Earlier this week, the Guerrero state governor announced a major security operation would protect the city’s schools and ordered teachers back to work. He also questioned the authenticity of the flyers that have circulated threatening school staff.

One such flyer, supposedly received by a financial administrator in the public school system, demanded a full list of all employees who make more than the equivalent of $1500 a month, along with copies of their official identification, home addresses, places of employment and land line phone numbers. The letter demanded payment of half of the teachers’ salaries by October 1st.

The state’s teachers’ union met with federal authorities Wednesday to discuss possible security measures. But for now, teachers are continuing with their de-facto strike.

The city of Acapulco has been hard hit by drug war related violence in the past two years. The state of Guerrero registered more than 500 murders in August alone.

The teachers' protest camp in downtown Oaxaca City

The Sección 22 union local representing public school teachers in Oaxaca announced today that it will maintain its strike through Friday, June 3rd. The strike began on May 23rd and is part of what has become a ritual in budget negotiations with the state government.

Oaxacan teachers have used the tactic of camping out in the streets during May negotiations for nearly three decades now. While it’s effectiveness as a pressure tactic is questionable given its repeated use, it is a common ground for teachers from around the state to meet and it establishes a certain cohesion among the union’s membership.

The camp itself is massive, taking up around 20 city blocks in the state capital, including the central plaza, known as the zócalo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3shwwNJbI

This video shows the teachers’ protest camp on May 27, 2011. It was mostly filmed in the zócalo, which is a jumble of teachers’ tents, street vendors, and occasional cultural events. At the time of the filming, a student band from the Ixtlán district was giving a live concert, complete with the tradition of tossing fruit and other edibles at the audience.

Opinions about the teachers’ regular work stoppages are often polarizing. It’s become common for the local media and business groups to blame the teachers for economic losses and scapegoat them for social ills. A cursory social network search of the terms “maestros” and “Oaxaca” produces multiple results of thinly-veiled calls for the use of violence against the striking teachers.

At the same time, there seems to be little space for constructive criticisms of the union’s actions. Many activist groups appear to have a stake in defending the teachers perhaps because the union has become de-facto the largest and most influential activist organization in Oaxaca. Another reason could be that the usual criticisms tend to be so negative that rejecting them has become the knee-jerk reaction.

Parents unhappy with missed school days rarely address the issue in open meetings, although they will grumble amongst themselves. The union presents its strike actions as measures by which to “defend public education”…but Oaxaca’s public education system consistently ranks last in Mexico-wide evaluations. While the criteria used to create rankings can also be questioned, the fact that Oaxacan public school students receive far fewer classroom instruction hours than their counterparts elsewhere in Mexico is without dispute.

School days missed to “union activities” are not recuperated.

Private schools proliferate across the Oaxaca City area and they are not just for the children of the well-to-do. It’s common for working class people of certain means – market stall vendors for example – to make sacrifices so that their children can attend schools where classes predictably follow the Secretary of Education’s calendar. The frequent cancellation of classes has the effect of pulling students into private schools – ironically, as the teachers’ union carries out actions under the banner of fighting the privatization of public education.

The situation is complex and this post makes no pretense of hitting all the bases. Teaching is one of the few middle-class career options in Oaxaca – something worth consideration when taking into account the larger interests associated with maintaining unionized positions in one of Mexico’s poorest states. Teaching is also a field that has traditionally been more open to women than others. The Sección 22 teachers’ union local has a membership of 70,000, making it a significant sector of the state’s economy.

What’s long overdue is an open, earnest, critical, and constructive conversation among the principal stakeholders in Oaxacan public education: the students, parents, and classroom teachers.

The disaster was a reminder of the 2006 tragedy at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in which the bodies of 63 dead miners were never recovered. Reforms made to Mexico’s mining law after the 2006 explosion were touted as a way to improve mine safety. Yet, Tuesday’s explosion and the 2006 one share the same origin; a build-up of flammable methane gas.

Government oversight of the mine was so lax that regulatory agencies apparently didn’t even have complete or up-to-date information on its operations. The mine, operated by a little-known firm named Binsa, had only been open for 20 days.

The former government palace the night of Sept. 15th during the "Grito"

Today Mexico marks the 200th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Spanish rule. Mexico’s federal government spent months hyping up the celebrations which are estimated to have cost more than $230 million. But hard economic times, social grievances, and Drug War-related bloodshed have dampened the celebratory mood.

[dewplayer:http://www.fsrn.org/audio/download/7497/20100916SY.mp3]

(Grito “Viva México” – fade under)

Mexican independence celebrations kick off each year in central plazas on the night of September 15^th with a group yell known as the “grito”.

But this year, at least a dozen cities – most notably Ciudad Juárez – had to cancel the ritual due to security concerns. The extreme violence of President Calderón’s Drug War is just one of the factors contributing to the less-than-celebratory mood at Bicentennial events.

(Tania Rivas in Spanish – reporter translates)

The overall lack of enthusiasm was something Oaxaca City resident Tania Rivas noticed at Wednesday night’s “grito”, but she says people should refrain from making negative comments due to the importance of what’s being celebrated.

(sound of protest encampment tent coming down)

State government officials spent the early part of the week hurriedly negotiating with different groups camped out in Oaxaca’s main

The former government palace with protest encampments on Sept. 12th

plaza – or zócalo – in order to convince them to leave ahead of Wednesday night’s event. Most of the protestors had been camping out in the plaza for more than a month.

(Reyna Martínez in Spanish – reporter translates)

Reyna Martínez says she and the other women from San Juan Copala have nothing to celebrate – but rather they are in mourning. The 25 women set up camp in the zócalo last month to protest paramilitary violence in the state’s indigenous Triqui region.

But they weren’t the only ones sleeping in the square demanding a resolution to their demands.

(Emilio Hernández García in Spanish)

Emilio Hernández García of the Antorcha Campesina – a group with historic ties to the ruling party of Oaxaca – says an agrarian conflict that the governor has allowed to fester has escalated into kidnappings and murders. One of their demands is a definitive resolution to the land dispute.

And then there are the “defraudados”; victims of a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by a group of small-time investment banks set up in towns where migrant remittances are an important source of revenue.

(Armando Contreras in Spanish)

Group spokesperson Armando Contreras says these pseudo-banks ripped off the life savings of around 50 thousand Oaxacans by declaring bankruptcy.

A vendor sells flags and other patriotic paraphanelia ahead of the Bicentennial celebrations

(Julio Cesar Pizarro in Spanish)

Yet another organization occupying the zócalo ahead of Bicentennial festivities was that of street vendors who say they’ve been denied permits due to their participation in the popular uprising of 2006. Street vendor Julio Cesar Pizarro says work permits are rewards in the ruling party’s political patronage system. Pizarro knew the government was intent on clearing out the plaza ahead of the official event.

JULIO CESAR PIZARRO: “The federal government, along with the state government, are making a farce of the commemoration of the bicentennial and of the anniversary of the revolution when, in reality, we cannot say that we are free. Those of us from the organizations here in the plaza share the attitude of ‘what do we have to celebrate?’.”

(Military band music – fade under)

In the end, the state government was able to convince all groups to clear out of the zócalo ahead of the bicentennial event…but the grievances remain. At least one of the groups – the indigenous Triqui women of San Juan Copala – say they plan to return to plaza on Friday to re-establish their camp.

Durante un breve recorrido por el zócalo es posible encontrar además de toda la parafernalia patriota, a familias disfrutando presentaciones de payasos, grupos de turistas comiendo en los restaurantes al aire libre, un kiosko decorado con pintura de aerosol mostrando demandas políticas y, sobre todo, 3 diferentes campamentos de protesta ubicados justo frente a lo que alguna vez fue la sede del gobierno del estado.

Este edificio es ahora conocido como Ex-Palacio de Gobierno porque el gobernador saliente Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, trasladó hace algunos años las oficinas gubernamentales fuera de los límites de la ciudad. Pero este histórico edificio continúa hospedando en sus alrededores múltiples grupos sociales que llegan hasta este céntrico lugar de la plaza central de la capital oaxaqueña.

Los tres grupos que protestan aquí ocupan esta plaza desde hace más de un mes utilizando poco más que cartones y plásticos. Sin embargo el gobierno estatal les anunció que sería hasta antes del 13 de septiembre cuando deberían desalojar la plaza porque esta es una de las principales zonas donde habrán de llevarse a cabo las fiestas oficiales para celebrar el Bicentenario, aunque estas mismas autoridades no han podido resolver las demandas de los grupos en protesta.

Visité cada uno de estos campamentos para platicar con las personas que han vivido en el Zócalo durante las últimas 4 semanas o más, para que explicaran en sus propias palabras tanto las razones de su lucha como las demandas.

Primero, habla Reyna Martínez Flores del plantón de mujeres y niños de San Juan Copala, en protesta por la ola de violencia paramilitar en la zona triqui baja.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/radio/Bicentenario/ReynaMtzFlores-Copala-triqui_12sept2010.mp3]

descargar mp3 de la entrevista con Reyna Martínez Flores

En segundo lugar, habla Emilio Hernández García del movimiento Antorcha Campesina, organizacion que exige la resolucion de un conflicto agrario en la region mixteca.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/radio/Bicentenario/AntorchaCampesina_zocalo12sep2010.mp3]

descargar mp3 de la entrevista con Emilio Hernández García

Por último, la palabra de Julio Cesar Pizarro de la Organización Democrática de Comerciantes en Resistencia “14 de Junio”, vendedores buscando espacios comerciales.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/radio/Bicentenario/Comerciantes14J_zocalo12sept2010.mp3]

descargar mp3 con Julio Cesar Pizarro

A pesar de sus ideologias propias todas las organizaciones plantadas en el zócalo de Oaxaca se mantienen pendientes ante un posible desalojo, debido a las declaraciones oficiales acerca de que la plaza estaría despejada a partir del 13 de septiembre.

[dewplayer:http://www.fsrn.org/audio/download/6913/20100614SY.mp3]

(sound: barricade bottle rockets and chants)

The day of action kicked off at 4am local time with chants, bottle rockets, and barricades around the central plaza of Oaxaca City. While this has become an annual occurrence here, this year’s protests come just 3 weeks ahead of the elections to replace the governor the 2006 movement tried to oust.

During a pre-dawn rally in the central plaza, union representative Jose Alfredo Martinez, stopped short of calling for a punishment vote against the ruling party, but said the teachers’ union must continue to demand accountability for the political murders committed during the 2006 conflict.

Jose Alfredo Martinez: “We have to push for the political trial and imprisonment of the assassin of the people of Oaxaca. And we have to tell our rank and file membership regardless of whoever wins the state gubernatorial race, if we teachers of Oaxaca can’t deliver on our list of demands, the absence of accountible government will continue.”

(sound: mega-march chants)

The mega-march called by the teachers union today was miles long and drew at least 100,000 people. Due to its strength, the teachers’ union has the support of many of the state’s social and activist organizations. But the movement also has its critics.

An estimated 1.4 million schoolchildren miss class whenever the teachers mobilize en masse. Another common complaint is the vehicular chaos provoked by the frequent marches and blockades. Businesses in the downtown area often report losses whenever the teachers set up protest encampments in the central square.

Mr. Fernando, who runs a small sandwich stall in the center of the plaza says that his sales have declined by 30 percent since the protest encampment began 2 weeks ago. He just wants both sides to reach an agreement so he can recover economically.

Mr. Fernando: “We ask the authorities and the government to resolve this quickly. This always ends in an arrangement, but it always comes after they’ve been here awhile and they get tired or after the government says ‘fine, we’ll give you this much’ and they pick up their things and leave. So, why not do all this beforehand without dragging this all out and waiting for each side to wear down before negotiating?”

But negotiations between the teachers’ union and the state and federal government have stagnated. The teachers have announced they will triple the size of their protest encampment in the city center as of Tuesday morning.