The View of Impunity from Vista Hermosa

Paramilitary Violence and Migration in Rural Oaxaca 

“They came from Nundaco. Many people came to where I lived. They hit me with a rock in my face.  Everything was full of blood, my face, and my nose. Then they decided to kidnap me.”  We sat in a small grey building in the town of San Isidro Vista Hermosa as Sara Hernandez Gonzales gave her testimony. Old and young, men and women, sat next to each other as babies cried and dogs barked outside. Eighteen community members took the afternoon off from the harsh sun of the fields to have their testimonies videotaped by a group of foreigners. One after another they sat down, introduced themselves and testified about the horrors they had experienced from the paramilitaries in the town of Santa Cruz Nundaco, a neighboring town just over the hill. Over four painful hours, this story of violence and impunity emerged.
 
           On July 4, 2005, at 3pm the municipal leader of the neighboring town of Santa Cruz Nundaco and a leader of the organization FNIC (The National Indigenous Farm-worker Front, a misleadingly named violent paramilitary organization) gathered a crowd of 500 people outside San Isidro Vista Hermosa.  They entered the town carrying sticks, stones, machetes and firearms and shot at people with high-powered weapons as they marched into town. Three townspeople were injured from gunshot wounds, one of them a 7-year old child named Aldair Reyes Hernandez. By 5:30 p.m. the mob led by FNIC had attacked the town hall, taking out all the archives and documents, destroying the doors and throwing all the furniture into the street. After this first attack the mob continued its rampage destroying seven houses, a shop, and burning four cars. As community member Esperanza Reyes Santiago explained, “They burned all of the doors of my house, burned the doors to my shop.  Basically they wreaked havoc, destroying my refrigerator and my child’s bed.  They made a huge mess of everything— the radio, television, clothes, everything. “

 
Unsatisfied with simply terrifying the people of Vista Hermosa, the mob led by FNIC then kidnapped thirty-eight residents.  The mob held the people at the municipal hall, torturing them physically and physiologically for more then 24 hours, and tried to obtain information to undermine and destroy the leaders of the traditional Usos y Costumbres (a form of governance based on town hall meetings and consensus) government of Vista Hermosa.
 
Upon their release, the 38 people who had been kidnapped went to the government delegates, local deputies and ministerial agents in the near by city of Tlaxiaco. The people had clear signs of shock and wounds caused by the physical torture.  Nine people went to the emergency room for treatment. Charges were filed with the authorities. 
 
On the 29th of August 2005, 500 people mostly from Santa Cruz Nundaco, led by leaders of FNIC again took control of the municipal building and started moving throughout the community. The people in the community assembly ran to the mountains and hid in terror, sleeping out in the forests and mountains for the night. When the residents returned, people realized that 2 of the townswomen had been kidnapped and they went to the Tlaxiaco public minister. The women were kidnapped for three days, then let go near another town 42 km from Vista Hermosa. The women had been raped and had to be hospitalized.  When they were released one of the women told of how she had been kidnapped in the center of the city of Tlaxiaco by three masked men with guns. She was thrown in a green van, beaten and raped. As Roselia Matill Opheillia testified, “The men came and they began to tear at our clothes and locked us inside the van.  We couldn’t defend ourselves because we were only two women. They called two more men and they began to rip our pants saying, you sons of bitches, there are no men here, so we’ll be your men now, and they took off our pants and started trying to rip at our undergarments and said they were going to rape us because we don’t follow the orders of the (Santa Cruz Nundaco) municipal president.”  

Mountain Views, Fields of Corn and “the Problems”

 
Oaxaca is one of the poorest mexican states, and %80 Indigenous. Vista Hermosa is a town in the mountains of Oaxaca about 20 minutes from the city of Tlaxiaco. Its has a population of nearly 300 people who live on three dirt roads. The people are a mix of Mixteco Indigenous and Spanish descent. Most people speak Mixteco as their first and Spanish as their second language. They each have their own farm fields where they grow corn, beans and squash and raise pigs, cattle, and chickens. In many ways it is a beautiful rural community, nestled on a ridge below a larger mountain, a stream flowing in the ravine below. 
 
When I visited in January of 2008 the town seemed calm on the surface. There were no obvious signs of destruction or brutality. But in talking to townspeople, I soon found that the calm is similar to what you might find in a graveyard. The town was divided from house to house.  If I brought up “the problems” community members would politely whisper, “No, not now. Next door they are “the others”, the bad ones, it is better that we talk some where else.” I, and the two other internationals that were part of our delegation could not walk across town with out a guide because they feared that supporters of FNIC and Nundaco would try to provoke us into a confrontation that would end in more violence for the community.  The cars with the decals of FNIC, the paramilitaries, would drive by and say “good morning” in English to us. The Vista Hermosans we stayed with were worried about my filming the cars of the paramilitaries or the municipal building that is still held by leaders of FNIC because, if paramilitary people saw me, they might take it as provocation. This could lead to them shooting up the houses of the people we were staying with after we left.

In response to the kidnappings, terror, and impunity on the part of the people of Nundaco’s and the leaders of FNIC, the whole community of Vista Hermosa mobilized and on the 7th of Sept. 2005.  221 people left Vista Hermosa for Mexico City.  They began to camp in the Zócalo, the central plaza, to demand justice for the people kidnapped and attacked.  As one of the community leaders, Abelano Reyes Aguilar, tells it, “We went to the federal government because we hoped we would get justice in a way that we couldn’t with the state government.  We were there for three months. We went to the secretary of the government and to the federal senate.  We went to the presidential house of Vicente Fox.  We went to the human rights organizations, to the national defense secretary, to the UN. We stayed there for three months living in the Zócalo, the central plaza, of Mexico City, living in tents, sleeping on the hard ground and eating out of the trash. But each office told us something different then the last one.  They said they had other work, or that they didn’t have time for us and our problem.” They were told that there was little that could be done to ensure their safety in the future, prosecute those responsible for the kidnappings and brutality, or resolve the underlying issue of municipal authority and land rights.
 
Because of this possibility of violence we couldn’t even go near the Municipal Building even though it was only a block away from where we were staying. We tried to figure out what was happening with justice for the people detained, and elder community leader Patricio Reyes Santiago told us, “How come the kidnappers have not been detained? We don’t know.  We know who they are, but because of the friends and relations they have with the PRI, no one has been detained. The kidnappers have many contacts in the PRI, and with the government. We ask the government for justice but they have detained no one.”
 
FNIC (The National Indigenous Farmworker Front): The Paramilitaries Next Door

The Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People (CODEP) is an organization that has helped to support Vista Hermosa’s fight for justice, joining their fight against impunity with the statewide social movements of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO, in Spanish). Their organizers have a lot to teach about the current process of paramilitarization in Mexico. Paramilitarization is a counterinsurgency strategy where the government gives civilian groups weapons, legal impunity and specific orders to attack social movement and citizens groups. There are different types of paramilitaries that take different forms in their organizing and application, but in Vista Hermosa, these groups have high powered weapons and complete impunity from prosecution. There impunity does not mean that they do what ever they want, like any police or military organization they have clear orders and act within there orders while accomplishing there goals of sowing terror. Part of their current orders in Vista Hermosa seems to be that they do not kill anyone or leave many visible marks on those who they attack, kidnappings, destruction of property, rape, and shooting up buildings seem to be what are within there orders to effectively terrorize Vista Hermosa’s. The threat of violence has split the community and forced the traditional government to give up control of town hall.

The key to understanding Vista Hermosa is to see that this is not an isolated occurrence but a fundamental practice of the elite of Oaxaca. As Amnesty International’s secretary general Irene Khan reported after their 2007 investigation in the state of Oaxaca, “Impunity is so endemic and so entrenched that the authorities seem to tolerate that no one has been held responsible for 18 deaths and the hundreds of cases of unfair detentions, torture and harassment,”

International Human Rights organizer, Simon Sedillo, has written in detail about the origins and leadership of the Nundaco paramilitaries. “The leaders of the paramilitary from Nundaco are part of an organization called FNIC, the National Indigenous Farmworker Front. FNIC receives PRI funding and backing, and has quickly become a paramilitary organization. FNIC has taken hold of Nundaco, and convinced its people that they are a part of a popular struggle for indigenous autonomy and communal land rights.  FNIC, along with the PRI government in Nundaco, has handed out concessions to the people of Nundaco, including but not limited to building materials, roads, schools, a town hall, fertilizers, public transportation permits, and now, more than ever, high powered assault rifles and hand guns. The price the people from Nundaco have had to pay in exchange for these concessions is strategizing and implementing the assimilation, occupation, and eventual displacement of Vista Hermosa.  Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the governor of Oaxaca, has assigned and imposed an unrecognized PRI municipal president in Vista Hermosa and approximately a fourth of Vista Hermosa has given up their land deeds to FNIC and the people of Nundaco in exchange for communal ownership and the supposed benefits that come from an imposed municipal government. However, the imposed municipal president, like all PRI politicians, is pocketing all the municipal resources intended for his community. So, the people that gave up their land to “communality” have no rights to reclaim these funds, as the PRI takes control through FNIC.”

This local and state paramilitary impunity is accompanied by a larger strategy to create similar circumstances thru-out Mexican politics. This strategy uses the rhetoric of The War on Drugs and Organized Crime to create the perception of instability, dependence and violence. Elite groups then use the Mexican military to impose compliance and control on society in general. Plan Mexico, legislation that is currently in the US Congress, would provide $1.5 billion in US Taxpayer money and equipment to the Mexican military, police, and intelligence services. This would reward and expand this strategy of counterinsurgency violence, and legal impunity to all areas of Mexican politics.
 
Government Violence, Corruption and Lack of Democracy as the Roots of Migration

The conflict between Vista Hermosa and Nundaco around the control of the land and corrupt taxation that is a common struggle in Mexican politics. The residents of Vista Hermosa are organized into a traditional democratic form of government called usos y costumbres, that is a legally recognized form of decision making for Indigenous communities under Mexican law. Unlike the neighboring town of Nundaco, Vista Hermosa practices a town hall meeting style directly democratic local government, free from the party based corruption of the PRI(The Institutional Revolutionary Party, which dominated Mexican politics for 80 years). The elite of Nundaco are not letting the Vista Hermosan’s practice their traditional democracy, as kidnapping survivor Esperanza Reyes Santiago testified, “They yelled many curses at us saying, “You are rats,” then they took us hostage because they said were are disobedient because we didn’t want to obey a them and return our traditional government to control of their municipality.”

This fight over control of the municipality and local corruption is made more difficult because so many Vista Hermosan’s have migrated. Many leave because they fear for their safety, others because their taxes are stolen by corruption, and others because trade policies like NAFTA make it impossible to make enough money as farmers. Almost all the men and many of the women from Vista Hermosa are currently in, just got back from, or were soon going to the USA to work as cheep labor in restaurants or farm fields. This migration is happening everywhere in rural Mexico. The Mexican countryside as a whole has been emptied by the “free” trade policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexican small farmer’s are forced to sell to a market that devalues there products by making them compete with US Industrial Agribusiness and the US’s governments heavy farm subsidies. According to a Carnegie Endowment impact evaluation, by the treaty’s 10th anniversary in 2004, NAFTA had driven 1.2 million farmers off the land. Since each farm family averages out to six people, the total number of people expelled from the countryside hovers around six million.  During ex-president Vicente Fox’s 6-year term in office, 2.4 million Mexicans, 70 percent of them reportedly displaced farmers, migrated to the U.S. despite the wall erected by Washington to keep them out.  According to CONAPI, Mexico’s Council on Population, 29 million Mexicans and Mexican descendants now live in the United States, 2 million more live in the Mexican countryside from which so many of them have fled.
 
The poverty in Vista Hermosa is serious.  There is running water only a few times a week, no paved roads or large machinery. The only way many people are able to pay for basics is to migrate. A recent survey found that, in Oaxaca’s Central Valley communities, nearly two-thirds have sent a family member to the US. The same survey proved that remittances typically went to the very basics of daily survival, with 60 percent covering immediate household expenses, from construction to the daily costs of living—

ranging from the purchase of food to payments for utilities (electricity, gas, and firewood). Nationwide, the 27 million farmers who remain on the land in Mexico are only sustained by the $22 billion in remittances that those who have gone north send back.  

When we asked community members what could help stem the forced migration and provide support for people in the community to resist the paramilitaries, Abulano Perez, a former migrant and community leader, told us, “We need a project that is a source of work to keep people from immigrating and support self-management. Because we are farm-workers, we know how to work the land, but we need a pump to get the water.  The water we need more then anything, we don’t have sufficient year round water. Because sometimes the rains come for only15 or 20 days and we lose everything we are growing for the year. With water there are many things we could grow here all year. We have land and people who know how to work it. We could grow fine animals, cows, chickens, squash, tomatoes, and corn, but for everything we need water. To get water we need a pump and to buy a pump we need money, a loan, an investment or a grant. The government (of Nundaco) doesn’t give us money. We want to be under the municipality of Tlaxiaco or be our own autonomous municipality, but not under Nundaco. They are corrupt because they don’t give us our tax money. We have to work collectively to build everything in our municipality ourselves and then we are forced to immigrate to the US to get money to eat.”

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The figures on migration are from John Ross “Agrarian Apocolypse Looms in Mexico”, ZMAG, March, 01 2008.

The surveys on remittances cited are from: 

The Oaxaca-US Connection and Remittances 

By Jeffrey H. Cohen
Pennsylvania State University, 

 January 1, 2005 Available online. Copyright @ 2008 Migration Policy Institute.

FOR MORE INFO: Some of the testimonies used in this article and more info and video of Vista Hermosa can be seen in the new video “Paz Sin Justica/Peace Without Justice” by CODEP(Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People) http://elenemigocomun.net/1465

Refections on Someone Elses Movement

The inspiring part is that the movement is very much alive, subdued but clearly not repressed or depressed. There are marches, art shows, bar nights, and movie showings all about the movement. People talk about how the coming year will be a big one, casually predicting that the fall of the Us and Mexican economy will crack the national and international apathy for revolutionary politics. Organizers make an interesting comparison with the Zapatistas. Organizers here say people outside the country are missing how their organizing is something as big as the Zapatistas uprising for Mexico. Not to compete but just to compare, for example, they held their states capital city for 6 months without police or military but the zapatistas couldn’t take their state capital and were only in the other cities for a couple days. The APPO is a plural and popular organization that has many different ideologies and types of people involved, majority indigenous, and explicitly revolutionary and anti-neoliberal but with a plurality and popularity in urban and rural areas that the zapitistas have never really aspired to, with the Zapatistas having a clear army hierarchy, political line and use of armed force. 

 

In strategic conversations with organizers it becomes clearer and clearer that some of the weak points of the movement are areas that constantly plague the left. Lack of clear articulated and shared vision, sectarianism, and corrupt individualism, and anti-democratic practices of influential/powerful organizations.

 

This issue of negotiating with the government is very different then any thing I’ve seen in US movements. Here a key issues seem to be negotiating with the government.” Simply put, if you negotiate you are a traitor who is selling the blood of those who died in the movement to boost yourself up.

In the US most everything is a negotiation with the government, I can’t remember ever having a serious discussion about weather or not to negotiate with the government in the us.

Some other key concepts here are ¨protangonism¨ which basically means that you are putting yourself or your group as the center of everything, not being humble and working well with others.

Another key concept is that of the pueblo, the people. It is a huge part of movement language here. Pledges to and history of being with the Pueblo not with the government, is very important to political discourse in a way I never seen it in the us. Political positions often hinge on the simple understanding that ¨Somos Pueblo¨, we are all ¨the people¨and organizations define traitors to the movement as those who don´t work for the pueblo.

Paramilitarization is another key issue that splits and devides organizations here. A government strategy seems to be to offer the leadership of grassroots leftish organizations arms and impunity in order to turn them in to paramilitaries for the state, dividing them from their own more democratic bases and generally fracturing movments and multiplying violence and insecurity within society in general. There are at least 2 large organizations that at one time were deticated to grassroots organizing for justice that now have split because one group is using arms to kill

.

There is a huge amount of sacrifice in political work here, political meetings take literally all day, are often very difficult to hear and have many people who have there full say on most issues. Most people are very poor and the only work is hard and pays poorly. Political organizations don´t pay there organizers because it is a sign of dedication, responsibility and lack of corruption to work with out pay

¨She was strangled, Now through a barrel she breaths¨-Rage Against The Machine, describing the ZapatistasWhile the Zapatistas breath through their weapons and international solidarity, in Oaxaca people breath through the hands of others. They survive day to day through a faith in others, there own good luck and the rightness of there actions. A sense of solidarity, is how people tend to talk about the steel of the state against there flesh. In the city the people say ¨If they arrest our people we´ll get our friends to comedown from the mountains and shutdown the city¨. People in the mountains terrorized by paramilitaries camp out in Mexico, DF for months, then join groups that can bring hundreds of people there town if they get attacked again.

The best I can tell from a couple of movement meetings, a couple of marches and watching the political and media fallout from the assassination of a police director is that the strategy for state repression is to divide and buy off the movement with egotiations and corruption while avoiding confrontations cops where the state doesnt have overwhelming force. At the same time the state government is creating highly trained military style attack units that are directly under the preview of the local state governor and paramilitary forces that seem to be used to terrify and general cause uncertainty as to who is fighting who for what.

Violence that happens against the direct interests of the state seems to be placed under the label ¨narcotraficante¨. This serves a dual purpose because it means politicians don´t have to admit that there is a social movement that may be opposed to them and the solution for this violence is more weapons and training from the USA.

One very scary thing is that the state government has Oaxaca state forces that have been trained by the Israeli security agency, MOSAD and supposedly (I have a hard time believing this) by Iraqi/USA commanders from Iraq, they ride around on motorcycles and wear a dark camo uniform and only need orders from the state level government(ie. Ruiz). This is a whole different level of decentralization, highly trained military units under order from a state governor.

At one of the marches a special forces type police guy walked right up to another US solidarity activist and said in English something to affect of “what are you doing here, if you don’t stop playing around here you might get hurt, we are watching you”. Most people seem convinced that they are being watched at various places, and that the government already knows much about where they live and what their up to. Organizers tell me that the only reason why they haven’t been killed or imprisoned is because the government is scared to provoke more people. For example I’ve heard stories of organizational houses who thought they were going to be raided, whos main strategy was to put a table in front of the door so that it would slow the cops down while the people inside would be able to get on the Internet and send out a emails to other saying that we were being raided. Basically relying on solidarity in a local, national and international level to keep them from being beaten and from spending a long time in jail.

Random Movement Trivia:

Some interesting things that i’ve learned in conversation are: 1)that the movement has had concrete support from the rich, at key moments, like the university radio attack of nov 2 rich people hid people in their houses and brought supplies to the people fighting the police.

2)There isn’t a very well organized or popular Fascist opposition although there are random swastikas in places. the question for people who don’t support the APPO is more around supporting the government, and more out of reflex of family ties and habit, not about some fascist ideology.

3)As far as I know one thing the movement hasn’t done is really try to organize within the wealthy or the police, although people say that many of the police refused to attack the people at various times, and the government was forced to bring police from other states.

Arms, Impunity and a Beautiful View: Vista Hermosa

I spent the last week in a little village called San Isidro Vista Hermosa. They are havıng a serious problem wıth paramılıtarıes. It was intense. The Paramilitaries conveniently named the ¨National Front for Indigenous Farmers¨ Kidnapped and beat up 6 people in 2003, 40 people in 2005 and shot up a meeting with automatic weapons fire in 2006. They are basically a group of caciquiles(ruling families) from Santa Cruz Nundaco(the neighboring town) that use there ties to the PRI Party and the governor to get arms and impunity. They use the impunity and arms to terrorize there neighboring community of Vista Hermosa off the land and out of any hope of political independence. My time there was good in the sense that things seem to have calm down a little and there were no conflıcts with paramilitaries. It was dıffıcult to witness how torn up, but struggling campo communities are here. Almost all the men and many of the women are currently in, just got back from or were going to the USA. The poverty is serious, only a little running water, no paved roads or large machinery, but they had electricity, so its not as bad as Nicaragua (but they went through a civil war). We did alot of video interviews with them about there experience under attack from the paramilitaries. Many of them had been kidnapped for days, beaten up or shot at. It was hard listening to so much suffering while knowing there is so little that I can do to effect things. But I hope being there and video taping was important. Community member camped out in the zocalo(center) of Mexico city for 4 months and have been completly ignored. The town is less then 250 people and it is split from house to house, you would try to bring up “the problems” and they would politely whisper “no, next door they are “the others”, the bad ones, it is better that we talk out front.” We counldn´t walk across town with out a guide because they feared provocations. The cars with the decals of the paramilitaries would drive by and say “good morning” in English to us. it was disconcerting to realise your actions could have a huge impact on the people around you. For example I generally asked before filming anything because if paramilitary people saw me filming, the municipal building or their cars it might be taken as a provocation and might lead to them shooting up the house of the people we were staying with after we left.All the people hosting us were amazingly kind, we had three meals a day each cooked in a different house, corn tortillas , beans, and eggs all grown right out side. I was there with 2 other internationals, one from spain and the other from germany, and we tried to help out with little tasks like taking the grains off the corn. The towns people generally made it clear that the real work(Building houses, taking care of animals, fixing water pipes) was probably too hard for our unskilled hands. They follow the traditional Uso y Costumbres decision making structure. Using full community assemblies and collective work for everything in town from the school to the church. It was a culture shock for us to come into town and ask them where we would be sleeping and have them reply ¨we´ll have a meeting about it.¨ 2 hours later the came up with a perfect room for us. then we asked where we would for breakfast the next day. again ¨we´ll have a meeting about it¨an hour later they had figured our eating schedule for the whole week. impressively effective even if it seemed slow to the gringos at first. It was a strange mix of cultures, a 3 road town way up in the mountains, every-ones first language is Mixteco, they all want me to teach there kids english. It was super loud day and night, the Fields of maiz (corn) with the blaring of american and mexican pop music, the sound of fighting dogs, donkeys, roosters, cows, the bells of the little church and the announcements to pay your electricity bills. Such a strange twist of ideal farm life and hyper modern trash, culture and violence.

Into the Whirlwind…

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpX_7sXJSuE

to gabacho…

i leave shortly for gabacho, home, the united states.  in preparation i’ve been having as many one-on-ones with Oaxacan organizers as possible (in colorful apartments, on bedroom floors, in bars with mezcal on the walls), trying desperately to learn what i know can’t be learned in a short four months. 

tomorrow we facilitate our “dialogue across borders” to discuss how movements for immigrant justice in the u.s. can be strengthened by and support social movements in Mexico.  besides a reportback from this, “to gabacho…” might be my last post.  as the last few weeks have passed i’ve become more and more confused, twisted and unsure – of what these last few months have meant for me, and mejor dicho, how to share with others what i’ve seen and felt.  i am looking forward to time at home with friends and family that know me, and will help me process…so that i can better follow up on my reasons for coming here to begin with.  in the meantime, here are some notes from three of the one-on-ones i’ve had in the last few days, in no particular order:

two organizers from VOCAL reflect on last year, the APPO, and looking ahead:

·        many saw the APPO formal structure and leadership become too centralized, imposing decisions on folks at the barricades (less likely to be associated with a non-profit or formal organization, and more likely to be working class or poor). 

·        while working for change that would require a fundamental overall of – or at least independence from – the oaxacan political and economic system, there’s no problem in working with folks that promote basic judicial or legal reforms, as long as they respect autonomous actions, and alternatives to negotiating with the government.

·        most of the divisions and tensions between activists was/is about an inability to self-criticize, or ego.  when tactics were called out as “too combative” or “violent,” it was less often about being in the moral right, and more about strategically achieving an ability to negotiate with the government.

·        many see the teachers of section 22 as having betrayed the movement for having accepted a bargain from the government after nov. 25^th last year, rather than continuing the struggle – people would have been supportive of a still very influential teacher’s union.  however, they have not put their weight behind getting political prisoners out of jail, and now it’s evident that they never saw themselves as part of the APPO, or wider movement goals.  the megamarches don’t convoke as many people as before.  it’s time for something more, for work in communities outside of oaxaca city, the marches have lost importance.

·        many feared (primary reason for VOCAL formation) that the APPO’s decision to enter electoral politics would be divisive at best.  one of the primary voices, from the communist Frente Popular Revolucionario, for the APPO to enter the elections at the beginning of the year, is now the only “movement” elected official.  it’s not hidden that pacts to control less reformist elements of the movement were made to allow for his candidacy.

·        internationals tend to prioritize giving money as acts of solidarity.  but more real political connection and exchange is needed, we are in this together, our countries are connected intimately.  and in fact, money isn’t always helpful as it can create dependency;the movement(s) last year didn’t run on funds, but human connection and effort, and access to resources from the land we stand on.

·        activists are still processing…last year was a glimpse of an amazing potential, of communities working together in ways the state for centuries has prevented.

an organizer from section 22 on affects of migration:

• a fear exists that if life were made easier for immigrants in the u.s. than even more people would migrant from Mexico…further reducing the number of potential activists here, and leaving behind communities, and land to work.
• mostly white folks and non-profits control the immigrant rights movement in the u.s. (i’ve heard this assumption from a number of people).
• when Oaxacans leave for the u.s. they are no longer active in social movements in Mexico, and focused on making money only.

[these last three comments were challenging, and i have had some contradictory experiences. but they were similar enough to thoughts i’ve heard from others that i thought they were important to post, i’d love to hear people’s thoughts, especially if anyone has analysis to offer around the first bullet-point.]

i thank everyone for taking the time to read this blog.  it has served as a useful place of reflection for me during my time here.  i feel the ability to respond to the challenge of these words…made real by how i act, and how comfortable i can be with the discomfort often present in engaging…to gabacho,

patrick

disconnecting our stomachs from the state

this week has been busy at CASA Chapulin. the Universidad de la Tierra (University of the Land) facilitated a workshop at our house on appropriate technology and autonomy, and helped us build a composting toilet for around 200 dollars and a week of work.

the process of digging my feet into mud to be used for adobe walls, stuffing plastic bottles with sand to give support where rebar might typically be used, and listening to long discussions about structure design as new challenges presented themselves, was a refreshing addition to work over the last few weeks which has felt light and airy in comparison (workshop preparation and writing for example). and after a few weeks of having friends here to visit, i enjoyed getting my hands dirty again.

to accompany the workshop, everyday came with a theoretical piece on the significance of toilets that don’t require hooking up to the municipal water supply and eventually create an extremely rich fertilizer used for growing vegetables. one of the more inspiring discussion for me came from gustavo esteva. he spoke on the importance of freeing ourselves from a dependence on the state – both our heads and tails. it resonated with other stories that i’ve heard while here – people willing to take risks, to organize in the face of repression, because at some level they don’t depend on what they’re fighting against for their livelihoods (or in this case, their waste disposal). not to mention the ability to avoid sewage flooding during privatized emergency response failures.

in other news, i’ve decided to shorten my time here by two months. after some long conversations with trusted friends and organizers, i see that i am ready to take this trip and its lessons back to virginia, as was my original intention and primary motivation. i know that i will return, of that much i’m sure. but to come from a rootedness in the struggle back in my home is necessary…which is certainly what feeds those i’ve learned from here…

…my last few weeks will be spent writing, workshopping and picking coffee. a few days before i leave we will be hosting a “consulta de movimientos para cruzar fronteras” to discuss the potentials for immigrant justice organizing in the U.S. to make solid connections to social movements in Mexico. i’ll be sure to post a report-back.

patrick

notes from immigrant solidarity meeting in charlottesville, va.

i know this doesn´t directly address my time here in oaxaca.  but part of my learning is focused on connections between social movements here, and those in virginia that i will organize with upon my return – and reportbacks like the one below inspire me to take advantage of my short time here in mexico, and to acknowledge the importance of immigrant justice work as Plan Mexico is set to take affect soon (amidst local resistance), further militarizing southern mexico and displacing communities, some of whom who will then move north.

from mexico city, ready to make the trek back to oaxaca,

patrick

Amigos, The first state-wide VA Immigrant Solidarity meeting was a great success. Thanks so much to all the organizers and attendees, for keeping alive the hope that despite the current political climate, we can together create a safe and just community for all. Over 50 people spent the day in the unexpectedly unheated auditorium of the Church of the Incarnation in Charlottesville on Nov. 3rd, educating ourselves and building community. The day started with introductions of all attendees. Immigrants and Anglo supporters from Charlottesville, Richmond, Harrisonburg, Norfolk, Louisa, Nelson County, and Northern Virginia, older and younger people from Churches, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, local solidarity groups, as well as individuals, dedicated this full day to discussing issues of immigration. Channel 29 News showed up to film, prompting a discussion on the pros and cons of media coverage, including the risk for undocumented folks, the potential for bad press, and the need for positive press. In the end, one table was designated for folks who did not want to be filmed. The reporter didn’t stay long. Later, a reporter and photographer from the Harrisonburg-based Nuevas Raices joined us for most of the day without raising any concerns. The first speaker, Tim Freilich, from the Virginia Justice Center in Charlottesville, spoke about the federal, state and local status of anti-immigration legislation. He spoke of how many government groups are doing “studies” on “the cost of illegal immigration”, studies which ignore the benefits of immigration for communities. At the federal level, he said, a severe immigration restriction bill was presented last year, but, after massive street protests, did not pass. After that, a more lenient “amnesty” bill was brought up, but Congress could not agree on that, either, so in the end no federal immigration reform laws were voted on. Because of the Federal Gov’t.’s inability to address the immigration situation, States began to take on the issue themselves. Virginia State Assembly saw almost 50 different anti-immigration bills last year. But they, too, were unable to agree on any of them. Now, with state law-makers up for election, there is a chance to vote in some more favorable candidates. However, in many cases both candidates are running on anti-immigrant platforms, so it remains to be seen what will happen this coming year. One thing is certain, though, and that is that our voices, and the voices of all immigrants—documented and undocumented, as well as non-immigrant advocates—are really needed at this time. Unfortunately, because the feds and state gov’t. have not really dealt with the issue of immigration, local officials are now saying it is their responsibility to fix things in their counties, although it is actually illegal for local governments to deal with federal legal issues. So what has happened is that in several counties in VA local governments have passed anti-immigrant legislation, sometimes despite much local protest. Culpepper, Herndon, and of course Prince William are among the worst so far. At the moment Charlottesville and Albermarle Counties are not bad, but please be careful. In Prince William, if you are pulled over for a dead headlight, for example, and the officer has “probable cause”, you could have your legal status checked and reported to ICE. So…please make sure all your lights work and that your inspection sticker is current. Also, the police computers have been changed, so that when a police officer runs a check on your license, instead of just finding outstanding warrants, they will also be able to see if someone has ever been issued an INS Detainers, which is technically not a crime. These police, not knowing better, are likely to hold people for that, though its not legal to do so. Because many politicians advocate tightening up on illegal immigrants, local police are likely to go overboard. Please let Tim’s office know of anyone detained solely on suspicion of illegal status. Also, so far no one has had trouble with the police reporting them to ICE if they are a victim of a crime, so do not be afraid to call the police if you are a victim. Tim stressed that now is a very important time for all immigrants and immigrant advocates to make our voices heard and try and change the political and legal tide. The second speaker was Mario Canek from Mexico Solidarity Network. He spoke about the responsibility of the Mexican and US Governments for the situation in Mexico that is forcing people to leave home and seek work in the US. After 10 years of international solidarity work, and a long family history of immigration, he believes that both governments are quite unresponsive and we must devote much of our energy to connecting with other immigrants and potential supporters, discover who we are together, and work from there to build strong communities of resistance. After Canek’s talk, we took a break for a delicious lunch and some social time. When we regrouped, John Steinbach of the Woodbridge Workers and Mexicans without Borders gave a presentation on his group and what they do, and some details about the Prince William County struggle. He stressed the difficulties communities are facing in solidarity work and the fears that often prevent the white community from joining in. He recounted numerous instances in which they were told to “behave” and they would continue to receive support. “Behave” meaning stay out of the streets and don’t make a scene. Warning that we would all likely be told the same thing, John stressed that keeping a low profile is no longer an option for the immigrant solidarity movement. He then went on to describe the power and spirit with which the immigrant communities of Mexicans Without Borders have engaged the struggle in Prince William County, Culpeper and other places around the region. For the second half of the day, we spent time trying to decide what to DO with all this information; what issues are most important? How do we work on them together? We took some time to brain storm. Our “LLuvia de Ideas” was fruitful. We came up with about 15 specific ideas, which we narrowed down to three themes: communication, education and action. We then divided into groups, one for each of the three ideas, and spent time discussing how to move forward on each front. Finally, the groups reported back. The communication group hoped to see outreach to many more individuals and groups. They proposed coming up with a flier in Spanish and English listing local meetings and bigger actions, giving a few suggestions on how to start a local group, and contact information for our group. They suggested using the People United e-mail list for communication, as well as creating a phone list from the numbers collected during registration for meeting. They proposed another meeting like this one in January, inviting many more people. They also want to reach out to students. Anna hopes to show a film soon at UVA. The education group advocated educating the Latino community about how the US political system functions, as well as educating the wider public, both with personal stories and statistics, trying to create spaces for dialogue in which this issue could be represented not as an economic issue, but as a humanitarian issue. This could include interpersonal exchanges in which an immigrant is paired with a US citizen to listen to each other. The final group, the action group, decided to focus in January on participating in the advocacy days already planned by VACOLAO and the Catholic Diocese to talk to state representatives. They suggested planning a march in Richmond for April, recognizing that this may be more feasible for legal residents than non-residents, and trying to plan some activities where all would feel safe. Just before the end of the gathering, a Native American and immigrant family of 6 showed up all the way from Mecklenburg, VA . They had received an e-mail about the event at 10:30 that morning and were inspired to make the three hour trek in hopes of connecting with some kindred spirits. It was a long, cold day, and a lot of good work got started. Some were disappointed in the turnout. Local organizers were impressed with the number of white people who showed up, but had been hoping for a larger turnout from the immigrant community. There was discussion about the fear factor, about economic issues, and about a sense among some immigrants of the futility of “la lucha”. For myself, while I found it tiring to sit all day, to be cold all day, and to try and translate properly all day, what I remember now, at the very end of the day, are all the faces of the people who risked the trip to be with us, to share their stories and wisdom and fears. There was some beautiful new energy from young people, some serious analysis of the situation and commitment to speak out from many of those most affected, some excellent strategizing by those with experience, and a solid commitment from everyone to continue working together as a group. So thanks everyone. AND… There’s a lot of work to do to keep the momentum building, so please call or e-mail (info@thepeopleunited.org) to let us know if you can: 1. Work on a flier 2. Start or join a local group 3. Work on organizing lobby days or the next gathering 4. Work on educational material 5. Help with translating, fund-raising, or anything else … Solidaridad, Sue Frankel-Streit

Comic on movement in Oaxaca last year

A friend passed this on to me recently, and I found it a valuable, if brief, look at some of the very real tensions that existed and continue to exist within the APPO.  I want more about the barricades and their effect on crime rates…not too comfortable with the presentation of prostitution, without any accompanying analysis or additional voices it seems to demonize those involved, turning people into “criminals.”  but let me know what you think about it…

Download Fuera Ulises! comic here:
fueraulises1.pdf

Patrick

Virginia struggle for immigrant justice

reposting from Women of Color Blog:

VIDEO: a kinder and gentler understanding of the ‘illegal alien’ that is ‘degrading and destroying’ our communities. pay attention to the interesting way religion is used to connect undocumented workers and the black community. the big question becomes, if anti-immigrant groups can connect us, in what ways could we manipulate their rhetoric to connect our communities?
p.s. the answer to mr. kind and gentle’s question? get rid of fucking NAFTA. eliminate fucking “Plan Mexico”. eliminate fucking “Plan Colombia”. demand that Mr. Bush et al keep their fucking noses out of Mexican elections. stop supporting the ‘war on drugs’. stop supporting chemical companies that randomly permanently destroy substance farmer’s livelihoods. hold protests until the latest wal-mart project is canceled. oh, and while your at it, kick the mexican president out of Mr. Bush’s pants.

Listen to the full community comment on Oct. 17th when Prince William government passed their most repressive legislation. I recommend the beginnig of the eighth hour, and the end of the tenth One guy even takes up the above challenge, after ranting about undocumented workers driving down wages (though I don’t know of any undocumented workers in corporate offices), he says, “Let’s make Latin America a better place, I’ll go down there to protest with you.” I wonder if anti-immigrant sentiment could be harnessed to dismantle NAFTA and Plan Mexico?

And I will soon be posting some notes from the recent Virginia State Immigrant Solidarity Gathering that took place last Saturday in Charlottesville.

-patrick

day of the dead and the movement remembers

photo from the graveyard at san juan mixtepec on nov. 2nd

october 27th was the first anniversary of the murder of the new york indymedia journalist brad will, here in oaxaca. his death was and is significant for a number of reasons, and not the least because of the attention it received in the u.s. i remember conversations with organizers back home where we both bemoaned the all too common dynamic of – white guy is killed, everyone starts to pay attention. for many of us from social movements in the u.s., brad’s death was a catalyst to really start paying attention to oaxaca. however, brad’s murder was just one of dozens, and mexican activists continue to be disappeared and arrested, most without international attention. brad’s death was also the all too convenient pretext used by the mexican federal government to send in the federal police, which perpetuated the single most repressive attack on the movement nov. 25th one year ago. all of this said, brad’s murder is also about the power of independent and movement media, the solidarity that can cross borders, and the viciousness of the state.

CIPO, the APPO and various other organizations and individuals organized an elaborate and fierce day of remembrance to brad, and in turn, to all of the movement’s murdered. a barricade was constructed and maintained through out the day in santa lucia at the site of the original barricade last year where brad spent most of his time. and a group of activists arrived around 5 in the morning to work on the tapete memorializing brad. [tapete's are sand sculptures adorned with flowers, labored over for hours, to remind us of those that have left us. many tapetes are traditionally made around day of the dead (a three day celebration culminating on nov. 2nd), which i heard a community radio activist from mexico city recently refer to as mexico's most important expression of its indigenous roots. There were many constructed this year to remind Oaxacans of those the government attempted to erase, standing out against the relatively sterile creations made by the tourist industry attempting to put a cap on the past, exposing a struggle over not only who will live but who we will be allowed to touch in death.] a march commenced around 9 am and over a thousand protesters headed to the zocalo, along the way covering the streets with a stencil of brad with his camera. we made it back to the site of the barricade for a night of street theater, music, warm tamales, and a procession to and service at the site of the attack. i was amazed by the number of people there, and the raw emotion still boiling…when i asked a few people about how they felt about the attention he has received compared to Oaxacans that have been killed or disappeared, i´ve rarely noted any bitterness upon their responses explaining why his death was/is so important…but still i question my even writing this post, contributing to the veneration of the global in a movement so specifically regional in many ways. but alas, here is a poem that i wrote after the days events, as i left moved, able to connect to brad through circumstance if not personal knowledge:

tapete for brad will

we listened to a priest tell us that to sleep is to sin

when we live in a world so awake with sickness.

we saw a child learn his ABCs with a circle and an ¨a¨

his fingers too small to grip

the can of spray paint.

we walked where he filmed, ate tamales

where the chance his intentions had

bled through the hole blown in his chest.

if i´m gonna fall, if i too intend to close my eyes

scared to open them again,

let my empty vessel

my body of barbed-wire

and dust

fall into sixteen arms

four hearts

and eight eyes.

not that i worry of a death in vain,

not that i´m frightened of the inevitable unmasking

of my significance as a person

not that i need the recognition of fingers

on my flesh,

just that i also prefer

the role of wave to shore

the wind to broken blades of grain,

i too need the fire, the sun, to burn me alive

and to know

that i´m surrounded

in the shadows of others reaching.

in other news – on nov. 2nd, while i was heading back from the mixteca, the APPO and other organizations and individuals attempted to put up a barricade in front of radio universidad, to commemorate the day the police lost, trying to destroy one of the remaining movement radios last year – thousands of people from neighborhoods all over the city came with molotov cocktails, their arms ready to throw back tear-gas canisters, and their bodies ready to lean on one another for support, fighting for hours and forcing the police to back down. this past friday on the anniversary of this struggle, the police switched from their strategy of scooping up groups of militant activists after recent marches, beating them up and then maybe releasing them, to a full on confrontation, beating and arresting dozens, some of whom are still being held, while others are missing entirely. they couldn´t allow a victory to be remembered. the movement didn´t back down however, after an intense general meeting deciding to continue with a large march that i heard was filled with an energy unseen for months. click here for more

i´ll be working over the next week preparing for a workshop here on masculinity and men´s violence prevention that i´ll be sharing with local anti-gender violence activists and organizations. then i´m heading to Mexico City for a conference of non-profits throughout the americas working on the prevention of men´s violence. it´s been chilly here at night, but i just ate a turkey and gravy (my name for the delicious accompanying sauce) quesadilla to warm my belly.

need to hold off on the rest, kinda tired today, and too long in front of a computer,

patrick