Znet: Community Radio Central To Struggle In Oaxaca
Under multicolored tarps, thousands of teachers are asleep on the streets of Oaxaca City, Mexico. Their bodies lie within inches of one another in a sea of blankets, the sleeping figures separated from the pavement with only pieces of cardboard. The sounds of guard shift changes occur every two hours throughout the night. Small hand-held radios hum “Friends, compañeros, its exactly 17 past 1 in the morning on this Friday the 21st of September 2006. Another day of struggle, another day of advancement. At a winners pace.” The radio has become the life blood of this teachers strike turned popular movement in Oaxaca. Not only giving voice to the traditionally voiceless, the radio also serves as an organizing and coordination tool. It is the main communication between the tens of thousands of teachers who began in one encampment on the main square and who are now blockading over 20 government buildings, have exiled the state government from Oaxaca and are creating a democratic alternative.
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