Category Archives: Mexico

What did we learn from Oaxaca? (and what I am doing now)

The following I first wrote in Norwegian, but then I met a Greek traveler who had been asked to write something about Oaxaca for a Greek magazine. However, because they did not let him in to the city (holding him in custody for not having a passport on him for a few days instead), he could not write anything about it and asked me whether I could send my article (for anyone having followed this blog all throughout the conflict, some of this stuff is the same over again.)…

Oaxaca liberated city

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The other Mexican President

Update: After a phone conversation with my parents it became clear that I have to add a note somewhere on the site that I often anonynomize the names of people I talk about, especially if not all they are doing is completely legal. And therefore: No, Petra is not German, although the name might sound like it.

On the first of December, Mexico’s other president Felipe Calderon (FP) was inaugurated in a five minute ceremony after having slipped into a parliament through a hole in the wall. Previously, parliament had been occupied and blocked by members of the left wing coalition supporting Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for three days, while members of Calderon’s National Action Party (PAN) also slept there in order to keep space free for FP and his ceremony. FP is the president who will actually be recognized by the Mexican military and the Mexican federal police (PFP) and, more importantly, the Pentagon.

Israel from Oaxaca (PRD) is still believing in AMLO.
Israel from Oaxaca (PRD) is still believing in AMLO.

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Oaxaca, how to fight a battle and loose…

Update: All of those we had believed to be lost ended up being well and alive, living at the university. The three guys who had placed their stuff at my hostel had just been too scared to go back into town and Irma turned out to have moved to another part of the university.

For some of the activists here, the only way of “winning” in Oaxaca is not by throwing out the governor, but by actually evicting the police from the Zocalo physically. And even if they do not have a majority in the APPO assembly, they still pursue that goal.
This is how I experienced the battle here three days ago, that was “lost” (given the above criteria for winning) by the APPO.

On the morning of Friday November 25th, I arrived back in Oaxaca from Mexico, DF. Although there had been a minor confrontation with some 5x demonstrators hurt here on Monday November 20th, generally everything looked like before I left this place on Sunday the 19th. I found a youth hostel close to the Santa Domingo church, with only a French crack addict living there besides me, and went down to the square in front of the church. There I met the 20 year old punk rocker and two of his friends, one of whom at least was a student. They had been on a free APPO bus from Mexico DF that night, and it wasn’t the first time: “I’ve been taking nine tours down here so far,” Abdul, a student of middle eastern cultural studies (but without family links to the Middle East), told me.

Continue reading Oaxaca, how to fight a battle and loose…

There is no such thing as a puritanical revolution

Update 2: After receiving further advice, I replaced the word “puritan” with “puritanical”. Thanks!

Update: I received a mail pointing out that Catholicism and Puritanism do not have anything to do with one another. While that is true,and the comment made by Dehm might look odd especially to US American reader’s, it has to be understood in the context that there “Puritans” have no history in Germany and that catholics are generally seen as being more “hard core” Christians — “relative puritanical” you might say.

I remember how a few years ago, when Diether Dehm, at that time running for reelection of vice leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), was speaking at the Solid summer camp and commented on the view many radicals have of how a socialist party should be – faultless right from the start: “There is this view, this puritanical view, among many on the left — and with that I don’t only mean among Catholics.” Everybody chuckled, and of course expected that this was nothing more of a excuse for him having been a member of the social democratic party before.

The crowd cheering on AMLO at the Zócalo in Mexico city on November 20th
The crowd cheering on AMLO at the Zócalo in Mexico city on November 20th

Well, and the same thing applies to revolutions or movements. Although I was aware of it before, I really got to see it here in Mexico. If you look at a lot of the US radical press (various indymedia sites), you-ll mostly find a celebration of the events in Oaxaca (anything the protesters have been doing), while the actions by the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) on a national scale are renounced as being reformist. The fact that many of the current PRD tops are former members of the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI), the party that ruled Mexico during the entire cold war, got an American socialist I met at the university to renounce it right to start with: “that tells you right there who the PRD is.” Another activist I met held that the EZLN (Zapatista) movement is anarchist, while the APPO (Oaxacan People’s Popular Assembly) has to be counted as socialist — because “they are a union.”

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Oaxaca — preparing for the battle

While there have not been any ongoing street fights between protesters and police the last days and with the exception of some assaults at Burger King restaurants heavily condemned by the APPO as well as an attack on a protester close to the university Monday morning, the situation in Oaxaca has been all but resolved.

A bus serving as a road block for the protesters.
A bus serving as a road block for the protesters.

While the federal police still sits in the Zócalo, the university is held by the students. No police can be seen anywhere else, so while the APPO does not take over radio stations and the like, it is clear that they are more in control of the situation than the police. And because both sides know that the protesters have won if only they keep at least part of the city until November 20th, when AMLO gains office as “legitimate president”, or even better December 1st, when Felipe Calderon takes office, to create hell for his period from the first day on by forcing him into responsibility for any action by military or federal police after that date.

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Oaxaca — city in unrest

On the afternoon of November 4th, the the bus traffic to Oaxaca city was opened, at least for a while. After finishing my six weeks of Spanish studies in Huehuetenango, I was in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and took the first bus here. At 6 in the the morning of the 5th, I have reached the Oaxaca bus station. My first impression is that the streets of Oaxaca are «clean». The Mexican federal police (PFP) hat removed most of the graffiti that had been covering most walls for the past months by painting over it – mostly with paint not matching the houses colors. In the morning the streets are empty as well; with the exception of a handful of tourists who obviously have not understood how serious the situation is.

No-one is going to remove these guys from their Zocalo!
No-one is going to remove these guys from their Zocalo!

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Fox chickens out

Newest updates on the Grito: Fox has decided that he will not hold the Grito here and he has already skipped town to hold it a few hundred miles outside of Mexico city. The news has been well-received on the camp, and AMLO has announced that instead of him, Alejandro Encinas, PRD-member (and following AMLO to hold that post) will hold the Grito at the Zocalo. At the same time it was promised that we would remove our tents from the Zocalo, but it’s not quite as easy as that…

The old Nayarit camp has been closed down.
The old Nayarit camp has been closed down.

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Preparions for September 15/16th

Because the western news really do not cover the situation in Mexico (city) very much, here is an update: AMLO revealed yesterday what the plans are going to be for September 15th/16th. At night on September 15th, there is the traditional Grito (a celebration of independence from Spain) in which the president has to do some flag actions and then a one point will shout “¡Viva La Mexico!” and the mass of people gathered around will be shouting back “¡Viva la Mexico!”

"Tengo un Sueño..." --- For the past few days daily singing lessons have been preparing the AMLO supporters to sing the song of the movement.
“Tengo un Sueño…” — For the past few days daily singing lessons have been preparing the AMLO supporters to sing the song of the movement.

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A working class PRD activist: Meet Salvador

The part of the camp that I stay and eat at is a tent that houses the activists from the Mexican state of Nayarit. I went there after being invited by Salvador.

I met Salvador while walking around the AMLO camp at Zolaco my first day here. He was handing out newspapers for his party – the PRD. He made contact by asking me whether I was from the United States. And Although I could not confirm that, I told him that right now I am from Douglas, AZ. “Ah Dooglas,” he recognized it, “con los wetbacks, eh?” Salvador is one of few here who speak a little bit of English, and he hopes to learn enough to be a translator for his party one day. He is very patient and so whenever my Spanish and his English knowledge are insufficient to make enough sense for the other person to understand, we use hands and feet… and my electronic dictionary.

Salvador has a few minutes to tell me his story
Salvador has a few minutes to tell me his story

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Second Mexican revolution or just another military massacre?

The camp of the leftwing Mexican president candidate AMLO has much of the same feeling as many of the anticamps of the intercontinental governmental conferences: no-one quite know how many protesters will come, no-one quite knows whether the police or military will react violently and turn it all into a bloodbath. But most of all: no one quite knows whether one will make a difference, or at least stop or hinder some of the meetings behind closed doors.

The AMLO camp in central Mexico city
The AMLO camp in central Mexico city

Continue reading Second Mexican revolution or just another military massacre?