[Onthebarricades] Fw: [Arg_Solid] Update on the Situation in Oaxaca: Interview with a Leader of Section 22 of SNTE

[Andy]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Walters 
To: Argentina_Solidarity at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 11:18 PM
Subject: [Arg_Solid] Update on the Situation in Oaxaca: Interview with a Leader of Section 22 of SNTE


The Organizer Newspaper

P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.

Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217.

email: The Organizer <<ilcinfo at earthlink.net>

Update on the Situation in Oaxaca: Interview with a Leader of
Section 22 of SNTE and of APPO

[Note: Following is an interview with a leader of Section 22 of
the National Education Workers Union (SNTE) in Oaxaca. The name of the
teacher unionist, who is also an elected leader of the Popular Assembly
of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), has been omitted for security reasons.
The interview was conducted at the end of February 2007 by
The Organizer editor Alan Benjamin.]

Question: Please give us an overview of what has happened
in Oaxaca since Nov. 25, 2006, when the Mexican army and Federal
Preventive Police (PFP) entered the city of Oaxaca to put down the mass
insurrection led by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
(APPO).

Teacher unionist: The main feature of the situation has
been generalized repression. More than 400 activists, including 80
members of Section 22 of SNTE, the National Education Workers Union,
were rounded up and arrested. An estimated 140 activists were
transported to detention facilities in Tepic, Nayarit, more than 1,000
miles away. They were accused of sedition and criminal activity for
their role in organizing the peaceful demonstrations that called for
the ouster of the corrupt and universally despised governor of the
state, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

As a result of the international outcry against this repression, most
of those detained have been released. But 45 activists are still in
prison, three in Nayarit. Flavio Sosa, a leader of APPO, is one of
them. Those who were freed still have to report weekly to the police;
they cannot leave the state. And orders of detention are still hovering
over many of us; at any moment, we can be arrested and taken away to
these unnamed detention centers. 

In addition, all marches calling for the ouster of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
have been outlawed, and anyone distributing a leaflet calling for
Ulises to step down can be arrested. In a word, Ulises has succeeded in
getting the backing of the state and federal authorities to repress
anyone suspected of opposing his dictatorial rule.

Question: But despite the heightened repression, there
have been ongoing demonstrations in Oaxaca in opposition to Ulises and
for the immediate freedom of all the political prisoners. ä

Teacher unionist: This is absolutely true. The repressive
arm of the State has dealt a harsh blow to the popular movement in
Oaxaca, this cannot be understated. But they have not succeeded in
putting down the uprising in Oaxaca. If anything, people are angrier
than ever, and they are defiant.

The PFP have cordoned off the downtown historic district of the city of
Oaxaca, and no demonstrations have been able to reclaim the center
city. But there have been continuous mass demonstrations of tens of
thousands of people demanding an end to the repression and a redress of
all our grievances, beginning with the ouster of Ulises. On Dec. 22,
2006, we had close to half a million people in the streets -- even
though the media had warned us for days that the protest was banned and
all the participants would be arrested. The numbers were so large, it
was impossible for the police to arrest us.

Throughout the months of January and February, the mass demonstrations,
or "mega-marchas," have continued. On Feb. 4, there were about 100,000
people in the streets. And now our own union, Section 22 of SNTE, has
warned we may go back out on strike if the federal authorities don't
live up to all the agreements signed last October.

Question: Tell us about the situation in Section 22 of
SNTE. When the Fox administration settled with Section 22 last October,
essentially giving in to most of the union's main demands, labor rights
activists around the world hailed this settlement as a victory for the
Oaxaca teachers. But we soon became very concerned when we read
declarations from Section 22 General Secretary Enrique Rueda Pacheco
stating that the teachers' union, having reached a settlement with the
federal government, was now taking its distance from APPO. 

Teacher unionist: Your concerns were well founded. The
strength of APPO from the very beginning came from the presence and
fighting spirit within APPO of the Oaxaca teachers' union and its
community supporters. The SecretarÌa de GobernaciÛn [the Ministry of
the Interior--Trans. note] could not break the fighting spirit of our
union, so they opted for a different strategy, seeking to divide and
rule by separating the teachers from the rest of the community.

And what you say about Rueda Pacheco is also true. Rank-and-file
teachers were outraged that Rueda Pacheco -- in opposition to the
democratic traditions of our union, traditions born from 26 years of
struggle as a dissident, democratic wing of SNTE -- announced the
settlement publicly before the State Assembly of Section 22 had even
met to discuss GobernaciÛn's final offer. The State Assembly brings
together 720 elected delegates from all the schools in the state's
seven regions. Never in our history had a general secretary acted
without the consent of the State Assembly.

For months, Rueda Pacheco and his core group refused to convene another
State Assembly to enable the teachers to caucus and discuss what to do
to support APPO. During critical months in the struggle, the teachers
were demobilized by our union leaders. In defiance of Rueda Pacheco,
those of us in the Valle Central convened a regional Assembly, and we
called on the Section 22 leadership to convene an emergency meeting of
the State Assembly as soon as possible. As a result of the pressure we
generated, the State Assembly met on Jan. 13, 2007.

At this gathering, we returned to our fighting and militant stance. We
decided to wage a struggle to preserve the jobs of the 1,200 teachers
who remain locked out of their jobs and to take "whatever actions might
be necessary" if GobernaciÛn did not allow these teachers to return to
their jobs.

Question: Why are there still 1,200 scabs in the schools?

Teacher unionist: As I mentioned, the federal authorities
-- led by the ruling National Action Party (PAN) -- promised to settle
all our demands to get us off the streets and to split us off from the
movement around APPO. GobernaciÛn promised that all the scab teachers
who had taken our jobs during our five-month strike would be sent home
so that we, the unionized teachers, could reclaim our jobs.

But that hasn't happened. Ulises, who is leader of the PRI
[Revolutionary Institutional Party, which ruled Mexico for more than 70
years and still controls the state of Oaxaca -- Trans. note], has
refused to remove the scabs. There are still 1,200 teachers of Section
22 who remain locked out of their classrooms in close to 200 schools.
Eighty of the public indigenous schools are occupied by scabs. 

Paramilitary goons, financed by Ulises and the PRI, have kept our union
sisters and brothers from going back to work. GobernaciÛn could do
something about this, but it would mean confronting Ulises, which they
have refused to do from the beginning, as the PRI and the PAN are in
bed with each other. GobernaciÛn has told us there is nothing they can
do to enforce the agreement reached with our union.

The main reason the scabs are still in the schools is union-busting.
Ulises and the PRI want to bust Section 22 because our union has served
as a model of union democracy in this PRI-run union of more than 1
million members and because of our militant stance and strong ties to
the community. Elba Esther Gordillo, a central national leader of the
PRI, is the general secretary of SNTE. She hates Section 22 and is
making every effort to destroy us. We have been a thorn in her side as
long as she can remember.

Gordillo has granted a charter to a new teachers' "union" in Oaxaca --
so-called Section 59 -- with the sole purpose of removing our charter
down the road. Somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 teachers, out of a
total statewide membership of 70,000 teachers, have joined Section 59
-- including the 1,200 scabs. The scabs are essential to this
decertification operation, as the new rump "union" must show it has
"union members" in all seven regions of the state. If the scabs were to
leave the schools, Gordillo would not have the geographic distribution
and base she needs to launch her union-busting operation.

Question: Why would any of the Section 22 teachers leave
the union and join Section 59?

Teacher unionist: Other than the scabs, some of the
teachers have been promised money and promotions if they join Section
59. The PRI is a machine of corruption. And some teachers are confused,
as well. Rueda Pacheco, for example, has been accused of corruption.
Gordillo's campaign to build Section 59 is being carried out in part in
the name of the fight against corruption within Section 22. A
convention of Section 22 rejected the charges brought against Rueda
Pacheco, but this has not prevented Gordillo from charging ahead. 

Gordillo has created a Consejo Central de Lucha (Central Council for
Struggle), a totally scandalous reference to the militant Council
created by the dissidents in SNTE in the 1980s, when Section 22 was
founded to fight the "charros" [entrenched bureaucrats--Trans. note] in
the national SNTE leadership. Some former leaders of Section 22, such
as Alejandro Leal Diaz, have been bought off and have joined Gordillo
in this destructive venture. 

Another wing of the former union leadership, led by Humberto Alcal·
Betanzos, has accused the current Section 22 of "departing from our
bread-and-butter issues and from responsible trade unionism" to
"embrace partisan politics" -- a reference to the teachers' involvement
with APPO. Of course, behind this offensive by Gordillo is Ulises Ruiz
Ortiz, who also has the support of Felipe CalderÛn and the PAN.

Question: You said that Section 22 voted to take militant
actions to demand that all 1,200 scabs be sent home. What, if anything,
have you done to press this demand?

Teacher unionist: On Feb. 21, about 7,000 members of
Section 22, all non-teaching classified workers, joined up with APPO
supporters and took over 32 offices of GobernaciÛn across the state of
Oaxaca. The protestors insisted that the scabs must go, or else the
union would go back out on strike. It was a warning action that
signaled an end to the truce with the government that was imposed by
Rueda Pacheco.

I should mention that the parents of the children who are being
"taught" by the scab teachers were among the most visible supporters of
our action. They are outraged that their children's regular teachers
are not back at school. The scabs have no teaching experience. Some
special-education children have been literally abandoned by the scabs.
The situation in many schools is so bad that the parents have taken
their children out of the schools and have worked out an agreement with
the regular teachers to teach their kids in improvised, outdoor
classrooms in the public squares of the towns across the state. 

It is also worth noting that Rueda Pacheco was censured by the State
Assembly of Section 22 on Feb. 17 for acting behind the backs of the
union members and making deals with GobernaciÛn against the interests
of the teachers and people of Oaxaca. For all practical purposes, Rueda
Pacheco has lost all the authority he had in the union. New elections
for Section 22 leadership are scheduled to take place very soon. We are
simply awaiting the call for a Section 22 convention. It is unlikely
Rueda Pacheco will have any support; he is widely viewed as a
sell-out.

And now Section 22 and APPO are calling for a new "mega-marcha" on
March 8, International Women's Day. Again, we will press for the scabs
to go -- and for Ulises to go. This joint call signals the resurgence
of the fighting spirit of the people of Oaxaca.

Question: The Mexican media have focused a lot of
attention on the upcoming Aug. 5 statewide elections in Oaxaca for
state deputies and the Oct. 7 elections for municipal presidents. What
decisions did the Feb. 17 State Assembly of Section 22 take in relation
to these elections?

Teacher unionist: Point No. 7 of the adopted resolution
calls for "punishing" the PRI and PAN in the elections. Essentially,
this is a call to vote for the PRD, the opposition Revolutionary
Democratic Party.

This is what our union did last July 2, when it called for a vote to
"punish" Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. This resulted in a smashing defeat of the
PRI; of the 11 federal deputies in contention, only two PRI deputies
were elected, and only one out of three PRI candidates for Senate was
elected.

Many of us, however, are far from convinced that voting for the PRD
will put an end to the corruption and injustice in our state.

Take a look at how the PRD delegation from Oaxaca in the Mexican
Congress voted on the 2007 budget submitted by the impostor Felipe
CalderÛn. Not one of them was among the 20 PRD members of Congress -- a
very small percentage of the PRD Congressional delegation, to be sure
-- who voted against the austerity, anti-worker budget. Not one of them
has spoken out in support of the main demand of the people of Oaxaca:
Fuera Ulises! (Out With Ulises!)

Question: What kind of candidates are needed, therefore,
in your opinion?

Teacher unionist: Electing politicians of the PRD will not
in and of itself help us address or resolve our problems. What we need
above all is to strengthen APPO in this election period. We need
candidates from the rank-and-file of the workers', popular and
indigenous movements who agree to embrace a clear independent platform
of struggle. 

Question: What would this platform look like?

Teacher unionist: The first point of the platform must be
"Out With Ulises!" -- and punishment of Ulises for the crimes committed
against the peoples of Oaxaca. The second point of the platform must
have a national scope: "Out With CalderÛn! All power to the legitimate
president of Mexico, AndrÈs Manuel LÛpez Obrador!"

And by all power to LÛpez Obrador, we mean the power to defend the
peasants, which requires repealing the NAFTA agreement. We mean the
power to defend the indigenous communities against the multinational
corporations and the real-estate speculators, which also means bringing
back the ejidos [cooperative farms on state-owned lands] and giving the
land to the landless peasants. 

We need candidates who call for the defense of our public industries
and services -- beginning with PEMEX, the Federal Electricity
Commission (CFE), and the systems of national healthcare and Social
Security (IMSS and ISSSTE).

We need candidates who call for convening a Sovereign Constituent
Assembly, both at the national and state levels, where the elected
representatives of the people can create new institutions to replace
the corrupt, ruling-class institutions of the PRI regime. It is up to
the people to define the forms of democracy and institutions needed to
defend the sovereignty and unity of the nation against all the enemies
of the national and popular interests.

We need candidates who will call on the national movement headed by
AndrÈs Manuel LÛpez Obrador to organize massive support for the people
of Oaxaca. Without a national movement, the people of Oaxaca will be
left isolated and at the mercy of the army and PFP troops. LÛpez
Obrador and the National Democratic Convention (CND) need to organize a
mega-marcha of 1 million people or more in Mexico City to demand the
ouster of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and a halt to the repression. LÛpez Obrador
has the ability to issue a call that could assemble these numbers.

We need candidates who call on the movement nationally to create
popular assemblies such as APPO and committees of the Democratic
National Convention to give an organized expression from below to the
legitimate government of LÛpez Obrador.

We need candidates who are willing to stand up squarely in opposition
to the so-called "reform of the State" -- a ruse orchestrated by all
the institutional parties in Mexico to have us buy into the various
"regionalization" and privatization plans promoted by the IMF and World
Bank in the name of "reforming" the institutions of the State. It's a
ruse to co-opt the leaders of our movement and to destroy the
independence and fighting resolve of our workers' and people's
organizations.

This, in fact, was the proposal that many of us took both to the
Section 22 State Assembly on Feb. 17 and to the APPO State Assembly on
Feb. 10-11.

Question: What discussion took place around this proposal
at the APPO assembly?

Teacher unionist: There was a heated discussion at the
assembly about the elections.

Many delegates called for supporting the candidates of the Frente Ampio
Progresista (FAP), or Broad Progressive Front. This is the coalition of
the three parties -- the PRD, the Workers Party (PT) and Convergencia
-- that backed LÛpez Obrador in his presidential bid last July. But
those delegates at no time raised the need for a platform to advance
our demands.

A number of APPO delegates insisted that the question of an independent
political platform was central. A compaÒera from the Red General
Comunitaria [General Community Network] stated we need candidates who
will help strengthen the network of popular assemblies throughout the
state of Oaxaca.

Another compaÒero stressed the need to have the candidates focus on
strengthening the popular mobilizations during the pre-electoral
period.

Supporters of the Independent Democratic Workers Party (PTDI) submitted
a resolution calling for an independent political platform in defense
of national sovereignty along the lines I described above. The PTDI
supporters called on the APPO Assembly to adopt this platform and to
address the candidates of the PRD with the demand that they embrace
this platform during the election campaign. If the PRD candidates
pledged publicly to support this independent platform, it was said,
then APPO could endorse them. But if the PRD candidates refused to
champion this platform, then APPO would select its own candidates to
run for office on such an independent platform.

Others still, many of them tied to the "Otra CampaÒa" [the Other
Campaign led by Sub-Comandante Marcos and his followers -- Trans.
note], called on APPO to take no position in these elections, arguing
that the elections are themselves part of the problem. These compaÒeros
refused to understand that it would be important to use the elections
to advance an independent political program and to mobilize workers and
people in defense of APPO and its demands.

Question: So what was the outcome of the discussion at the
APPO assembly?

Teacher unionist: Bending to the pressures from the forces
around Marcos, the APPO assembly decided not to run or support any
candidates. Unfortunately the proposal to support, or otherwise run,
candidates on an independent political platform did not carry the day.
In our view, this represents a lost opportunity.

But this is not the end of the story. In many regions of the state of
Oaxaca, the call to run candidates on an independent platform such as
the one proposed by the PDTI has widespread support. PDTI supporters
will be meeting soon to see whether it will be possible to field such
independent candidates in the coming months. 



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