Mexicans Demand Governor's Resignation

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

May 1, 12:10 AM EDT
Mexicans Demand Governor's Resignation

OAXACA, Mexico (AP) -- A group of students took over a university radio station in Oaxaca City on Monday and transmitted messages in support of a leftist movement demanding the governor's resignation.

The students forced their way into Radio University, which had served as the nerve center for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, or APPO. The group led protests last year calling for Gov. Ulises Ruiz to resign, virtually paralyzing the city for months.

"This is a peaceful takeover and we're doing it with the rights that we have as university students," said an improvised radio announcer, according to the government news agency Notimex.

The students called on others to participate in a march Tuesday to demand the release of APPO leaders who were arrested in December, deflating the movement. They said that on Wednesday they would leave the station and block highways throughout the state.




Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MEXICO_OAXACA_UNREST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-05-01-00-10-19

[Selatius]

1. Looks like CEAPPO is trying to reconstitute.

I hope they succeed and topple Ulises Ruiz.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Beware AP language! Hidden agendas. Black holes.

Two examples (from the quoted portion of the article, above):

"...virtually paralyzing the city for months."

"...who were arrested in December, deflating the movement."

Also: "...leftist..." ("In support of a leftist movement demanding the governor's resignation.")

-------------------------

Is democracy "paralysis"? What is meant by "the city"--the rich landowners/lucrative tourist businesses? or the workers, the teachers (whose strike triggered the movement, when Ruiz brutally assaulted striking teachers), the indigenous elders, the campesinos (small farmers), the students and their families? Did the latter consider Oaxaca to be "paralyzed" by their democracy movement? Or would they, instead, describe it as a vibrant awakening of political energy, UNBLOCKING the horrid fascist state government oppression of the poor, and flooding the body politic with lively participation and constructive action?

"Deflating the movement." Rape, torture, murder, kidnapping are "deflating the movement"? How about crushing the movement? Brutally lopping off the leadership of the movement? Targeting union organizers and community leaders for false arrest? CS gassing the town of Oaxaca? "Deflating"? Further, who is this AP reporter, to say that the "movement" has been "deflated"? Yes, the movement was crushed under the heel of Ruiz/Calderon's fascist boot, but it lives, I guarantee you. The invasion of Oaxaca was not a "deflation." It was an act of war. And, although the citizens are now under occupation, and are suffering repression, they are not "deflated."

"...leftist...". Notice that AP does not describe Governor Ulises Ruiz as the "rightwing governor of Oaxaca," or the "fascist governor of Oaxaca," or "the murderous, oppressive governor of Oaxaca." The "leftists" are guilty of "paralyzing" the city, but Ruiz's death squads get a pass. And his politics are not identified. I've noticed this US war profiteering corporate news monopoly practice across the board--AP and all the others--in connection with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who is invariably described as "the leftist president of Venezuela," while rightwingers and fascists, like Bush, and like President Uribe in Colombia, are NEVER tagged with their end of the political spectrum. And I think "leftist" has a particular meaning, when it is used this way by corporate news monopolies: It means "gun-toting leftist revolutionary." The tipoff is that Bush, Uribe, Calderon, Ruiz and their ilk are almost never identified as "rightists," or "rightwingers," or (accurate in all of these cases) "fascists." Only their opponents--who actually represent the MAJORITY--are identified in this way. It is a method of marginalizing the majority, the people, the poor. "Leftist" is NOT an honorable term, in AP's view. It is a term of derision.

Whenever I use the word "leftist"--especially in connection with Latin American politics--I do this: 'The leftist (majorityist) movement in Latin America.' 'The leftist (majorityist) president of...Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua.' (All leftist presidents now! Hoorah!) Because the "right" there, as here, represents the rich few, whose object is to crush, oppress, dominate and rob the many. This is why AP and other war profiteering corporate news monopolies almost never identity the far right end of the spectrum that fascist politicians, like Bush or Ruiz, inhabit. They want you to think that Bush or Ruiz are MAINSTREAM, somehow. They want you to equate their power with their legitimacy, even though their power often derives--and, in the cases of Bush, Ruiz, Calderon and Uribe (in Colombia), demonstrably derives--from stolen elections, from brutal vote suppression or outright vote stealing.

No political identification. No questioning of their legitimacy. And a complete black hole as to their crimes, whenever their names are mentioned. Thus murder and mayhem, on behalf of the rich, are smoothed over and given not just respectability but also a gloss of democracy and fair representation. "Leftist" movements and "leftist" presidents and politicians are made to seem...off center, unrepresentative, with connotations of violence and "communism."

Beware the hidden agendas, and the black holes, in AP and other "news" reports.

One more thing: The students who took over this radio station are no small, isolated group. They represent the MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN OAXACA. The way this is reported, they are made to seem like insurgents, when they are, in fact, the democrats--members of a vast, peaceful, leftist (majorityist), democratic revolution that is sweeping Latin America.