|
NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2007Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mitch WeerthOaxaca megamarchThe Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO) showed that it has not gone away despite state repression, by staging a successful mass march on International Women’s Day. This was the first "megamarch" held since the military cracked down on the movement in late October last year. In February APPO held its First State Assembly in an effort to give itself a more permanent organizational structure and statement of principles. The organization has stayed alive and maintained unity based on: opposition to participation in state electoral politics (members cannot campaign in the name of APPO), support of political prisoners and their families (approximately 70 APPO members are still jailed), and re-organization of the mass movement. The latter has included putting the movement’s radio station, Radio Planton, back on the air, as well as focusing on defeating the so-called seccion 59, an illegal "union" of teachers, formed by PRI activists to counter seccion 22, the Oaxaca teachers’ union whose members form the majority of APPO. |
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |