Fox may use force to end Oaxaca protests

[kpete]

Fox may use force to end Oaxaca protests

Laurence Iliff
Dallas Morning News
Oct. 3, 2006 12:00 AM


MEXICO CITY - As Mexico marked the anniversary of a 1968 student massacre, President Vicente Fox warned Monday that force could be used to remove protesters in the southern state of Oaxaca if negotiations fail.

Military helicopters flew over Oaxaca City, the state capital, during the weekend, and members of leftist groups and striking teachers prepared Molotov cocktails and set up barricades in anticipation of police and military action.

The protesters, demanding the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, have held the city center for four months. Fox has pledged to resolve the conflict before leaving office Dec. 1. advertisement

Speaking at a meeting of the Inter American Press Association in Mexico City, Fox said enforcing the law could be the next step after weeks of talks, which resume Wednesday.

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.azcentral.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2F1003mexico1003.html

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. DAMN YOU, RUPERT MURDOCH!

What? You mean there's TWO of them?

[valerief]

2. Behold our future. Protests by brave citizens at stolen elections

will result in the the Air Force Commander's wet dream—microwaving us.

[Peace Patriot]

4. That's why we have to never give them that opportunity. The way to end

stolen elections is massive Absentee Ballot voting this fall, as a protest against the rigged electronic voting machines. If it's big enough--if everyone who despises the Bush Junta--60% to 70% of the American people--votes by Absentee Ballot, this will pressure local/state officials to reform the system, or be removed from offiice. They cannot maintain these rigged machines if no one will vote on them!

The rigged electronic voting machines are not the only problem we have, obviously. But they are what is preventing reform on all issues, at all levels. Getting rid of them is a FIRST STEP back to democracy. An essential first step.

Spread the word! Bust the Machines--Vote by Absentee Ballot in November! FLOOD election offices with MOUNTAINS of Absentee Ballots! Make them COUNT our ballots!

[acmavm]

3. Using force against these people just might not be the

smartest move that Fox could make. They poor and middle classes are already tired of the elitists bastards who run that country. This could make them a tad grouchier than they already are.

[lonestarnot]

5. Having nothing left to loose does tend to make one on the edge!

[Peace Patriot]

6. That's my one hope that no one will be hurt--that Fox has assembled

his Darth Vader forces to intimidate people during negotiations, but is aware how utterly foolish it would be to harm the Oaxaca protesters. They are led by all the local schoolteachers, and are supported by millions of people, in Oaxaca and elsewhere in the south, as well as by many in Mexico City (where Lopez-Obrador supporters can turn out a million-person rally). The Mexican people are much better organized than we are, and a lot closer in time to their revolutionary tradition. They are also connected to an enormous democracy and social justice movement throughout Latin America (--with leftist (majorityist) governments elected in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and Bolivia--and more leftist electoral victories expected in Ecuador (soon), Nicaragua (soon) and Peru (next election cycle); even the president of Columbia is talking about Hugo Chavez as "my brother." (Maybe he doesn't mean it, but he feels he has to say it.) The fascists were right about this--Lopez Obrador has no formal connection to South America's left, but his supporters DO. They are well aware of what's going on. As the new, indigenous president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has said, "The time of the people has come." And the evidence is overwhelming that he is right--from all the hard work that's been done on TRANSPARENT elections, and the enfranchisement of the vast population of the poor and the brown (excluded often brutally, by US-backed dictators, in the past), to Brazil and Argentina now having talks on a common currency (to cut the US dollar out), to South America's support for a Venezuelan seat on the UN Security Council next year (and their resistance to Bushite bullying about it), Latin America is experiencing a profound and unstoppable revolution, aimed at Latin American independence and self-determination, and at social justice. This is the background of the revolution in Mexico. It is not just Mexico. It is not just Lopez Obrador (or Hugo Chavez). It's the WHOLE CONTINENT.

Fox/Calderon had better tread carefully. They are dealing with a COMPLETELY PEACEFUL movement, thus far. The local governor's thugs, on the other hand, have already killed people in Oaxaca. And their violent assault on the striking teachers in June is what sparked this huge Oaxaca protest. If they use force again, the whole country, and the whole continent, is going to explode. The Mexican government will be anathematized throughout Latin America. And the Calderon government will either descend into long term blood-drenched fascism, or it will fall, even before it's begun. And I think the latter is more likely; the Mexican people, as a whole, will not put up with bloody repression.* (You wonder why Bush is building a wall on the border with Mexico? THIS is why. While the Bush Junta was busy killing Arabs for their oil, Latin America has gone "blue." )

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

*(Just as a for instance, Mexicans find capital punishment appalling and uncivilized. They've banned it in their country. Contrast this with our people, who stupidly continue to support capital punishment, despite the evidence that it, a) does no good in stopping violent crime, and in fact increases it; b) kills innocent people; and c) is a fascist tool for repressing the poor. Mexicans are far better informed than our people are, far more conscious of social justice issues, and much better organized. I don't normally dis No. Americans, because I'm convinced that, on the war, on torture, on Bush immorality and thievery and a host of issues, my fellow Americans are better informed and savvier than anyone gives them credit for, but have been the targets of a deliberate, and very intense, fascist campaign to make them feel that their progressive views are in the minority, and to render the majority powerless. But on capital punishment, I think they are just stupid. Uninformed, brainwashed. They didn't vote for Bush--either time--nor for any of his junta's policies. (Issue polls over the last several years show this overwhelmingly--on the Mideast war, on torture, on social progress issues, on the deficit, on everything.) But, if given a choice, right now, they probably WOULD vote for state murder, alas.)