SOLIDARITY APPEAL - FROM MEXICO TO SCOTLAND

Ruben Valencia Nunez from Oaxaca, southern Mexico spoke in Glasgow and Edinburgh in late July as part of a European tour campaigning against the criminalisation of social movements in Mexico. He urged solidarity with the people of Oaxaca who are resisting many megaprojects such as mines and dams. Several projects are run by European companies, including by Scottish Power's owners, Spanish company Iberdrola.

Ruben is an organiser on the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) council, a founder of VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty) and is active with the University of the Land, based on self-education, and the CASOTA (Oaxacan House of Solidarity and Self-Sustaining Work) social centre. He has protested against Dams, motorways and the other projects being imposed on the local people.

 Ruben was the victim of an assassination attempt in January, in Oaxaca City. Five men in a car, who looked like plain clothes police officers, shouted insults about APPO. They followed Ruben to a cafe and attacked him with a knife on the head and neck. Ruben had to be rushed to hospital where he required many stitches, and only narrowly escaped death.

Ruben's talks – organised by Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group and the newly reformed Glasgow Chiapas Solidarity Group - described the recent history of heroic resistance and brutal repression in Oaxaca, stressing the struggle is alive today, and needs our solidarity:

A MESSAGE FROM OAXACA, SOUTH EAST MEXICO
REPRESSION AND RESISTANCE IN MEXICO

To be an indigenous person is a crime and to defend the land is a criminal act. Since 2005 several different movements of resistance, the Zapatistas, the People's Front of the Defence of the Land in Atenco, the National Indigenous Congress, grassroots trade unionist teachers and the popular assembly in Oaxaca have come together against the sale of natural resources. The state of Oaxaca is in the south of Mexico bordering Chiapas and Guerrero. The greatest concentrations of natural resources are found in the south-east of Mexico, mostly in Oaxaca on the land of indigenous people.

In 2005 Ulises Ruiz Ortiz came to power as governor of Oaxaca through electoral fraud with the aim of 'modernising' Oaxaca by turning it into a folk park. The new governor repressed social movements and indigenous people. There were 40 political prisoners, no negotiations, and resistance was met with repression.

On the 5th May 2006 the grassroots Section 22 of a teachers trade union held a sit-in in the central square in Oaxaca. They demanded better wages and education for indigenous people.

After one month the police tried to violently evict the sit-in. People rose up to defend the sit-in. 3 days later teacher and social organisations called for the Popular Peoples Assembly of Oaxaca. 37 organisations, including student organisations, street vendors, and women participated and demanded the resignation of the state governor, but also stated the aim to transform society. In the past struggles had got rid of 3 state governors, so they thought it would be easy. The aims of the struggle were social justice, and a sustainable ecological society.

STATE LOSES POWER TO CONTROL

During 6 months of struggle all public buildings, including state government offices and TV and radio stations were occupied and roads were blocked. Mega marches of up to 800,000 people were organised out of a population of 3 million. The state lost the power to control people. A process of self-government started. People produced their own radio programmes and community policing and justice systems to deal with delinquency and drug addiction.

The movement of popular assemblies of people was peaceful and from the grassroots. Despite media lies, there were no leaders. Decisions were taken in peoples popular assemblies.

The government tried two different ways to defeat the movement. Firstly they tried buying off the 'leaders' through bribes and when this failed, they used death Squads. In August the government assassinated comrade Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes. Community radios called for defence, and people erected 100 barricades in Oaxaca. The barricades were staffed by the young, teachers, older people and kids to defend community radio stations and the people.

Oaxaca City August 2009 -  "Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes is with us, now and for ever.  Justice for Oaxaca"        Photo Nancy Davies www.narconews.com

THE STATE CLAMP-DOWN

The Federal Government were worried, fearing a country wide rebellion, but they couldn't repress the movement as it was peaceful. On 22nd October 2006 the American Indymedia activist Brad Wills was murdered. This gave the Federal Government in Mexico City the excuse to move in 2500 plus police, causing chaos, to take back power for the state. During the repression 26 people associated with APPO were killed, but there was no government dead.

On 17th and 18th November APPO held it's first congress of the popular movement to work out a strategy of resistance and how to make the movement more co-ordinated. 600 delegates participated in the congress electing 260 people to APPO's council.

Before this time the government had imprisoned selected targeted activists, but the mass repression was now more like Chile and Argentina in the '70s. More than 300 people were put in jail and there were rapes and disappearances. From December 2006 to January 2007 the main noise in Oaxaca was of police sirens, helicopters and police boots. A study by a human rights organisation from Barcelona, described it as a strategy by the government to repress the people of Oaxaca, because they could not cut off the head of the movement, as it was not dependent on a few leaders.

 From 25th December a blackout was imposed on information from Oaxaca. In working class and poor neighbourhoods there were death squads in cars and motorcycles without licence plates. The government through the mass media tried to create paranoia, claiming they were combating the narcotics trade. A woman comrade in one neighbourhood described how to overcome fear, by recounting a story she had heard on TV about a boxer describing how he dealt with fear. At the last moment before entering the ring, he had to decide if fear was on his side or against him. Our dignity and anger are stronger than fear.

A secret meeting of the movement in 2008 discussed and analysed why they hadn’t been able to get rid of the state governor. They concluded it was for two reasons:

1. In 2006 Marcos and the Zapatistas had started the Other Campaign, there was the campaign of Obrador, the candidate of the Party of Democratic Revolution, with the citizens' movement campaign tour protesting at the electoral fraud which stopped Obrador becoming President. The commune of Oaxaca, as a symbol of grassroots popular struggle, would have inspired country-wide struggle and had to be stopped.

2. Since 2005 the new state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz had worked with the Federal Government and multinationals to allow mines, biopiracy, high speed railways and hydro-electro dams to invade Oaxaca and steal the land and resources from the people.

THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION

The movement has identified many companies in Europe, in France, Germany and Spain, as well as China and Japan, plus the European Union, working with the Oaxaca government and the Federal Government against the peoples' wishes. In a very windy area of Oaxaca for example there has been the imposition of a windmill project involving companies from Spain (Union Fenosa, Iberdrola - owners of Scottish Power) and France. The energy does not go to provide electricity to local people, but is sold to the U.S.A. The movement is asking for help from people in Europe, which corporations are involved and how much money is involved?

And a word to investors - your money is not safe in Mexico, because of the resistance.

Resistance to the imposition of a windmill mega-project in Oaxaca : see http://www.narconews.com/Issue40/article1607.html

Oaxaca is between impunity and dignity. The Mexican government signs human rights documents, but does not uphold them. The image of Oaxaca and Mexico is of a boiling pot with the lid being held down by the boots of the military. But the lid is coming off! APPO and the popular movement are succeeding. Not one Corporate project has been implemented, so far we have successfully resisted them all.

CREATING NEW SOCIAL RELATIONS

People need new social relations and alternatives beyond capital and state. There are lots of initiatives: city farms, drinking water projects, new ways of exchange and economics like LETS, and self-managed education. There were 50 community radio stations, before the repression, now there are 160-170 community radio stations. There are not just political organisations in the movements, but also grassroots organisations.

Two examples: a working class neighbourhood had no drinking water. It made demands and struggled with APPO for alternatives to problems with sanitation and polluting rivers. They built compost toilets and collected rain water for drinking. The construction of the water system was self-managed, and independent of government.

A neighbourhood assembly in a poor area elected a rep. to APPO. Before this they had a Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I., now a neoliberal party) structure connected to the local council.  The young were involved in the barricades. They had no public space, but wanted a cultural centre for young people and children. They put the demand to the council who agreed after a year. Politicians wanted the credit, but this was rejected by the people as the centre was built by the contributions of the people. The politicians in Oaxaca are corrupt. The future is widespread popular assemblies democracy, self-organisation, not voting for politicians.

After travelling through and analysing Latin America, the imposition of a fascist state is possible. There is the possibility of a civil war. Guerilla groups are organising. The Oaxaca proposal is for the grassroots to come together, the indigenous people, the students, the anti-privatisation trade unions, to create a constituent assembly with the aim of a new constitution for Mexico, created from below.

QUESTIONS TO RUBEN

QUESTION Do you think there are any universal lessons from Oaxaca that can be applied anywhere, say, Scotland for example?

This question gets asked everywhere. It is difficult. I have only been here a short time. But I think we must consider the model of development. Resistance in Europe is a question of a consumer society. In Latin America it is a struggle with austerity, not unlimited consumption. The resources are stolen from the Third World, South America, Africa.

QUESTION What is your interpretation of the situation in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Sandinistas, the Left-wing Presidents in some South American countries, and the Honduras coup? Are there any proper movements there?

In Latin America and Central America in general there is unhappiness with governments, but it is limited. There is privatisation in Chile and Brazil. The example of Honduras could happen anywhere, keep your eyes open, it could happen more and more, but there will be nothing in the news. The coup in Honduras is like a test for doing the sam thing in other countries.

Conditions are difficult. There is no dignity, no freedom. People have to beg. There are sellers of local products, but foreign products are cheaper. This is an obstacle to a life with dignity. There is no defining ideology, it is not Marxist or Anarchist, the ideology comes from the realities of life, such as people who make goods, but can’t survive because foreign goods are cheaper.

QUESTION Are social movements developing their own technology?

It is a war context, there is not enough time. There is no technological development, but people want sustainability.

QUESTION  In Britain the poor and black people have a different experience, do you think there is a way that people in this situation can become involved in the environmental movement ?

From the experience of travelling Europe there needs to be a bridge. In the struggle against racism and imperialism there needs to be cultural diversity, a multi-cultural society, the concept of co-existence and agreement in a difficult world. Some beliefs will have to go, you can not always get your own way.

QUESTION You spoke about Mexico being like a boiling pot with the lid coming off . In Britain the water in the pot is tepid. Wouldn't it be better if the pot was boiling in both places, how important do you think it is that revolutionary change takes place all over the world? From how you describe the movement in Oaxaca, to me it seems to have the principles of Anarchist Communism, could you comment on this?

There is no crystal ball, you can't see the future. From my own personal experience, this is a difficult question. My background is in a Che Guevaraist socialist movement, but the feeling in people’s hearts is more important than ideology. It is not about teaching Marx or Kropotkin. We need to get together, beyond our own experience.

My APPO involvement comes from my family. My father was killed in the 80s as a Che Guevaraist. My own view is of Communalism across South America, freedom, autonomy and dignity. Marxists and Anarchists are happy to share values. It doesn't really matter. They are welcome in the movement. As a personal belief I share the cosmological vision of indigenous people.

QUESTION How did the attempt on your life affect you, how do you deal with such a traumatic experience?

Do not struggle alone. I get strength from elderly women who have lost their children and families. They are an inspiration for the movement.

3 months after the assassination attempt, I had a physical problem, a rash from the stress. At the time I was rushed to hospital, and thought I was perhaps going to die, I did not have an image of death, but an image of my father, a revolutionary who died when I was 5. Dad and mum taught me values. I was not worried by physical death, but by the death of their values.

I had to put on a strong front for the other comrades, so they could see I was determined to continue the struggle. Life is not certain. I live everyday as if it is my last. I need to do what is important in this life, my beliefs.

QUESTION How much support is there for the movement throughout Mexico?

In Mexico City there is lot of support from everyday common people and there are autonomous assemblies in lots of the states of Mexico. The level of struggle varies in different areas of Mexico, for example in the north they do have not as much experience of assemblies as in Oaxaca, and there is still some belief in political parties.
Then there is the Other Campaign, which emphasizes a complete rejection of the political parties. There is a need to generate a consensus in the movement.

CHIAPAS AND ATENCO

The meetings in Edinburgh and Glasgow also included
- a short talk on Zapatista autonomy and the Scottish Solidarity Groups' twinning with Zapatista Autonomous Municipality “16th February”
- a presentation on Repression in Chiapas
- a specially recorded short film with speaker from the Peoples Front for the Defence of the Land from Atenco, Mexico

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Further reading on the struggle in Oaxaca : Teaching Rebellion available from AK Press 

CONTACT

Please do get in touch - the people in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Atenco and all Mexico need our solidarity.

Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group
http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk
edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk

More info

On the attempted assassination of Ruben (in English)

http://sipazen.wordpress.com/?s=ruben
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090111212859273

Groups in which Ruben is involved :

VOCAL

http://lahaine.org:80/vocal/index.php

(in Spanish, with limited info in English)

UNIVERSITY OF THE LAND

http://unitierra.org/index.php?id=1&option=com_content&task=view

(in Spanish)

BAREFOOT INVESTIGATORS
http://idescalzos.blogspot.com:80/
(in Spanish)

NEWS FROM CHIAPAS and LATIN AMERICA

http://www.chiapas.indymedia.org  (spanish and english)

http://www.narconews.com (english)