Frank Lara is a 4th grade bilingual teacher who serves on the Executive Board of the United Educators of San Francisco. He helped organize the San Francisco actions for the Caravana 43 last year.
On June 19, peaceful marches and actions throughout Mexico culminated in a violent crackdown by federal and state forces in the town of Nochixtlan in the State of Oaxaca. While the numbers vary between government and independent media sources, it is believed that 8-12 people were killed, including teachers and supporters. Images of federal helicopters over a burning landscape were widespread in the news and social media.
Had this occurred in Venezuela or Cuba, this brutality would have led to Pres. Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) being charged with war crimes in the Hague and a UN mandate would have been approved to invade Mexico and forcefully remove him from office! But unlike these other countries which are independent of the United States, the U.S., through its “War on Drugs” initiative known as Plan Merida, has actually paid Mexico more than $1.5 billion to increase the weaponry and training of the same federal police that today are killing its civilian population. It is clear that the mainstream international media understands this relationship as little has been reported about the ongoing human rights violations under Nieto and previous president Felipe Calderón.
The most recent killings are a response to militant and widespread protest by teachers from across the country against the so-called “Education Reform Law,” which seeks to privatize education while blaming teachers for the lack of quality education. The protests are largely being led by the CNTE (National Coordinator of Education Workers), a split from the PRI-controlled SNTE (National Union of Education Workers). In a move seeking to smash the unions, similar to what was done with the SME (Union of Mexican Electricians), Peña Nieto’s government fired thousands of educators for not complying with regulations under the reform law and then arrested two leaders of the CNTE, Ruben Nuñez and Francisco Villalobos for alleged money laundering. Juan Jose Ortega Madrigal, an historic leader of the teacher’s union in the State of Michoacan, was arrested two days prior to the arrest other CNTE activists on June 19.
Education reform “Made in the USA”
Not only are weapons exported (see “Operation Fast and Furious”) from the U.S. to help the Mexican elite kill civilians; not only is bio-enhanced corn exported from the U.S. to flood the Indigenous markets and displace tens of thousands of farmers from fertile lands; neo-liberal policies and their tactical implementation are exported as a complete package to take over the public school system. With ongoing coverage by the major news networks of Televisa (a massive media conglomerate completely aligned with the PRI) and TV Azteca, most citizens learn the same talking points put forth by the Bush and Obama administrations and by the infamous Arne Duncan as they forced privatization upon thousands of districts throughout the U.S. “¡Los maestros son una bola de flojos!” (“Teachers are a bunch of lazy people!”) is the view presented by the Mexican elite, similar to the demonization of U.S. teachers that has taken place under neoliberal education reform.
New teacher evaluations are one major piece of the Mexican Education Reform Law, which was passed in 2013. Sound familiar? In Mexico, where a large section of the population still lives in rural areas, teachers have to leave their families in the cities and are often asked to move into remote areas to teach in underfunded schools with almost no resources. These “escuelas rurales” are a public gem established by the Mexican revolution of 1910 to guarantee schooling for all of Mexico. But the reformers, who accuse the teachers of being overpaid, now feel that they have to evaluate teachers, guaranteeing profits for a whole new layer of testing bureaucracy while trying to break the back of the union. Along with the teacher evaluations, schools are now required to adapt national textbooks and curriculum meant to adapt to the “21st Century,” including the universal use of WiFi and other technologies which are completely inaccessible to the majority of the population.
Solidarity across borders
This is why the CNTE’s struggle has resonated so strongly with organizations fighting against neoliberal education reforms in the United States. Well-known school principal Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, issued a call for NPE activists to send letters to the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and the Mexican Consulate. “During the past few days, extreme violence has been used against teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico, who were protesting governmental education ‘reforms.’ This has resulted in the deaths of at least eight people. The Network for Public Education joins with those condemning this violence.”
Dr. Michael Flanagan, co-director of the Bad Ass Teachers Action Team, posted a blog piece which concludes, “We must stand with the brave teachers of Mexico, and never forget those who have fallen. We are teachers, and we will educate. Our martyrs lie in the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico, and they will not have died in vain.”
Actions have been held in the United States and across the world in solidarity with Oaxaca. Many organizing the actions were brought into the streets after Sept. 26, 2014, after the disappearance of 43 student teachers from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa in the city of Iguala, State of Guerrero. Today, they continue to fight for justice in Mexico, an end to U.S. intervention and arming of the corrupt and violent Mexican government of Enrique Peña Nieto, an end to the U.S.-led “Drug War,” and ultimately the removal of the PRI from power. From New York City to San Francisco, human rights organizations and social movements are organizing to bring awareness of what is happening in the sister border country.
Along with participating and organizing these actions, U.S. revolutionary socialists also see opportunities to expand unity across the border. We say “tear down the border wall!” Trump, Clinton and Peña Nieto, the first two who represent racist imperial domination, the other a Yankee puppet, are willing to oppress Mexicans and those of Mexican descent for an extra buck. Today, young people are fighting back through the social movements demanding amnesty, equal civil and economic rights and access while protesting Trump and Clinton at every turn. We must connect these movements to the fight in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Oaxaca and all of Mexico because ultimately, we are fighting the symptoms of capitalism, privatization and profit. Only socialism has led to viable independence from the talons of U.S. imperialism.
¡El Pueblo Unido, Jamás Será Vencido!
