Zapatistas Reiterate Support for Striking Teachers

[TheDemSocialist]

Mexico’s Zapatistas stood behind the striking CNTE teachers whose blockade was attacked Wednesday by a masked group of paramilitaries.http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/v/zap...

Video @: Zapatistas Reiterate Support for Striking Teachers

 

[Van Basten]

They're still around? Shame.

 

[dimensionallava]

They're still around? Shame.

who the mexican government? yeah its a shame....

oh you mean the zapatistas yeah theyre still there

Today the rebellion remains a work in progress. Having established complete political and economic autonomy, the Zapatistas govern and police their own communities across five regions of Chiapas. Relations with the state remain strained, and Zapatistas complain of regular harassment by the military and paramilitary forces that surround their territory.

Although wary of outsiders and especially the media, the Zapatistas sometimes allow sympathisers and even curious tourists to visit Oventic, a tranquil community in the pine-clad highlands. If allowed entrance by the masked but unarmed guards, visitors may be allowed to speak with the governing council, buy local produce and view a school where children are taught in both Spanish and their native Tzotzil language. Guests who become ill are cared for at the Zapatista-run clinic.

Life in Oventic may appear idyllic, but a visit to nearby Magdalena de la Paz, whose inhabitants live on a basic diet of beans and tortillas, shows poverty remains a real problem. The Zapatistas reject all government handouts, but rely on aid from sympathisers and are vulnerable to "the economic pressures that push the poor from all over Mexico into migrating to the cities", said John Holloway, a professor of sociology at the Autonomous University of Puebla.

With Marcos having kept a low profile in recent years, speculation has mounted that the Zapatistas are a spent force. Mexican journalist Jose Gil Olmos told Al Jazeera they have "stagnated" and "fallen into a natural decline".

Their most recent initiatives, such as a 2006 campaign to unite disaffected groups across the country, "have not had the same impact, at least in Mexico, because the national agenda has changed and there are a much wider number of concerns now", Olmos said. With the drug war and an underperforming economy, the primary concerns of most Mexicans, "the Zapatistas are no longer a priority", he added.

But the Zapatistas remain popular at the local level, as was demonstrated in December 2012, when some 40,000 supporters marched in silence across Chiapas. Supporters say the movement has restored a sense of pride in the area, saying the Zapatistas have empowered women by passing a law prohibiting forced marriage or any form of sexual discrimination, and have kept their communities free from violence and addiction by outlawing drugs and alcohol.

Are Mexico's Zapatista rebels still relevant? - Al Jazeera English

 

[Cryptic]

They're still around? Shame.

Yes, they are still around, but only in shadow form. Last year, a narco mayor ordered 40 leftist student teachers arrested and turned over to the local cartel. All forty were then executed with total impunity. Lets hope these striking teachers don't anger the cartels.

In contrast, the Columbian leftists were strong enough to charge the Columbian cartels rent on everything as well as protection money.

 

[Van Basten]

Yes, they are still around, but only in shadow form. Last year, a narco mayor ordered 40 leftist student teachers arrested and turned over to the local cartel. All forty were then executed with total impunity. Lets hope these striking teachers don't anger the cartels.

I remember that, absolutely disgusting.

oh you mean the zapatistas yeah theyre still there


Are Mexico's Zapatista rebels still relevant? - Al Jazeera English

Shame, the clown show continues.

 

[Cryptic]

I remember that, absolutely disgusting.

I agree, and the crime really shows to what extent Mexico is no longer functioning as a nation as far as internal policy goes, rather, it has become a collection of narco mini states.

 

[Patrickt]

The Zapatistas are mostly a group that collects funds from suckers in the U.S. They might be the only ones supporting the teachers union. I support the children, I support the teachers, but I do not support the union.

My nephew is a school teacher and he was just fined $5,500 pesos for not being sufficiently active as a thug. He often doesn't get paid for teaching because teaching is secondary to being a thug for the union.

The only people I meet in Oaxaca who actually support the union are American tourists, usually from California. I don't meet anyone who supports the Zapatistas but some old American women have the hots for Marcos--all of the Marcoses.

 

[Patrickt]

Just an update. My nephew got a phone call late last night from the boss of the teachers union in Tlacalula. He demanded that my nephew meet him for drinks. My nephew said he was obviously already drunk. My nephew said he didn't drink and wouldn't meet the thug. He was told he was fired and was no longer a teacher. Well, the union has to have standards.

Another friend recently had to go to Juchitan on family business. It's usually a six-hour bus ride but because the the union thugs it took ten hours, involved two buses, a collectivo, and walking. When she got to Juchitan her family was surprised. They expected she would bring basic foods that they can't get because of the blockades set up by the extortionists. Cooking gas, cooking oil, beans, rice, salt, milk, and all foodstuffs that come into down on the highways all are in short supply. Items like soap and toilet paper disappeared weeks ago.

Gotta love the leftists and the criminals.
Like the U.S., the teachers unions and the government are criminal associates.

 

[Patrickt]

And, another update since this is such a hot topic.

Today, August 8, was a general strike in the city of Oaxaca. Many businesses closed, banks closed, and protest signs were displayed. In general, they were demanding that the government restore social and economic peace. Everyone I met on the street wants the government to do whatever they need to do to stop the nonsense.

 

[dimensionallava]

And, another update since this is such a hot topic.

Today, August 8, was a general strike in the city of Oaxaca. Many businesses closed, banks closed, and protest signs were displayed. In general, they were demanding that the government restore social and economic peace. Everyone I met on the street wants the government to do whatever they need to do to stop the nonsense.

your opinions are ridiculously ignorant and uninformed

 

[Patrickt]

your opinions are ridiculously ignorant and uninformed

You write well for a fool. It's a shame facts to guide your opinions instead of being guided by a failed ideology.

During the disastrous days of 2006, we had a lot of communist tourists from the U.S. They came here for three or four days for the "revolution", had their fun, gave the thugs money, and ran back home before they could get hurt.

The conflict was triggered by the teachers' union and then other thugs joined in. When people asked me which side was right my response was simply, "It's a mob of pigs fighting over who will be at the trough."

My philosophy is that people are basically good and organizations aren't. Governments, in power or wanting to be in power, are the worst and the corrupt foolish people.

 

[Patrickt]

Here's a few facts that leftists hate.

The "student teachers" were in fact Normalistas. That would be young people who bought, or are buying, a teachers job. That in no way justifies their killing but when my nephew was a Normalista, which I paid for, the teachers' union wasn't interested in motivation or qualifications. No, for the union, if the money is there, they do not care.

The dream, of course, is to advance to "aviador". Those are teachers who don't even have to show up and still collect a paycheck 13 months a year. A friend of mine has three aunts who are aviadores. The aunts don't speak Spanish, can't read or write in any language, never attended a day of school, but now they're teachers and get the paycheck, use that excellent health facilities just for teachers, and will some day get a teacher's pension. And, all they have to do is kick back half their pay to the thug who made them teachers.

Now, why would someone want to buy a teacher's job. Well, they work four-hour days for less than 110 days a year. For the leftists, that means they work less than fifty-five normal work days a year and collect a paycheck for thirteen months of the year. Not bad. A taxi driver told me he was really a teacher. I laughed and said, "No, you spend a lot more time driving a taxi than you do teaching so you're a taxi driver who gets paid to be a teacher." He laughed.

The State of Oaxaca and the State of Utah have similar populations but Utah has around 25,000 teachers and Oaxaca has around 85,000. Gee, I wonder why that is? Do schools in Oaxaca have 10 students in a class. Not hardly. Well, what can it possibly be?

People have reached the point where they've had enough of the teachers' union and their accomplices in the government. ¡Ya Basta! Enough already!

But, believe me, the teachers' union, APPO, the Zapotistas sincerely appreciate the money suckers from the U.S. give them. Beats the hell out of working.