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Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky and Deva
November
16, 2006
A New Approach to Justice from the Front
Door of a Mexican Consulate
From
Oaxaca to Portland
By NIKKI THANOS
Oaxaca occupies a sacred place in my
heart; her mountains, coast, mole and native corns nourished
my spirit for a good part of the years I lived in Mexico and
her people-mis companeros/as-have been my teachers and friends.
But this has been a sad couple
of weeks.
October 31 I found myself locked
to the front door of the Mexican Consulate in Portland, Oregon
to protest the violent repression against the People's Popular
Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), a peaceful resistance movement in
Oaxaca. The previous Friday gunmen linked to the Oaxaca state
government shot dead Oaxacan teacher Emilio Alonso Fabian, Mexican
demonstrator Esteban Zurita and New York Indymedia journalist/activist
Brad Will. Two days later the same government-backed thugs killed
two more protesters. That brings the total death toll since
the Oaxacan teachers began their strike-turned-popular-protest
to at least nine.
I easily could've been one
of those nine. I could've been Emilio, Esteban or Brad. If you're
someone who has ever thought change was possible, or believed
the world could be a little sweeter, or that the poor deserved
just a little more justice, well, you could be dead now too.
Every day in Oaxaca-like so many places in the world--the line
between life and death becomes more politicized and gaspingly
thin.
Squarely positioned in the
"south of the south," Oaxaca has kept its head up
proudly through period after failed period in the great big Mexican
globalization laboratory. In a state where 76% of the population
lives in abject poverty, the only thing that seems to have "trickled
down" is a broad consensus that neoliberalism has grossly
failed the region. It's no surprise, then, that last June's
teacher's strike drew widespread support from indigenous groups,
students, unions and civil society organizations. When you're
working yourself into poverty and your kids are hungry, it's
not hard to find common ground with your neighbors-something's
got to change.
That change came together in
a demand to oust the notoriously corrupt Oaxacan governor Ulises
Ruiz, a bastion of elite power in the region. The APPO has been
occupying strategic parts of Oaxaca since, establishing a parallel
people's government and rendering Ruiz's administration ineffectual.
Last week the Secretary of the Interior and both houses of the
Mexican Congress called for Ruiz to step down. It seemed APPO
was on the verge of victory.
Yet APPO's clear commitment
to non-violence and a negotiated solution has been met with fierce
military escalation on the part of the Mexican government. As
the number of troops, tanks and helicopters began to rise, so
too has the tally of ilegal detentions, murders, forced disappearances,
torture and police misconduct. On November 2, the police moved
in to shut down the movement's communication lifeline, Radio
Universitaria, and retake the autonomous state university. The
odds were grossly stacked in the police's favor but the people
of Oaxaca kept the station on air. The "All Saint's Day
victory," as it was coined, was a win felt worldwide-and
judging by the outpour of public demonstrations in the last two
weeks I'd bet I'm not the only "guera" (white person)
streaming Radio Universitaria into my home office right now.
For those of us outside of
Oaxaca, when we tune in we somehow connect to the smell of boiled
corn and Oaxacan string cheese. We feel a part of one of the
most inspiring social movements in the hemisphere. We're reminded
that there is more than radio waves connecting us. A lot more,
as it turns out-especially for those of us in the United States.
As "Oaxaca Vive"
dripped from my painted face last week, I renounced my government's
support for the Mexican army, police and paramilitaries. Yes,
this is mostly an internal Mexican conflict. Yes, there is corruption
in Mexico. Yes, Mexicans have the right to determine their own,
autonomous course of development. But let's not lose sight of
the massive power the US wields over Mexico. NAFTA and other
US-imposed structural adjustment programs have gridlocked Mexico
into a system of economic violence that has devastated regions
like Oaxaca. During the time I worked in Mexico, milk, gas,
electricity and transportation subsidies were cut, while prices
for what most southern Mexicans produce-corn and beans-plummeted.
I still carry the image of the first confirmed Oaxacan "Frankencorn"
I documented in 2003 (US-produced genetically modified corn came
in under the Agricultural Chapter of NAFTA and wound up contaminating
the most precious native Oaxacan varieties in what folks proudly
consider the birthplace of corn). As one indigenous Mixteco
told me this June in Oaxaca, "to sell my land would be to
sell my mother."
All told, some two million
Mexican corn farmers have been driven off their land by NAFTA.
Just last week, a member of the APPO leadership arrived here
in Oregon for his seasonal job in a coastal nursery. Like many
Oaxacans, Lucio would prefer to be farming with his family, but
instead finds himself watering floral wreaths at an upscale plant
wholesaler in the US. We cried together several times over
the last two weeks at the cruel ways life seems to have separated
us from the struggles that make us feel most alive. Lucio was
the first person I called when I got out of jail. He said to
me, "You know, the best thing you can do in life is follow
what your heart tells you is right. For us borders don't exist.
Oaxaca is right here."
When I lived in Mexico, my
response to international atrocities was a smoother connect-the-dots
-- I used my blue passport to build binational movements. I
funneled news from remote places in Latin America to church leaders,
student groups and peace activists in the United States. Like
Brad, I was documenting and reporting. Like Esteban, I was accompanying
unarmed, autonomous popular movements. And like Emilio, I deeply
believed (believe!) in a justice that was (is) inclusive, driven
by love, and radically transformational.
But now I live in Pórtland,
Oregon. How do you build solidarity with a small place in the
world most of your neighbors have never even heard of? How do
you express your outrage when foreign governments start picking
off your friends in places you used to call home? How do you
say "ya basta" to the violence perpetrated by the US
government, a brand of militarism and imposition that is as convoluted
as it is calculated?
Perhaps one of the best things
we can do is create breathing room for blossoming movements elsewhere.
Mexican Embassies and Consultates have been the site of protest
in Nigeria, Bolivia, Venezuela, and every major US and European
city. Twelve were arrested in New York, five in the Twin Cities
and myself and one other in Portland. As Martin Luther King
said, "We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are
not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the
hidden tension that is already alive."
While those not-so-hidden tensions
continue to erupt in Oaxaca, we in the international community
vow to bring the story of a victorius people's struggle home.
I truly believe that Portland needs a victory in Oaxaca, and
Oaxaca needs Portland to make that victory real-which means we
need to get "un chingo" (a whole-lot) more creative,
more committed and more direct with our solidarity work. That
doesn't mean everyone needs to run and lockdown at Mexcian consulates,
but I think a direct action strategy more closely honors the
mutually solidarious relationship we are trying to build with
the people of Oaxaca. It is time to "up the stakes"
of our protests beyond the well-stenciled banners, mass email
alerts, and comfortable calls to representatives that have characterized
our activities so far. Do something new this week with your
bike lock, hoe, paintbrush or keyboard. As you innovate and
dream, you'll find me beside tens of thousands of Mexicans-without
all the answers, for sure, but feeling one step closer to justice.
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