Hidden behind the headlines about the disputed July 2 Mexican presidential election is the unfolding situation in the state of Oaxaca. This increasingly pitched struggle holds great importance for the entire Mexican working class.
The current face-off between the people and the repressive state apparatus began on June 14 when members of the teachers union (known by its Spanish initials SNTE) were attacked by state police while striking for better educational resources. Since then, unions, Marxist parties, Indigenous groups and other working-class organizations have led a militant struggle against the state’s governor, demanding his ouster
State authorities and business owners have complained because the struggle has "negatively impacted tourism" and imposed a "sense of lawlessness" to the region. While tourism is down by 75 percent this season, the strikers and their supporters are not at fault. The ruling class is using these arguments in an attempt to mask the reality they face—they are up against a mass mobilization of the Oaxacan people.
The broad nature of this rebellion in Oaxaca is becoming clearer everyday. It is about much more than a teachers’ strike. Rossana Fuentes-Berain, a political analyst at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico told the Christian Science Monitor, "In the case of Oaxaca, what we are seeing now is something that has been boiling for decades. It is emblematic of frustrations people feel in parts of the country."
Whole townships have been taken over by workers, peasants and Indigenous people tired of the oppressive conditions brought on by neoliberal policies and capitalist corruption.
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