ramblings

Hello all…

So I have been experiencing some sort of writers block. I had intended to
send this update last week but ended up needing some time to reflect and
decompress. The repression by the Mexican government that I described on
the 25th has continued. On October 29th the government leaked that they
had compiled a list of 100 internationals from video footage who they
alleged were committing vandalism alongside the movement and who they
intended to deport. I am not sure I believe such a list exists (not to
mention I have never seen close to 100 internationals in Oaxaca), it may
have simply been a fear tactic but mixed with the news that they had
picked up a french woman and her lawyers were unable to speak to her or
find out where she was, I decided it was best to go. I had been in Oaxaca
for so long and I don’t exactly blend in and I did not want to risk
deportation, not to mention rape and torture. If I had stayed I would
have been stuck in my apartment and decided I could do more just as much
writing from a far. So now I am in San Cristóbal Chiapas and looking
forward to attending an international encounter planned by the Zapatistas
at the end of this month. Then I hope to spend the last month and a half
doing volunteer work in the Zapatista villages in the jungle. On the way
home I will stop in Oaxaca to say goodbye to many folks and check in with
the situation. I will be in the Olympia/Portland area for two weeks the
end of February through early March and would love to do a slide show and
reportback of the Oaxaca struggle if anyone is willing to help me find a
space and do a bit of publicity. Let me know if you are interested. Ok,
enough about me. On to the current situation…

There have been over 500 people detained, many tortured by the government
throughout the 6 months of this struggle. Currently there are over 200
imprisoned, over 100 of them have been transferred to federal prison in
states outside Oaxaca. Stories coming out of these prisons include
stories of torture, 60 reports of sexual assault, rape threats and forced
confessions. There are still many outstanding arrest warrants for members
of APPO. Because one of the major goals of APPO has been to create a
democratic governance structure, they have been highly transparent and the
names of those involved and elected as representatives of various regions
are easily found in meeting minutes and online. This has made it easy for
the government to target those involved in the movement. The police have
made numerous private home searches and have taken teachers from in front
of their students in their classrooms (in front of children as young as
kindergardeners). Governor Ulises himself recently acknowledged that up
to 80% of those detained on the 25th were not associated with APPO but
were concerned citizens in the streets.

On December 1st, Felipe Calderon from the conservative PAN party who took
the election through fraud was inaugurated. Thousands gathered outside
before dawn, constructing barriers to prevent Calderon’s entrance into the
Chamber of Deputies. Inside brawls had broken out between member of the
PAN and PRD (the party of leftist Lopez Obrador who was cheated out of the
position) parties. Chairs had been thrown, doors blockaded, pillows were
handed out the members of the different parties had fought over sleeping
on the platform where the inauguration was to take place. A fake
presidential convoy was used to distract the demonstrators while Calderon
snuck in through basement parking garage. The entire ceremony took less
than 4 minutes and it was impossible to hear over the screaming from PRD
members.

Calderon was able to give a speech later in a military installation. I
watched on television as he spoke to an audience of men in uniform
standing in formation. Oh democracy. In less that a month he has already
made cuts to education and has created a cabinet including Francisco
Javier Ramírez Acuña as his Interior Minister, in charge of domestic
security. Ramírez, past governor of Jalisco, was accused by Amnesty
International of serious human rights violations, including ordering a
brutal crackdown on anti-corporate globalization protesters. Eduardo
Medina Mora was selected as Secretary of Public Safety. He has strong ties
to banking interests and is a member of El Yunque, an ultraconservative
group similar to the Christian right in the states. Making his policy
clear in dealing with social uprising, on December 4th members of APPO
including two highly visible elected reps were arrested in Mexico city two
hours after announcing they had come to negotiate with the federal
government.

On December 3rd APPO released a declaration stating… “The APPO is more
alive than ever in the hearts of the workers, indigenous people,
campesinos, housewives, students, youth, children, and all the exploited
and oppressed in Oaxaca and Mexico. The State Terror that has been
unleashed on the people of Oaxaca and the international community with
increased brutality since November 25 has not weakened our desire to be
free men and women.” A march was held on December 10th. Even in the face
of the incredible risk of being arrested and tortured tens of thousands
marched calling for the release of prisoners and continuing the call for
Governor Ulises to go. The march was led by families of the disappeared,
representatives of APPO and senators from Lopez Obradors PRD party.

The movement has taken a huge blow through the fierce repression but the
logic that you can simply wash over a movement with fresh paint and jail,
disappear and torture its members without acknowledging the root cause of
the unrest shows the barbaric and shortsightedness of the government
strategy to deal with this movement. So much of this response is created
through pressure from the United States to maintain the status quo to keep
the positive climate for foreign investors to come in and take the
resources and exploit the labor of Mexico without opposition from the ever
growing poor, which in turn keeps the pockets of the Mexican elite lined
with dollars. This corruption and repression is facing greater and
greater resistance and we can recognize our own role in the situation and
support the movement however we deem possible. The Zapatistas have called
for an International Day of Action on December 22nd in solidarity with
people of Oaxaca. I will include that declaration below.

Thanks for listening and keeping the people of Oaxaca in your minds…
rochelle

Communique of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee - General
Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Mexico.

December 2 of 2006

To the people of Mexico:
To the people of the world:

Brothers and Sisters:

The attack that our brothers, the people of Oaxaca suffered and suffer
cannot be ignored by those who fight for freedom, justice and democracy in
all corners of the planet.

This is why, the EZLN calls on all honest people, in Mexico and the world,
to initiate, starting now, continual actions of solidarity and support to
the Oaxacan people, with the following demands:

For the living reappearance of the disappeared, for the freedom of the
detained, for the exit of Ulises Ruiz and the federal forces from Oaxaca,
for the punishment of those guilty of torture, rape and murder.

We call to those in this international campaign to tell, in all forms and
in all places possible, what has occurred and what is occurring in Oaxaca,
everyone in their way, time and place. We call for these actions to come
together in a worldwide mobilization for Oaxaca on December 22, 2006.

The people of Oaxaca are not alone. We have to say so and demonstrate it,
to them and to everyone.
Democracy!
Freedom!
Justice!

By the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee - General Command of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Mexico.

Insurgent Subcommander Marcos.
Mexico, December of 2006

Hi everyone,
It’s been a while since my last mass email and I’ve had a couple of
those “are you still alive” emails that I love as they prove to me
that you all miss me (ie they’re good for my ego!) and make me laugh!
I have to say that I’ve started writing this email a few times, but
every time I’ve given up as the words seemed a little empty. The past
few weeks in my new home have been, typically, both great and heart
breaking. I’m now working in the village Walajah that i emailed you
all about a few weeks ago. It’s great to be part of such a small,
close community, and as such I’m having to walk up all of the steep
hills around here to work off all of the food I’m being fed at every
opportunity! It can be so quiet and peaceful here, that it’s easy to
forget about the “situation” (as everyone here calls it!), and think
that i’m living in some pretty Mediterranean town (which I am).
However, and there’s always a however, in the past week and a half
there’s been three incursions by the army.
The first was to demolish a building and a house. After much arguing,
a local lawyer prevented the home demolition, but the outbuilding was
destroyed.
The second was in the early hours.The army came and forced a family
out of their home with tear gas and sound grenades. They then forced
the father of the family to strip to his underwear in the freezing
cold and lay on the ground before arresting him. His crime? He works
for an orphanage in Bethlehem that is supported by the social services
part of Hamas. He is still detained. His teenage daughter who I’ve
been helping with her english homework was too upset to attend an exam
last week.
The third is the one that always gets me. Two days ago the home of
Monder Hamad was demolished for the second time this year, to make way
for “the wall” deemed illegal by the International court. So this is
my problem: witnessing this was one of the most traumatic points of my
life, and this isn’t my house, my village or even my country. How can
i scrape together the words to describe how heart breaking it is to
watch such a personal injustice occur? A family torn apart by well
armed teenagers with all of the power, friends and family kept away
unable to offer comfort. A few of us able to help the family empty
their lives out onto the street before…. Even as I write it now it
seems empty. The soldier’s reply to the desperate question: “where
shall we live?”….”We gave you a tent last time.”

So do me a favour, think about how this would make you feel, spare us
a thought over the holidays, and next time you hear about Hamas
refusing to recognise Israels right to exist bear in mind the
continuous humiliations and tragedies inflicted on every Palestinian:
man, woman and child.

Suzy xx

Good-oh-my-gosh-it’s-cold-here-evening from Canada:

So the twins have safely arrived in Toronto!!!! We had quite a
flight to say the least!! Maria managed to get her visa for Canada
exactly 6 hours prior to take-off. Check-in became a complete debacle
when the ground staff told us that two of our boxes were .5 kilograms
over and would need to be repacked. Luckily the pilots for our flight
were checking in at the counter beside us…and offered to carry onto
the plane…the seven packages of Pokari Sweat powder and the one book
that was causing the extra weight. It wasn’t until we were well in
the air that Maria decided to tell the pilot…he had just carried
seven packages of white powder onto an international flight for a
Colombian…we all had a good laugh about that ….later!!!

Anyway…we arrived to Canada to minus 1 weather ..and light
snow…it all looked so pretty until the doors of the airport opened
and Maria refused to leave. To make a long story short I did manage
to get her out of the airport, into the car and at my new house.

Yesterday we went to go out for a walk and I could see Maria
struggling with her winter jacket..and then she informed me…”I’m not
sure how to manage this system (aka- the zipper)….after she took off
her three pairs of gloves…”the system” worked much better!! But
then she informed me that it was difficult to see all her curves under
so many layers…I told Canadians have never been known for their
sex-appeal…and to add another layer!!! She’s getting better day by
day!!!

Anyway..just a quick note to say hello to everyone and that we have
arrived safely. This cold Canadian weather has been a bit of a shock
to our systems….but the Baileys and hot chocolates are working
wonders!!!

Love and hugs and peace and icicles,
Carla and Maria