***Emergency Oaxaca Solidarity Picket***

Wednesday, Oct.11, 3:30pm @ The Mexican Embassy, 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

*********Emergency Oaxaca Solidarity Picket*********

Wednesday, Oct.11, 3:30pm @ The Mexican Embassy, 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

Come out and show your solidarity with the courageous people of Oaxaca! Bring your signs,
flags, and noise makers!

(Called for by the DC Industrial Workers of the World)
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In May of 2006, the state government of Ulises Ortiz viciously attacked
with tear gas and riot batons striking teachers in Oaxaca, a state in
Southern Mexico. The retaliation by the National Union of Education
Workers Section 22 on the morning of June 14th piqued the interest of the
general populace of Oaxaca. Waking up to a city filled with tear gas and
violence, the populace collectively took charge of the situation. People
were mobilized throughout the state by the teachers union and a mix of
social and political organizations. Resentment towards the government grew
as this mobilization organized five ?megamarches,? 300,000 people at the
largest, one in ten people in the state. In a brilliant display of
solidarity, the teachers' strike turned into a broader movement to oust
the oppressive regime.

A social movement of workers, peasants, students, women and others aligned
with the teachers formed into Popular Assemblies of the People of Oaxaca
(APPO) and literally kicked out the state government by blockading public
buildings and repelled paramilitary style attacks by barricading the city.
Radio stations occupied by protesters endlessly repeated the battle cry of
Oaxacans: ?Ya Cayó, Ya Cayó, Ulises Ya Cayó? (He Has Fallen, He Has
Fallen, Ulises Has Fallen). After years of mistreatment, poverty and the
depopulation of rural communities due to migration, the general populace
was ready for change.

It has been months since the APPO rejected the Oaxacan state government,
and Oaxacans are still living under siege. Should Ortiz and the PRI regain
power, the brunt of the repression will fall on the people who rose up in
joyous defiance against an unjust government, believing in their personal
and collective capacity to affect change. "They know who we are. They know
who has been helping," a Oaxacan woman told newspaper the Indypendent "If
we don't win, they will be coming for us."