Peter Gellert, Mexico City
A massive civic movement in the southern state of Oaxaca has placed what was a local conflict onto the centre stage of Mexican political life.
In May, Local 22 of the National Teachers Union — which in Oaxaca has a militant tradition — went on strike for much needed wage hikes, new textbooks and more classrooms.
In three months, the teachers' struggle has rapidly mushroomed, achieving broad support and raising the spectre of total instability in the state.
The demands of the 70,000 members of the teachers' union have been backed by workers, peasants and neighbourhood residents, with mass demonstrations of up to 800,000 protesters. Citizen discontent has been channelled through a broad-based mass united front organisation known as the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, the APPO.
For the past three months, up to 30,000 demonstrators have occupied downtown Oaxaca, blockaded highways in and out of town, taken over a dozen radio stations, and taken over government offices.
Governor Ulises Ruiz of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — which until recently has been the dominant political force in the state — has responded with repression. On June 14, riot police using tear gas unsuccessfully attempted to forcibly evict 30,000 demonstrators camped out in the city centre.
Since then, police have opened fire without provocation at demonstrators, "disappeared" or detained dozens of activists, and resorted to the use of torture. Five people have died.
Since the June 14 police attack, the union has put its wage demands on hold and has declared that it cannot accept anything short of the removal of Ruiz from office. The State Attorney-General's Office, meanwhile, has characterised the movement as "urban guerrilla warfare" — a position not supported by the federal government — and has attempted to tie the protests to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), currently engaged in a national movement against alleged electoral fraud in the July 2 presidential race.
While the two struggles are clearly separate, the overwhelming majority of APPO ranks support Lopez Obrador — who, in fact, won the state in the presidential election — and PRD members actively participate in the Oaxaca struggle. Oaxaca and the struggle against electoral fraud have attracted support from the same sectors and social and political organisations throughout the country.
Reflecting the social polarisation this movement has sparked, on August 26 dozens of local priests called for the removal of Ruiz and federal government intervention in response to what they described as disappearance and torture of movement activists. The Archdiocese distanced itself from the priests call.
Outside the city, local municipal governments are demanding the governor's ouster, and in some areas residents are forcibly evicting pro-Ruiz authorities.
While building barricades, the APPO has at the same time called for there to be an intermediary-free dialogue with interior minister Carlos Abascal in Oaxaca. This is likely, given that authorities are worried about the depth of the movement and its contribution to the general instability of the Mexican political system.
But meanwhile, the conflict is intensifying. APPO intends to block shopping centres, while business associations — hostile to the movement — are calling for a lockout.
In a report released on August 23, the All Rights for All National Network and the Oaxaca Human Rights Network declared that "little by little the teachers' movement has become a catalyst of social protest and discontent" and warned of the spectre of the militarisation of the city of Oaxaca.