ONTARIO TEACHERS UNION Protests Across Mexico and the World Demand Return of 43 Disappeared Student-Teachers Paul Bocking (Occasional Teacher D12 and a member of the CPAC) A new crisis is unfolding in Mexico. In a horrific collision of vibrant movements of students and teachers fighting for a more just public education system, and powerful drug cartels increasingly embedded in many state and municipal governments, and even the federal government itself, 43 student-teachers were abducted in the rural state of Guerrero, southwest of Mexico City. The violence has been described as “a direct attack on the Normal College students” by Mexico’s National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers, which identified a grisly shared interest between authorities in Guerrero and the drug cartels in suppressing the strong and combative student and teachers’ movements in the state. On the evening of September 26th, student teachers from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college, famous in Mexico for creating generations of activist teachers, were demonstrating in the nearby town of Iguala against a perceived bias in the state’s hiring practices that favoured urban over rural teachers. The rally was also occurring in the context of months of demonstrations by Mexico’s teachers’ movement against education legislation that replaced holding a university degree in education with passing a standardized multiple choice exam, as the primary assessment of pedagogical competency for teacher hiring. Many activist teachers believed the policy was partially motivated by an interest of the Mexican government in closing rural teacher colleges like Ayotzinapa, which have historically trained youth from poor backgrounds, who radicalized in the process, become future leaders of the teachers’ movement. As the student-teachers rode back to their college, local police surrounded their buses and opened fire, killing several students and detaining the rest. These 43 students have not reappeared. The subsequent search by their colleagues, human rights activists, teachers and local residents has since revealed dozens of mass graves across the state believed to be used by drug cartels. Mexico’s Attorney General claims one grave holds the remains of the students. However an independent forensic team from Argentina says no DNA matches were made, and asserts that the site was tampered with by members of the local police found to be connected to the disappearance. The local mayor of Iguala and his wife, a former police chief, accused of ordering the attacks, have been arrested along with dozens of local police and drug cartel members who were found to have worked together in the initial attack and disappearance. The Mexican government’s claims to have apprehended the principal perpetrators behind the disappearances are not accepted by a growing movement in Mexico that accuses the federal government, which waited 10 days before launching an investigation, of complicity in the student abductions. Many point to the consistently violent role of the military in Guerrero, which oversees police in the state. The attack occurred less than a hundred metres from the army barracks in Iguala. Students from another rural teachers’ college in Guerrero demonstrating two months later for the reappearance of their colleagues were surrounded by soldiers and threatened with death if their protests continued. OSSTF/FEESO President Paul Elliot joined the BC Teachers Federation and the American Federation of Teachers in writing to Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, calling for justice for the disappeared. Marches led by teachers and university students across Mexico have gathered hundreds of thousands of supporters, while Guerrero’s teachers and local allies have occupied city halls across the state, calling for the return of the students and prosecution of those responsible. Rallies have also been held at Mexican consulates and embassies around the world. Few people are optimistic that a breakthrough will be made anytime soon against the systemic structures of violence and corruption described by many as a ‘narco state’ encompassing much of the country. However a flippant remark by Mexico’s attorney general as he abruptly ended a press conference on the disappearances, “Ya me cansé” (Enough, I’m tired) has become a popular rallying cry that has turned its meaning from resignation, to resolution to fight for a more just country.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 19:43:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015