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MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS MAY 29 - JUNE 4, 2006
Photo Jezz MacKenzie and Ernest Tate. Click the photo for more pictures
1. ATENCO UPDATE 2. LETTER FROM MARCOS TO ADHERENTS OF THE SIXTH DECLARATION 3. TEACHERS DEMAND INCREASED EDUCATION BUDGET 4. BORDER GOVERNORS AGREE TO NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT 5. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS, Contact [email protected]
1. ATENCO UPDATE The International Commission for Observation of Human Rights, made up mainly of European human rights activists, spent the week interviewing Atenco residents, government officials and human rights organizations, and trying "unsuccessfully" to visit 27 political prisoners from Atenco held in two prisons. The Commission's full report is expected in September. Prison officials also denied visitation rights to family members and conducted several court hearings in private, both clear violation of Mexican law. The Special Investigator for Attention to Acts of Violence Committed against Women (FEVIM) received seven formal complaints this week from women who were raped or sexually molested by police during the early May roundups in Atenco. Police officials and Governor Enrique Pena continued to deny any grave misconduct on the part of police, and sited the results of lie detector tests conducted in private as “proof.�
Most of the 27 prisoners held in Santiaguito Prison entered the fourth week of a hunger strike that has left many in a weakened state. Demands include release of all Atenco prisoners, justice for those who suffered rape, beatings and torture, and impeachment of Governor Enrique Pena. The newly formed organization Women Without Fear – We Are All Atenco organized a rotating hunger strike and 24-hour vigilance in front of the prison. Actress Ofelia Medina led the first group of hunger strikers.
In a biting editorial in Fridayâ€TMs La Jornada, Adolfo Gilly highlighted the use of sexual violence to attack social movements as a new, and particularly worrisome, state strategy: “With the police rapes of the women of Atenco, the violence of the Mexican state surpassed a limit. Of course, before, the state killed, committed massacres, tortured, kidnapped, raped and disappeared people. But since Tlatelolco … even with the assassinations and disappearances of the 70s and successive years, they had not practiced mass rape of women prisoners as they did recently in the case of San Salvador Atenco – a collective act of barbarity that no uniformed officer would commit without orders from commanders.â€?
The case of Arnulfo Pacheco Cervantes, arrested in his home in Atenco, exemplifies the brutal police excesses. Arnuflo is paraplegic. When police burst into his home early on May 4, his wife tried in vain to explain his delicate medical condition. Police pushed her aside, beating Pacheco, who is in his 60s, with batons, and breaking five of his ribs. In prison he has received no medical attention and his life is at risk because of internal hemorrhaging from the beatings. Pacheco is accused of kidnapping and attacks against a public highway. As La Jornada reporter Hermann Bellinghausen noted, “The most notable thing about Pacheco, besides his advanced age, is that half of his body has been paralyzed for a long time and he can barely talk. A person in his state would have trouble crossing the street, much less †̃attackâ€TM it.â€?
Last Sunday, more than 50,000 demonstrators organized by the Other Campaign marched from the US Embassy to the Zocalo, marking the largest demonstration to date in support of the Atenco prisoners. International demonstrations increased this week as well, with actions in dozens of US cities and countries around the world. The Mexico Solidarity Network encourages supporters to be as public as possible in support of the Atenco prisoners. Banner drops in public places will keep pressure on the Mexican government to release political prisoners and prosecute officials for rape and beatings. Please send photos of your actions to local media and a copy to the Mexico Solidarity Network. Next week the Mexico Solidarity Network will begin distributing a new video on Atenco produced by Promedios, IndyMedia and the Seis de Julio video collective. For more information, contact [email protected].
2. LETTER FROM MARCOS TO ADHERENTS OF THE SIXTH DECLARATION
[translation by NarcoNews / The Other Journalism]
To all adherents of the Sixth and the Other: Companeras and companeros:
As you may already know, in the Assembly of May 29th we presented a proposal for an Action Plan. Because of the weather and that some friends from various states had to get going, we explained it only briefly there. We think it, therefore, a good idea to explain the proposal in a bit more detail, and so we send along here these thoughts. Alright, then.
1. We, as the Sixth Commission of the EZLN, appreciate that the mobilizations of May 19th (decentralized) and the march of May 28th (a centralized concentration) show that the Other Campaign has evolved from being just a proposal to becoming a national organization with its own identity.
2. In particular, the May 19th mobilizations (and all those that took place all over the country throughout the month of May) demonstrate that the Other Campaign is not dependent on either the Sixth Commission or Subcomandante Marcos. Those present for the National Assembly of Adherents of May 29th [for those not present-the majority of adherents-and who have access to alternative media, we recommend that you connect for example with Radio Pacheco, Radio Sabotaje, Ke Huelga, Narco News, Indymedia, among others, where surely they have the recordings of speeches and so forth of the state delegates' reports] they were able to see that important things were accomplished in states where the Sixth Commission hasn't yet passed through (the whole northern part of the country). They could also see that there were plenty of actions that demonstrated ingenuity and creativity. That confirmed what we had pointed out when we let everyone know that the Sixth Commission (and not the Other Campaign, which is a coalition to which we belong) was staying in one place to push for the freedom of the prisoners. With or without the Sixth Commission, the Other Campaign marches on. We could spend a lot of energy reflecting on whatever you like regarding the Sup's protagonism, devotee-ism, messianism, or other -isms, but the reality is that without him and without the EZLN, mobilizations will happen, and successfully, all over the country.
3. With everything going against it, (a disinformation campaign in the media, poor or non-existent organization, adverse public opinion, among other things) members of the "Other" from different states of the Mexican Republic and from the "Other" on the Other Side, organized in their own way and on their own clock, in just one week created a national mobilization with a common aim: freedom for the prisoners of Atenco. All they had going for them was the conviction of a just cause and the certainty of knowing themselves to be part of a national movement-anti-capitalist and from the left. In localities, sub-regions, regions, and states, adherents organized themselves and completed their elemental duty, which we have as friends: to support each other, mutually.
4. The May 28th' march in Mexico City was a NATIONAL concentration, and fundamentally, of the "Other." The majority of those present were, and are, members of the "Other," committed and raising the flag. Without set-up transportation, without any support outside the "Other," against the grain of disinformation, at their own expense, delegates of adherents from all 32 of this country's states and federal district came together to one place and one time and with one mission: freedom for our imprisoned friends.
5. All of this indicates (for the Zapatistas) that the "Other" has passed through, by its acts, the organizing stage. Although there are still some important projects ahead regarding defining its profile, the "Other" already responds as a national organization (in all 32 states), with an ethic (to not leave the fate of the imprisoned to chance), with high morals (to super-impose our selves onto the terror that the governmental action meant to impose in Atenco), and with our capacity to autonomously and independently mobilize (through both decentralized and concentrated demonstrations). We think there is a need to continue the discussion of the six points and, at the same time, to go forward with the organization of our activities (as our friends have demonstrated across the country).
6. The aggressive response by the political class overall and by the mighty power of money against the "Other" confirms that we are headed in the right direction. Up above, they see us as the enemy, and that means that our fundamental characteristics are clearly defined: anti-capitalist, from below, to the left, and non-electoral.
7. As the Sixth Commission of EZLN, we thought this was going to take some time. The aggressive governmental action against the "Other" in Atenco required us to choose between two options: to retreat or to respond in an organized way. The "Other" chose to respond, organized, and this afforded us a profile that otherwise would have taken more time to establish. We aren't saying either way would have been better or worse, we're only pointing out that this is how it happened. Without leaders or heads, the "Other" responded as a single body all across the national territory.
8. As the Sixth Commission of EZLN, we salute all members of the "Other" in Mexico and on the Other Side, and we express to you the honor and pride we have to be your compa~eros.
9. As the Sixth Commission of EZLN, we see that international support in the fight for freedom and justice for the prisoners of Atenco is very important. According to what we have been told by our friends in the Intergalactic Commission, at least 124 actions in 52 cities in 24 countries of the world have taken place. On just the 28th of May, there were demonstrations in cities such as Rome, Berlin, Toronto, Vancouver, Havana, Buenos Aires, Mar de Plata, San Francisco, and in other places that they will tell us of later. As the Sixth Commission of EZLN, we salute the solidarity actions all over the world that are being made to happen by men, women, children, and elders of different cultures, colors, tongues, and ways of life, and we invite the whole "Other" to learn about these actions in the Zezta Internacional section of our web page.
Based on this evaluation, we are proposing to the entire "Other" in Mexico and to the "Other" on the Other Side the following plan of action:
1. To maintain the goal of freeing the prisoners and start to move forward in the organization and building of the "Other" in localities (cities), sub-regions (counties), regions (provinces), states, sectors, and zones; and in this way, to go forward in the construction of the "Other Alternative" for the organization of those below and to the left.
2. To deepen the cultural front, the artistic front, and the communications front in the fight for those imprisoned.
3. To create a National Commission of Liaison, provisional and with a single marked and defined assignment. One or two people of every "Other" work organizing unity (for example like the sub-regions that organized themselves for the visit of the Sixth Commission) to create a REGIONAL proposal, and also in the sectors as follows local logic and dynamic.
By "work organizing unity," we understand it as a unity that through its acts has come together for a purpose like the visit of the Sixth Commission, or for the actions of May 19th, or to attend a march; or in other words, that moment in which organizations, groups, collectives, and individuals come together and agree to make an organized action happen. What we mean are coordinations or commissions by city, county, state, or sector. What we propose is that in every state, province, county, city, it be decided with which part of the "other" it is in their best interest to stay in direct communication with, by coordination and actions of mutual support.
For example, perhaps the "Others" in Quintana Roo, Yucatan, and Campeche might decide to communicate and coordinate as a Peninsular Region since they have similar kinds of issues. Other examples: Regarding the "Other" in Morelos, should they coordinate with the southerly states, the easterly states, or the central states? Regarding the Huasteca Potosina Sub-region, is it in their best interest to get together with San Luis Potosi on the state level or with the other Huastecas? Should the Huicholes coordinate with the Jalisco "Other" or with the Durango "Other" or with the Nayarit "Other" or align themselves only when it is convenient (in time), in support of themselves and each "Other" group from all of the states in which their territory stretches? We already saw on the tour, for example, that in a certain part of Veracruz it made more sense to get together with a certain part of Hidalgo than with the "Other" of Veracruz. In the end, what we want to say is that the "Other" has no reason to subject itself to geographical limits imposed from above, but instead for each to follow their own historical orientation and organize that-a-way.
What we propose is that every "Other" work organizing unity discuss and propose with whom it would be in their best interest to create a Region, in which to learn, share, coordinate, and make agreements. If this is allright by everybody, then everybody would analyze, discuss, and come to an agreement where it would be best, and they'd send one or two commissioned people to get together with everybody else in this "Provisional Commission of National Networking."
The Provisional Commission of National Networking would then make a national proposal of "regionalizing" according to the proposals of each group. So, all the commissioned people would get together and make the proposal of a new "Other" map and send it out all over to see what everyone thinks. And after that the Commission of National Networking will disappear, complying with its Provisional existence. This way, in sum, an "Other" geography would be made, one from below and to the left.
4. To reaffirm the anti-capitalist and leftward character of the "Other." The freedom of the imprisoned is right now the highest flag that the "Other" is flying, but the "Other" is not a solidarity committee with political prisoners but instead a national movement against the system that strips us bare, exploits us, looks down on us, and holds us down.
5. To bust into the calendar of those up above with civil and peaceful organization and demonstration. If those up above intend to pretend that nothing is going on and have their "holiday" without freeing our friends, we will put ourselves on their calendar and schedule our demand for that freedom there.
6. To put a definition forward in opposition to the electoral process: the alternative isn't to vote for one or the other or to not vote at all; the alternative is to organize or not, below and to the left. This is to say that we are not within in the electoral logic, but instead we are in that of the construction of a movement that truly opposes the capitalist system.
- Local decentralized demonstrations with defined purpose and action. - Art, culture, and communication for the causes of freedom and justice of those who fight for social causes. It is proposed that June 11th be the day that everyone in their own places, in their own ways, does that.
3. TEACHERS DEMAND INCREASED EDUCATION BUDGET Teachers affiliated with two teachers unions, the CNTE and Section 22 of the SNTE, moved into their second week of strikes that has closed highways, downtown areas and the Oaxaca airport. When teachers from Section 22, a group opposed to the more conservative branch of the SNTE lead by Elba Esther Gordillo, closed the Oaxaca City airport form about twelve hours on Thursday, the PRI faction of the state assembly called for President Fox to send in the Federal Preventative Police (PFP). Still smarting from massive human rights abuses committed by the PFP in Atenco last month, Fox hesitated, claiming logistical problems in mobilizing the force. On Friday, more than 80,000 demonstrators, including teachers, students and parents, virtually shut down the center of Oaxaca in the largest demonstration in the cityâ€TMs history. Later on Friday, Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz threatened to dock teacher pay and send in security forces if the strike didnâ€TMt end by Monday.
4. BORDER GOVERNORS AGREE TO NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT Governors from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas agreed to mobilize National Guard troops this week to bolster border security. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ended a 17-day standoff with the Bush administration and agreed to send 1,000 National Guard troops for border duty. Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM), a presidential hopeful in the 2008 elections, agreed to deploy Guard troops despite his frequently expressed opposition to the plan. The US$1.9 billion Bush plan calls for deployment of 6,000 troops to assist mainly with fence building and administrative duties, with Guardsmen gradually replaced by newly hired Border Patrol agents by 2008. While the Bush administration has agreed to foot the bill, paving the way for Governors to sign the agreements, Congress has yet to approve the measure, known as Operation Jump Start. House minority leader Phil Lopes (D-NM) was skeptical of the plan: “Unless you've got people shoulder to shoulder, I don't know that there's evidence that numbers (of troops or border agents) are going to have any significant impact. There doesn't seem to be any relationship between the number of guys and gals patrolling the border in Humvees and the number of folks crossing the border.�
La Reforma reported this week that polleros (human traffickers) doubled the cost of undocumented border crossings from about US$2,500 to US$5,000. In the face of border militarization on the US side, many experts predict increased corruption among officials on both sides of the border and the emergence of more sophisticated mafias.
Meanwhile, President Bush spoke on Thursday before the United States Chamber of Commerce calling for Congress to pass immigration reform that includes increased militarization of the border, a guest worker program, identity cards for immigrants, and a limited amnesty for some of the 12 million undocumented workers living in the US. Most immigrant rights organizations oppose the plan. Stepped up militarization would increase deaths along the border, the guest worker program would create a second class group of workers without full labor rights, and the limited amnesty program leaves more than half of undocumented workers without a clear path to normalization of their immigrant status. Immigrant identity cards may be a backdoor way to introduce a national identity card for all US residents, a long-term goal of the Bush administration. In addition, the Bush proposal addresses none of the root causes of undocumented immigration, including unpayable international debt, NAFTA and IMF structural adjustment programs that leave many of Mexicoâ€TMs economic policies in the hands of the US Treasury Department.
5. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS, Contact [email protected]
May 28 - July 8: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Mexican social movements in the context of the July presidential election.
September 10 – December 16: Fall Study Abroad Program. Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez.
Sept 24 – Oct 7: Speaking tour – The Femicides of Juarez and Chihuahua, and border issues. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois
Oct 1-14: Speaking tour - Immigrant rights, featuring a representative from Mexicanos Sin Fronteras Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina
Oct 8-21: Speaking tour - Immigrant rights, featuring a day laborer from Chicago Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana
Oct 15-28: Speaking tour – The Femicides of Juarez and Chihuahua, and border issues. California
Oct 22 – Nov 4: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, featuring an Ex-Bracero from the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros. Ohio, Michigan
Oct 29 – Nov 11: Speaking tour – Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring a speaker to be named from Chiapas. California
Nov 5-18: Speaking tour – Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring a speaker to be named from Chiapas. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Nov 26 – Dec 9: Speaking tour – Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US,featuring a speaker to be named from Chiapas. New England
Dec 3-15: Speaking tour – Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring a speaker to be named from Chiapas. Washington, Oregon, Vancouver, Idaho, and other parts of Northwest
Alternative Economy Internships - Develop markets for artisanry produced by women's cooperatives in Chiapas and make public presentations on the struggle for justice and dignity in Zapatista communities. Interns are currently active in Fort Collins, OR; Spokane, WA; Alexandria, VA; Grand Haven, MI; Chico, CA; Sacramento, CA; Stonington, ME; Lancaster, PA; St Paul, MN; Louisville, KY; San Francisco, CA; Turner, OR; Athens, GA; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Guelph, Canada; Davis, CA; Tempe, AZ; and Madison, WI.