TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO:

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD:

October 2, NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN!

38 years ago, hundreds of thousands of young people took the streets by force to protest a despotic and authoritarian government and for the sake of the democracy that the country so badly needed, writing one of the most glorious pages in the history of our Mexican people - the state’s response was repression. To the date, the ‘68 student movement has remained a turning point in modern Mexican history, brandished in the conscience of all sectors of society - even the today’s politicians reject and condemn the killing, carried out by Díaz Ordaz’s hordes.

The massacre back then was setting in place the “right of the State to administer violence,” to use the words not of Díaz Ordaz or Echeverría, but Secretary of the Interior (Secretario de Gobernación) Monsignior Carlos Abascal Carranza a few days ago, referring to the way to resolve the conflict in Oaxaca City.

Brothers and Sisters:

The federal government is preparing a massacre against the people of Oaxaca. Thousands of military units are already in the state, hundreds of bulldozers have arrived, helicopters, tactical reconnaissance planes, warships, planes, and even a bomber! This is the response from a fascist government to a rebellious and dignified people. They think that in this way they will bring the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO, by its spanish initials) to its knees, that with this they will scare the people of Oaxaca, they believe they can impose themselves once again, at whatever cost, on a people who have already awakened. They want to put an end to the struggle and resistance of the Oaxacan people in order to implement the economic plans they promised to their imperialist bosses.

The APPO responds by declaring that we are ready to give our lives for the sake of democracy for our state, that the dismissal of the tyrant Ulises Ruíz Ortíz is not up for negotiation, and that the yunquistas in power are now looking to drown the struggle of the Oaxacan People in blood: but may our blood serve to drown the treasonous fascists, and to fertilize democracy for our country.

We, the People of Oaxaca, have been peaceful by nature, our existence is simple and we can say that it is based on the saying of our indigenous brother from Guelatao ‘respect for the law is far from peace.’ However, when that law is violating us, we look for ways to make it respect - we have been in resistance more than 500 years during which democracy, justice, resistance, and struggle came to form part of our uso y costumbres (the indigenous system of communal governance employed in most communities of Oaxaca), and the fascists that govern the state and the country today won’t be able to do anything in the face of this tradition. Just as happened with the failed attempt to lift the blockade on June 14th, an aggression by federal forces would only rally more people in our state, with hundreds of communities already keeping watch for a potentially repressive response by the federal government.

Amidst the arrival of elements of the federal police (PFP, by its spanish initials), the army and the navy, the People of Oaxaca have responded peacefully, raising more and more barricades such that their number in the capital city alone is more than 3,000. One of Abascal’s petitions in the dialogues was precisely the removal of the barricades, but how the hell can he ask that when they keep maintaining that tyrant in power? Does he not realize that the barricades appeared in the city moments after “death squads” made up of elite groups of state police and assassins hired by Ruíz, strafed the blockades with AK-47’s and R-15’s? Does he not realize that the barricades were raised to protect us from the Tyrant’s assassins that killed our brother Lorenzo San Pablo, early in the morning of August 22nd. For the People of Oaxaca, the barricades are part of life itself and as long as the Tyrant stays, the barricades will not be lifted.

It is for these reasons that at this stage the barricades have multiplied, in the face of an eventual aggression by forces of his “Supreme Commander” Vicente Fox Quezada. The barricades have been raised using the legitimate right of our people, and of humans, to defend their lives.

We condemn the two-facedness of the federal government that, on one hand, is said to negotiate, but at the same time militarizes our state and seeks to generate the political conditions necessary to bring about the repression. Yesterday our comrade Pedro García, student at the School of Law and Social Sciences of the UABJO, leader of the Student Committee at the of schools of the UABJO and member of the Revolutionary Youth of Mexico - Revolutionary Popular Front (JRM-FPR), was kidnapped. At the same time groups of helicopters were once again flying over the city. Last night neighbors of Brenamiel were harassed by groups of thugs hired by the PRI that the State Justice Department itself has already taken in as criminals.

Throughout the morning today, various terrorist acts were carried out against bank branches, supposedly by an armed organization called the Revolutionary Armed Organization (OAR) supposedly connected with the APPO. Before this, THE APPO REJECTS OUTRIGHT involvement in these terrorist acts, and furthermore WE ACCUSE ULISES RUÍZ ORTÍZ, LINO CELAYA LURIA, AND HELIODORO DÍAZ ESCARRAGA OF BEING DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for these terrorist acts. These bombs are part of a Machiavellian plan that is being brought about in order to justify the intervention of federal forces. We know that they are trying to continue with these actions in the coming hours, and even assassins are planning actions that kill civilians in order to justify the repression. Just as happened in the Sierra Juarez with the appearance of guerilla groupst, they are now trying to prove the presence of guerilla in Oaxaca City - a plan which we, the APPO, thoroughly denounce.

Four thousand naval units set off from the port of Salina Cruz, and are advancing by the isthmus-Oaxaca highway towards the state capitol, estimating their arrival at around 5 this afternoon, the military pincers are closing. Here we are, firm and dignified.

TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD: We are making a call to generate convincing mobilizations in all cities including Mexico City, marches, blockades, stoppages, strikes, highway blockades, etc., to avoid the massacre that the government is preparing against the People of Oaxaca. To the people of the world we are calling for you to stage protests in all the Mexican embassies and consulates throughout the world to denounce the massacre being orchestrated by the Mexican government against the People of Oaxaca.

TO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS, NGO’s, TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PRESS: we are calling you to bring your brigades to Oaxaca City in order to secure the People of Oaxaca before this immanent repression.

TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: We will fault you with any bloody act against our people. On the contrary, we are calling you to seek a political solution, legal and institutional, to the fundamental demand of the People of Oaxaca, as we remain open to dialogue ourselves. You all will be responsible for whatever happens in the state and in the country.

Comrades:

October 2nd, NEVER FORGOTTEN! The best homage to our fallen brothers and sisters is offering our blood so that the country for which they fought and died can be born.

HERE WE ARE, FIRM AND DIGNIFIED!

LONG LIVE THE HEROIC PEOPLE OF Oaxaca!

LONG LIVE THE Oaxaca COMMUNE!

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE OF Oaxaca

Centro Histórico de la ciudad Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, 2 de octubre de 2006.

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oaxaca solidarity

http://elenemigocomun.net

http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/oaxaca

Re: Emergency Appeal from Oaxaca

Oaxaca, Sunday 15 October 2006

Friends,

today someone posted a very dramatic and alarming article headed

Emergency Appeal from Oaxaca

OAXACA, OAXACA, Mexico

October 13, 2006

APPO Comunicado

TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO:

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD:

which says the Mexican Federal Government is in the process of launching a full-blown military attack on Oaxaca.

If, as suggested by the heading, it is indeed an emergency appeal from APPO, it ought to say who did the translation. I’m troubled by what looks like sloppiness with facts. For example, it states,

“Yesterday our comrade Pedro Garcia, student at the School of Law and Social Sciences of the UABJO, leader of the Student Committee at the of schools of the UABJO and member of the Revolutionary Youth of Mexico - Revolutionary Popular Front (JRM-FPR), was kidnapped.”

That `yesterday’ means 12 October. However, according to Noticias, 9 Oct, p.l0A, Francisco Pedro García García was released by police at 3:00am on 8 Oct after eight days of physical and psychological torture. His kidnapping by state agents was thus on 30 Sept or 1 Oct, not on 12 Oct.

The situation in Oaxaca and Mexico is dangerous enough. It should not be overdramatized. If the principal assertion of Apollo’s post, namely

“Four thousand naval units set off from the port of Salina Cruz, and are advancing by the isthmus-Oaxaca highway towards the state capitol, estimating their arrival at around 5 this afternoon, the military pincers are closing. Here we are, firm and dignified.

“TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD: We are making a call to generate convincing mobilizations in all cities including Mexico City, marches, blockades, stoppages, strikes, highway blockades, etc., to avoid the massacre that the government is preparing against the People of Oaxaca.”

were accurate, that military force should have been here by the afternoon or evening of 13 October.

The government’s threats should not be belittled. The danger is real. But I think the usefulness of the OSAG website, to which there are now 174 subscribers in many countries, is in our ability, collectively, to tell the truth about the situation here as honestly as we can. We do ourselves and our Oaxaqueño friends a disservice if we are not as responsible as possible. It’s not easy to sort out the truth amidst the flood of lies and dishonest propaganda of governments and corporate media, but that is exactly what we should try to do.

I posted an article, “A revolution with an absolute minimum of violence”, that attempts to show that the popular movement is doing everything it can to avoid violence, and that essentially all the violence is coming from the governments. It is at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-10-13.htm . I believe the most important thing we can do to deter the Mexican government from launching a military attack is to get the truth out to people outside of Mexico: The popular movement here is overwhelmingly non-violent.