United for Peace and Justice
CALL FOR OAXACA SUPPORT & SOLIDARITY
November 3, 2006
The past week has seen an explosive turn in Oaxaca City, Mexico, where a five month-long political
struggle led by teachers, community activists and local residents has plunged into a battle with riot troops and right-wing paramilitaries in the streets.
Last May teachers in Oaxaca went on strike. Initially called as a protest for better wages and working
conditions their fight has broadened into an all-out indigenous struggle against a repressive and corrupt government. Now the situation is worsening: since Friday, at least eight people have been killed by paramilitaries or the Mexican Federal Preventative Police (FPP), including NYC Indymedia videographerBrad Will, a 15-year old boy, a nurse, a teacher, and more. Protest organizers are being rounded up, sometimes taken from their homes.Yesterday the FPP began an illegal and violent assault on la Universidad Autanoma “Benito Juarez” de Oaxaca, the nerve center for popular resistance in Oaxaca.
The courage of the Oaxaquereos in the face of brutal repression has been inspiring. Activists response in the U.S. and around the world has also been compelling, from solidarity actions at Mexican Consulates, to electronic blockades of Mexican Embassy and Consulate websites, to call-ins to Mexican authorities, to helping to get the word out through Indymedia. But much more can and should be done.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Attend a solidarity protest or vigil in your community. View or post events at friendsofbradwill.org, elenemigocomun.net or ulisesruizasesino.com.
Contact the State Commission on Human Rights in Oaxaca as well as other Mexican authorities. Jaime Mario Perez Jimenez, Human Rights Commission of the State of Oaxaca. Email: quejas@cedhoax.org Tel. 044 951 104 43 06 or send a message to: 512 90 20 code:956, Fax: (951) 5135185, 5135191, 5135197, correo@cedhoax.org
President: Vicente Fox Quesada,
vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx, radio@presidencia.gob.mx,
webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx Telephone (55) 50911100
y (55)151794
Governmental Secretary: Carlos Abascal Carranza.
Phone(00 52) 5 55 546
Attorney General: Daniel Cabeza de Vaca. Telephone
(0053) 4 60 904 Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Money is needed for food and supplies for people in Oaxaca, legal costs for those arrested in Oaxaca and in solidarity actions around the world, and to send independent journalists and activists to Oaxaca with equipment and supplies. Click here to donate via Friends of Brad Will. Learn more. Visit Indymedia and other independent media websites for updates.
Download and show video to your friends and community. Contact the corporate media and hold them accountable. Demand that the corporate media accurately report on the human rights crisis in Oaxaca. Many reports in the corporate media have blamed the protesters rather than be critical of the Mexican government.Take other action. Sign a letter in support of the people of Oaxaca, participate in an “electronic blockade” of Mexican Embassy and Consulate Websites, or send a letter to Congress. Spread the word!
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