In the early morning hours of June 14, armed federal and state police
accompanied by helicopters dropping tear-gas grenades attacked an encampment
of teachers in the center of Oaxaca, Mexico. According to news reports, after
first being driven out of the town center, teachers armed themselves with
rocks and sticks and fought back against the ferocious police assault.
Conflicting reports of casualties range from 3 to 11 persons dead, including
one child, with many injured or detained.
About 70,000 teachers Oaxaca state have been on strike since May 22 and
thousands of them have been camping in the city center to press their demands
for a pay raise, greater resources for poor schools, for school supplies and
free school breakfasts, and for scholarships for children. The strike is
taking place amid increasing state repression against workers and popular
activists.
Today, June 16, thousands of teachers reportedly have retaken the zocalo, or
central square, of Oaxaca, and have re-occupied their encampment. Apparently
the police attacks have sparked a massive popular mobilization. According to
one unconfirmed eyewitness report, “In the face of this barbaric repression,
more protests have [been] sparked:10 Municipal Presidencies have been taken
over, among which are Juchitán, Zimatlán, Huautla de Jiménez, Teotitlán de
Flores Magón, Matías Romero, Huajuapan of Leon, Port Angel and Puerto
Escondido. Farmers are marching in from Tuxtepec. Inhabitants of San Salvador
Atenco make their way towards the State Capital. The future seems uncertain,
but hope grows.”
The values and aspirations of teachers and families everywhere are the same:
to see the healthy, secure, peaceful development of their students and
children to the fullest of their abilities in an environment of mutual support
and respect. Everywhere these values and aspirations are under attack: in
Mexico, throughout Central and South America, in the United States and Canada,
and across the globe. Everywhere too the forces driving these attacks are the
same: the forces of corporate power, the forces of capitalist rapacity and
repression.
Our young people have aspirations that the capitalist system can never fulfill
and abilities and talents the system can never use. Our young people are under
attack because the system must crush their aspirations and lay waste their
abilities, lest they and their families and their teachers and working people
everywhere perceive the simple truth: that our human potentialities far out
strip the potentiality of a system built on inequality and greed. Everywhere
the answer to our problems is the same: to overthrow the capitalist system and
create a new world based on mutual support, equality, and true democracy.
We, the educators and other members of New Democracy, stand with the teachers
and families of Oaxaca. Your fight is our fight. With your courage and
persistence, you have struck a blow at the common enemy. You inspire us with
your leadership. We call on teachers and parents and working people everywhere
to support your struggle and to follow your lead.
We call on the Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, and on Presidente
Vicente Fox Quesada, to cease these cowardly attacks on you and to grant your
just demands.