Teachers participating in a peaceful sit-in at the central plaza of Oaxaca City, Mexico, were bombarded with tear gas for more than three hours on June 14, 2006. The teachers evacuated during the tear gas attack, but later returned to the plaza.
“From that point on, the teachers’ movement took a major turn, articulating one single clear demand: the resignation of state governor Ulises Ruiz,” filmmaker, author and activist Concepción Núñez said as assistant professor of Spanish Analisa Taylor interpreted.
Almost every seat was filled with professors, students and community members at the Knight Law Center on Tuesday night to hear Núñez and filmmaker Julia Barco and historian Margarita Dalton speak about the conflict in Oaxaca – the second most impoverished Mexican state.
Non-governmental, union, peasant, student and women’s organizations united after the attack on the peaceful sit-in. These groups continued to demand the resignation of the governor.
A group of women took action on the first of August. During a march, they asked a radio station for 15 minutes to tell their side of the story. Denied access, the women took over the radio station for 21 days.
The Federal Preventative Police of Mexico have detained people injudiciously and violated individual rights guaranteed in Mexico’s Constitution, Núñez said. Additionally, she said, government-sponsored paramilitary groups and snipers have assassinated 26 people; and many more have suffered physical and psychological abuses at the hands of the PFP.
La Pesadilla Azul, or The Blue Nightmare, is a short film made by Julia Barco in which women and men recount their experiences on Nov. 25, 2006, of being arrested, beaten, threatened and imprisoned, they say, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Today, the streets of Oaxaca are lined with a simulated calm,” Núñez read. “The whitened walls hide the denunciation and the revolutionary slogans behind the new paint.”
Historian, author and activist Margarita Dalton gave an analysis about why the events occurred in Oaxaca, specifically focusing on the roles of Non-governmental organizations. Oaxaca has a number of NGOs that she said make the Oaxacan government uneasy; the government refers to them as secret societies.
“They felt that the NGOs were having a big impact on the small communities,” Dalton said.
Dalton said the diverse actors involved in the organizations range from former guerillas, Catholic activists and people from Oaxaca’s 16 different ethnic groups. Support comes from international resources, such as the Ford Foundation and the World Bank.
“What happened in Oaxaca has to do with all this movement of different components that come from outside: from the left, from the right, from the church, from international organizations,” Dalton said.
“Many people in Mexico City think that everything is okay in Oaxaca now,” Dalton said.
This is because the Mexican government spends thousands or even millions of pesos on publicity, Dalton said; The government wants the people to think that problem is gone.