Most of the mainstream media coverage coming out of Oaxaca has been flatly terrible. The narrrative has basically been like so: the protesters were creating violent unrest, and the death of an American journalist has led President Vincente Fox has send in the Mexican National Guard to stablize the area.
This is complete bullshit. The movement has been overwhelmingly peaceful, and has increasingly been prey to paramilitary death squads in league with Oaxaca's governor, a brutal thug named Ulises Ruiz. Ruiz is a member of the PRI, the notoriously corrupt and violent party that ran Mexico for decades until Fox took over. The Mexican Congress has recently called for Ruiz' resignation. Fox has sent in the National Guard not to stablize the area but to crush the uprising of which Brad was part.
What was the uprise about? It mostly centered around a teachers' strike, but was also, like Chiapas, an uprising of a mostly indigenous population in Souther Mexico that has historically been brutalized, mistreated, and exploited by the Mexican government.
The NPR, CNN, NY Times, and AP coverage has been garbage. I urge you to read Brad's own writing in Oaxaca, and to look into some of the excellent coverage that's come from Indymedia, Democracy Now, and The Village Voice, and to keep up to date with the Friends of Brad Will blog.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Brad Will - things you can do
Below is a list of NYC events in response to Friday's apparent police murder of Indymedia journalist-videographer Brad Will in Oaxaca. I know that some of the events are outdated already, but they contain directions to the Mexican consulate.
You can also read about it on The Village Voice blog and activist/journalist L.A. Kauffman's blog.
-- today Saturday, NYC Independent Media Center will be open from 3pm on, for anyone who wishes to gather, talk, help cover the story Brad was taping. 34 E 29th St betw. Park & Madison, [#6 to 28th; R to 28th; D, F, N, Q to 34th-Herald Sq.]
-- Tonight, Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7:00PM Vigil for Brad Will & Oaxaca Mexican Consulate, 27 E. 39th St betw. Madison & Park [#4, 5, 6, 7, S to Grand Central - 42d St.; D, F (& wkday B, V) to 42d-Bryant Park]
-- Sunday Oct. 29: 2 PM until 10 PM Brad Will Support Banner Making,at Time's Up! space 49 East Houston nr. Mulberry, Baxter & Lafayette [D, F to B`way-Lafayette; #6 to Bleecker; R (or wkend N) to Prince]
-- EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY! OAXACA PRESENTE!
(Anarchist-sponsored, all-welcome planning mtg.)
SUNDAY, Oct 29th, 5:30 PM, Sixth Street Community Center, 638 East 6th Street btwn Ave B and C [F to 2d Ave.]
-- Protest Monday morning at 9:00AM at Mexican Consulate [directions above]
Press Contacts: Beka Economopoulos, (917) 202-5479;
Brandon Jourdan, (646) 342-8169; Eric Laursen, (917) 806-6452
Donations suggestion: At the recommendation of Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, make a donation to a grassroots effort that's building international solidarity with the Oaxacan popular movement: click here.
And an AP story on it:
Oct 28, 5:05 AM EDT
NYC journalist killed in Mexico shootout
By COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press Writer
U.S. Video
NEW YORK (AP) -- Undeterred by violence, journalist Bradley Roland Will felt compelled to document what he called human rights abuses around the globe, so he headed to the volatile city of Oaxaca in Mexico.
As the situation turned increasingly dangerous, Will decided to stay. Despite his fears, he wanted people to know what was happening in Oaxaca.
"I am entering a new territory here and don't know if I am ready," Will wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to an ex-girlfriend. "Life is crazy."
The 36-year-old videographer from New York was killed Friday in the Mexican city where protesters have barricaded streets and occupied government buildings for five months in a bid to oust the governor.
The gunfire erupted in a rough neighborhood when armed men, possibly police, tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters who were demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
"It appears that Mr. Will was killed during a shoot out between what may have been local police" and protesters, Tony Garza, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, said in a written statement.
However, it wasn't clear who fired the shot that killed Will, who was working for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization, and selling video footage on a freelance basis.
Word that he died at a Red Cross hospital after being shot in the abdomen spread quickly in New York City, where he had lived for more than a decade.
Early Saturday, scores of friends crammed into a small bookstore here to remember Will, whom they described as a passionate activist.
Beka Economopoulous, a New York activist and friend, said Will's death would leave a void in places where journalists are needed.
"The community here will miss him," she said. "Not only because he was a beautiful person, but because the work he was doing was so important. He was passionate about documenting the ills of the world."
Will had been documenting the upheaval in Oaxaca in Internet dispatches for nearly a month. His reports showed he had strong sympathies with the movement.
"What can you say about this movement, this revolutionary moment," he wrote in a dispatch dated Oct. 16. "You know it is building, growing, shaping, you can feel it, trying desperately for a direct democracy."
Fellow documentarian Josh Bregman, who recently returned from Oaxaca, said he felt safe within the barricades among the citizens, but not when police were looming.
"The people that I was with thought my camera would keep them safe," Bregman said. "They didn't think anyone would shoot gringo journalists."
Friends described Will as tall and lanky with long brown hair, glasses and a scruffy beard. He loved folk music, played the guitar and had a huge heart.
"He was a warm, gentle person, who lit up the room with his songs and his cheer," said Brandon Jourdan, a former roommate.
You can also read about it on The Village Voice blog and activist/journalist L.A. Kauffman's blog.
-- today Saturday, NYC Independent Media Center will be open from 3pm on, for anyone who wishes to gather, talk, help cover the story Brad was taping. 34 E 29th St betw. Park & Madison, [#6 to 28th; R to 28th; D, F, N, Q to 34th-Herald Sq.]
-- Tonight, Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7:00PM Vigil for Brad Will & Oaxaca Mexican Consulate, 27 E. 39th St betw. Madison & Park [#4, 5, 6, 7, S to Grand Central - 42d St.; D, F (& wkday B, V) to 42d-Bryant Park]
-- Sunday Oct. 29: 2 PM until 10 PM Brad Will Support Banner Making,at Time's Up! space 49 East Houston nr. Mulberry, Baxter & Lafayette [D, F to B`way-Lafayette; #6 to Bleecker; R (or wkend N) to Prince]
-- EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY! OAXACA PRESENTE!
(Anarchist-sponsored, all-welcome planning mtg.)
SUNDAY, Oct 29th, 5:30 PM, Sixth Street Community Center, 638 East 6th Street btwn Ave B and C [F to 2d Ave.]
-- Protest Monday morning at 9:00AM at Mexican Consulate [directions above]
Press Contacts: Beka Economopoulos, (917) 202-5479;
Brandon Jourdan, (646) 342-8169; Eric Laursen, (917) 806-6452
Donations suggestion: At the recommendation of Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, make a donation to a grassroots effort that's building international solidarity with the Oaxacan popular movement: click here.
And an AP story on it:
Oct 28, 5:05 AM EDT
NYC journalist killed in Mexico shootout
By COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press Writer
U.S. Video
NEW YORK (AP) -- Undeterred by violence, journalist Bradley Roland Will felt compelled to document what he called human rights abuses around the globe, so he headed to the volatile city of Oaxaca in Mexico.
As the situation turned increasingly dangerous, Will decided to stay. Despite his fears, he wanted people to know what was happening in Oaxaca.
"I am entering a new territory here and don't know if I am ready," Will wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to an ex-girlfriend. "Life is crazy."
The 36-year-old videographer from New York was killed Friday in the Mexican city where protesters have barricaded streets and occupied government buildings for five months in a bid to oust the governor.
The gunfire erupted in a rough neighborhood when armed men, possibly police, tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters who were demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz.
"It appears that Mr. Will was killed during a shoot out between what may have been local police" and protesters, Tony Garza, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, said in a written statement.
However, it wasn't clear who fired the shot that killed Will, who was working for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization, and selling video footage on a freelance basis.
Word that he died at a Red Cross hospital after being shot in the abdomen spread quickly in New York City, where he had lived for more than a decade.
Early Saturday, scores of friends crammed into a small bookstore here to remember Will, whom they described as a passionate activist.
Beka Economopoulous, a New York activist and friend, said Will's death would leave a void in places where journalists are needed.
"The community here will miss him," she said. "Not only because he was a beautiful person, but because the work he was doing was so important. He was passionate about documenting the ills of the world."
Will had been documenting the upheaval in Oaxaca in Internet dispatches for nearly a month. His reports showed he had strong sympathies with the movement.
"What can you say about this movement, this revolutionary moment," he wrote in a dispatch dated Oct. 16. "You know it is building, growing, shaping, you can feel it, trying desperately for a direct democracy."
Fellow documentarian Josh Bregman, who recently returned from Oaxaca, said he felt safe within the barricades among the citizens, but not when police were looming.
"The people that I was with thought my camera would keep them safe," Bregman said. "They didn't think anyone would shoot gringo journalists."
Friends described Will as tall and lanky with long brown hair, glasses and a scruffy beard. He loved folk music, played the guitar and had a huge heart.
"He was a warm, gentle person, who lit up the room with his songs and his cheer," said Brandon Jourdan, a former roommate.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
R.I.P. Brad Will
My friend Brad was murdered by paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico. There will be a vigil tonight (Saturday) at 7pm at the Mexican Consulate, and a demonstration on Monday at 9am. You can also donate money to the indigenous people of Oaxaca here.
Mexican Consulate
27 E 39th St, at Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 217-6400
Please spread the word far and wide.
You can read more about this here, , here, and here. Read on for more details.
Mexican Consulate
27 E 39th St, at Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 217-6400
Please spread the word far and wide.
You can read more about this here, , here, and here. Read on for more details.
Andrew Boyd on Brad Will
Activist and humorist Andrew Boyd on Brad:
Note: HMB is the Hungry March Band. UFE is United for a Fair Economy.
"friends and comrades of brad will--
in honor of brad, the HMB marched thru williamsburgh in the rain last night, playing st james infirmary. a way of saying "brad will, presente!" that felt both grave and spirited. we also downed a lot of whiskey.
and i imagine he was very much in the room with those of you that met at blue stockings.
this morning i got the email below from chuck collins, a close colleague of mine from UFE, who spent the last year in oaxaca and knew brad.
al giordano, another ex-boston friend of ours who also knew brad, has for years been running an independent media outfit in mexico called narconews.com that's been reporting on the oaxaca situation extensively. (it's one of the best sources of indy journalism in mexico.) there's a link to his article about brad's assassination
below.
chuck suggests making a contribution to a grassroots effort down there that's building international solidarity with the oaxacan popular movement. link below. he and his wife gave $100. i added $50.
we're all reeling from this. as beka and i were saying last night, brad died like he lived, on the front lines, and in the the thick of history. the best tribute is to do something. let's spread the word about the truth in oaxaca and help out where we can. i'll pass on anything i hear from chuck about political developments and further actions.
please forward to brad's other friends and colleagues. i only sent to the handful of you above.
love & solidarity,
--andrew
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Friends, family and colleagues
Brad Will -- U.S. Journalist for IndyMedia killed in Oaxaca.
Very bad news this morning from Oaxaca. I knew Brad Will through my old Clamshell Alliance and talk show host comrade Al Giordano. We both covered the Mexican election and I spoke with him by phone in August about the Oaxaca situation before he went down on this recent trip. Brad is one of these committed independent journalists that have been trying to tell the real story of what's been happening in
Oaxaca --and he got in the line of fire when paramilitaries attacked unarmed protesters at a barricade in Oaxaca. I'm stunned and angry, as you can imagine.
We have many loved ones in Oaxaca, so please pray for a peaceful resolution to this struggle.
Read Al's account of Brad's assassination by the paramilitaries probably working in support of the Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. You will find links to Brad's articles.
The Oaxaca story has not gotten major U.S. media because it has been a largely nonviolent effort by teachers and social movements to oust the corrupt and authoritarian PRI Governor, Ulises Ruiz. Ruiz stole the election in 2004 that put him in office. On June 14th, while we were living in Oaxaca, he sent 3,000 troops in to attack striking teachers. He's a thug and hundreds of thousands of people have mobilized in Oaxaca calling for his resignation. He has stayed in power and the
situation has gotten more ugly as right-wing paramilitary groups have formed in support of the governor. They are most likely responsible for Brad's death.
So far, Mexican President Vicente Fox has not sent in troops. But La Journada and the Associated Press (see below) reported at 8:50 this morning that Fox has ordered troops into Oaxaca. This could be BAD if they are used to suppress the popular nonviolent movement against the governor. Please stay tuned.
A. Political Action. I'll be back in touch with more information about what will be effective.
B. Funding movement support efforts in Oaxaca
Our friend Gustavo Esteva, founder of University of the Land, has aproject aimed at building international solidarity with the indigenous and popular movements in Oaxaca. You can contribute here.
Note: HMB is the Hungry March Band. UFE is United for a Fair Economy.
"friends and comrades of brad will--
in honor of brad, the HMB marched thru williamsburgh in the rain last night, playing st james infirmary. a way of saying "brad will, presente!" that felt both grave and spirited. we also downed a lot of whiskey.
and i imagine he was very much in the room with those of you that met at blue stockings.
this morning i got the email below from chuck collins, a close colleague of mine from UFE, who spent the last year in oaxaca and knew brad.
al giordano, another ex-boston friend of ours who also knew brad, has for years been running an independent media outfit in mexico called narconews.com that's been reporting on the oaxaca situation extensively. (it's one of the best sources of indy journalism in mexico.) there's a link to his article about brad's assassination
below.
chuck suggests making a contribution to a grassroots effort down there that's building international solidarity with the oaxacan popular movement. link below. he and his wife gave $100. i added $50.
we're all reeling from this. as beka and i were saying last night, brad died like he lived, on the front lines, and in the the thick of history. the best tribute is to do something. let's spread the word about the truth in oaxaca and help out where we can. i'll pass on anything i hear from chuck about political developments and further actions.
please forward to brad's other friends and colleagues. i only sent to the handful of you above.
love & solidarity,
--andrew
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Friends, family and colleagues
Brad Will -- U.S. Journalist for IndyMedia killed in Oaxaca.
Very bad news this morning from Oaxaca. I knew Brad Will through my old Clamshell Alliance and talk show host comrade Al Giordano. We both covered the Mexican election and I spoke with him by phone in August about the Oaxaca situation before he went down on this recent trip. Brad is one of these committed independent journalists that have been trying to tell the real story of what's been happening in
Oaxaca --and he got in the line of fire when paramilitaries attacked unarmed protesters at a barricade in Oaxaca. I'm stunned and angry, as you can imagine.
We have many loved ones in Oaxaca, so please pray for a peaceful resolution to this struggle.
Read Al's account of Brad's assassination by the paramilitaries probably working in support of the Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. You will find links to Brad's articles.
The Oaxaca story has not gotten major U.S. media because it has been a largely nonviolent effort by teachers and social movements to oust the corrupt and authoritarian PRI Governor, Ulises Ruiz. Ruiz stole the election in 2004 that put him in office. On June 14th, while we were living in Oaxaca, he sent 3,000 troops in to attack striking teachers. He's a thug and hundreds of thousands of people have mobilized in Oaxaca calling for his resignation. He has stayed in power and the
situation has gotten more ugly as right-wing paramilitary groups have formed in support of the governor. They are most likely responsible for Brad's death.
So far, Mexican President Vicente Fox has not sent in troops. But La Journada and the Associated Press (see below) reported at 8:50 this morning that Fox has ordered troops into Oaxaca. This could be BAD if they are used to suppress the popular nonviolent movement against the governor. Please stay tuned.
A. Political Action. I'll be back in touch with more information about what will be effective.
B. Funding movement support efforts in Oaxaca
Our friend Gustavo Esteva, founder of University of the Land, has aproject aimed at building international solidarity with the indigenous and popular movements in Oaxaca. You can contribute here.
Camilo Viveros on Brad Will
"Brad Will, a friend and a friend to the international struggle for justice, was murdered. I meet Brad when went we traveled cross country and attended a radical conference in Ohio together. I remember him dancing to a contemporary dance piece during the Active Resistance conference in Chicago in the 1990s adding well done and creative art to the events.
Brad continued to dance. He danced against wrecking balls that tried to rip apart squats in New York City. He crisscrossed the global south recording and publizing the struggle for justice. He did not forget the struggle here, the last time I saw him was in NYC during the Still We Rise demonstrations against the RNC. He greeted me with his trade mark warm smile as always and was so proud of his improved Spanish skills. He was excited that he could better serve the struggles that inspire him.
He inspires us, to challenge ourselves to learn and grow to be better in service to our liberation and the liberation of others. He inspires us to live full lives, to take risks in the here and now, to never stop our dance that we must do when we listen to the voices of those fighting oppression, to never stop our dance to unite with those yearning for freedom by following the sounds of aching hearts, to never stop the dance that moves us to join those who cry in pain in the struggle, to never stop the dance that follows the rhythm of the multitudes' beating hearts for justice.
I will miss you Brad. I will miss your spontaneity, your warmth and your joy.
Brad I will dance with you, even if I am never as graceful as you are, even if I stumble and I fall and even if I am feeble at times, I will dance with you brother, forever. I love you, Brad.
Camilo Viveiros"
Brad continued to dance. He danced against wrecking balls that tried to rip apart squats in New York City. He crisscrossed the global south recording and publizing the struggle for justice. He did not forget the struggle here, the last time I saw him was in NYC during the Still We Rise demonstrations against the RNC. He greeted me with his trade mark warm smile as always and was so proud of his improved Spanish skills. He was excited that he could better serve the struggles that inspire him.
He inspires us, to challenge ourselves to learn and grow to be better in service to our liberation and the liberation of others. He inspires us to live full lives, to take risks in the here and now, to never stop our dance that we must do when we listen to the voices of those fighting oppression, to never stop our dance to unite with those yearning for freedom by following the sounds of aching hearts, to never stop the dance that moves us to join those who cry in pain in the struggle, to never stop the dance that follows the rhythm of the multitudes' beating hearts for justice.
I will miss you Brad. I will miss your spontaneity, your warmth and your joy.
Brad I will dance with you, even if I am never as graceful as you are, even if I stumble and I fall and even if I am feeble at times, I will dance with you brother, forever. I love you, Brad.
Camilo Viveiros"
Marjorie Stamberg on Brad Will
At Least Three Killed by Police, Including U.S. Indymedia Journalist Massacre Under Way in Oaxaca
Urgent Alert Protest Saturday Outside Mexican Consulate in NYC
OCTOBER 27, 11 p.m. In response to a state-wide work stoppage in Oaxaca, Mexico today, plainclothes police and gunmen linked to state governor Ulises Ruiz have unleashed a bloody massacre. So far today, there are at least three people confirmed dead, and reports of two more killed, with scores wounded in the shooting. Among the dead are Brad Will, a video journalist for Indymedia, and the teacher Emilio Alonso in San Bartolo Coyotepec, near Oaxaca city, where 23 others were shot.
The Internationalist Group is issuing this bulletin to alert unionists and others in the U.S. of the need for urgent action. A protest has been called tomorrow, Saturday, October 28, at 3 p.m. outside the Mexican consulate at 27 East 39th Street in Manhattan. We urge people elsewhere in the country to likewise protest outside Mexican government installations denouncing the massacre.
According to Radio APPO, the radio station of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, truckloads of armed paramilitaries are entering the state capital. During the afternoon motorcycles and pick-up trucks with plainclothes ministerial police roamed through the city. As part of the ongoing strike by the state teachers union, now in its sixth month, there are hundreds of barricades in Oaxaca city and strikers are calling to reinforce the barricades and resist the caravans of death.
Seventy thousand teachers have been on strike in the state since May 22. They have been joined by the APPO, including representatives of the 16 indigenous peoples in the state. The struggle has convulsed Mexico, as several thousand teachers and APPO strikers marched on Mexico City, where they have been camped out in front of the Senate.
Yesterday, under heavy pressure from the right-wing federal government of Vicente Fox, the teachers union, Section 22, SNTE-CNTE, voted by 30,000 to 20,000 to go back to work. However, they made this conditional on receiving guarantees of safety for the strikers against threats by the murderous state governor Ruiz and his PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) which has ruled the state for the last 75 years. This massacre is the governments answer.
There have been repeated solidarity demonstrations with the Oaxaca strikers in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the U.S., as well as internationally, from Barcelona, Spain to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where teachers called for workers strikes against the repression in Mexico. Now is the time for international working-class action.
For more information, call (212) 460-0983 or (917) 209-4380.
Urgent Alert Protest Saturday Outside Mexican Consulate in NYC
OCTOBER 27, 11 p.m. In response to a state-wide work stoppage in Oaxaca, Mexico today, plainclothes police and gunmen linked to state governor Ulises Ruiz have unleashed a bloody massacre. So far today, there are at least three people confirmed dead, and reports of two more killed, with scores wounded in the shooting. Among the dead are Brad Will, a video journalist for Indymedia, and the teacher Emilio Alonso in San Bartolo Coyotepec, near Oaxaca city, where 23 others were shot.
The Internationalist Group is issuing this bulletin to alert unionists and others in the U.S. of the need for urgent action. A protest has been called tomorrow, Saturday, October 28, at 3 p.m. outside the Mexican consulate at 27 East 39th Street in Manhattan. We urge people elsewhere in the country to likewise protest outside Mexican government installations denouncing the massacre.
According to Radio APPO, the radio station of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, truckloads of armed paramilitaries are entering the state capital. During the afternoon motorcycles and pick-up trucks with plainclothes ministerial police roamed through the city. As part of the ongoing strike by the state teachers union, now in its sixth month, there are hundreds of barricades in Oaxaca city and strikers are calling to reinforce the barricades and resist the caravans of death.
Seventy thousand teachers have been on strike in the state since May 22. They have been joined by the APPO, including representatives of the 16 indigenous peoples in the state. The struggle has convulsed Mexico, as several thousand teachers and APPO strikers marched on Mexico City, where they have been camped out in front of the Senate.
Yesterday, under heavy pressure from the right-wing federal government of Vicente Fox, the teachers union, Section 22, SNTE-CNTE, voted by 30,000 to 20,000 to go back to work. However, they made this conditional on receiving guarantees of safety for the strikers against threats by the murderous state governor Ruiz and his PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) which has ruled the state for the last 75 years. This massacre is the governments answer.
There have been repeated solidarity demonstrations with the Oaxaca strikers in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the U.S., as well as internationally, from Barcelona, Spain to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where teachers called for workers strikes against the repression in Mexico. Now is the time for international working-class action.
For more information, call (212) 460-0983 or (917) 209-4380.
Press release re. Justice For Brad
WILLIAM BRADLEY ROLAND, U.S. JOURNALIST/CAMERMAN, KILLED BY OAXACA PARAMILITARIES KILLER ID'D - ACTIONS BEING PLANNED IN U.S.
William Bradley Roland, aka Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to the Red Cross.
Centro de Medias Libres in Mexico City reports that from Will's recovered videotapes, they have identified his killer as a paramilitary named Pedro Carmona, ex-president of Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucia del Camino, a colonia in Oaxaca.
At last report, Will was one of five people who died in the last day, along with 17 wounded, as paramilitaries and federal police poured in to retake the city, according to Centro de Medias Libres. The city had been in the hands of the workers for five months. Will is the first American to be killed in the months-long confrontation. A longtime journalist and activist, he covered land occupations in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., direct actions and rebellions in Argentina and Ecuador, land
occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. He was a much-beloved figure in the global justice movement in the U.S. and leaves behind many grieving friends.
Friends of Brad in the U.S. will be calling actions in the next day to demand that the U.S. State Department press the Mexican government to investigate Brad's murder and address the terroristic regime that made it possible. Additionally, they will press for solidarity in the U.S. with the Mexican movement for social justice that Brad gave his life to document in Oaxaca.
William Bradley Roland, aka Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to the Red Cross.
Centro de Medias Libres in Mexico City reports that from Will's recovered videotapes, they have identified his killer as a paramilitary named Pedro Carmona, ex-president of Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucia del Camino, a colonia in Oaxaca.
At last report, Will was one of five people who died in the last day, along with 17 wounded, as paramilitaries and federal police poured in to retake the city, according to Centro de Medias Libres. The city had been in the hands of the workers for five months. Will is the first American to be killed in the months-long confrontation. A longtime journalist and activist, he covered land occupations in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., direct actions and rebellions in Argentina and Ecuador, land
occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. He was a much-beloved figure in the global justice movement in the U.S. and leaves behind many grieving friends.
Friends of Brad in the U.S. will be calling actions in the next day to demand that the U.S. State Department press the Mexican government to investigate Brad's murder and address the terroristic regime that made it possible. Additionally, they will press for solidarity in the U.S. with the Mexican movement for social justice that Brad gave his life to document in Oaxaca.
Reuters Story on Brad
CORRECTED: U.S. Journalist Killed in Mexico
Article Tools Sponsored By REUTERS
Published: October 27, 2006
Filed at 11:50 p.m. ET
Reuters
Indymedia corrects name of cameraman in paragraph 2 to Brad Will from Will Bradley Roland
OAXACA, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Friday, killing three people including a U.S. journalist near road blocks set up by leftists pushing to topple a state governor.
Brad Will, a cameraman working with Indymedia New York, was shot in the chest and died before reaching the hospital, the independent news group said on its Web site.
Oaxaca's state prosecutor's office said two others, including a protesting teacher, were also shot dead.
The journalist died after a bullet hit him in the torso in one of at least two shootouts in the city. The teacher, Emilio Alonso, was shot in a separate attack.
Nine people, mostly protesters, have been killed in the conflict that began in Oaxaca state five months ago, when striking teachers and leftist activists occupied much of the state capital, a popular tourist destination.
Several people were wounded in the shootings on Friday.
A Reuters photographer said gunfire rattled for more than an hour near barricades at the edge of the city, famous for its colonial architecture, thriving arts scene and indigenous culture.
Earlier in the day, the activists blocked highways near the city and burned vehicles. Flights to the Oaxaca were canceled amid worries that protesters would occupy the city's airport.
This week, striking teachers voted to return to classes but many protesters say they will not back down until state Gov. Ulises Ruiz is ousted.
Critics accuse Ruiz of corruption and repressive tactics against dissenters, whose roadblocks have driven tourism from the city and hurt business.
Ruiz refuses to stand down and says he still controls Oaxaca, where no uniformed police have patrolled since being fought off by protesters during a failed attempt in June to break up a protest camp in the city's graceful central square.
President Vicente Fox has vowed to end the conflict before he leaves office on December 1. but negotiations to find a peaceful way out have so far failed.
Article Tools Sponsored By REUTERS
Published: October 27, 2006
Filed at 11:50 p.m. ET
Reuters
Indymedia corrects name of cameraman in paragraph 2 to Brad Will from Will Bradley Roland
OAXACA, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Friday, killing three people including a U.S. journalist near road blocks set up by leftists pushing to topple a state governor.
Brad Will, a cameraman working with Indymedia New York, was shot in the chest and died before reaching the hospital, the independent news group said on its Web site.
Oaxaca's state prosecutor's office said two others, including a protesting teacher, were also shot dead.
The journalist died after a bullet hit him in the torso in one of at least two shootouts in the city. The teacher, Emilio Alonso, was shot in a separate attack.
Nine people, mostly protesters, have been killed in the conflict that began in Oaxaca state five months ago, when striking teachers and leftist activists occupied much of the state capital, a popular tourist destination.
Several people were wounded in the shootings on Friday.
A Reuters photographer said gunfire rattled for more than an hour near barricades at the edge of the city, famous for its colonial architecture, thriving arts scene and indigenous culture.
Earlier in the day, the activists blocked highways near the city and burned vehicles. Flights to the Oaxaca were canceled amid worries that protesters would occupy the city's airport.
This week, striking teachers voted to return to classes but many protesters say they will not back down until state Gov. Ulises Ruiz is ousted.
Critics accuse Ruiz of corruption and repressive tactics against dissenters, whose roadblocks have driven tourism from the city and hurt business.
Ruiz refuses to stand down and says he still controls Oaxaca, where no uniformed police have patrolled since being fought off by protesters during a failed attempt in June to break up a protest camp in the city's graceful central square.
President Vicente Fox has vowed to end the conflict before he leaves office on December 1. but negotiations to find a peaceful way out have so far failed.
Marina Sitrin on Brad Will, and Brad's last email dispatch
Actvist Marina Sitrin:
"Our friend, brother, and companero, Brad Will was killed today by paramilitaries in Oaxaca Mexico."
Brad has been an inspiring and passionate militant, joining struggles all over the world, from land occupations in the Pacific North West of the US, to direct actions against global capital, to rebellions in Argentina, land occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. Brad was always a part of whatever he was in. He was always with people, not organizing them. He taught me, and so many others so much through example. He will be missed in so many ways.
Brad was a part of our communities. We should remember him with the love and affection that he showed, and we feel. We should also carry on with direct action to stop those that are trying to stop social creation, in the US, Mexico, Argentina, and the globe.
brad Presente!
brad presente!
brad Presente!
Brad's last email dispatch ...
early dawn, oct16
yesterday i went for a walk with the good people of oaxaca -- was walking all day really -- in the afternoon they showed me where the bullets hit the wall -- they numbered the ones they could reach -- it reminded me of the doorway of amadou diallos home -- but here the grafitti was there before the shooting began -- one bullet they didnt number was still in his head -- he was 41 years old -- alejandro garcia hernandez -- at the neighborhood barricade every night -- that night he came out to join his wife and sons to let an ambulance through -- then a pickup tried to follow -- he took their bullet when he told them they could not pass -- they never did -- these military men in civilian dress shot their way out of there
a young man who wanted to only be called marco was with them when the shooting happened -- a bullet passed through his shoulder -- he was clearly in shock when we met -- 19 years old -- said he hadnt told his parents yet -- said he had been at the barricade every night -- said he was going back as soon as the wound closed -- absolutely
just days before there was a delegation of senators visiting to determine the ungovernability of the state -- they got a taste -- the call went out to shut down the rest of the government -- dozens went walking out of the zocalo city center with big sticks and a box full of spray paint -- they took control of 3 city buses and went around the city all morning visiting local government buildings and informing them that that they were closed -- and we appreciate your voluntary cooperation -- and they filed out preturbed but still getting paid -- shut -- as they pulled away from the last stop 3 gunmen came out and started shooting -- 2 buses had already pulled away -- mayhem -- 10 minute battle with stones and slingshots and screaming -- one headwound -- another through the leg -- made their way to the hospital while the fighting continued -- shout out on the radio and people came from all parts -- the gunmen were around the side of the building -- they got away -- they were inside -- no one sure -- watchful -- undercover police were reported lurking around the hospital and folks went running to stand watch over the wounded
what can you say about this movement -- this revolutionary moment -- you know it is building, growing, shaping -- you can feel it -- trying desperately for a direct democracy -- in november appo will have a state wide conference for the formation of a state wide assemblea estatal del pueblo de oaxaca (aepo) -- now there are 11 of 33 states in mexico that have declared formation of assemblea populares like appo -- and on la otra lado in the usa a few -- the marines have returned to sea even though the federal police who ravaged atenco remain close by -- the new encampment in mexico has begun a hunger strike -- the senate can expell URO -- whats next nobodies sure -- it is a point of light pressed through glass -- ready to burn or show the way -- it is clear that this is more than a strike, more than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition of fragments -- it is a genuine peoples revolt -- and after decades of pri rule by bribe, fraud, and bullet the people are tired -- they call him the tyrant -- they talk of destroying this authoritarianism -- you cannot mistake the whisper of the lancandon jungle in the streets -- in every street corner deciding together to hold -- you see it their faces -- indigenous, women, children -- so brave -- watchful at night -- proud and resolute went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who came from an outlying district a half hour away -- went walking with angry folk on their way to the morgue -- went inside and saw him -- havent seen too many bodies in my life -- eats you up -- a stack of nameless corpes in the corner -- about the number who had died -- no refrigeration -- the smell -- they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out -- walked back with him and his people
and now alejandro waits in the zocalo -- like the others at their plantones -- hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward, a way out, a solution -- waiting for the earth to shift and open -- waiting for november when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the dead and share food and drink and a song -- waiting for the plaza to turn itself over to him and burst -- he will only wait until morning but tonight he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back -- one more death -- one more martyr in a dirty war -- one more time to cry and hurt -- one more time to know power and its ugly head -- one more bullet cracks the night -- one more night at the barricades -- some keep the fires -- others curl up and sleep -- but all of them are with him as he rests one last night at his watch
uro= Ulises Ruiz Ortiz "governor" of the state of oaxaca
planton= sit in, vigil, encampment
zocalo= central plaza
more info:
NarcoNews
IndyMedia Mexico
Oaxaca Libre
El Enemigocomun
Oaxaca Study Group
'In sum, we are an army of dreamers, and therefore invincible. How can we fail to win, with this imagination overturning everything. Or rather, we do not deserve to lose.'
- Subcomandante Marcos
--
Seamos realistas, hagamos lo imposible ~ che
"Our friend, brother, and companero, Brad Will was killed today by paramilitaries in Oaxaca Mexico."
Brad has been an inspiring and passionate militant, joining struggles all over the world, from land occupations in the Pacific North West of the US, to direct actions against global capital, to rebellions in Argentina, land occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. Brad was always a part of whatever he was in. He was always with people, not organizing them. He taught me, and so many others so much through example. He will be missed in so many ways.
Brad was a part of our communities. We should remember him with the love and affection that he showed, and we feel. We should also carry on with direct action to stop those that are trying to stop social creation, in the US, Mexico, Argentina, and the globe.
brad Presente!
brad presente!
brad Presente!
Brad's last email dispatch ...
early dawn, oct16
yesterday i went for a walk with the good people of oaxaca -- was walking all day really -- in the afternoon they showed me where the bullets hit the wall -- they numbered the ones they could reach -- it reminded me of the doorway of amadou diallos home -- but here the grafitti was there before the shooting began -- one bullet they didnt number was still in his head -- he was 41 years old -- alejandro garcia hernandez -- at the neighborhood barricade every night -- that night he came out to join his wife and sons to let an ambulance through -- then a pickup tried to follow -- he took their bullet when he told them they could not pass -- they never did -- these military men in civilian dress shot their way out of there
a young man who wanted to only be called marco was with them when the shooting happened -- a bullet passed through his shoulder -- he was clearly in shock when we met -- 19 years old -- said he hadnt told his parents yet -- said he had been at the barricade every night -- said he was going back as soon as the wound closed -- absolutely
just days before there was a delegation of senators visiting to determine the ungovernability of the state -- they got a taste -- the call went out to shut down the rest of the government -- dozens went walking out of the zocalo city center with big sticks and a box full of spray paint -- they took control of 3 city buses and went around the city all morning visiting local government buildings and informing them that that they were closed -- and we appreciate your voluntary cooperation -- and they filed out preturbed but still getting paid -- shut -- as they pulled away from the last stop 3 gunmen came out and started shooting -- 2 buses had already pulled away -- mayhem -- 10 minute battle with stones and slingshots and screaming -- one headwound -- another through the leg -- made their way to the hospital while the fighting continued -- shout out on the radio and people came from all parts -- the gunmen were around the side of the building -- they got away -- they were inside -- no one sure -- watchful -- undercover police were reported lurking around the hospital and folks went running to stand watch over the wounded
what can you say about this movement -- this revolutionary moment -- you know it is building, growing, shaping -- you can feel it -- trying desperately for a direct democracy -- in november appo will have a state wide conference for the formation of a state wide assemblea estatal del pueblo de oaxaca (aepo) -- now there are 11 of 33 states in mexico that have declared formation of assemblea populares like appo -- and on la otra lado in the usa a few -- the marines have returned to sea even though the federal police who ravaged atenco remain close by -- the new encampment in mexico has begun a hunger strike -- the senate can expell URO -- whats next nobodies sure -- it is a point of light pressed through glass -- ready to burn or show the way -- it is clear that this is more than a strike, more than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition of fragments -- it is a genuine peoples revolt -- and after decades of pri rule by bribe, fraud, and bullet the people are tired -- they call him the tyrant -- they talk of destroying this authoritarianism -- you cannot mistake the whisper of the lancandon jungle in the streets -- in every street corner deciding together to hold -- you see it their faces -- indigenous, women, children -- so brave -- watchful at night -- proud and resolute went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who came from an outlying district a half hour away -- went walking with angry folk on their way to the morgue -- went inside and saw him -- havent seen too many bodies in my life -- eats you up -- a stack of nameless corpes in the corner -- about the number who had died -- no refrigeration -- the smell -- they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out -- walked back with him and his people
and now alejandro waits in the zocalo -- like the others at their plantones -- hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward, a way out, a solution -- waiting for the earth to shift and open -- waiting for november when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the dead and share food and drink and a song -- waiting for the plaza to turn itself over to him and burst -- he will only wait until morning but tonight he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back -- one more death -- one more martyr in a dirty war -- one more time to cry and hurt -- one more time to know power and its ugly head -- one more bullet cracks the night -- one more night at the barricades -- some keep the fires -- others curl up and sleep -- but all of them are with him as he rests one last night at his watch
uro= Ulises Ruiz Ortiz "governor" of the state of oaxaca
planton= sit in, vigil, encampment
zocalo= central plaza
more info:
NarcoNews
IndyMedia Mexico
Oaxaca Libre
El Enemigocomun
Oaxaca Study Group
'In sum, we are an army of dreamers, and therefore invincible. How can we fail to win, with this imagination overturning everything. Or rather, we do not deserve to lose.'
- Subcomandante Marcos
--
Seamos realistas, hagamos lo imposible ~ che
A Memory of Brad Will, from Ben Shepard:
Author and activist Ben Shepard on Brad Will:
"Oy ve...
Well, none of us will ever know when we are to come or go in this world.
I loved knowing Brad. I loved him volunteering to run the tripod crew for the RTS Buy NOthing Day action in 1999. I loved sharing beers with him. I loved reading his dispatches. I loved spending time in jail with him (even when he did hog the bench. I loved hearing about his travels to Prague, Mexico, and through the hot spots of the global justice movement's ups and downs. I loved seeing him at the fire at Esperanza. I loved seeing him on his bike at the Diallo protests. I loved seeing Brad at Gardenning events. I loved reading his dispatches from the emcampments in Brazil, the WTO actions in Prague, or Seattle. And I loved running into him in the streets. And I loved seeing him for his birthday bash this summer and seeing him enjoying his life.
I loved knowing him. I didn't love him not returning my calls or frequent requests for interviews. I think I have interviewed half the people on this list. But Brad wouldn't let me interview him. WHen I got the call from William Etundi, 'Ben, i have some bad news about Brad' I knew exactly what had happened. He was always close. Thats what made him an amazing activist. He lived on the cusp of history. He lived a historical life. And to be part of that history, he would take any risk. But he was not reckless. He was a caring, fun guy, who like most of us, was in it for the communtiy, the history, and hopefully to get a little somethin' somethin'. And yet, while many such as myself, took a more comfortable route, he put himself at risk over and over and over. I know he was profoundly disturbed to see a woman burnt to death at a homeless encampment two years ago in Brazil. He lived history. Now he is part of it. For some reason, I will miss seeing him. But I also know he lived the richest of lives, something most of us could only aspire to."
"Oy ve...
Well, none of us will ever know when we are to come or go in this world.
I loved knowing Brad. I loved him volunteering to run the tripod crew for the RTS Buy NOthing Day action in 1999. I loved sharing beers with him. I loved reading his dispatches. I loved spending time in jail with him (even when he did hog the bench. I loved hearing about his travels to Prague, Mexico, and through the hot spots of the global justice movement's ups and downs. I loved seeing him at the fire at Esperanza. I loved seeing him on his bike at the Diallo protests. I loved seeing Brad at Gardenning events. I loved reading his dispatches from the emcampments in Brazil, the WTO actions in Prague, or Seattle. And I loved running into him in the streets. And I loved seeing him for his birthday bash this summer and seeing him enjoying his life.
I loved knowing him. I didn't love him not returning my calls or frequent requests for interviews. I think I have interviewed half the people on this list. But Brad wouldn't let me interview him. WHen I got the call from William Etundi, 'Ben, i have some bad news about Brad' I knew exactly what had happened. He was always close. Thats what made him an amazing activist. He lived on the cusp of history. He lived a historical life. And to be part of that history, he would take any risk. But he was not reckless. He was a caring, fun guy, who like most of us, was in it for the communtiy, the history, and hopefully to get a little somethin' somethin'. And yet, while many such as myself, took a more comfortable route, he put himself at risk over and over and over. I know he was profoundly disturbed to see a woman burnt to death at a homeless encampment two years ago in Brazil. He lived history. Now he is part of it. For some reason, I will miss seeing him. But I also know he lived the richest of lives, something most of us could only aspire to."
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Podcast Mania!
I've gone a little overboard with the podcasts lately, but I've become addicted. I'm most excited that This American Life has finally started podcasting. As readers of this blog know, I also use Democracy Now as my primary (but not only) news source. I've also discovered KEXP in Seattle, where I listen to their Live Performances Podcast, Music That Matters, and the Mind Over Matters Sustainability Segment; WFMU in Jersey, where I get The Speakeasy With Dorian and Seven Second Delay with Ken & Andy; KCRW in Santa Monica, which airs The Business with Claude Brodesser, The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell, Morning Becomes Eclectic, and Bookworm; KQED's The Writer's Block, in San Fran; and our own WNYC, where I get The Leopnard Lopate Show and On The Media. And this doesn't even mention the internet-only podcasts, like Times Talks, Creative Screenwriting, Around Comics, The Marvel Comics Podcast, and The DC Comics Podcast.
I have a long commute.
I have a long commute.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Foreman's got a blog
It's here. I might be asking for a fatwa to be brought down on me from the downtown theatre community for this, but I've always responded more to Richard Foreman's thinking than his work. It's not that it's weird, non-narrative or frequently incomprehensible - I like a lot of that sort of thing - but there's something about his obsession(s) with distancing that gets to me. I'm as big a Brecht fan as anyone, but I don't think we need more alientation in our culture. And "verfremsdungeffekt" is linguistically and conceptually more akin to "estrangement" anyway.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
THAW plug
I was taking a neccesary blog hiatus during my participation in Prelude '06 and the American half of REDEYE, so I didn't get the chance to plug them. I also might not have mentioned my review of New Downtown Now. Too late to do anything about either reading now, but then there's this:
THAW (Theatres Against War) presents:
The THAW Collaboration Project - part of the Culture Project’s IMPACT FESTIVAL
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 4pm
Baruch College Performing Art Center's Nagelberg Theater
55 Lexington Avenue, at 25th Street
(take the 6 train to 23rd St.)
As part of the Culture Project's Impact Festival, THAW (Theaters Against War) is staging a creative response to detention, surveillance, torture, and (in)dignity. The THAW Collaboration Project brings together a group of gifted and politically ardent theatre practitioners to create new work for the stage in just three days. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, artists will join forces to research, write, stage and perform four new plays, each 15-20 minutes long. The remarkable line-up includes:
Kristin Marting - Jason Grote - Mallory Catlett - Serap Erincin - Ilyana Kadushin - Patrick McNulty - Scott Sowers - Noel Salzman - Alexandria Beech - Daniel Manley – Chris Harcum - Chris Domig - Sean Tarrant - Bridgit Evans - Cynthia Croot - Tommy Smith - Julie Bleha - Maha Chehlaoui - Mark Watson - Sophia Skiles - Morgan Spector - Victor Maog - Akin Salawu - Michele Travis - Deborah Wallace - Daniel Carlton - Kate Cook - Donnie Mather – Alec Duffy
Please join us on Sunday, October 22nd at 4pm as we perform these new works, celebrating political conscience and artistic collaboration as part of the Culture Project’s landmark IMPACT FESTIVAL.
THIS EVENT IS FREE - no reservations necessary
We look forward to seeing you there!
THAW (Theatres Against War) presents:
The THAW Collaboration Project - part of the Culture Project’s IMPACT FESTIVAL
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 4pm
Baruch College Performing Art Center's Nagelberg Theater
55 Lexington Avenue, at 25th Street
(take the 6 train to 23rd St.)
As part of the Culture Project's Impact Festival, THAW (Theaters Against War) is staging a creative response to detention, surveillance, torture, and (in)dignity. The THAW Collaboration Project brings together a group of gifted and politically ardent theatre practitioners to create new work for the stage in just three days. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, artists will join forces to research, write, stage and perform four new plays, each 15-20 minutes long. The remarkable line-up includes:
Kristin Marting - Jason Grote - Mallory Catlett - Serap Erincin - Ilyana Kadushin - Patrick McNulty - Scott Sowers - Noel Salzman - Alexandria Beech - Daniel Manley – Chris Harcum - Chris Domig - Sean Tarrant - Bridgit Evans - Cynthia Croot - Tommy Smith - Julie Bleha - Maha Chehlaoui - Mark Watson - Sophia Skiles - Morgan Spector - Victor Maog - Akin Salawu - Michele Travis - Deborah Wallace - Daniel Carlton - Kate Cook - Donnie Mather – Alec Duffy
Please join us on Sunday, October 22nd at 4pm as we perform these new works, celebrating political conscience and artistic collaboration as part of the Culture Project’s landmark IMPACT FESTIVAL.
THIS EVENT IS FREE - no reservations necessary
We look forward to seeing you there!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Blogger Beta
I don't know what to think of it yet. It's sort of like the criticism one hears of Macs - there is less opportunity for the novice to mess with the system, but there are plenty of WYSIWYG (did I use that right?) bells and whistles for me to waste more time with.
One casualty of the update was the blogroll, which was sorely in need of updating anyway. I don't know when I'll have the time to get to it - I've got a big old Daniel Aukin tribute post coming - but if you want to be on the list, and I'm not already good pals with you (as in, we've socialized on our own, voluntarily, outside of the context of $&*$# theater), email your blog title and URL to jasongrote at gmail dot com and I'll get to it one of these days.
One casualty of the update was the blogroll, which was sorely in need of updating anyway. I don't know when I'll have the time to get to it - I've got a big old Daniel Aukin tribute post coming - but if you want to be on the list, and I'm not already good pals with you (as in, we've socialized on our own, voluntarily, outside of the context of $&*$# theater), email your blog title and URL to jasongrote at gmail dot com and I'll get to it one of these days.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Planet Police State
Democracy Now reports that cops zapped people with tasers at a Jeb Bush/Rick Santorum rally. This, as Heidi reports on the apparent assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and Isaac (among many others) reports on the arrest and harrassment of a man who criticized Cheney to his face. Scroll below for posts on attackng protesters in Oaxaca, Mexico.
In last Sunday's NYT Book Review, there was a piece on the new book by historian Fritz Stern, a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust who has said, clearly and bluntly, that early-21st-century America looks a lot like pre-WWI Germany. I hope that he's wrong but the evidence isn't looking promising.
In last Sunday's NYT Book Review, there was a piece on the new book by historian Fritz Stern, a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust who has said, clearly and bluntly, that early-21st-century America looks a lot like pre-WWI Germany. I hope that he's wrong but the evidence isn't looking promising.
Monday, October 09, 2006
From Peace Activist Judith Karpova
Dear Friends,
Attached is some information on the legal defense fund for two personal friends of mine who are being prosecuted, as I am, for exercising their civil rights to challenge the war and ongoing occupation of Iraq. These are both decorated World War II veterans, Joan Keefe and Jay Wenk. They warn young people and their families of the falsehoods and dangers in military recruitment policies by demonstrating every week at the King's Mall in Ulster County, NY, at the US Military Recruitment Center, where they read the names of the US soldiers killed in Iraq and hand out information.
They've been before local judges several times on criminal trespass charges, and the cases against them have been dismissed. So they've gone back to the mall to continue to show that a public, taxpayer-funded institution -- the US military -- can't shield itself from public dissent by hiding on private property. But now the Mall owners are trying to claim that the presence of protesters interferes with their business. And they're trying to sue Jay, Joan, and their supporters for tens of thousands of dollars.
This is a unique civil liberties case in New York State:
In New York, you leave your right to free expression behind when you walk into a mall. Yet the Constitution and Bill of Rights say we have a right to free speech and to seek redress from our government.
Well, this case is our opportunity to assert our Constitutional rights.
Please look over the attached fundraising letter and consider chipping in to their defense fund.
Thanks,
Judith Karpova
ENLIST FOR PEACE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
c/oJulie Parisi Kirby, Treasurer, 36 Purdy Hollow Road, Woodstock, NY 12498
October 2006
Dear Friends,
We’re inviting you to become part of a potentially groundbreaking, even historical, legal decision for free speech in New York. Here’s the story and here’s how you can help.
Nearly every Saturday since March 2005, two World War II veterans wearing their medals, Joan Keefe, now 85, and Jay Wenk, 80, and their supporters have stood in front of the only U.S. Military Recruiting Center in Ulster County handing out literature to the public with important facts about the war in Iraq. They also give clear, honest information about enlistment which recruiters, in their zeal to sign up youths, won’t offer. Jay and Joan respectfully read aloud the names of American soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Others have been inspired by this work to support the veterans, bringing their own messages, calls and prayers for peace to the weekly vigil. Like demonstrators at many other recruiting centers throughout the country, they are engaging in the long-recognized and protected form of peaceful dissent from our country’s foreign policies.
The crucial difference in this case is that Ulster County’s recruitment center, an agency of the U.S. government, is located within a private shopping mall, King’s Mall on Rt. 9W. And because New York law has ruled that malls are considered private property, mall management has sued this group for trespass and loss of business. In New York, you leave your right to free expression behind when you walk into a mall. Yet the Constitution and Bill of Rights say we have a right to free speech and to seek redress from our government.
Joan and Jay have already withstood several rounds of criminal trespass charges in Town Justice Court, with their lawyer raising constitutional arguments that the District Attorney was reluctant to handle. These cases resulted in the trespass charges being withdrawn so Jay and Joan and friends went back to speak out at the Mall. With this new civil suit for an injunction brought by the Mall corporation, we once again must defend the right to political expression to our government at their office which is located not on a public street, but on "private property". The legal issues are significant.
A legal defense fund has been formed to support their fine legal team (at reduced fees plus one attorney is acting pro bono), court costs, depositions, stenographers, and filing fees. We are determined to fight this case through trial and beyond if necessary.
The Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund was recently formed for seven people served with civil summonses on September 9th, 2006. Regretfully, the fund is not tax-deductible; however we are seeking many smaller donations from a large pool of friends and supporters. Donations of $20 (more if you can afford it, less if you can’t; all donations welcomed) would be greatly appreciated by the defendants and by all lovers of our civil liberties.
I care and that’s why I’m asking you to contribute today to the Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund.
Sincerely,
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Yes, I’m willing and able to help the Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund with my donation of $______.
Name Address Town, State, Zip
____Please keep me informed of developments in this case by email to_______________________________ or ____ by snail mail.
Attached is some information on the legal defense fund for two personal friends of mine who are being prosecuted, as I am, for exercising their civil rights to challenge the war and ongoing occupation of Iraq. These are both decorated World War II veterans, Joan Keefe and Jay Wenk. They warn young people and their families of the falsehoods and dangers in military recruitment policies by demonstrating every week at the King's Mall in Ulster County, NY, at the US Military Recruitment Center, where they read the names of the US soldiers killed in Iraq and hand out information.
They've been before local judges several times on criminal trespass charges, and the cases against them have been dismissed. So they've gone back to the mall to continue to show that a public, taxpayer-funded institution -- the US military -- can't shield itself from public dissent by hiding on private property. But now the Mall owners are trying to claim that the presence of protesters interferes with their business. And they're trying to sue Jay, Joan, and their supporters for tens of thousands of dollars.
This is a unique civil liberties case in New York State:
In New York, you leave your right to free expression behind when you walk into a mall. Yet the Constitution and Bill of Rights say we have a right to free speech and to seek redress from our government.
Well, this case is our opportunity to assert our Constitutional rights.
Please look over the attached fundraising letter and consider chipping in to their defense fund.
Thanks,
Judith Karpova
ENLIST FOR PEACE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
c/oJulie Parisi Kirby, Treasurer, 36 Purdy Hollow Road, Woodstock, NY 12498
October 2006
Dear Friends,
We’re inviting you to become part of a potentially groundbreaking, even historical, legal decision for free speech in New York. Here’s the story and here’s how you can help.
Nearly every Saturday since March 2005, two World War II veterans wearing their medals, Joan Keefe, now 85, and Jay Wenk, 80, and their supporters have stood in front of the only U.S. Military Recruiting Center in Ulster County handing out literature to the public with important facts about the war in Iraq. They also give clear, honest information about enlistment which recruiters, in their zeal to sign up youths, won’t offer. Jay and Joan respectfully read aloud the names of American soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Others have been inspired by this work to support the veterans, bringing their own messages, calls and prayers for peace to the weekly vigil. Like demonstrators at many other recruiting centers throughout the country, they are engaging in the long-recognized and protected form of peaceful dissent from our country’s foreign policies.
The crucial difference in this case is that Ulster County’s recruitment center, an agency of the U.S. government, is located within a private shopping mall, King’s Mall on Rt. 9W. And because New York law has ruled that malls are considered private property, mall management has sued this group for trespass and loss of business. In New York, you leave your right to free expression behind when you walk into a mall. Yet the Constitution and Bill of Rights say we have a right to free speech and to seek redress from our government.
Joan and Jay have already withstood several rounds of criminal trespass charges in Town Justice Court, with their lawyer raising constitutional arguments that the District Attorney was reluctant to handle. These cases resulted in the trespass charges being withdrawn so Jay and Joan and friends went back to speak out at the Mall. With this new civil suit for an injunction brought by the Mall corporation, we once again must defend the right to political expression to our government at their office which is located not on a public street, but on "private property". The legal issues are significant.
A legal defense fund has been formed to support their fine legal team (at reduced fees plus one attorney is acting pro bono), court costs, depositions, stenographers, and filing fees. We are determined to fight this case through trial and beyond if necessary.
The Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund was recently formed for seven people served with civil summonses on September 9th, 2006. Regretfully, the fund is not tax-deductible; however we are seeking many smaller donations from a large pool of friends and supporters. Donations of $20 (more if you can afford it, less if you can’t; all donations welcomed) would be greatly appreciated by the defendants and by all lovers of our civil liberties.
I care and that’s why I’m asking you to contribute today to the Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund.
Sincerely,
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Yes, I’m willing and able to help the Enlist for Peace Legal Defense Fund with my donation of $______.
Name Address Town, State, Zip
____Please keep me informed of developments in this case by email to_______________________________ or ____ by snail mail.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
The O'Neill Controversy That Almost Was, or Wasn't
If you got this email, which it seems like everyone did, you should know that it was either an error, or the O'Neill backed down after such widespread and instantaneous outcry. I consider Wendy Goldberg a friend, and her conversation with me pretty much matches what TheaterBoy has to say on the subject. In any case, Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang sent this clarification, which I think is helpful:
***
Dear Students,
We are pleased to tell you that after conversations with representatives from the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, including Wendy Goldberg, the artistic director of the Playwrights Conference and a board member, we have their assurance that they will not this year, or in the future, be asking for a percentage of future royalties from the plays they accept for development. They are looking for other sources of funding, but those monies will not come from your subsidiary rights.
Any issue like this can be complicated, and there may have been miscommunications on all sides, nevertheless we're grateful to receive these assurances from the board and the artistic director Wendy Goldberg.
So it is with great relief and happiness we once again encourage you to submit your application to the valuable O'Neill Playwrights Conference. You should also know they have extended their deadline for submission until October 23 (postmarked).
If you sent out a copy of our previous email, please send out a copy of this one to the same people. We're happy to be sending good news.
sincerely, Chris and Marsha
***
I think Wendy is the right person to run the O'Neill, and I've said as much in an article that will be running in the November American Theater. What was never in question, however, is that The O'Neill is facing a budget crisis. Part of the problem is this country's dreadful and oft-lamented arts funding arrangement, of course. But I also believe that the person doing the bulk of the O'Neill's fundraising work, a holdover from the days when the conference was funded entirely by one person, is in over her head. I can't honestly pinpoint a single source for the O'Neill's recent controversies, and I'm reluctant to say anything that would put somebody's job at risk, especially after an exceptionally short-lived controversy like this one, but I think that an organization in the straits the O'Neill finds itself in needs a full-time, professional development director.
***
Dear Students,
We are pleased to tell you that after conversations with representatives from the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, including Wendy Goldberg, the artistic director of the Playwrights Conference and a board member, we have their assurance that they will not this year, or in the future, be asking for a percentage of future royalties from the plays they accept for development. They are looking for other sources of funding, but those monies will not come from your subsidiary rights.
Any issue like this can be complicated, and there may have been miscommunications on all sides, nevertheless we're grateful to receive these assurances from the board and the artistic director Wendy Goldberg.
So it is with great relief and happiness we once again encourage you to submit your application to the valuable O'Neill Playwrights Conference. You should also know they have extended their deadline for submission until October 23 (postmarked).
If you sent out a copy of our previous email, please send out a copy of this one to the same people. We're happy to be sending good news.
sincerely, Chris and Marsha
***
I think Wendy is the right person to run the O'Neill, and I've said as much in an article that will be running in the November American Theater. What was never in question, however, is that The O'Neill is facing a budget crisis. Part of the problem is this country's dreadful and oft-lamented arts funding arrangement, of course. But I also believe that the person doing the bulk of the O'Neill's fundraising work, a holdover from the days when the conference was funded entirely by one person, is in over her head. I can't honestly pinpoint a single source for the O'Neill's recent controversies, and I'm reluctant to say anything that would put somebody's job at risk, especially after an exceptionally short-lived controversy like this one, but I think that an organization in the straits the O'Neill finds itself in needs a full-time, professional development director.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Too Busy To Write My Own Damn Manifesto So Here's Erik Ehn's
Thanks to Ravi Narasimhan out in LA for this:
"rat is an anarchic association of theater artists committed to sharing work and ways of working outside market and political conventions of development.
We are anarchic: unregulated and unstructured, collecting no dues, electing no officers, maintaining no centralized calendar, lawless.
We are an association: communicating by all means, but most real in live encounters - believing that the performing arts are corporal mercies, caring for bodies in space through acts of hospitality. We struggle at the same time to understand love as a rounded dramaturgy, not sentimental. Fellowship is rooted in the common ground of craft, not free-traded on the plane of emotional commerce. We don't have to work like each other, like each other's work, or even like each other. We work with and for each other.
We share work and ways of working: by requiring each other's labor and expertise, stepping past advertising and news. We cast each other, co-write, seize each other's resources, make problems with each other.
We are outside the market on the theory that every use of a dollar represents a failure of hospitality. Money is morally neutral but imaginatively stunted; we promote barter and unmediated exchanges of goods and services. We look for alternatives to conventional script and organizational development (catharsis models as defined by Boal) in the belief that the myth of perfectible efficiency endorses
stasis, thing ness, and unjust concentrations of wealth (wealth as variously defined).
"rat" because: every city has them; because they build the new in the shell of the old; cunning; unlovely, ineradicable. Ana acronymic: radical alternative theater, room and transportation, race against time.
A rat meet is any size; any one can call one together; whoever comes, is (as per Alternate Roots); whatever resources there are, as long as they are shared, are sufficient. Every effort is made to provide food and shelter. The content of the meetings tends to be satisfied by the fact of their happening; meetings "happen" when bread is broken.
This is the Big Cheap Theater - mutual, tawdry, unstoppable, kenotic, present, grace-full, as much an ethical as an esthetic enterprise. We hold the right to fail, to scatter, to let go, to re-form improbably, to infiltrate, interdict, self-contradict, disavow the principles set down here, to make space when all space was thought collapsed, to make that space habitable by infusing a portable, repeatable sense of home: residence at tempo.
Write your own damn manifesto.
- erik ehn (4/11/01)"
"rat is an anarchic association of theater artists committed to sharing work and ways of working outside market and political conventions of development.
We are anarchic: unregulated and unstructured, collecting no dues, electing no officers, maintaining no centralized calendar, lawless.
We are an association: communicating by all means, but most real in live encounters - believing that the performing arts are corporal mercies, caring for bodies in space through acts of hospitality. We struggle at the same time to understand love as a rounded dramaturgy, not sentimental. Fellowship is rooted in the common ground of craft, not free-traded on the plane of emotional commerce. We don't have to work like each other, like each other's work, or even like each other. We work with and for each other.
We share work and ways of working: by requiring each other's labor and expertise, stepping past advertising and news. We cast each other, co-write, seize each other's resources, make problems with each other.
We are outside the market on the theory that every use of a dollar represents a failure of hospitality. Money is morally neutral but imaginatively stunted; we promote barter and unmediated exchanges of goods and services. We look for alternatives to conventional script and organizational development (catharsis models as defined by Boal) in the belief that the myth of perfectible efficiency endorses
stasis, thing ness, and unjust concentrations of wealth (wealth as variously defined).
"rat" because: every city has them; because they build the new in the shell of the old; cunning; unlovely, ineradicable. Ana acronymic: radical alternative theater, room and transportation, race against time.
A rat meet is any size; any one can call one together; whoever comes, is (as per Alternate Roots); whatever resources there are, as long as they are shared, are sufficient. Every effort is made to provide food and shelter. The content of the meetings tends to be satisfied by the fact of their happening; meetings "happen" when bread is broken.
This is the Big Cheap Theater - mutual, tawdry, unstoppable, kenotic, present, grace-full, as much an ethical as an esthetic enterprise. We hold the right to fail, to scatter, to let go, to re-form improbably, to infiltrate, interdict, self-contradict, disavow the principles set down here, to make space when all space was thought collapsed, to make that space habitable by infusing a portable, repeatable sense of home: residence at tempo.
Write your own damn manifesto.
- erik ehn (4/11/01)"
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
From the Internets
If you've got some time to invest, Mike Daisey is involved in an exciting and informative debate on Maud Newton's blog.
Also, check out this super-cool Voice piece on Sarah Benson, that just happens to refer to the work yours truly (among some illustrious others) as "literate alterna-plays." Ha!
Also, check out this super-cool Voice piece on Sarah Benson, that just happens to refer to the work yours truly (among some illustrious others) as "literate alterna-plays." Ha!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
From Ricardo Dominguez of the Electronic Disturbance Theater
Stop the G8+5, Defend Oaxaca!
The borderlands Hacklab, Electronic Disturbance Theater and Rising Tide North America call for a virtual sit-in against the websites of the G8+5 and the Mexican government during the G8+5 meetings on October 3-4th, 2006 in Mexico.
To join the action, click here.
While the Mexican government tries to play host to the G8+5 Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, it is mounting a massive violent attack on the people of Oaxaca. Apparently the Mexican government thinks it can cleanse the country of its growing pro-democracy rebellion while laying out a red carpet to world politicians including the G8 Energy Ministers. The neoliberal project of corporate globalization and fossil-fuel-based "energy security" that causes global warming is built on massive violence, from armies to riot police to militarized borders, to turn the global south into its sweatshop and repress the uprisings for justice, democracy, and sustainable livelihood of the people in Mexico and other countries.
While the neoliberal model of industrial "development" sees the remaining indigenous and "undeveloped" lands of the Earth as territories for capitalist exploitation of natural resources and human labor, the schoolteachers leading Oaxaca's popular pro-democracy strike have a different vision. By taking direct action to shut down the tyrannical rule of their state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the people of Oaxaca are teaching that another world is possible.
On Sunday, October 1, 2006, a headline in the Mexico City daily Milenio proclaimed, "Preparations for war in Oaxaca," while Mexico City's El Universal newspaper reported that helicopters, planes and 15 troop trucks had assembled in Huatulco, a Pacific tourist getaway and military hub a short flight, but a long and difficult drive from Oaxaca city." According to the independent news website Narconews.com, which has been covering the Other Campaign of the Zapatistas, on Sunday, October 1, 2006:
"The Mexican Navy carried out a reconnaissance operation over the buildings and public spaces occupied by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials). Two MI-17 helicopters and one CASA C212 Navy airplane with registration number AMP-118 flew over the streets of the city“ where opponents of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz have maintained several encampments over the past 130 days... for about 40 minutes."
"The zocalo, or central city square, the Oro and La Ley radio stations, the state government building, the Brenamiel and El Rosario radio antennas, as well as the Department of Finance building... all places where the rebels have installed protest camps... were reconnoitered by low-level flights of military aircraft. As they passed over the Radio Oro facilities, the two helicopters were fruitlessly 'attacked' with fireworks that teachers of the National Education Workers' Union local Section 22 launched from Conzatti Garden. The airplane then made four more passes over the areas around the zocalo and returned to the airport, where five other military aircraft were stationed. At 5:30 that afternoon, the naval surveillance plane and two AMHT-202 and AMHT-205 helicopters landed on a city airstrip and let out 18 soldiers in black-and-grey camouflage, bulletproof vests, helmets and firearms."
"Lino Celaya Lura, state secretary of Citizen Protection, confirmed that the objective of the military flights was to "reconnoiter" the scene of the conflict, but claimed not to know if this was the prelude to an eventual federal operation to remove the protesters. The state official limited himself to saying: "We were informed that a flight would occur over the areas where the dissidents are present. We believe this is to obtain field information on the situation."
"Meanwhile, from the occupied radio stations, the rebels again declared a maximum alert in the face of what they imagine could be the beginning of a removal/eviction operation against the popular and teachers' movement."
Over half of the Oaxaca's 3.2 million people, most of whom are indigenous, live in poverty, and 21.5 percent of those over 15 are illiterate, while the average number of years of schooling is 5.6 years -- almost two less than Mexico's national average. Many students in Oaxaca's rural schools lack books and desks. In May, tens of thousands of teachers seized the capital's leafy central plaza to demand wage
increases and improved school conditions. The following month, Governor Ulises Ruiz sent police to attempt to retake the heart of the city. Since then, radical social movements of workers, peasants, students, women and others have joined the striking teachers, building street barricades and taking over radio and television stations. They demand that Ruiz resign, alleging that he rigged the 2004 election and uses paramilitary gangs to attack dissidents. A total of five "megamarches" were organized with the largest reaching the astonishing number of around 300,000 people, or one out of ten people who live in the state.
During the protests, as many as six people have been killed in violent incidents which apparently involved irregular armed groups linked to the Ruiz administration and the police, according to human rights organisations. A number of demonstrators have also been arrested and injured, and further assaults perpetrated against them by organized, unidentified gangs of thugs have been reported.
One example of neoliberal "development" in Mexico with major implications for Oaxaca is Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), a transnational "mega-infrastructure" project that would transform the region's geography and economy if implemented. While claiming that one of its main goals is to improve the conditions for the people of the region, PPP is stealing land from indigenous people for infrastructure projects to move resources more quickly into the hands of multinational corporations and commodifying their culture for the tourist industry. One of the projects affecting Oaxaca is the creation of a super highway at Mexico's skinniest point, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in order to move resources more readily across the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This transportation corridor will be surrounded with sweatshops, maquiladoras, operating without labor and environmental protections. For all of these objectives, neoliberal control over the government of Oaxaca is key to the realization of the PPP project.
Mexico has an ugly history of military repression that coincides with major world gatherings occurring inside the country. 38 years ago today, October 2nd, the Mexican military massacred hundreds of student protesters at Tlatelolco, just days before the 1968 Olympic Games began in Mexico City. If military violence against the pro-democracy protesters of Oaxaca occurs before, during or after the G8 meeting in Mexico, the G8 leaders as well as the Mexican military must be held accountable for the injuries and death. To prevent this, we demand that the G8 officials who are meeting this week in Mexico must publicly speak out to condemn the possibility of another Mexican massacre at Oaxaca.
We demand that the G8 end its support of destructive "carbon trading." The G8 is composed of the leaders of the richest 8 countries in the world, who are responsible for the policies of war, criminalization of cross-border human migration, and massive environmental destruction. While they claim to be meeting to solve the climate change crisis, they are in fact discussing carbon trading agreements that will allow corporations to profit while exporting their pollution to the global south. Carbon trading threatens to turn countries like Brazil into a "carbon sink" for the global north while ignoring the underlying capitalist ideology of endless growth and boundless consumption that is creating massive climate change.
Help us stop the G8 by slowing the propaganda systems that the G8+5 and the Mexican Government will be using during the meetings and the attacks to spread disinformation about their actions. As in our previous actions, people from all around the world will make their virtual presence manifest on the doorstep of the G8+5 and the Mexican Government.
More news and updates about the unfolding situation in Oaxaca at
NarcoNews
More information on resistance to the G8+5 meeting in Mexico City at
Contra G8
The borderlands Hacklab, Electronic Disturbance Theater and Rising Tide North America call for a virtual sit-in against the websites of the G8+5 and the Mexican government during the G8+5 meetings on October 3-4th, 2006 in Mexico.
To join the action, click here.
While the Mexican government tries to play host to the G8+5 Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, it is mounting a massive violent attack on the people of Oaxaca. Apparently the Mexican government thinks it can cleanse the country of its growing pro-democracy rebellion while laying out a red carpet to world politicians including the G8 Energy Ministers. The neoliberal project of corporate globalization and fossil-fuel-based "energy security" that causes global warming is built on massive violence, from armies to riot police to militarized borders, to turn the global south into its sweatshop and repress the uprisings for justice, democracy, and sustainable livelihood of the people in Mexico and other countries.
While the neoliberal model of industrial "development" sees the remaining indigenous and "undeveloped" lands of the Earth as territories for capitalist exploitation of natural resources and human labor, the schoolteachers leading Oaxaca's popular pro-democracy strike have a different vision. By taking direct action to shut down the tyrannical rule of their state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the people of Oaxaca are teaching that another world is possible.
On Sunday, October 1, 2006, a headline in the Mexico City daily Milenio proclaimed, "Preparations for war in Oaxaca," while Mexico City's El Universal newspaper reported that helicopters, planes and 15 troop trucks had assembled in Huatulco, a Pacific tourist getaway and military hub a short flight, but a long and difficult drive from Oaxaca city." According to the independent news website Narconews.com, which has been covering the Other Campaign of the Zapatistas, on Sunday, October 1, 2006:
"The Mexican Navy carried out a reconnaissance operation over the buildings and public spaces occupied by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials). Two MI-17 helicopters and one CASA C212 Navy airplane with registration number AMP-118 flew over the streets of the city“ where opponents of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz have maintained several encampments over the past 130 days... for about 40 minutes."
"The zocalo, or central city square, the Oro and La Ley radio stations, the state government building, the Brenamiel and El Rosario radio antennas, as well as the Department of Finance building... all places where the rebels have installed protest camps... were reconnoitered by low-level flights of military aircraft. As they passed over the Radio Oro facilities, the two helicopters were fruitlessly 'attacked' with fireworks that teachers of the National Education Workers' Union local Section 22 launched from Conzatti Garden. The airplane then made four more passes over the areas around the zocalo and returned to the airport, where five other military aircraft were stationed. At 5:30 that afternoon, the naval surveillance plane and two AMHT-202 and AMHT-205 helicopters landed on a city airstrip and let out 18 soldiers in black-and-grey camouflage, bulletproof vests, helmets and firearms."
"Lino Celaya Lura, state secretary of Citizen Protection, confirmed that the objective of the military flights was to "reconnoiter" the scene of the conflict, but claimed not to know if this was the prelude to an eventual federal operation to remove the protesters. The state official limited himself to saying: "We were informed that a flight would occur over the areas where the dissidents are present. We believe this is to obtain field information on the situation."
"Meanwhile, from the occupied radio stations, the rebels again declared a maximum alert in the face of what they imagine could be the beginning of a removal/eviction operation against the popular and teachers' movement."
Over half of the Oaxaca's 3.2 million people, most of whom are indigenous, live in poverty, and 21.5 percent of those over 15 are illiterate, while the average number of years of schooling is 5.6 years -- almost two less than Mexico's national average. Many students in Oaxaca's rural schools lack books and desks. In May, tens of thousands of teachers seized the capital's leafy central plaza to demand wage
increases and improved school conditions. The following month, Governor Ulises Ruiz sent police to attempt to retake the heart of the city. Since then, radical social movements of workers, peasants, students, women and others have joined the striking teachers, building street barricades and taking over radio and television stations. They demand that Ruiz resign, alleging that he rigged the 2004 election and uses paramilitary gangs to attack dissidents. A total of five "megamarches" were organized with the largest reaching the astonishing number of around 300,000 people, or one out of ten people who live in the state.
During the protests, as many as six people have been killed in violent incidents which apparently involved irregular armed groups linked to the Ruiz administration and the police, according to human rights organisations. A number of demonstrators have also been arrested and injured, and further assaults perpetrated against them by organized, unidentified gangs of thugs have been reported.
One example of neoliberal "development" in Mexico with major implications for Oaxaca is Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), a transnational "mega-infrastructure" project that would transform the region's geography and economy if implemented. While claiming that one of its main goals is to improve the conditions for the people of the region, PPP is stealing land from indigenous people for infrastructure projects to move resources more quickly into the hands of multinational corporations and commodifying their culture for the tourist industry. One of the projects affecting Oaxaca is the creation of a super highway at Mexico's skinniest point, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in order to move resources more readily across the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This transportation corridor will be surrounded with sweatshops, maquiladoras, operating without labor and environmental protections. For all of these objectives, neoliberal control over the government of Oaxaca is key to the realization of the PPP project.
Mexico has an ugly history of military repression that coincides with major world gatherings occurring inside the country. 38 years ago today, October 2nd, the Mexican military massacred hundreds of student protesters at Tlatelolco, just days before the 1968 Olympic Games began in Mexico City. If military violence against the pro-democracy protesters of Oaxaca occurs before, during or after the G8 meeting in Mexico, the G8 leaders as well as the Mexican military must be held accountable for the injuries and death. To prevent this, we demand that the G8 officials who are meeting this week in Mexico must publicly speak out to condemn the possibility of another Mexican massacre at Oaxaca.
We demand that the G8 end its support of destructive "carbon trading." The G8 is composed of the leaders of the richest 8 countries in the world, who are responsible for the policies of war, criminalization of cross-border human migration, and massive environmental destruction. While they claim to be meeting to solve the climate change crisis, they are in fact discussing carbon trading agreements that will allow corporations to profit while exporting their pollution to the global south. Carbon trading threatens to turn countries like Brazil into a "carbon sink" for the global north while ignoring the underlying capitalist ideology of endless growth and boundless consumption that is creating massive climate change.
Help us stop the G8 by slowing the propaganda systems that the G8+5 and the Mexican Government will be using during the meetings and the attacks to spread disinformation about their actions. As in our previous actions, people from all around the world will make their virtual presence manifest on the doorstep of the G8+5 and the Mexican Government.
More news and updates about the unfolding situation in Oaxaca at
NarcoNews
More information on resistance to the G8+5 meeting in Mexico City at
Contra G8
Monday, October 02, 2006
Oaxaca, Mexico red alert
You can find artist Guillermo Gomez-Pena's letter from Oaxaca here. Meanwhile, read on:
Police and military have surrounded the populace who have been protesting government injustice all summer. Helicopters are circling overhead. A confrontation seems imminent.
Stories:
IndyBay
NarcoNews
Footage:
Google Video
Also, Pedro Garcia, a law student, a member of the popular Oaxacan resistance movement, and aleader in the major Marxist-Leninist party, has been shot and kidnapped by plainclothes police/paramilitaries.
Please read the stories and send out emails to:
Here are people to email or fax:
VICENTE FOX QUESADA
PRESIDENTE CONSTITUCIONAL DE MÉXICO
FAX. + 55 52 77 23 76,
Click here or here to email
LIC. CARLOS ABASCAL CARRANZA
SECRETARIO DE GOBERNACIÓN
FAX + 55 50 93 34 14,
Click here or here to email
DR. JOSÉ LUIS SOBERANES
PRESIDENTE DE LA COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
FAX + 55 56 81 71 99,
Click here or here to email
DANIEL CABEZA DE VACA
PROCURADOR GENERAL DE LA REPÚBLICA
FAX: +55 53460908,
Click here or here to email
LIC. ULISES RUIZ ORTÍZ
GOBERNADOR DEL ESTADO DE OAXACA
Fax: + 951 5020530,
Click here to email
Police and military have surrounded the populace who have been protesting government injustice all summer. Helicopters are circling overhead. A confrontation seems imminent.
Stories:
IndyBay
NarcoNews
Footage:
Google Video
Also, Pedro Garcia, a law student, a member of the popular Oaxacan resistance movement, and aleader in the major Marxist-Leninist party, has been shot and kidnapped by plainclothes police/paramilitaries.
Please read the stories and send out emails to:
Here are people to email or fax:
VICENTE FOX QUESADA
PRESIDENTE CONSTITUCIONAL DE MÉXICO
FAX. + 55 52 77 23 76,
Click here or here to email
LIC. CARLOS ABASCAL CARRANZA
SECRETARIO DE GOBERNACIÓN
FAX + 55 50 93 34 14,
Click here or here to email
DR. JOSÉ LUIS SOBERANES
PRESIDENTE DE LA COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS
FAX + 55 56 81 71 99,
Click here or here to email
DANIEL CABEZA DE VACA
PROCURADOR GENERAL DE LA REPÚBLICA
FAX: +55 53460908,
Click here or here to email
LIC. ULISES RUIZ ORTÍZ
GOBERNADOR DEL ESTADO DE OAXACA
Fax: + 951 5020530,
Click here to email
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
