ooh, damn it. i just wrote about oaxaca.
and now, a US citizen, is killed in Oaxaca by the police
"and now alejandro waits in the zocalo -- like the others at their plantones
-- hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward, a way out,
a solution -- waiting for the earth to shift and open --waiting for november
when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the dead and share food
and drink and a song -- waiting for the plaza to turn
itself over to him and burst -- he will only wait until morning but tonight
he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back --one more
death -- one more martyr in a dirty war -- one more time to cry and hurt --
one more time to know power and its ugly head -- one more bullet cracks the
night -- one more night at the barricades -- some keep the fires -- others
curl up and sleep -- but all of them are with him as he rests one last night
at his watch"
Last dispatch by NYC Indymedia reporter Brad Will, killed by the Oaxacan
state on the 27th of October.
Article from La Jornada:
>>
>>Matan a documentalista de EU en Oaxaca; un fotógrafo herido
>>La Jornada On Line - 27/10/2006 18:38
>>
>>Oaxaca, Oax. Una balacera ocurrida en el municipio de Calicante causó la
>>muerte del documentalista estadunidense Brat Will, de Indimedia
>>Washington, quien recibió un balazo en el pecho. A su vez, un fotógrafo
>>del periódico Milenio Diario, Oswaldo Ramírez, resultó herido con un
>>disparo en el pie, informó la edición Web del periódico. El enfrentamiento
>>ocurrió cuando grupos de supuestos guardias blancas, según reportó Radio
>>Fórmula, agredieron a los brigadistas que resguardan las barricadas.
>>
>>El dirigente de la APPO, Flavio Sosa, pidió la urgente intervención del
>>gobierno federal en ese municipio, porque dijo que grupos al servicio del
>>alcalde priísta están amedrentando con armas de guego a los brigadistas
>>que resguardan las barricacas. Nosotros sólo tenemos piedras y ellos armas
>>de fuego”, dijo.
>>
>>De acuerdo a las primeras informaciones, en Calicante se registró una
>>balacera y aparte del periodistas muerto y el fotógrafo herido, tres
>>personas más resultaron heridas. El reportero fue herido en el estómago, y
>>falleció antes de llegar a un hospital.
>>
>>Tanto en Calicante como en el municipio de San Antonio, ambos conurbados a
>>la capital, priva un ambiente de tensión, debido a que en ambos grupos de
>>appistas que resguardan las barricadas y de supuestos guardias blancas se
>>encuentran separados por un centenar de metros y se corre el riesgo de un
>>enfrentamiento mayor. Los brigadistas se mantienen agazapados tras las
>>barricadas y de acuerdo con la información, uno de ellos se encuentra
>>herido sin posibilidad de ser trasladado a un centro de atención.
>>
>>
>>one of bradley will's last dispatches from oaxaca:
>>
>>early dawn, oct16
>>
>>yesterday i went for a walk with the good people of oaxaca -- was walking
>>all day really -- in the afternoon they showed me where the bullets hit
>>the wall -- they numbered the ones they could reach -- it reminded me of
>>the doorway of amadou diallos home -- but here the grafitti was there
>>before the shooting began -- one bullet they didnt number was still in his
>>head -- he was 41 years old -- alejandro garcia hernandez -- at the
>>neighborhood
>>barricade every night -- that night he came out to join his wife and sons
>>to let an ambulance through -- then a pickup tried to follow -- he took
>>their
>>bullet when he told them they could not pass -- they never did -- these
>>military men in civilian dress shot their way out of there
>>
>>a young man who wanted to only be called marco was with them when the
>>shooting happened -- a bullet passed through his shoulder -- he was
>>clearly in shock when we met -- 19 years old -- said he hadnt told his
>>parents yet -- said he had been at the barricade every night -- said he
>>was going back as soon as the wound closed -- absolutely
>>
>>just days before there was a delegation of senators visiting to determine
>>the ungovernability of the state -- they got a taste -- the call went out
>>to shut down the rest of the government -- dozens went walking out of the
>>zocalo city center with big sticks and a box full of spray paint -- they
>>took control of 3 city buses and went around the city all morning visiting
>>local government buildings and informing them that that they were closed
>>-- and we appreciate your voluntary cooperation -- and they filed out
>>preturbed but still getting paid -- shut -- as they pulled away from the
>>last stop 3
>>gunmen came out and started shooting -- 2 buses had already pulled away --
>>mayhem -- 10 minute battle with stones and slingshots and screaming -- one
>>headwound -- another through the leg -- made their way to the hospital
>>while the fighting continued -- shout out on the radio and people came
>>from all parts -- the gunmen were around the side of the building -- they
>>got away -- they were inside -- no one sure -- watchful -- undercover
>>police were reported lurking around the hospital and folks went running to
>>stand watch over the wounded
>>
>>what can you say about this movement -- this revolutionary moment -- you
>>know it is building, growing, shaping -- you can feel it -- trying
>>desperately for a direct democracy -- in november appo will have a state
>>wide conference for the formation of a state wide assemblea estatal del
>>pueblo de oaxaca (aepo) -- now there are 11 of 33 states in mexico that
>>have declared formation of assemblea populares like appo -- and on la otra
>>lado
>>in the usa a few -- the marines have returned to sea even though the
>>federal police who ravaged atenco remain close by -- the new encampment in
>>mexico has begun a hunger strike -- the senate can expell URO -- whats
>>next nobodies sure -- it is a point of light pressed through glass --
>>ready to
>>burn or show the way -- it is clear that this is more than a strike, more
>>than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition
>>of
>>fragments -- it is a genuine peoples revolt -- and after decades of pri
>>rule by bribe, fraud, and bullet the people are tired -- they call him the
>>tyrant
>>-- they talk of destroying this authoritarianism -- you cannot mistake the
>>whisper of the lancandon jungle in the streets -- in every street corner
>>deciding together to hold -- you see it their faces -- indigenous, women,
>>children -- so brave -- watchful at night -- proud and resolute
>>
>>went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who
>>came from an outlying district a half hour away -- went walking with angry
>>folk on their way to the morgue -- went inside and saw him -- havent seen
>>too many bodies in my life -- eats you up -- a stack of nameless corpes in
>>the corner -- about the number who had died -- no refrigeration -- the
>>smell -- they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out -- walked back
>>with him and his people
>>
>>and now alejandro waits in the zocalo -- like the others at their
>>plantones -- hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward,
>>a way out, a solution -- waiting for the earth to shift and open --
>>waiting for november when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the
>>dead and share food and drink and a song -- waiting for the plaza to turn
>>itself over to him and burst -- he will only wait until morning but
>>tonight he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back --
>>one more death -- one more martyr in a dirty war -- one more time to cry
>>and hurt -- one more time to know power and its ugly head -- one more
>>bullet cracks the night -- one more night at the barricades -- some keep
>>the fires -- others curl up and sleep -- but all of them are with him as
>>he rests one last night at his watch