NorCal Zapatista Solidarity With Oaxaca!

Given the current crisis in Oaxaca, there are several Zapatista solidarity groups in the northern Sacramento Valley and coastal region, maybe there could be some possible actions and networking for fundraising for a potential future Zapatour in NorCal..

Anyone who resides in the rural far north of CA need not feel there is nothing for them to do to show solidarity with the people of Oaxaca. There are several organizations in NorCal who are working together with the Zapatistas to apply local pressure to thier government and to inform the public of issues about globalization through edutainment events..

Getting organized in rural regions of CA is also needed to network with people in different towns. This could help with doing tours and finding hosts for edutainment events. For crisis protests in response to recent events in Oaxaca, Atenco, etc.., a network of solidarity actions could take place in bottleneck locations throughout the rural north, using the information superhighway of trucks & transit for amplification of our voices..

Direct action is needed to prevent the military violence directed against the people of Oaxaca. Solidarity with the people of Oaxaca means placing our physical bodies in the middle of the street if needed, demanding that the police violence in Oaxaca is ended immediately!!

People in three different cities throughout the NorCal region could use their bodies to non-violently blockade several bottleneck intersections throughout their locale. Some suggestions are 99, 101, bridges, etc.. Signs and messages of demands that the police violence in Oaxaca stop immediately of NorCal gets shut down tambien!!

Laying down and stopping traffic requires extreme safety measures, people on the sidelines watching, stopping traffic and providing water, food and possible medical support to people in the roadway..

This could possibly involve arrest, through a quick rise-up and relocation to different intersection could extend the time. This is similar to symbolic die-in taking place in downtown Chico last year. Since this is also Dia de Los Muertos, some symbolism of the dead returning to walk with the living could be added into the protest..

Since police are aware of imc, letting them know of your plans after the fact is easier than waiting for the media and police to appear earlier than protesters, time and location TBA usually leaves it abstract enough to avoid the police presence at any one location..

Not everyone is willing or able to risk arrest, there are many other actions and even fun events than can show solidarity with the Zapatista's and lift the corporate media's veil of ignorance that keeps people feeling helpless an unaware in these situations. Street theatre performances along busy streets use humor and acting to explain stories to onlookers. Military solutions are not the answer in Oaxaca, people in the US can actively participate in prevention of the poverty and inequality in Oaxaca by protesting the government's that enable this violence to occur..

Chico region Zapatista Solidarity;
http://www.szsfront.org/

North Coast region Zapatista Solidarity;
http://www.humboldt.edu/~mc92/accionzapatista/welcome.html

Sacramento Zapatista Solidarity;
http://www.sacleft.org/Monthly.htm

Security Culture Message- (The people at the above addresses are unaware of the plans for any 'lockdown' or 'die-in' at various highway locations, this posting is from an individual attempting to inspire the possibility of a NorCal Zapatour sometime in the near future, possible visit to Klamath River. The idea of a NorCal crisis response team to any future police violence in Oaxaca, Atenco or elsewhere could try different tactics during solidarity events to apply pressure to local media and increase public awareness in a region caught in the corporate media's chokehold.)

With the police violence crisis in Oaxaca being of immediate concern, some solidarity action could be organized between the regions. This enables a possible action for people who cannot transport themselves to the nearest Mexican consulate yet still wish to show solidarity. Any police, FBI, Homeland Security attempts to extract info from these student activists about plans for future protest actions will fail as this author operates independently and is unknown to them.)

Author encourages any autonomous cells engaging in solidarity accions with Oaxaca (Nov 1, Dia de los Muertos) to use every possible means to remain non-violent. No accion done in solidarity with the people of Oaxaca is "too small", the voice of your heart roars with even the slightest attempt..

info on roadblock; Nov. 1st, general strike; Nov 20th;
http://www.narconews.com/

The uprising in Oaxaca remains non-violent, the only violence is committed by police and/or military thugs. The people of Oaxaca under siege are remaining peaceful..

Other future needs for the NorCal region is CIW/IWW organizing of farmworkers throughout the industrial agriculture fields of the Sacramento Valley. Combine this with the routine pesticide exposure of farmworkers, then solidarity between 'no-spray' small farm landowners and iww/ciw organized farmworker collectives could be a needed improvement to the current dominating union-busting industrial agriculture corporations and the corruption of certain elected officials within the UFW. Cesar Chavez's spirit may be shocked to discover the state of the UFW on his yearly visit Dia de Los Muertos..

There are other alternatives to trade union heirarchies like UFW that appeal to the spirit of resistence with consensus and autonomy, ie., Zapatismo. In Florida the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has organized to improve farmworker's living conditions by boicotting corporations like "Ag-Mart" and other suppliers of McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc.. The CIW and IWW organizers are needed in the Sacramento Valley also;

"The CIW's Anti-Slavery Campaign is a worker-based approach to eliminating modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry. The CIW helps fight this crime by uncovering, investigating, and assisting in the federal prosecution of slavery rings preying on hundreds of farmworkers. In such situations, captive workers are held against their will by their employers through threats and, all too often, the actual use of violence -- including beatings, shootings, and pistol-whippings. Below are just three examples of multi-worker, multi-state slavery rings which the CIW has helped eliminate in the past few years:"

see slavery rings @;
http://www.ciw-online.org/slavery.html

Other desires include community campesino garden collectives similar to the southcentral farm of la on the edges of NorCal town/cities like Woodland. Instead of building Natomas-style sprawl McMansions in the floodplain soils of Woodland's outskirts, why not encourage biyearly seasonal community gardens that benefit from flooding's topsoil deposition..

What farmworkers and rural valley residents want may not be as different as their language. Both groups want safe, healthy homes and food without pesticide exposure and resulting cancers. Dust, smog and high summer temps, polluted water and other side effects of industrial agriculture are also unwanted burdens effecting farmworkers directly, residents secondarily. The abuse of farmworkers bodies and spirits can be ended if industrial agriculture is phased out and replaced by a campesino collectivo that stretches across cultural and linguistic barriers and embraces the human spirit as connected with Madre Tierra, the land that provides our food, shelter and water cannot be farmed for profits of industrial agribusiness, instead needs to be farmed with needs of derechos humanos (human rights), Madre Tierra (healthy ecosystem) and divine "WE-self" (human and community health ALLways placed above corporate profits) in mind..

The community campesino collectives can reclaim farmland (Madre Tierra) from the abuses of industrial agriculture (as the petrochemical pesticides destroy the bodies of children, mothers, etc.., so they destroy the body of our Madre Tierra) and practice permaculture biodiversity of interstoried crops, fruit/nut trees, acorn oaks, interspersed wetlands/rice fields and long-term restoration the Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley's ecosystem as if Madre Tierra's health mattered..

"Until just recently most of the CIW’s closest labor allies were anarchist/syndicalist-influenced organizations like the United Workers Association, which organizes day laborers in Baltimore, and the Worker Solidarity Alliance in New York. These alliances seemed to be based upon a combination of several factors: (1) the anarchist organizations are small, easy to reach, and eager to build alliances; (2) CIW staff have little direct experience with U.S. trade unions; and, (3) the CIW’s ideological roots are in Zapatismo (many CIW workers come from southern Mexico)."

entire article @;
http://www.iww.org/en/node/1583