 | | Photo: John Gibler |
The past week has seen an explosive turn in Oaxaca City, Mexico, where
a five month-long political struggle lead by teachers, community
activists and local residents has plunged into a battle with riot
troops and right-wing paramilitaries in the streets.
Last May teachers in Oaxaca went on strike. Initially called as a
protest for better wages and working conditions their fight has
broadened into an all-out indigenous struggle against a repressive and
corrupt government. Now the situation is worsening: since Friday, at
least eight people have been killed by paramilitaries or the Mexican
Federal Preventative Police (FPP), including NYC Indymedia videographer
Brad Will, a 15-year old boy, a nurse, a teacher, and more. Protest
organizers are being rounded up, sometimes taken from their homes.
Yesterday the FPP began an illegal and violent assault on la
Universidad Autónoma "Benito Juárez" de Oaxaca,
the nerve center for popular resistance in Oaxaca.
The courage of the Oaxaqueños in the face of brutal
repression has been inspiring. Activists response in the U.S. and
around the world has also been compelling, from solidarity actions at
Mexican Consulates, to electronic blockades of Mexican Embassy and
Consulate websites, to call-ins to Mexican authorities, to helping to
get the word out through Indymedia. But much more can and should be
done.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Attend a solidarity
protest or vigil in your community.
- View or post events at friendsofbradwill.org, elenemigocomun.net
or ulisesruizasesino.com.
Contact the State
Commission on Human Rights in Oaxaca as well as other Mexican
authorities.
- Click here to send a letter to via the internet.
Make a donation.
- Money
is needed for food and supplies for people in Oaxaca, legal
costs for those arrested in Oaxaca and in solidarity actions around the
world, and to send independent journalists and activists to Oaxaca with
equipment and supplies. Click
here to donate via Friends of Brad Will.
Learn more.
- Visit
Indymedia
and other independent
media websites for updates. Download and show video
to your friends and community.
Contact the corporate
media and hold them accountable.
- Demand
that the corporate media accurately report on the human rights crisis in
Oaxaca. Many reports in the corporate media have blamed the protesters
rather than be critical of the Mexican government.
Take other action.
- Sign
a letter in support of the people of Oaxaca, participate
in an "electronic blockade"
of Mexican Embassy and Consulate Websites, or send
a letter to Congress.
Spread the word!
- Forward
this message far and wide.
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