Please FWD this callout!
- OAXACA SOLIDARITY PROTEST IN LONDON - END THE REPRESSION!
- MONDAY 20TH NOVEMBER*
- 6PM OUTSIDE MEXICAN EMBASSY, 16 ST GEORGE ST, HANNOVER SQ, W1S 1LX
- OAXACA SOLIDARITY PROTEST IN LONDON - END THE REPRESSION!
- MONDAY 20TH NOVEMBER*
- 6PM OUTSIDE MEXICAN EMBASSY, 16 ST GEORGE ST, HANNOVER SQ, W1S 1LX
We demand the withdrawal of Police and Army from Oaxaca and the satisfaction of the social movement's demands!
- We condemn the violence of the state and paramilitaries, the detentions, assasinations, dissapearences, torture!
- We express our solidarity with the rebel people of Oaxaca, their courage and dignity is an example to us all!
- We demand freedom for the political prisoners of Oaxaca and Atenco!
- We condemn the recent massacre of children, women and men by paramilitaries in Chiapas!
- We are all Zapatistas! - We are all Oaxaca! - We are all Atenco! - We are all the Other!
* We choose this date as it is the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and the Zapatistas have called for a general strike in Mexico!
BACKGROUND:
In May, teachers in the poverty filled southern Mexican state of Oaxaca went on strike for better pay. As is tradition, they had a physical presence as they camped in the central square of Oaxaca City. Their demand was met with repression as the Governor sent riot Police to disperse the teachers. However, the teachers returned with 70,000 supporters and repelled the Police!
Since then Oaxaca has risen into full rebellion. The people demanded the resignation of the Governor and took control of their state by forming the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). They occupied government buildings, as students took control of their university and the radio, women took control of the television studios and communities shut the economy down with barricades.
Sporadic violence has occured as state supported paramilitaries, as well as Police and authorities in civilian clothes, attacked members of the APPO resulting in several deaths. Friday 27 October with the by-now infamous attack on one of the barricades in Santa Lucia del Camino. During this attack, a US Indymedia journalist - Brad Wills - was murdered, shot at close range by Police in civilian clothes. This act has justified a massive increase in state repression as President Fox seeks to crush the popular uprising.
On 30th October, 10,000 Federal Preventive Police invaded Oaxaca city. They were met with massive non-violent resistance but managed to re-take the Central Square. However, the social movement regrouped around the University Campus and, using home-made weapons in an eight hour battle against hundreds strong riot squads fully armed with teargas, tanks and helicoptors, the communities managed to force the Police to retreat. Last weekend saw a march in the City of 1.3 million people in support of the APPO.
However, since the invasion, repression against the movement has increased massively. There has been several deaths and many people have been arrested. Even worse, many other people have been 'dissapeared' and nobody knows where they are or whats happened to them. There have been many reports of torture, and many houses have been illegally raided, and their inhabitants arrested or dissapeared. Oaxaca is living a brutal government terrorism of the social movement, where there are disappearances, torture, detentions, killings, and many injured. It is difficult to know exactly how many people have been affected, but there is no doubt that there are severe violations of human rights. According to the Oaxaca Network for Human Rights, from June 14th through November 5th, there were 145 detained, 34 of whom have been freed, 17 dead, and 33 seriously injured, including 5 journalists injured and one killed. Some sources speak of 65 disappeared. There are numerous people who have also received death threats.
This has gotten so bad, that even the Catholic Church has now sided with the APPO against the State. On 9th November the APPO asked the diocese of Oaxaca to grant asylum to its members – particularly its prominent members who are under threat of assassination. The legal officer of the local Catholic hierarchy, speaking officially, responded the same day positively, and with a scathing indictment of the lawless state behavior, asserting in part that there exists “state terrorism and a schizophrenic persecution”. The irony should be noted that Mexico currently holds the presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Commision!
FURTHER ACTION:
Protest against Caterpiller bulldozers being used in Oaxaca to clear APPO barricades:
- CATERKILLER VICE PRESIDENT IN LONDON!
- PROTEST AT CATERPILLAR'S COMPLICITY IN ISRAELI WAR CRIMES, DEMOLITIONS IN ZIMBABWE AND STATE REPRESSION IN OAXACA!
- 17.30, WEDNESDAY 22ND NOVEMBER AT THE GROSVENOR HOTEL!
Contact the Mexican Embassy demanding an end to the repression and satisfaction of the APPO's demands:
Mexican Embassy - 16 St George Street - Mayfair - London W1S 1LX
Tel - (0) 20 7499 8586
Fax - (0) 20 7495 4035
Email -
mexuk@easynet.co.uk
FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.narconews.com
www.mexico.indymedia.org
- We condemn the violence of the state and paramilitaries, the detentions, assasinations, dissapearences, torture!
- We express our solidarity with the rebel people of Oaxaca, their courage and dignity is an example to us all!
- We demand freedom for the political prisoners of Oaxaca and Atenco!
- We condemn the recent massacre of children, women and men by paramilitaries in Chiapas!
- We are all Zapatistas! - We are all Oaxaca! - We are all Atenco! - We are all the Other!
* We choose this date as it is the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and the Zapatistas have called for a general strike in Mexico!
BACKGROUND:
In May, teachers in the poverty filled southern Mexican state of Oaxaca went on strike for better pay. As is tradition, they had a physical presence as they camped in the central square of Oaxaca City. Their demand was met with repression as the Governor sent riot Police to disperse the teachers. However, the teachers returned with 70,000 supporters and repelled the Police!
Since then Oaxaca has risen into full rebellion. The people demanded the resignation of the Governor and took control of their state by forming the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). They occupied government buildings, as students took control of their university and the radio, women took control of the television studios and communities shut the economy down with barricades.
Sporadic violence has occured as state supported paramilitaries, as well as Police and authorities in civilian clothes, attacked members of the APPO resulting in several deaths. Friday 27 October with the by-now infamous attack on one of the barricades in Santa Lucia del Camino. During this attack, a US Indymedia journalist - Brad Wills - was murdered, shot at close range by Police in civilian clothes. This act has justified a massive increase in state repression as President Fox seeks to crush the popular uprising.
On 30th October, 10,000 Federal Preventive Police invaded Oaxaca city. They were met with massive non-violent resistance but managed to re-take the Central Square. However, the social movement regrouped around the University Campus and, using home-made weapons in an eight hour battle against hundreds strong riot squads fully armed with teargas, tanks and helicoptors, the communities managed to force the Police to retreat. Last weekend saw a march in the City of 1.3 million people in support of the APPO.
However, since the invasion, repression against the movement has increased massively. There has been several deaths and many people have been arrested. Even worse, many other people have been 'dissapeared' and nobody knows where they are or whats happened to them. There have been many reports of torture, and many houses have been illegally raided, and their inhabitants arrested or dissapeared. Oaxaca is living a brutal government terrorism of the social movement, where there are disappearances, torture, detentions, killings, and many injured. It is difficult to know exactly how many people have been affected, but there is no doubt that there are severe violations of human rights. According to the Oaxaca Network for Human Rights, from June 14th through November 5th, there were 145 detained, 34 of whom have been freed, 17 dead, and 33 seriously injured, including 5 journalists injured and one killed. Some sources speak of 65 disappeared. There are numerous people who have also received death threats.
This has gotten so bad, that even the Catholic Church has now sided with the APPO against the State. On 9th November the APPO asked the diocese of Oaxaca to grant asylum to its members – particularly its prominent members who are under threat of assassination. The legal officer of the local Catholic hierarchy, speaking officially, responded the same day positively, and with a scathing indictment of the lawless state behavior, asserting in part that there exists “state terrorism and a schizophrenic persecution”. The irony should be noted that Mexico currently holds the presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Commision!
FURTHER ACTION:
Protest against Caterpiller bulldozers being used in Oaxaca to clear APPO barricades:
- CATERKILLER VICE PRESIDENT IN LONDON!
- PROTEST AT CATERPILLAR'S COMPLICITY IN ISRAELI WAR CRIMES, DEMOLITIONS IN ZIMBABWE AND STATE REPRESSION IN OAXACA!
- 17.30, WEDNESDAY 22ND NOVEMBER AT THE GROSVENOR HOTEL!
Contact the Mexican Embassy demanding an end to the repression and satisfaction of the APPO's demands:
Mexican Embassy - 16 St George Street - Mayfair - London W1S 1LX
Tel - (0) 20 7499 8586
Fax - (0) 20 7495 4035
Email -
mexuk@easynet.co.uk FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.narconews.com
www.mexico.indymedia.org
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