enter the city.

I've just gotten off the phone with friends in the center. They described
the scene on the streets this morning at about 7:30AM. Hundreds of people
crying from the mix of tear gas, smoke bombs and some other pepper spray.
The men forming groups to launch the assault to retake the zocalo. Mothers
telling their boys to take care of themselves as they fell into line. From
the rooftops of the single story houses you can watch the helicopters flying
overhead shelling tear gas canisters into the crowds. There is a heavy fear,
but also, I was tol,  you could hear the sound of people marching and
singing. 

As a brief background, you might want to read:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1874.html

The teachers occupation of the city, known in Spanish as a 'planton' began
23 days ago. More than 80,000 teachers from every municipality in the state
had converged on the capital to press a list of demands for more resources
for education. They have had two mass marches, the most recent bringing more
than 120,000 people out, the largest demonstration in the city's history.
The planton has become an annual event since more than a decade, and I will
never forget last year's planton which happened while I was still living
there. For about ten days the teachers occupied the entire center of town,
sleeping on the streets under tarpaulins stretched overhead. They were
extremely well organized and the city center was never more alive. The
teachers and their families would cook large meals on open fires, play
guitar and sing, rest on folded cardboard in the shade. They set up their
radio station "Radio Planton" and played music on loud speakers. There were
first aid tents, propaganda tents, mass meetings on every corner.

This year, many have remarked that the planton, and the teachers'
mobilization generally, has been different. The question is: If the teachers
brought 80,000 to the city, who are the other 40,000? I'm not close enough
to give a good answer, but what I understand is that the teachers have
offered an opening which hundreds of small community groups and social
justice centers from around the state have chosen to follow. The past two
years under the new PRI governor Ulises Ruis has intensified the level of
state repression. Scores of activists in small villages have been killed,
hundreds arrested and still in jail as political prisoners. The spike in
repression was so great that Amnesty International sent a delegation to
Oaxaca in May of 2005 to investigate. It appears that when the teachers
marched on the capital three weeks ago they were joined by tens of thousands
of others from the villages in what is becoming a broad movement to depose
the governor. Ruis has refused to meet with the teachers, and has managed to
pull in his party's promisary notes to about half of the state's municipal
mayors who signed a decree condemning the teachers action. But there is a
palpable sense that the social movements are converging and that something
new is underway. 

During the past three weeks, the movement has shown a great level of
strength and creativity -- occupying the city's airport, smashing the
newly-installed parking meters throughout the city center, occupying the
toll booths on the main road from Oaxaca to Mexico City -- not to stop the
cars, only to stop the collecting of tolls, and the very fact that they have
occupied the zocalo has great significance as the new governor, after
spending upwards of $100 million to 'beautify' the zocalo, decreed that it
was now off-limits for any demonstrations.

Three nights ago, Ruis met with business leaders at a late night gathering
and promised to use the 'mano dura' or hard hand. There were reports that
the first 1500 federal riot police were camped in the nearby town of
Tlacolula. This morning the governor appears to have proven himself a man of
his word. Some reports have said that the tear gas in the city center is so
thick you can't see the hand in front of you.

I have not seen any reports in the US media, BBC etc. There is some
information on indymedia's Mexico site, some more on the online version of
Noticias de Oaxaca -- both in Spanish. (http://www.noticias-oax.com.mx/) I
know that the police have shut down the teachers' radio station 'Radio
Planton' but as of 12:00 noon Oaxaca time the students' radio station 'Radio
Universitario' was still broadcasting and "you can hear the broadcast from
every window and door in town." The students themselves have occupied the
university, but the latest reports suggest that the police are heading there
now.

I'm writing this in the hope that you can help spread the word, and alert
others in the network of media to turn their attention to the struggle
ongoing.

In solidarity,

David
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