Support The Demands Of The Women Of Oaxaca

WOMEN AND MEN ALL OVER THE WORLD SUPPORT THE DEMANDS OF THE WOMEN OF OAXACA
26 January 2007

BACKGROUND
The state of Oaxaca is one of the areas of the world where agriculture first began. Oaxaca´s historic city centre has been given Humanity Cultural Heritage status. Oaxaca is a tourist city, expensive for its low income inhabitants. The majority live in rural Indigenous communities and poor neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city (colonias). Families are often headed by women whose husbands or sons have emigrated to other states or to the US in search of employment.

Oaxaca is one of the areas where Plan Puebla Panama – superhighways for the multinationals as part of a huge industrial infrastructure to expand the free trade agreement between North and Central America – is being built despite the fierce opposition of Indigenous and other rural communities.

Injustices have accumulated for many years. In the municipalities, little of the resources allocated to Indigenous peoples for community development, ever arrives. And what does arrive is tied to the political parties, or the funds are diverted by the municipal presidents in cahoots with state officials.

In 2004, Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz came to power through electoral fraud and repression was unleashed. Movement people who were Indigenous, teachers and others were attacked, detained, disappeared and even killed. Ulises Ruiz ´cleaned up´ the Zócalo in Oaxaca city (the main square with the government buildings), preventing Indigenous and other small vendors from selling, as they have always done.

A PEOPLE-TEACHERS STRUGGLE
On the 1st of May, International Workers Day, the teachers unions (Section 22 of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores - SNTE and the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación - CNTE) presented a petition to the government. Instead of responding to these demands, Ulises Ruiz spent millions of pesos on a media campaign which claimed that the teachers had everything they needed.

On the 22nd of May, the teachers called a strike and a people-teachers picket in the Zócalo, which was joined by Indigenous and other grassroots organizations. The Indigenous communities lack all kinds of basic services, and so had a series of economic demands relating to infrastructure: drinking water, electricity, roads, schools, health clinics…The teachers demand better wages, the improvement of school buildings, and resources for the students: free breakfast, shoes, uniforms, books... The Mexican constitution guarantees free education, yet mothers are having to pay registration fees. They have joined the teachers in defense of their own economic and social demands.

On the 2nd of June, the first people-teachers Mega-march was held – 100,000 people took part. On the 7th, a second Mega-march of 200,000 people put Ulises Ruiz on trial.

On the 14th of June, Ulises Ruiz violently evicted the picket without any concern for the women and children on it. They killed some people, asphyxiated children and pregnant women. The tear gas and other chemicals caused women to miscarry and children to be born ill, but people were too frightened of the repression to report this.

Many people who had believed what the media was saying, suddenly realized what was happening. From that moment the demand that Ulises Ruiz had to go became the main demand of the movement which represents the majority of the Oaxaca population.

In response to the criminal eviction of 14 June, Indigenous communities, colonias and many other sectors came out in defense of the teachers and in a few hours regained the Zócalo. The movement called its 3rd Mega-march and succeeded in reinstating the mass picket.

Between the 17 and 21 June the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) was formed as a movement independent of all political parties, with 365 organizations of different sectors, and on the 20th of June a collective provisional leadership was chosen.

On the 22nd of June, Ulises Ruiz called a march, which the popular-teacher movement called the ´March of Shame´ because many had been tricked into marching. There were police, undercover cops, organizations of the political party PRI brought in from other states, workers under threat of losing their jobs who marched against their will, and Indigenous communities who thought they were defending teachers and education. Still, Ulises Ruiz was able to mobilize only 3-5,000 people.

APPO replied with a 4th Mega-march which brought more than one million people to Oaxaca from eight regions of the state. APPO was able to unite the different sectors of the movement – Indigenous and rural people with students, teachers, social security workers, telephonists and colonias. Nuns and priests have joined in defence of the rights of those with least, though the Catholic Church hierarchy has backed Ulises Ruiz.

The creation of APPO was a crucial step in the consolidation of the movement. At first, men were the majority of those elected to APPO’s leading collective; only 7 were women. Then other sectors and municipalities joined. And when the APPO Women’s Coordination was formed 35 women joined the leading collective, and at APPO´s first congress on 10-12 November, there was discussion about how many delegates each sector should have and it was decided that at least 30% of them should be women.

On the 26 of July, APPO decided to take the three powers of the State: government house and the Secretary of Finance, the Chamber of Deputies, and the penal courts. Those who participated most in taking the Secretary of Finance were the women: housewives from the colonias, teachers, and women of all ages from community organizations. They began to get to know each other and they saw the need to have their own action. For the teachers it was an opportunity to participate directly because the unions work through delegations and those who are not delegates remain outside.

AUTONOMOUS WOMEN: HOUSEWIVES, INDIGENOUS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS, RELIGIOUS, DOCTORS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS…
On the 1st of August women called a great march, named the Pots and Pans March, in which 20,000 women and children participated, including 15,000 teachers: Indigenous, women from the colonias, from community organizations such as CODEP, OIDHO, CODEDI XANICA, CIPO, FPR, from the teachers unions, nurses, students and Indigenous communities. They chanted: “Take it, man, your wife is rising” and “When women move forward, no man is left behind.”

The Pots and Pans March directed itself at the fourth power – the media – and took over Channel 9 and the state radio. About 350 women went in and the rest surrounded the building to protect them. Nobody stopped them. They asked the radio listeners for water, food and people who could operate television cameras. In a few hours they were able to broadcast. Channel 9 and the radio which they named Radio Pots and Pans, were at the service of the people, broadcasting discussions between women, their demands, and on the 2nd of August for the first time images of the repression which had taken place on the 14th of June.

The Pots and Pans March began as a proposal of the housewives of the colonias who had been brought together by the community organizations like CODEP (Comité de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo). The colonias women are one of the most combative sectors: mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, aunts and sisters, women are the primary carers of the human species and the first to struggle for justice when their children, partners and relatives are victims of repression. Before there had been no direct communication between the women from the colonias and the teachers, but now they had united and the colonias women said: “I don’t care that my children lose school because this is a lesson of struggle for life.”

This is not the first time that women have organized autonomously. In 1995, the women from CODEP held the first women congress with the participation of various Indigenous nations, and organized joint actions with women from other organizations (OIDHO; CODEDI, FUDI), for example the International Women’s Day march on the 8th of March 1997, the first statewide mobilization of women. Now many women are part of the state council of CODEP and of APPO, and they say that many of the movement men didn’t accept this participation of women on their own behalf, and so women’s autonomy was dropped. Nevertheless on the 8th of March 2005 women demonstrated in the street again and put forward their demands as the women and as the people.

Now many women are more determined than ever. The Pots and Pans March and the occupation of Channel 9 created a space for everyone: “The repression brought us together; also the opportunity to change the situation. On the 1st of August we undid our chains. This is our moment.”

The autonomous actions of the women have changed the relationship with the men: there is more respect, more recognition of the fundamental role of women in the struggle.

THE WOMEN´S DEMANDS
On the 31st of August APPO´s Coordination of Women of Oaxaca (COMO 1st August) was formed. It raised that: “At present and due to the extreme poverty, the conditions for having so many children do not exist, in addition the struggle demands that we should be participating in other areas.”

On the basis of documents from the conference and what the women told us, we have assembled the following demands.

 Equal participation of women and men.  Reclaim the Indigenous traditions, unless they undermine the human dignity of women.  The right to land for Indigenous women: the majority do not own their homes because as women they don’t inherit their land.  To struggle against violence: many are beaten by their husbands; many married whom their parents chose for them.  Literacy: many women over 40 years old don´t know how to read and write and don´t speak Spanish.  Compulsory teaching of the languages of the original cultures of the state of Oaxaca.  The formation of brigades to go to Indigenous communities, villages and colonias to let people know about our experience of struggle.  To struggle against discrimination.  To struggle against the economic system – women are the poorest – and to create an economy based on sustainable development.  No to losing your job because of pregnancy.  Abolition of provisional contracts.  Health services: many women die without having seen a doctor.  Decent housing.

And therefore:
1. Create communal kitchens for each colonia and each block. 2. Form food collectives. 3. Establish comprehensive education programmes. 4. Eradication of alcoholism and drug addiction. 5. Form cultural collectives that enable the Indigenous communities to have cultural interchanges by means of workshops, training courses and forums. 6. Promote projects for production, with adequate economic support, in terms of tools and other material resources for their functioning that enable community development and economic independence of the peoples of our state. 7. Hold study groups about our roots. 8. Promote a massive literacy campaign. 9. Develop programmes for radio and television to broadcast organizing experiences from one people to another. 10. Training on gender equity for boys and men. 11. Develop a project to reclaim Indigenous languages. 12. Stop Channel 13 for two hours and inform people about what is really happening in this grassroots struggle. 13. Contact groups of women in other states to let them know about the problems that we face in this state. 14. Hold an Indigenous Women´s Forum for which the call will be in Indigenous languages. 15. Open an email for COMO 1st August to let people know about our activities.

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
On the 21st of August, the women were evicted from Channel 9 and the repression hardened. Ex-president Fox sent the military police (Preventive Federal Police) to Oaxaca, to support Ulises Ruiz in spite of the rejection of the population, because they don’t want Oaxaca to set an example for other states. House raids are continuing and many people have been disappeared and killed, among them Brad Will, an Indymedia US journalist. A number of women have been detained and tortured, raped by the police and the paramilitaries.

In response to this latest attack, on the 19th of November, hundreds of women marched to the Zócalo. They protested the sexual assaults by holdings mirrors which said: “I am a rapist, I am a murderer,” so the police and military could see themselves. They were attacked with gas and water cannons.

But they have not given up. On the 18th and 19th of November in Mexico City, on the initiative of the women and men of APPO, the Popular Assembly of the People of Mexico (APPM) was formed to initiate a government of the people for the people. APPO explained to the organizations present which had come from all over Mexico, that the point of the assemblies is to return to consensus, that each person gives their view and commits themselves in front of everyone, if they don’t keep their word it becomes clear who is committed and who isn’t. Women highlighted their leading role in taking over Channel 9 and in building the barricades, and were warmly applauded.

The Global Women´s Strike in Mexico, England and Venezuela were present at the formation of APPM. We were applauded when we spoke about the struggle of the Venezuelan people for the reelection of President Chávez, and when on offering our support we commented: “As women we want all our work of survival and care to be recognized, from making the coffee to caring for the children along with justice work in the movement where women may be the majority, even though we may not be visible. In a world that kills us with hunger and bullets, the work of survival that we women do is revolutionary. No one knows this better than Indigenous women.”

On the 25th of November the 8th Mega-march took place. In order to justify the most brutal repression, the federal government in cahoots with Ulises Ruiz, got police, paramilitaries and PRI infiltrators to set fire to buildings and cars, and to assault the demonstrators. They have arrested 141 people, among them 34 women who have been treated outrageously – including having their heads shaved. Many men and women are still disappeared or in different prisons, especially in Nayarit.

Another Mega-march took place on the 10th of December, to demand the release of all those who are being held arbitrarily and illegally, that all those who have been disappeared be returned alive, and the cancellation of the arrest warrants.

On the 22nd of December, APPO called for an open public dialogue. See their enclosed letter in Spanish.

OTHER STRUGGLES IN THE MEXICAN CAPITAL
Many struggles are going on all over the country. We only mention that during the months of mobilization in Oaxaca, millions of people all over the country were protesting the electoral fraud committed by Felipe Calderón and proclaiming that Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the president elect. On the 20th of November, the Global Women´s Strike was in the Zócalo of México city when López Obrador was proclaimed president elect by hundreds of thousands of people.

JUSTICE AND FREEDOM FOR OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN OAXACA
Since August, according to information released by the CNDH (human rights commission) and published in the paper La Jornada, 20 people have been assassinated, 349 are being held, among them 34 women, and 370 have been wounded. And it is well known that many people have disappeared. According to APPO´s 22 December letter, since Ulises Ruiz Ortiz took power 71 people have been murdered, 150 raped or tortured in other ways, more than 100 disappeared, and more than 500 detained.

In January 2007, despite constant threats from the police, the women of COMO organized a public collection of toys for the children of Oaxaca. On the 6th of January, about 300 children whose APPO mothers or fathers are in jail, marched through the city centre demanding the release of their parents, and that “the men in uniform in the city´s Zócalo be exchanged for toys and flowers”.

Together with our sisters in Oaxaca, we demand open public dialogue. Justice for women and all our loved ones. An end to rape and other torture. An end to repression. All those who have been detained or disappeared must be returned alive and released. Out with Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. Withdrawal of the Preventive Federal Police. Implementation of APPO´s popular government. Implementation of women’s demands. Invest in caring not killing.

 womenstrike8m@server101.com  huelgamundialdemujeres@terra.es
www.globalwomenstrike.net


Signed by the Global Women´s Strike which has co-ordinating organisations in England, Guyana, Haiti, India, Ireland, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, USA and Venezuela, and the following individuals and organisations:

AUSTRALIA
Lara Pullin, Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network

ARGENTINA
Irene Castillo, Grupo de Estudios Sociales
Patricia Duró, Movimiento de Trabajadores
Desocupados
Julie Hermoso

AUSTRIA
Catholic Women Organization Vienna

Prof. Dr. Ilse Hanak, WIDE (Women in
Development Europe)
Irmi Salzer, ÖBV-Via Campesina

BENIN
Max Placide Ahouansou, Association Défis Jeunes
pour le Développement (ADJD)

BOLIVIA
María Victoria Fernández Q, Movimiento Sin Tierra

CANADA
Brad Boyce
Cross Cultural Sound Exchange
Dr. Siusaidh Campbell
Dr. Juergen Dankwort, Human Rights & International Solidarity Committee, Kwantlen University College
Carolina D'Andrea,OPIRG-Guelph
Elsie Dean, WILPF (Women's International League for
Peace & Freedom), Vancouver
Ann Grant
Barbara Grant, WILPF Central Vermont Branch
Jean-Pierre Daubois
Sara Kendall, Independent Media Centres &
CIPO-VAN
Ottawa Fair Trade Network
Phil Lyons, Community Solidarity Coalition
David McMurran
Manley C. Sadler
Larry Martin, Cairos y Desarrollo y paz
Ira R. Rabinovitch & Melanie Robitaille
Oaxaca Solidarity Ottawa
Dr. K. Preibisch
Cameron Peters, President, OPIRG-Windsor
Anna Granuzzo Silverman
B.L. Wagner B, Print Editions
Brandy Wiebe, University of British Columbia
Ottawa, Canada
Marguerite Warner,member, Peace Alliance Winnipeg

CHINA
Wang Yi Zhuo
ECUADOR
Colectivo Feminista Ecuador
M. Antonia Arnau, Comitè de Solidaritat amb els Pobles Indígenes d´ Amèrica Ecuador Llactacaru
ENGLAND
Niki Adams, Legal Action for Women
Cristel Amiss, Black Women’s Rape Action Project
Gemma Amran
Bridget Anderson
Lynda Birke
Nicolette Blake
Paula Brill
Sara Callaway, Women of Colour in the Global
Women Strike
Dr Lis Davidson, Princes Park Health Centre
Ms Grindle Dockery
Pauline Gaughan DC, Liverpool
Claire Glasman, WinVisible (women with visible and
invisible disabilities)
Jenny Hautman
Selma James and Nina López, Global Women’s
Strike
Corinna Lotz, A World to Win
G Nomad
Lucy MacArthur
Benoit Martin, Payday men’s network
Cari Mitchell, International Prostitutes Collective
Janet Price
Alfie Rose
Billy Rose
Didi Rossi, Wages Due Lesbians
Roy St Pierre
Camille Shah
Kim Sparrow, Single Mothers Self Defence
Frances Vigay
Malcolm and Jan Wallace, Chelmsford TUC
Esther Ziwa, All African Women’s Group

GUYANA
Andaiye, Global Women´s Strike

GERMANY
Ingrid Wenzl

HONG KONG
Zi Teng (sex workers concern organisation) (organización de apoyo a las trabajadoras sexuales)

ICELAND
Rögnvaldur Guðmundsson, Reykjavík,

INDIA
Janet Chawla, MATRIKA (Motherhood and Traditional
Resources Information Knowledge and Action)
Bhanumathi Kalluri, International Women and Mining Network
Thomas Kocherry, World Forum of Fisher Peoples
Miriam Kuruvinakunnel, Hermanas Misioneras Médicas
Simrita Gopal Singh, Dr. Medha Kotwal Lele, Nirmala Sathe, Aalochana Centre for Documentation and
Research on Women, Pune

IRELAND
Eve Campbell, Rossport Solidarity Camp
Rose Dugdale
Tanya O'Sullivan
Frank Moezer
Jo Ronayne, Global Women’s Strike
Maggie Ronayne, Global Women’s Strike
Isabel Winter

IVORY COAST
Diakalia Ouattara

ITALY
Mirko Cariglia

MEXICO
Luz María Orona Aguilar, Voces de Mujeres
Catalina Eieenschutz
Ariadna Alvarez Murillo
Elina VIlchis

PERU
Bethsabé Andía Payet, RUNA
Adelinda Díaz, Centro de Capacitación para Trabajadoras
del Hogar y Huelga Mundial de Mujeres

POLAND
Natalia Kowbasiuk, Active Society Group

PORTUGAL
Frederico Brandão, Republica Boa-Bay-Ela
Paula Maria Gil Rodrigues da Silva

SCOTLAND
Suki Mills

SPAIN
Margarita Aguinaga, El Colectivo Feminista
Charo Altable
Alonso Brito Alvarez
Roxana L. Foladori Antúnez
Isis Merce Adrove Ariño, Associasió Ecumene-Ecumenic
Pepe Cabido, Representante sindical STEG, Galiza
Katrien de Wilder Calero
Matilde Senis Canet, Ca Revolta País
Casa de la Dona
Ana Maria López Carvajal
Montserrat Cervera, Dones per Dones, Catalunya
Chun Gonzáles De Cháves
Col·lectiu Gai de Barcelona
Maiuca Cortón, Representante sindical STEG, Galiza Patio Culturas
Gregoria Ramirez Gomez, Asociacion San Diego País


Andrea Farah
Cristina Valle Fernández
Cristina Fontenla Figueroa
Llum Pellicer Frances, USTEC·STES (Unió Sindical
De Treballadors de l’Ensenyament De
Catalunya)
Irenela Franquis
Encarna García
Merci García
Juana Cabrera Garcia, CGT, Las Palmas
Marta Garchitorena
Nayra Gironés
Flavio Guidi, Revolta Global
Dunia Muti Hernández
Alicia Lafuente
Caterina Molina (Barcelona)
Júlia Moltó Linares
Amparo Marqués
Laura García Miranda, Feminista Autónoma
Concha Moreno
Carmen Morente, Plataforma Simón Bolívar,
Granada
Bea Naranjo
Eva Ojeda
Fernanda Paloucci
Isabel Pérez, Asociación Socio Cultural Sagumo,
Canarias
Begoña Pinzolas
Eva Primavera
Ana Ramos
Luci Rodríguez
Rosa Mª Fernández Sansa, Lobby de Dones de
Catalunya
Gina Serra & Joana López, Asociación de
Transexuales e Intersexuales de Catalunya
Grup de Transsexuals Masculins de Barcelona
Lourdes Tejera, Secretaría de la Mujer de Intersindical,
Canaria
Pilar Blanco Prieto, "Tejiendo salud, Las
Federicas
Ángeles Trujillo Ponce, Organización de Mujeres
Dulce Chacón
Guillem Marpons Ucero
María José Pérez Vargas, el Encinar, “Asociación de
Productos Ecológicos”
Koldo Velásquez Vasco
Sara Williams, Huelga Mundial de Mujeres, Barcelona

TANZANIA
Benedict Mchau

TURKEY
Ali Saysel, Bogazici University
Boysan Yakar, Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity
Association

UGANDA
Grace Loumo, Aware (Action for Women and
Awakening in Rural Environment) and Global
Women´s Strike

URUGUAY
Claudia Guibernau, CLAMARES

USA
Khaled AMER
Sister Bernie Galvin
Hilda Bolden
Martha Bushnell
Kathleen Carrick, School of Social Work, University of
Pittsburgh
Amelia Chew, INCITE! Boston Women of Color Against
Violence
Shannon Choneska, S.M.A.C (Social Movement Action
Coalition)
Jean Crandall, Independent Folklorist
Frances Crowe
John M Drewery
Linda Everett
Pat Gowens, Welfare Warriors
Amy Hamilton, Mothers Alliance for Mutual Aid (M*A*M*A), New York
Ginette Hassberg
Norma J F Harrison, Peace and Freedom
Linda Helland
Hitec Aztec Communications
Dean Kendall, Payday men´s network
Phoebe Jones, Global Women´s Strike
Marie Kennedy
Constance Lesold, Brooklyn Mental Hygiene Court
Monitors Project
Lori Nairne, Wages Due Lesbians
Dorotea Manuela, Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights
Day Committee
Dorinda Moreno, Elders of Four Colours Four Directions
Nell Myhand, Crossroads Women's Centre, SF Bay Area
Matthew Opitz, Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice
Anne E. Phillips, Rowan University
Susan M. Pierce
Rev Edward Pinkey, Black Autonomy Network Community
Organisation
Robin Powell
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Margaret Prescod, Women of Colour in the Global
Women´s Strike
Kaveri Rajaraman, Harvard University
Xian Reddack
Janie Rezner
Marilyn Russell
Gail Sredanovic,Raging Grannies Action League
Ally Styan, Individuals Reforming Ideas to Secure Equality
Maureen Turnbull, Working Alliance for a Just Economy
and Solidariedade
Rachel West, International Prostitutes Collective
Mary Zink,
We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For

VENEZUELA
Tulio Camacho
Yoniray Herrera, BANMUJER (Banco de Desarrollo de
la Mujer)
Verónica Martín, Universidad Central de Venezuela
Milagros Matamolina
Raignild Orta, Movimiento de Mujeres Manuelita Sáenz
Milagros Rodríguez, INAMUJER (Instituto de la Mujer)
Ana Rodríguez Odeibo
Juanita Romero, Red Popular de Los Altos Mirandinos
y Huelga Mundial de Mujeres
Florangel Valdez, MUVERJUST

WALES
Sian Cwper, Organisation Peace Tax Seven

COUNTRY UNKNOWN
Ana Cristina,
Miriam J García
Alia Maiter
Cristina Tamasauskas, Fundación Comunidad 2000/
Colectivo de base comunitaria