[lit-ideas] Re: Oaxaca takeover

  • From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 21:02:04 EDT

You're just good.
 
And this world is insane.
 
Stop the planet, I want to get off.
 
Julie Krueger

========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Oaxaca takeover  
Date: 8/3/06 7:45:29 P.M. Central Daylight Time  From: _carolkir@xxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:carolkir@xxxxxxxx)   To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    

Aha! Found it at Newsday. com. Aristophanes  lives. So teachers went on 
strike in June, too. Seems to me that Mexicans'  efforts at getting higher 
wages would be newsworthy coverage in the US, in  terms of the immigration 
debacle. But how is the Mexican government handling  all this? Sounds like 
its policy is Mr. Bush's. Ignore protesters and they  go away,  eventually.

>ck
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-mexico-oaxaca-unrest
,0,5081323.story

Women  Seize TV Station in Oaxaca, Mexico
By REBECA ROMERO
Associated Press  Writer

August 2, 2006, 2:59 PM EDT


OAXACA, Mexico -- About 500  women banging spoons against pots and pans 
seized a state-run television  station and broadcast a homemade video 
Wednesday that showed police kicking  protesters out of Oaxaca's main square 
last month.

The women took  control of Oaxaca's Channel 9 station Tuesday and held 
employees for about  six hours before releasing them. It was unclear how long 
the siege would  last and police were nowhere to be seen near the station  
Wednesday.

The standoff is the latest by demonstrators who accuse  Gov. Ulises Ruiz of 
rigging his 2004 election victory and violently  repressing opposition 
groups.

Station director Mercedes Rojas said  the state has filed a criminal 
complaint with the federal attorney general's  office, noting that the 
station has about $54.5 million worth of equipment  inside and that the 
protesters had threatened the 60 employees with violence  while holding them 
captive.

Federal officials have not commented on  the standoff.

Tensions have been on the rise since June, when state  police attacked a 
demonstration of striking teachers occupying the historic  central plaza and 
demanding a wage increase.

Since then, thousands of  teachers, unionists and leftists have camped out in 
the plaza,  spray-painting buildings with revolutionary slogans, smashing 
hotel windows  and erecting makeshift barricades. Most businesses remain 
closed.

The  unrest has paralyzed one of Mexico's top cultural attractions, where  
visitors to the southern city normally browse traditional markets for Indian  
handicrafts, hike ancient pyramids and stroll cobblestone streets to sample  
mole dishes. Officials recently canceled a prominent cultural festival  
because of fears that violence could injure tourists and  residents.

Tourism is down 75 percent, costing the city more than $45  million, 
according to the Mexican Employers Federation. Business leaders  have asked 
the federal government to intervene, but aides to President  Vicente Fox have 
said the problem must be resolved at the state  level.




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