Mexico

The site at Chinkultic had been occupied by members of its surrounding villages since 7 September, following what villagers saw as its neglect by the INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) - the state institution charged with maintaining the country's thousands of ruins sites - and the concentration of profits from tourism in the municipality (one of the poorest in Mexico) ou

Around 300 teachers started Sunday with the occupation and "liberation" of a motorway tollbooth near to Chilpancingo, giving free passage to motorists, a tactic also used in support of the 50 day long (and counting!) teachers' strike in the bordering state of Morelos, which is also in protest

As well as striking, the teachers - from Sección 19 of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores para la Educación (SNTE) - have established a plantón (permanent encampment) in the city of Cuernavaca and also have employed motorway blockades, the "liberation" of tollbooths and even marched 85km north to Mexico City in order to demand the reform's reversal.

The background:

In 2006 the Mexican state of Oaxaca was embroiled in a conflict that lasted more than seven months and resulted in at least eighteen deaths and the temporary occupation of the capital city of Oaxaca by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

“The true man goes to the roots.

To be radical is no more that this: he who goes to the roots.

He who does not see things in their depth should not call himself radical.

Nor that man who does not aid the security and speech of other men.”

José Marti

Compañero Lorenzo San Pablo:

(This article was prepared for a special edition of the magazine “La Guillotina” dedicated to the topic “Re-thinking the Left in Mexico”)

“This is not a movement of leaders, but of bases”

This fall in Oaxaca marks a season of commemorations. Already marches for fallen APPO members Jose Jimenez Colmenares and Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes have woven their ways through the streets of the city, pausing at the spots they were murdered in 2006, holding ceremonies at the Cathedral. Twenty-four more such processions await Oaxaca in the coming months.

Understanding exactly what is meant by the Sixth Declaration is a difficult task. While the Declaration opens with a reference to it being the ‘simple word’(1) of the EZLN there is a certain, perhaps deliberate, lack of theoretical clarity. This can, completely understandably, cause problems interpreting the document and the Zapatista position.

SERGIO DE CASTRO SANCHEZ
Originally published in Spanish on oaxacalibre.org and in Rojo Y Negro, newspaper of the CGT
Translated by a comrade of Capital Terminus Collective

The strike (previously reported on Libcom here and here), a contrast of almost blanket support from union members and almost blanket condemnation