FORUM TONIGHT ON OAXACA WITH LEADERS OF APPO!

PUBLIC FORUM

MEXICO: EMERGENCY ALERT

* NO FEDERAL TROOPS TO OAXACA!
* MEET THE PEOPLE'S DEMANDS!

Public Forum Featuring José Alejandro Sandoval Torres & Juan Manuel López Sarsoza, Indigenous Leaders of the Peoples Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO).

These APPO representatives are currently on an Emergency West Coast Tour sponsored by the Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior, Organización de Trabajadores Agricolas de California, Union Civica Primero de Mayo, Chicano Consortium, Sacramento City Teachers Union, and the Sacramento chapters of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and LULAC.

The Fox administration in Mexico is readying to send federal troops into the city of Oaxaca to crush the strike of more than 70,000 teachers and the resistance of an entire people, which has organized its own Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

Join us to learn from these two representatives from the APPO in Oaxaca what is occurring on the ground in Oaxaca and what we in the United States can do to help them in their struggle to win their just and legitimate demands and to force the resignation of repressive Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who unleashed the police on the strikers last June 14.

For more background information, see the International Solidarity Appeal below.

DATE, TIME AND PLACE

Wednesday, OCTOBER 4 @ 7 p.m.
Center for Political Education, 522 Valencia St., 3rd Fl., San Francisco
(@ 16th Street; one block from 16th St. Mission BART station)
Donation Requested at door; No one Turned Away for lack of funds.

Forum Sponsored by Mexicanos En El Exterior, Global Exchange, S.F.
LCLAA, Open World Conference, Comité en Defensa Del voto

For more information, call 415-641-8616 or contact <ilcinfo [at] earthlink.net>

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL IN SOLIDARITY WITH SECTION 22 OF THE NATIONAL
EDUCATION UNION (SNTE-CNTE) AND WITH THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA

The movement of the teachers of Section 22 of the National Education
Union and the people of Oaxaca is facing a terrible situation.

The Secretario de Gobernación (Minister of the Interior), with the
backing of all the governors of the country, has called on President
Vicente Fox to "act with the strict respect for the law against all
the destabilizing forces that aim to directly prejudice the
constitutional order." This is an open call to use force against the
movement.

The bosses, the representatives of the Church, the media and a few
mayors of all the parties have also called on the government to send
a military expedition toward the State of Oaxaca.

The strike movement of 70,000 teachers of the State of Oaxaca began
around the wage issues of Section 22 of the SNTE last May. The
teachers called for all teachers to receive the same wages throughout
all the districts of the State of Oaxaca.

On June 14, the PRI government headed by Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
unleashed a brutal attack against the strike encampments set up by
the teachers in the center of the city of Oaxaca. But the teachers
forced the police forces to retreat after five hours of confrontation.

In response, the unions, neighborhood organizations, peasants and
indigenous groups set up a Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
(APPO), which organized five huge marches and -- with the decisive
participation of the teachers -- set up barricades that were staffed
for self-defense purposes throughout the night.

The teachers and the population set up a political tribunal to fight
for the demand, "Governor Ulises Ruiz must go!" The teachers and the
APPO have occupied the headquarters of the executive, judicial, and
legislative branches of the state, as well as the local private
radios and the provincial television station.

The governor, incapable of launching a massive attack against the
teachers and the people, has utilized gangster methods, by sending in
armed individuals with pistols to shoot at people on the barricades
and at the marches. Four people have died in this way, and dozens
have been injured. Four people have been arrested, among them
Elangelio Mendoza Gonzalez, the former General Secretary of Section
22 of SNTE-CNTE.

Currently, based on the decision of the General Assembly of Section
22 of the SNTE and representatives of the APPO, 5,000 teachers,
health workers, and peasants are marching on Mexico City to express
their resistance in the capital.

They must travel more than 500 km (from the South to the North,
crossing over the Western Sierra Madre mountain chain). They must
also face state aggression. For its part, the Ministry of the
Interior has organized a meeting of "all the sectors eager to find a
solution to the Oaxaca problem" for this Wednesday. At the same time,
it declared that "things have reached their limit in Oaxaca" and has
threatened to send in 10,000 federal police.

At the very moment we write these lines, several Navy helicopters are
patrolling the skies of Oaxaca. A police assault could result in a
bloodbath. The teachers and the population are ready to resist. They
want to live peacefully and want to ensure that democracy is
respected. And they want the will of the majority to be respected
--that is, for Governor Ulises Ruiz to leave.

That is why we are appealing to the unions of the whole world,
particularly to the teachers' unions, to write to Carlos Abascal
Carranza (Minister of the Interior) and Vicente Fox (President) to
say:

-- No to repression against the teachers and the people in the State
of Oaxaca, Mexico!

-- Respect the fundamental demand of the movement: Governor Ulises
Ruiz Ortiz must step down immediately!

The first signers calling for international solidarity:

Professor Ezequiel Carreño Rosales, Organizational Secretary, Section
22 of the SNTE-CNTE; Professor Fernando Mendoza Perez, Coordinator of
the Executive Committee of Section 22 of the SNTE-CNTE; Augusto
Fernando Reyes Medina, member of the Executive Committee of Section
22 of the SNTE-CNTE; Professor Luis Vasquez Villalobos, delegate of
the Union of the Workers of the National Autonomous University of
Mexico (STUNAM); Javier Brena Alfaro, union delegate of the STUNAM;
Gustavo Grajales, president of the Savings Fund of Section 40 of
SNTE-CNTE; Misael Palma Lopez, member of Section 7 of the SNTE
(Chiapas); Russel Aguilar Brindis, member of the committee of
technical secondary school struggles, Section 7 of the SNTE
(Chiapas); Humberto Martinez Brizuela, professor of the National
Polytechnic Institute; Armando Pasos Cabrera, member of the
Independent Workers Union of the Autonomous Metropolitan University
(SITUAM); Gema Lopez Limon, professor of the National Autonomous
University of Baja California.

Send your messages to:
Vicente Fox Quesada, President of the Mexico:
vicente.fox.quesada [at] presidencia.gob.mx

and

Carlos Abascal, Ministry of the Interior:
segob [at] rtn.net.mx

Send a copy to Fernando Mendoza Perez, Member of the Executive
Committee of Section 22 of the SNTE-CNTE:
Alborotador_oax [at] hotmail.com

Also, please send a copy of your letter to:
Entente Internationale (France):
eit-ilc [at] fr.oleane.com

Subject: 10/4: SF Public Forum on Oaxaca w/ Leaders of APPO

OWC - Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union
Independence & Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor Council,
1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109.
Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297.
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