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November 20 , 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 20 • Oakland, CA
Oaxacans pledge
non-violence
in protest against government
Earlier this
month, on the Day of the Dead, I attended a Mass convened by Catholic
priests in Oaxaca, Mexico, to commemorate the loss of 17 Oaxacan citizens
killed during the last five months of civil unrest. We were a small group
of 20 when we publicly called out the names of the fallen in front of
the church of Santo Domingo. That number swelled to some 300 by the end
of Mass.
During the Eucharistic celebration, two women maintained two “copaleros”
burning at the foot of the altar. Copaleros are indigenous clay pots used
for blessings and cleansings in which the incense, copal, is burned with
charcoal. The incense smoke is thick, sweet and fragrant.
| I gazed into that incense smoke and realized that at that very moment
hundreds of Mexican Federal Police Forces were hurling teargas canisters
at crowds of Oaxacan citizens gathered in Oaxaca’s largest university,
located about 2 miles away from Santo Domingo. The Federal Police had
forced protesting citizens to vacate various parts of the city and retreat
to the university grounds.
I wondered in my prayer what it would take in Oaxaca to convert teargas
to incense.
Just what is happening in Oaxaca to cause so much unrest?
| In late 2004, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz of the PRI party (Institutional Revolutionary
Party) took over the Oaxaca state governorship after a highly disputed
election. Many, probably most, believe that he really lost the election,
but his PRI party engineered a victory through pressure at the federal
level. Since then, I have personally witnessed abuses of authority; here
are some of what I have seen:
• Immediately upon taking office, the governor illegally shut down
the state’s largest newspaper, the Noticias. This act was denounced
both at the federal and international levels. What happened? Nothing!
I drove by the Noticias office Nov. 12; it was still boarded up.
• A few months later, the city of Oaxaca awoke one morning to find
hundreds of day laborers busily dismantling the stonework and gardens
of Oaxaca’s historic plaza called the Zócolo. This city center
was named as a World Heritage Site in 1987 by UNESCO. Why was the Zócolo
being dismantled? The governor had decided to “remodel” it
as well as several other sites protected by UNESCO
The entire city was stunned and felt violated. It would be like remodeling
the Statute of Liberty or the Washington National Monument. Everyone knew
that a huge proportion of the federal funds destined to pay for this public
works project and others like it would be diverted to support the federal
presidential campaign of the PRI Candidate, Roberto Madrazo, who lost,
incidentally.
• About this time, citizens initiated legislation to propose and
pass a “Law of Transparency” which would require the state
government to reveal publicly how federal allocations to the state budget
are expended. Oaxaca is one of two states in Mexico which lack this law.
The governor squashed this effort.
You would think that these actions would make people mad. They did and
the people began to organize; they began to protest. In response, the
governor moved to murder or jail the leaders and activists.
In May 2006, the 70,000 strong union of Oaxacan teachers went on strike
demanding higher wages and improved school facilities and educational
materials. The governor declined to even respond. The teachers moved into
the city center in a “planton,” a campout of some 50,000 which
occupied the principal streets. On June 14, the governor ordered about
1,000 local police forces to clear the streets of the teachers. The police
entered at 4 a.m. wielding clubs, automatic rifles and hurling teargas
from a helicopter. The drowsy and shocked crowd at first ran, but then
they turned around, sent the police running and re-took the city streets.
Tens of thousands of supporters and members of the
newly formed Popular Assembly of Oaxaca join in a non-violent protest
against Oaxaca’s Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz in Oaxaca, Nov. 5.
CNS PHOTO/DANIEL AGUILAR/REUTERS
This
June 14 action became the proverbial “straw which broke the camel’s
back”. Hundreds of thousands of common citizens - men, women, rural
farmer groups, students, nurses associations, cultural groups, social
service organizations, business associations -- all joined with the teachers’
union to demand the departure of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz as governor because
he had demonstrated repeatedly his intention to govern unlawfully and
to capriciously abuse power.
This spontaneous coalition named themselves the Popular Assembly of the
People of Oaxaca (APPO) and this entity has served to guide and organize
the resistance efforts. Very early on, they chose non-violence as the
principal method of struggle to oust the governor. To date, 17 people
have been killed. All 17 belonged to the APPO or were their sympathizers
and were killed by police forces or shadowy government-supported para-military
groups. No police or government forces have been killed.
Throughout this, the governor has proclaimed that he will never resign,
that there is nothing wrong in Oaxaca, and that the problems are caused
by a tiny proportion of the citizens. However, this “tiny proportion
of citizens” has forced Ulises to depart from Oaxaca and he now
“governs” from luxury hotels in Mexico City.
The Federal Police Forces entered Oaxaca in late October. Now when you
walk into the city center, you must enter an intimidating zone occupied
not by citizen protesters, but by nearly a thousand uniformed and well-equipped
riot police forces. They have removed Oaxacan teachers from the Zócolo,
the symbolic heart and soul of their city. Who will remove the Federal
police?
From the beginning of this conflict, a group of Catholic priests of the
Archdiocese of Oaxaca have assumed an active role advocating for the poor,
denouncing human rights abuses, calling for dialogue and supporting non-violent
solutions. Archbishop José Luis Chávez-Botello has stated
that the Church will not take sides in the conflict but has offered church
space in Oaxaca’s city center to those negotiating for peaceful
solutions.
Jesus was no stranger to the oppression of the weak by the powerful. Foreign
powers carried out his execution. Jesus dedicated his public ministry
to deepening and fulfilling the Jewish religions tradition. From the Law
to the Prophets, Moses to Solomon, Adam to David, God cries out: “Take
care of the poor! Treat all people as family! Hold life sacred! Tell the
truth! The powerful must be guided by the principles of love and service!”
We must actually live out Jesus’ teachings. Jesus doesn’t
want our “belief.” He wants us to follow and to make the kingdom
of God real “on earth as it is in heaven.”
This is what it will take to convert teargas to incense. On this Day of
the Dead here in Mexico, we remembered how Jesus was executed 17 more
times. The women of Oaxaca, and the men, reverence these fallen. The hope
proclaimed in the Resurrection of Jesus sustains them as they turn to
face the powers who would deprive them of their own lives in the struggle
to obtain justice for their sons, daughters and their families.
(Steve Hicken has been a Maryknoll Lay Missioner for 25 years and
has worked in Venezuela, New York and California. While living in Castro
Valley, he participated with Oakland Diocesan Renew and Small Faith Community
work as well as contributed to parish efforts at Our Lady of Grace and
Transfiguration. He has been working in Oaxaca, Mexico, since mid-2004
on the staff of a Mexican service organization dedicated to promoting
human rights and economic development among the indigenous of Oaxaca State.
He can be reached at steve@hickens.com.)
