Davies: Oaxaca Teachers Refuse to Budge, Reject Order from their Own Union Leadership to Return to Classes
October 24, 2006
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Nancy Davies reports today in the Narcosphere on what was a long and confusing weekend for the popular movement that
has all but taken power in Oaxaca. Last week ended with the Mexican Senate voting, along party lines, to continue
recognizing hated governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz as the legitimate head of the state. Teachers' union leader Enrique Rueda
Pecheco then tried to manipulate his workers into going back to work and accepting a watered-down deal from the
government, but the rank-and-file would have none of it and forced the union to hold a legitimate referendum on whether
to continue striking until the governor's exit.
Davies writes:
"The first result of the teachers' consultation was received by telephone to Radio Universidad on Saturday. They were
read on the air, declaring the vote in favor of continuing the struggle, with no return to classes. The initial vote
results announced on Radio Universidad and in Noticias, reported that six of the eight regions had rejected the opening
of schools before URO left.
"However, when Rueda arrived at the teachers' assembly, after hours of delay, the vote seemed to have shifted (or to
have been shifted by Rueda). Now the vote was to return to classes, with figures like 25,000 in favor of a return,
15,000 against. The fight was on. Radio Universidad called on everybody to go to the teachers' union hall to protest,
with that loud clamor which woke those asleep.
"On Sunday morning, the proposition has emerged that another consultation be held, to verify the teachers' position. The
questions for the new consultation are: first, do you agree to open the classrooms, and second, if yes, when? This
indicates that Rueda's ploy did not work.
Read Davies' entire piece, a definitive account of the current moment Oaxaca is living through, here:
From somewhere in a country called América,
Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin