OAXACA: THE APPO LIVES!

The APPO Lives
Communiqué from somewhere in the state of Oaxaca, from the State Council of the Popular Peoples’ Assembly of Oaxaca
By the CEAPPO
The Other Oaxaca

December 3, 2006

PEOPLE OF OAXACA! PEOPLE OF MEXICO! PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!

From somewhere in the state of Oaxaca, as the State Council of the Popular Peoples’ Assembly of Oaxaca,

WE DECLARE:

FIRST: The APPO is more alive than ever in the hearts of the workers, indigenous people, campesinos, housewives, students, youth, children, and all the exploited and oppressed in Oaxaca and Mexico. The State Terror that has been unleashed on the people of Oaxaca and the international community with increased brutality since November 25 has not weakened our desire to be free men and women.

Nor has it made us change our minds about whether our struggle should continue to be a political, peaceful and mass movement, despite the fact that 17 people have been killed during this stage of the struggle, dozens of people have disappeared and hundreds are political prisoners; we consider this toll to consist of crimes against humanity.

SECOND: The APPO continues to act permanently; although we are not visible at sentries or heard over the radio 24 hours a day, we still live and communicate with the same indomitable spirit which we have inherited as exploited people. We are fighting and will continue to fight intensely for the fall of the tyrant and his dictatorship, the dictatorship of capital.

This new stage of struggle that we have named the “Stage of Peace with Justice, Democracy and Liberty without Ulises Ruiz Ortiz” is, at the same time, a novel exercise to continue the struggle that the APPO is learning to build with patience, perseverance and wisdom.

Our original peoples taught us this on November 28 and 29 at the Forum of Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca, when they told us that the “path must be taken slowly,” which is what we are doing now, without losing sight of the common objective, which is the profound transformation of living, working, academic and recreational conditions for our people. As the faithful puppet of the wealthy and the drug traffickers who he defends and represents, URO (Ulises Ruiz) stood in the way of this path. As representatives of a people who decided to embark on the route to their own emancipation, we will remove him from this path that belongs to us.

THIRD: The Council is calling all people of Oaxaca from now until December 10 to organize and carry out mobilizations and protest actions to spread the “Stage of Peace…”, the call for the release of political prisoners, the return of the disappeared, the cancellation of orders of apprehension, an end to illegal arrests, an end to gag orders, the withdrawal of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP), and what brought us all together: the departure of the murderer Ulises Ruiz from Oaxaca. We call for this to happen in all regions of the state through our regional, municipal and sectorial Popular Assemblies. We do so because on December 10 we will hold a “Grand Concentration,” meeting at 10am at the monument to Juárez, located at the Crucero de Viguera in Oaxaca City, to express our condemnation of and opposition to the baton and rifle policy to which this group of murderers and thieves who call themselves the government in Oaxaca want to subject us.

FRATERNALLY,

“ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE”
STATE COUNCIL OF THE APPO
December 2, 2006

wonderful news

I was hoping you didn't get washed off the island a while back

Good to See You!

been thru some tough times, don't like spreading my dread. good moon rising though, how you doin?

APPO crossed the rubicon when they decided to dissolve themselves and reorganized essentially to be their own government when they became CEAPPO. In any country, this would be considered an act of sedition, punishable by death.

eom

when a state of ungovernability exists

That does seem to be the case in Oaxaca

It's the neo-liberal govt that ignores this clause

So, no, in this case your comparison is not valid

I picked this up on the Oaxaca Study Action Group (of which I am a member)
It is translated from the newspaper "Noticias"


"The government can arrest 500 or more, but this movement is invincible because when a people decide to transform itself, it does it": López y Rivas



With the proposal to continue outlining and defining ways to achieve a transformation of Oaxaca, to establish a new social pact and construct new forms of living together to achieve a more just Oaxaca, one more worthy and democratic, the Forum of the Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca took place the 28th and 29th of November.



The indigenous forum took place despite widespread fears of arrests. The 300 delegates slept in a church sanctuary. Zapotecos, Mixtecos, Chontales, Mixes and Huaves conquered their fear to participate in the forum which was surrounded by police and military units to impede their participation. Ex. bishop Samuel Ruiz, former bishop of Chiapas, observed the forum and made it possible for some people to leave without being arrested.



Some reports say that many are still sleeping in the safe house - four days later.



Since June 14 to the present 304 people have been arrested, among them teachers, university students, leaders of civil society and the APPO. They have suffered all kinds of arbitrary insults including no communication, denial of legal defense, denial of medical attention, and torture.



The popular assembly movement, with its legitimate cause has suffered a brutal repression without regard for law, civil rights, international treaties and human rights. Under these circumstances, it can be considered a triumph that the indigenous delegates arrived, met and confirmed their alliance to the APPO. They have documented 17 dead, and "we do not want even one more death... an analysis was made of the Oaxaca mobilization from the national perspective....What we are doing is continuing with a path we didn't initiate, our ancestors did, and today we are taking a step further and I hope that future generations will also take this path as we are doing because the indigenous are not passing, here are our roots and surely, in spite of the adversities, in spite of the obstacles, of the pain, our hope has stayed alive....there are black clouds, there are string threats over the identity of the peoples and test of that is that many of the detained are teachers and students of indigenous communities of Oaxaca, but in spite of the pain we go on with hope of a new dawn."



This can only mean that whatever happens during this phase of repression, the indigenous peoples will be an important future pillar for change, as was shown by their vow to install as many as possible of community radio stations to spread inform

I hope the People of "America" learn, from your example, how to be Free.

Mexican revolutionaries seem to favor anarchism as the only way to cope with the brutal police states that they must continually resist. The Zapatistas did it nearly fifteen years ago and apparently the APPO has decided to follow the same path.

They came out of the forest armed and took over towns and cities, made their demands for autonomy, and then withdrew to fight on the political level, while retaining their arms.

The APPO was much more of a spontanious and much less organized mass response to oppression. They weren't armed, and they attempted to negotiate for redress with the Government of Mexico.

The Zapatistas see themselves as revolutionaries, where as the APPO see themselves as citizens oppresed for too long.

Thay have in common the oppression, but they aren't organizationally simular at all.

since the Mexican military has sent no personnel EVER to the school of the Americas... something about Chapultepec and 1848, I just forgot what.

All they do, and their techniques go back further than the School of the Americas... and like I have said in other threads, what is going on today in Oaxaca is a continuation FULLY of the Caste War of the Yucatan, and only when you understand this, you FULLY undesrtand what is going on

Sadly it is not what some of you think it is either.

give some analysis.

the class based, i.e. social economic classes that is, even in the social-economic class based society that Amerikans live in.

Castes go deeper than money, right?

Wouldn't Castes be similar to the assumptions of many common Amerikans, and their avatars, e.g. Cheney, that some people are "natural" leaders and don't, therefore, have responsibilities to DO what they assume others must do, that is, they don't have to do _____________________ in order to have "value", though they usually require that others do _____________ in order to have value as persons. AND they assume, by THEIR virtue of _____________, they get to define all ____________________ for ANY "others".

Link?

:thumbsup:

Here is a facinating documentary you can watch on-line about violations of women's reproductive rights in Oaxaca-

http://www.witness.org/index.php?option=com_rightsalert&Itemid=178&task=view&alert_id=17

It is taking place in NYC on Dec 11

http://www.witness.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=90&Itemid=241

It is hosted by Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal and Peter Gabriel. I hope Gael Garcia Bernal at least mentions it. They have arrested a member of the opposition party, saying he is the head of APPO-

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/22249.html

I wish all the luck in the world!

Flavio Sosa was arrested last night in Mexico City. It was all over the late news. Her is a article that was on Yahoo by the associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_oaxaca

Flavio Sosa is not THE leader of APPO
no matter how often they lie
APPO didn't burn those buildings
Porros of Ruiz did
and also did all of the killing

It will survive without "leaders". Though, some kind of spokes-person IS useful anyway.

The press and police singled out Flavio
because he is fat and bearded
makes the movement look bad

They call him THE leader

But there is no THE leader

:kick: & R