Feature Archives

On August 16th, email alerts were circulating that Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and other governors from Mexico were visiting Mexican Consulates in Chicago on August 17th, New York City on the 18th and Dallas on the 19th to discuss migratory reform. Activists quickly organized demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca, and all of Mexico, as well as the millions of Mexican migrants living on the northern side of the US/Mexico border. Although Ruiz Ortiz failed to show up with the delegation, the protests went on. The Mexican governors were held responsible for conspiring with the US government and multinational corporations to impose a political economy which forces entire communities to migrate north in search of better lives.

On August 16th, the new film True to My Pledge, by Mal de Ojo TV, screened at a meeting of the Brown Berets in Watsonville. On August 17th, Latinoamerican musicians TONALI performed at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, followed by an update on the peoples' struggles in Oaxaca by Miguel Zafra, a screening of True to My Pledge and discussion about the formation of a new group, "Santa Cruz - Oaxaca Solidarity."

On August 5, Oaxacans participated in the state legislative elections. The elections occurred days after a series of bombings throughout Mexico claimed by the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). Many fear widespread fraud similar to what brought Ulises Ruiz to power, while some question the legitimacy of the EPR and worry that their actions will be used as a justification for repression.

Today, August 1st, thousands of women marched in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico, on the one year anniversary of the historic takeover of the Oaxacan television station, Canal 9, by APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca).
On July 30 , tens of thousands of people from the APPO and section 22 of the teacher's union, along with sympathizers, participated in a protest against and demand a popular boycott of the official Guelaguetza festival. This festival has been the subject of conflict since the uprising in Oaxaca began last year. On August 5th, there will be a benefit for human rights work in Oaxaca, at 5:30pm at Station 40 in San Francisco.

The Board of Regents of the University of Colorado in Boulder voted 8 to 1 Tuesday, July 24th to fire tenured professor of Ethnic Studies Ward Churchill on charges of research misconduct. Churchill maintains that the allegations were a pretext to remove him for his controversial political views.

On July 16th in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, a confrontation between the APPO (Popular Assembly of The Peoples of Oaxaca) and security forces of the State of Oaxaca as well as Federal Preventive Police has left at least one movement participant dead as a result of police violence, at least 62 detained, and an unknown number of people disappeared. According to an APPO press statement released the same day, the police launched “a broad offense” against the people of Oaxaca who were celebrating an alternative Guelaguetza.

On June 30th, Bakers without Borders and Co-optation Watch pied Medea Benjamin at the US Social Forum. Bakers without Borders and Co-optation Watch state that they took action "to demand accountability from a self-appointed "spokesperson" whose actions further the commodification of resistance and sabotage our movement's sustainability and credibility. This person's actions benefit the NGO Industrial Complex at the expense of real democracy and solidarity."