¿Qué nos da la inspiración?

Finding my Spanish de nuevo.  Wearing a sweater stung by bits of rain saying hello from Hurricane Dean.  Reflective after visiting a memorial to Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes in the Zócalo, an APPO organizer killed by an URO (Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, repressive governor of Oaxaca) death squad one year ago.  There are few assasinations now, but the memories of a missing and missed 28 still invades the memory of the movement here.

Last night Casa Chapulin (a split-level house in a mixed-class neighborhood; there´s a self-suficiency on our block rarely found in the States -tortillas, carpentry, car repairs, and cheese is offered by neighbors) was visited by a friend of CASA – an organizer from Section 22 of the teacher´s union (dwindling in numbers as the pro-government union recruits), a participant and leader of last year´s marches, a teacher of preschool, and a veteran of struggles for indigenous justice in Oaxaca.  He came by to chat, and to review and sign a letter written to the editors of La Barrikada – a magazine from APPO put together primarily by male college students and friends of CASA, with the latest issue using the picture of an overtly sexualized women wearing a gas mask (titled ¨la niña de APPO¨) to sell their essays on the struggle.  The letter has been a topic of the house, written by the field coordinator here with CASA, and thoroughly making the connection between a need to address sexism and the objectification of women´s bodies and the fight to challenge an objectification of Oaxacan culture, land and peoples under neoliberal capitalism.  More to come on this, and what that infamous word ¨solidarity¨might look like,  soon.

But our visitor stayed after we watched the video Compromiso Cumplido (covering the human rights abuses of the state government in responding to the social movement here, by Mal de Ojo) to chat with us about questions we might have – and generous enough to stick around for well over an hour.  Here are some of the key learnings that I took away from what he, and others said (not intended to be a broad analysis):

• People are scared. The repression of Nov. 25th and thereafter (from the federal police) served it´s function to some degree.  There is confusion within the representatives of APPO as to what to do next, there hasn´t been a general meeting since November, and the organizations comprising APPO seem to be doing their work seperately.  Zaachila, outside of Oaxaca City, is holding on after electing to be governed by a popular assembly rather than by centralized state authority.
• URO is a symbol, and the marches of last year represented a long-held frustration with coersive and corrupt state power.  The teachers were surprised by the more general support they received from the Oaxacan population after June 14th, and the chants to take down URO came from the friends, families, and neighbors of the teachers.
• It´s a widely held belief here that the PFP (the federal police) would not have entered Oaxaca on Nov. 25th had it not been for the murder of the U.S. indymedia journalist Brad Will (ie, the feds had to move and take control after the death of a gringo).  The PFP facilitated the attack on the movement which most stomped on hope for a protracted fight.  The paramilitary killings ended then as well, for the time being.  And hundreds were arrested.  And Will´s death also brought along international attention. 
• But when asked what international activists can do here now - his response was hesitant, and focused on the fact that human rights abuses here in Oaxaca can´t be challenged internationally while the much greater Iraq War can´t be stopped by the largely held anti-war sentiment in the U.S.  He challenged us think about how to build a movement back in the States that could withstand repression, and win an end to the war.
• When asked about the legal process to document the abuses and hold perpetrators accountable, there was an acknowledgement that the courts don´t have justice to offer.
• Where does he find the inspiration to continue struggling?  In the reality that little has changed since the movement began, in the hope of digging deep over the next decades to spread the movement outside of Oaxaca City, connecting with indigenous struggles in el campo…right now this seems to be a central question…¿Qué nos da la inspiración?

I´m reminded of a quote from the filmaker Godfrey Reggio that introduced my last journal  – ¨In order to have hope we must find the courage to be hopeless.¨  This courage would be a window to new possibilities, directions, and strategies; it would force us to depend on our own two hands, and our abilitity to grasp those of someone close to us. 

-Patrick

PS – let me know what you find interesting, boring, relevant, not, etc.