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The Revolutionary Surge in Oaxaca
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - Aug 30, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/salzman08302006.html
The Revolutionary Surge in Oaxaca
...From Teachers' Strike Towards Dual Power
By GEORGE SALZMAN
Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca shares, with Chiapas and Guerrero, the distinction of being the one
of the three poorest states of Mexico. These three bastions of extreme
poverty, albeit among the richest states of Mexico in natural resources,
lie along the Pacific coastline in southeastern Mexico. Oaxaca is flanked
to its east by Chiapas and to its west by Guerrero. Its population, about
3.5 million (2003 estimate), is unique among Mexican states in containing
the largest fraction, 2/3, and the largest absolute number of people with
indigenous ancestry.
Which of the 31 states holds top place for corruption would probably be
impossible to measure in this intensely contested Mexican arena, as
highlighted in the fraudulent July 2, 2006 presidential election, but for
sure Oaxaca merits high placement on the corruption scale. Unsurprisingly,
the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population is among the most
impoverished. Naturally they are very sympathetic to the struggles of
indigenous peoples in other parts of Mexico to better their lives, such as
the attempts of the Zapatista base support communities in Chiapas, that
have declared themselves "in rebellion" and asserted their autonomy, often
at great cost due to state and federal efforts to crush them.
The 70,000 or so teachers in the state educational institutions, state
employees, are, by Oaxaca standards, far from poor. They are part of the
state's "middle class". So it's not as though the majority of poor people
are usually very sympathetic. This quarter-century-long tradition of a
Oaxaca teachers' strike each May never before was much more than a nuisance
for the city business people, for a week or so, until the union and the
state government negotiated a settlement, the teachers ended their
occupation of the city center and returned to their homes throughout the
state.
Why was this year so different?
It will come as no surprise to los Americanos that in Mexico, as in the
U.S., there are 'conpany unions'. But here, south of the border, the
'company' is the ruling party of the federal government, a big 'company'
indeed. The National Union of Educational Workers (El Sindicato Nacional de
Trabajadores Educativo, SNTE) is a very large and powerful union,
hierarchical in structure. For over 70 years the SNTE had been in bed with
the government of the ruling party, the Revolutionary Institutional Party,
El Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). In fact, until recently, the
General Secretary of SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo, was second from the top of
the PRI leadership, just below Roberto Madrazo.
Section 22 of SNTE is the Oaxaca part of the National Teachers Union. Among
Mexican teachers there is another formation, the National Educational
Workers Coordinating Committee (Comit
Hash: SHA1
The Revolutionary Surge in Oaxaca
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - Aug 30, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/salzman08302006.html
The Revolutionary Surge in Oaxaca
...From Teachers' Strike Towards Dual Power
By GEORGE SALZMAN
Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca shares, with Chiapas and Guerrero, the distinction of being the one
of the three poorest states of Mexico. These three bastions of extreme
poverty, albeit among the richest states of Mexico in natural resources,
lie along the Pacific coastline in southeastern Mexico. Oaxaca is flanked
to its east by Chiapas and to its west by Guerrero. Its population, about
3.5 million (2003 estimate), is unique among Mexican states in containing
the largest fraction, 2/3, and the largest absolute number of people with
indigenous ancestry.
Which of the 31 states holds top place for corruption would probably be
impossible to measure in this intensely contested Mexican arena, as
highlighted in the fraudulent July 2, 2006 presidential election, but for
sure Oaxaca merits high placement on the corruption scale. Unsurprisingly,
the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population is among the most
impoverished. Naturally they are very sympathetic to the struggles of
indigenous peoples in other parts of Mexico to better their lives, such as
the attempts of the Zapatista base support communities in Chiapas, that
have declared themselves "in rebellion" and asserted their autonomy, often
at great cost due to state and federal efforts to crush them.
The 70,000 or so teachers in the state educational institutions, state
employees, are, by Oaxaca standards, far from poor. They are part of the
state's "middle class". So it's not as though the majority of poor people
are usually very sympathetic. This quarter-century-long tradition of a
Oaxaca teachers' strike each May never before was much more than a nuisance
for the city business people, for a week or so, until the union and the
state government negotiated a settlement, the teachers ended their
occupation of the city center and returned to their homes throughout the
state.
Why was this year so different?
It will come as no surprise to los Americanos that in Mexico, as in the
U.S., there are 'conpany unions'. But here, south of the border, the
'company' is the ruling party of the federal government, a big 'company'
indeed. The National Union of Educational Workers (El Sindicato Nacional de
Trabajadores Educativo, SNTE) is a very large and powerful union,
hierarchical in structure. For over 70 years the SNTE had been in bed with
the government of the ruling party, the Revolutionary Institutional Party,
El Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). In fact, until recently, the
General Secretary of SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo, was second from the top of
the PRI leadership, just below Roberto Madrazo.
Section 22 of SNTE is the Oaxaca part of the National Teachers Union. Among
Mexican teachers there is another formation, the National Educational
Workers Coordinating Committee (Comit
