Oaxaca is a whirlwind. The repression from above, the openness of the people below create a climate that revolves everything . Those who force themselves into ideology or habit, crack right open. This wind from below is already cracking and creating my plans.On my first full day we marched a couple miles from a central park to the jail where political prisoners are held. The 150 or so mostly young people chanted for liberty of prisoners and turn the streets into a playground of political graffiti.Kids taunt the bully’s dressed as cops as they line up in front of the jail, shaming them into covering the faces behind their sub machine guns. Painting the guard booth with the demands and accusations of freedom. An organizer said it was historic because it was one of the first time young people from the city and the Campo marched together for the liberty of prisoners and the first time a significant number of internationals accompanied them. I watch the inspiriation and determination with which they laugh, march, chant and graffiti through much of the city. Transforming the symbols of authority, the banks, the McDonald’s, the prison walls, into symbols of resistance. They act as though the world could be theirs and at the end of the march the uniformed violence waiting in the darkness to snatch is only a passing nightmare. Even after the defeats, disappearances and deaths the political culture is much more defiant and alive here then in the US. Kids take the street and graffiti the walls of power, no one leaves their car to complain, yell at, or try to fight with the marchers. Cops drive by, are taunted, drive on without stopping, somehow they seem scared of 100 kids in the street. Chain store owners cross there arms and watch from behind plate glass as their stores become billboards for freedom. People on the streets look on passively claiming to know little or nothing when a young white American asks them for their thoughts. At the march I run into a video maker I met in NYC. He works with CODEP an organization that works for indigenous rights in rural areas. He invites me to live at the house they have and go on an accompaniment trip to a pueblo in the campo where I can help with there projects and provide accompaniment for people who are struggling against paramilitaries. They are very organized, have alot of information about there projects and an amazing house. So for the next week I have a clear path to follow, different from the one I first envisioned but a way to be involved in the short time I will be here, swept up in the wind from below. In my first days I’m struck by the incredible commonness of everything. It is both terrifying and reassuring that between the US and Oaxaca, so many similarities wrap themselves in the cloth of difference. The apathy of many people. The difficulty of reaching people on the streets. The feelings of uselessness and helplessness. Common feelings for connected struggles. A person involved in Uniterra (an APPO movement organization) says alot of people are beating themselves up over what went wrong. In other countries movements with less support and involvement have removed presidents but here people can’t figure out why such a broad based, lasting and creatively militant movement can’t remove a hated governor. Different people use the same metaphor The movement is a wave and it reached the top of its crest in 2006, the repression knocked it down so now it is reflecting and evaluating, counting its wounded and waiting on a tide to bring another wave once again. The dedication of the luchadoras is moving. David Venaga’s sister, a women who’s brother has been beaten and imprisoned for almost a year with out charges is eloquent in her sincere understanding that they will fight till her brother is free, then will continue to fight till the corrupt government is gone. She reflects many others in their stunning determination and simple hope. -Jonathan
Check out the video here
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