MEXICO: Dec. 1-8 International Week of Actions for the Ayotzinapa Students. Solidarity Req

PRESENTATION

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

More than two weeks ago, we sent out widely the International Appeal issued November 8 by a coalition of students from across Mexico demanding justice for the students killed and disappeared in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, and asking young people and students worldwide to "show solidarity in their respective countries with the just demands of the Ayotzinapa students in the forms that you deem appropriate (delegations to Mexican embassies and consulates, protest emails to the Mexican government, marches, rallies, etc.).”

In this message we are forwarding to you Bulletin No. 1 of the Organizing Committee of the "Justice for Ayotzinapa" International Campaign. It describes the social explosion of students and youth throughout Mexico, with a special focus on November 20 -- a day when the largest demonstration in defense of the Ayotzinapa students (estimated at 500,000 people and even higher) took place in Mexico City and when hundreds of thousands more took to the streets in every state of the country.

As the rally on November 20 was coming to a close in the downtown main plaza -- the Zócalo – of Mexico City, the federal government, together with the municipal government of Mexico City, mounted a provocation and violently stormed the Zócalo with special riot police. Eleven protesters were arrested and sent to high-security prisons on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, and rioting. The Organizing Committee of the International Campaign is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the political prisoners, whose only “crime” has been to demand that the 43 kidnapped students of Ayotzinapa be brought back alive and that those responsible be brought to justice.

The Editorial Board of The Organizer and of our sister Spanish-language publication, El Organizador, have been promoting widely the November 8 Appeal of the Mexican Students and now urge support for the December 1-8 International Week of Actions to Demand Justice for Ayotzinapa. This week of actions coincides with the December 1 Day of Mass Actions and Strikes across Mexico and the December 6 Protests Commemorating the Symbolic Siege of Mexico City in 1914, when Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata stormed and occupied the National Palace in Mexico City.

We ask you to send us reports of any and all activities you may be organizing in your cities and countries on December 1-8 to our email address -- theorganizer [at] earthlink.net -- and to the email address of the Organizing Committee of the "Justice for Ayotzinapa" International Campaign: justicia.para.ayotzi [at] gmail.com.

In solidarity,
Editorial Board of The Organizer / El Organizador
elorganizador [at] earthlink.net

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Organizing Committee of the "Justice for Ayotzinapa" International Campaign
email: justicia.por.ayotzi [at] gmail.com