Yesterday we met with a number of anarchist organizers from Oaxaca who gave us a much clearer picture of the broader situation in Oaxaca.
For now, so many people were scattered after the intense repression of Novermber 25th and are in hiding, that they are working outside of the center of Oaxaca City, in other places, but are still organizing and building. One of the things being worked on is a new widspread attempt at creating autonomous media in Oaxaca. But the main message is that people are still organizing and planning and the battle for Oaxaca is not over. Recently plans were announced to begin planton's outside of the jails in Oaxaca to focus on the demand of the release of the political prisoners. There are over 140 prisoners still, some with bails like $20000 USD, which are set as such because they can never raise that much money. They also tell us that in many cases, people have ben arrested under false charges.
What they tell us is that Oaxaca is an example in many, many ways. In one way, it is an example of how a city can riseup in a mass uprising that is not limited to small groups, when faced with the intense exploitation of neoliberalism...
They tell us that the process was totally organic. The people of Oaxaca began by identifying Ulises Ruiz as the main enemy because he was totally corrupt and was trying to exploit Oaxaca for Plan Puebla Panama and the neoliberal system. But once that happened, there was a broader realization that the public systems were totally broken: health, education, media, and from there grew a broad realization that what was really needed was to reimaging and recreate Oaxaca. They say that was when the PFP was sent in because there was an understanding that this wasn't a simple electoral demand, but a total rejection of the system of government in Oaxaca. We've also heard from others that over time the movement in Oaxaca because more beauracratic, starting with the congress of the APPO, in which Marxists and Lenists with authoritarian thinking and goals began to play a large role in the movement.
Still, they tell us, Oaxaca is an example of repression. They tell us that is Oaxaca is defated, once it it totally exploited the neoliberal system will simply move on to another place. What place is next? Is it your home? We know too well how the lines of thousands of riot cops that we see in Oaxaca are the same that we've seen at neoliberal summits around the world. But Oaxaca is also an example of torture as a means of repression to break social movements.
One of the main goals for organizers in Oaxaca now is to articulate a broader strategy to tie together the struggles in Oaxaca and the broader struggles around the world against corrupt leaders, false elections, torture, police repression and brutality, all of which are hallmarks of neoliberalism. They also are working to link their struggle with the struggles for autonomy and the creation of new wolds and autonomous systems of living sustainably and justly, like the struggle of the zaptistas.
