Trouble Down Oaxaca Way?

A big march--reports say from 50,000 to 80,000 people--in Oaxaca yesterday drew lots of state and federal law enforcement and the attention of the national Mexican press. According to the linked La Jornada article, they marched "para exigir, entre otras demandas, la rezonificación del magisterio estatal y expresar su rechazo a lo que definieron como un gobierno 'represor'." Though this one was pretty huge, such marches aren't uncommon in Oaxaca; we saw one or two wind through the zocalo last summer. And the demands of the marchers--this year's set of protests, which includes (see below) much concern about violence against women and the police who either perpetrate or fail to stop it--seem to reflect nationwide problems. I mean, domestic violence isn't just a problem in Oaxaca.

All of this makes me wonder: whence the spirit of protest, there? You can sense it easily enough as a visitor. Some theories: the state is largely composed of seven fairly distinct native groups, groups with a history of cooperation whose roots reach deeper than the present--or even the last dozen versions--of state and national government in Mexico. It's also situated just North of the major site of native uprising in the country, in Chiapas; in that way, perhaps folks in Oaxaca are expressing a kind of middle ground of protest--one that, even as it demands a total reorganization of the government, demands it of the government. No guns, in other words, just teachers camping out in the zocalo, journalists taking pictures of police violence (and getting themselves beat up for it), retirees carrying angry signs in the zocalo. Or--and this is probably most important--those groups interested in social justice (or just trash in the streets) have learned to leverage official embarrassment: Oaxaca is a huge tourist destination in Mexico. Most of the government's most visible agents are special tourist police (hey Althusser fans, does that qualify as an RSA or an ISA?). And the government very clearly doesn't want for tourists to witness any unpleasantness.

Tourists include the first lady of Mexico. Sahagun attended last year's Guelaguetza festival (the biggest annual tourist draw to Oaxaca); just before her, a standoff between the local newspaper, Las Noticias, whose workers had barricaded themselves inside the building, and the state government (well, officially, a union affiliated with Mexico's still-dominant PRI party . . . but it's hard to tell the difference) suddenly ended with a farily violent, bloody raid. No one seriously believes that Oaxaca's governor wasn't behind the attack, or that it had nothing to do with the first lady's visit. Here's a good version of the story, more clear than mine, but in Spanish.

Here's my fear: that this kind of desperation on the part of the government is going to get ugly this year, that protestors--teachers, students, farmers--are going to be shot by Oaxacan police before the Guelagetza in July. If you've not been in Oaxaca during the festival, it's hard to imagine just how big this thing is. One possible solution, as Nancy Davies proposes at Narcosphere is to help protestors to benefit from the leverage they actually have. She writes:

For those who did not take seriously the "call to witness" repression in Oaxaca by emailing or writing travel agents and Mexico officials, perhaps it is time to ask again, is Oaxaca safe and/or suitable for tourism? Is this where you want to spend your summer vacation?