Miguel Angel Vasquez de la
Rosa
Founder of EDUCA, the leading Oaxaca Grassroots Organization
"The genesis of the Oaxaca crisis is the structural economic
crisis. Over 150,000 people migrate north from Oaxaca each year. That
is the individual response to the crisis. But migration is a symptom.
It is a symptom of impoverishment and inequality...from the policies
of foreign investment (NAFTA) and the IMF." --Miguel Angel
Vasquez de la Rosa
Background: Many of you have heard about the struggle that
has developed in Oaxaca, Mexico over the last year. As a result of
the IMF's Structural Adjustment Program and the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Mexican government budget has shrunk
to such a degree that educational and social services have suffered
significantly, particularly in states like Oaxaca. In May 2006, teachers
began camping out in the Zócalo (town square) of Oaxaca City
to press for more funding for education. On June 14th in the middle
of the night, the encampment was tear-gassed by police on orders from
Oaxaca's Governor Ulises Ruíz. But some 70,000 teachers, and
more than an estimated 400,000 sympathizers from other allied groups
working for social change, forced the police back. In four days civil
society formed the Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca (APPO)
to give a unified voice to their call for reform.
The protests continued throughout the summer and fall. On October
29, 2006, now former President Vicente Fox ordered the Federal Preventative
Police (PFP) to clear the Zócalo and occupy it. This was two
days after the barricades were assaulted, resulting in three Oaxacans
and a US citizen murdered. In November the PFP violently drove the
APPO out of Oaxaca City. The latest reports say that the Federal Preventative
Police have turned over control of the city to the state police of
Oaxaca.
There is a clear threat of another mass repression, and activists
in the community have in the recent past taken turns at all-night
vigils at the municipal hall bell tower to warn the townspeople in
case of the return of the government sponsored thugs (PFP) or police.
Please
help to sponsor and host Miguel and his interpreter (Todd Miller
of WFP's Intenational Team in Mexico) and arrange speaking engagements
for Miguel at your college, seminary, congregation, community, union
hall or chamber of commerce. Contact the tour coordinator Serafina
Youngdahl at (610) 942-2061 [h] or (484) 678-9613 [cell], or contact
her by email at serafina3333@yahoo.com.
Tour Schedule as of September 30, 2007
October 13: PM 6:30pm dinner,
Peace Works Event (monthly dinner)
Friends Meeting House 158 Southern Boulevard, Chatham Township, NJ
October 14: 11:45-12:24 [10:30 am (English) and 11:45 (Spanish)]
Summerfield United Methodist Church 225 King St. Port Chester, NY
October 15th Monday:
12:45-1:45pm Morning New York Law School Monday/ Tuesday (the National
Lawyers Guild NYC Chapter and Lawyers Without Border)
6:30 Social Hall Union Seminary (part of Colombia U.)
October 16th Tuesday:
7pm Community event: Unitarian Universalist All Souls Manhattan, Reidy
Friendship Hall (Peace task force)
Poughkeepsie, NY
7pm Community event in Garrison area
Binghamton, NY
October 18 Thursday
7pm St. James R. C. Church, 155 Main St. Johnson City, NY, 13790
Oct 19 Oneonta ???contacts???
Oct 20 REST DAY (rest day with Todds family)
Oct 21 Albany Troy/Schenectady/ evening only
Oct 22 Utica
Oct 23 Hamilton (place to stay!) Paddy
Lane to arrange
Oct 24 Ithaca - contact: lenore.mcgarry@gmail.com or call her at 607-262-0115.
Oct 25 Syracuse
7pm Peace Council's monthly program and dinner
University United Methodist Church, 1085 E. Genesee St.
http://www.peacecouncil.net/Events.htm
Oct 26 Rochester
Oct 28 Buffalo Morning:
7:30 p.m. Grupp Fireside Lounge, 2nd Floor of the Canisius College
Student
Center, Buffalo, NY http://canisius.edu/reslife/campus_map.asp,
"Conversations in Christ and Culture" series directed by
Canisius professor Dr.
Timothy Wadkins and the Latin American Solidarity Committee of the
Western
New York Peace Center
Oct 29 Erie PA:
7pm Waldron Campus Center Gannon University,
Center for Social Concerns Mary the Apostle Catholic Worker
Oct 30 Pittsburgh
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Alvernia College, Reading, PA
7:00pm - Specific location on campus TBA
Expected topic: "Poverty in Latin America: How Do Concerned U.S.
Citizens Respond?"
November 1st Lancaster, PA
November 2nd Elizabethtown and Reading
November 4th, Sunday
12:45 pm Education Building of First United Methodist Church of Germantown,
at Germantown Road and High Street, Philadelphia, PA
5:30pm Kennett Square Area, TBA, VISTAS
November 5th, Monday, Philadelphia, PA
2 pm in Bonnell Building's Small Auditorium of the Philadelphia Community
College, 1700 Spring Garden Street
November 5th, Monday evening, West Chester, PA -
7:00 to 8:45 pm, West Chester University, Ruby Jones Hall, Room 204
November 6th
10:30-11:30 am St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia
2 pm Villanova University
7 pm Latin American Community Center, 403 N Van Buren St Wilmington,
DE
Pacem en Terris, Voces sin Fronteras, Latin American Community Center
November 7th: Southern Delaware
Afternoon: 11 am Lunch and Lecture
Epworth United Methodist Church, 20 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth Beach,
DE
November 10th: Columbia MD
5:30pm to 9:30pm
Howard County Friends of Latin America
November 12: WASHINGTON DC
6:30pm All Souls Unitarian Universalist church, 2835 16th St NW
November 16 - 18: School of the Americas
