Estimados compañeros de las CASAS:
This past June, the social movement in Oaxaca has taken to the streets again, with the teachers union, the APPO and other social organizations installing a sit-in in the zócalo of the city’s center, continuing to demand the resignation of the corrupt and repressive governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and the freedom of political prisoners.
Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyer’s Guild in the U.S. was among the lawyers who visited the Mexican League of Human Rights to meet with lawyers, human rights workers, and political prisoners. The goal of the visit was to learn about how international lawyers could support the struggle for human rights in Oaxaca and to explore the possibility of taking the Oaxacan case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Marjorie describes the grave human rights situation that has plagued Oaxaca during the past year in
Repression in Oaxaca: One Year Anniversary of State's Bloody Attack on Popular Movements
To commemorate the police attack on the teachers’ union sit-in last June 14 as well as the triumph of the teachers and the birth of the Oaxacan social movement thousands marched under the pounding sun in a colorful “human river that stretched over 10 kilometers”. Diana describes the events of the day in
March for Dignity , a march which made it clear to all Oaxacans and to the nation that the demands of the social movement remain the same, and that the people have not wilted in their capacity to mobilize to insist that justice be served.
Along with the marches and sit-ins comes a whole new wave of graffiti art, as well as the relentless attempts of the government to silence the walls. One day, the entire city has been spray painted with slogans of the movement and overnight, the government has painted over with crude strokes of mismatched paint. Gerlaine Kiamco, newest member of CASA Chapulín and anthropologist who has spent five years studying graffiti in Oaxaca describes the changing attitude towards graffiti artists over the course of the social movement in her article
Delinquent or Citizen: Graffiti Artists in Oaxaca
In Chiapas we are once again in transition as members of the collective for the past 6 - 10 months part ways with Chiapas, and newer members continue to get situated. You can read both pieces,
Reflections on Complicity by Leila and
Reflections on Solidarity in San Cristóbal de Las Casas by Tovah, which deal with the difficult and often contradictory positions of foreigners engaged in direct solidarity work in Chiapas or anywhere else, the effects on the local communities and the struggle to bring lessons back home.
In solidarity,
Colectivos de Apoyo, Solidaridad y Acción
Chiapas and Oaxaca, México
