Oaxaca Mega Marcha

Repost of my earlier report

I stayed at the university last night, November 4. There was an APPO assembly and afterwards some criticism of APPO in a small group. Several people said that they alwas get to say what they want at meetings, but that the leadership often passes over good ideas that come from others. We sat around outside the radio and drank Pepsi (see my last report). People had worked all day making shields, slings, barricades and getting gloves and goggles. The university is ready for another police attack. We went to sleep across the way from the radio.

An attack came at 6:20 in the morning. It was the same time as the attack two days ago. That time there was a long burst of gunfire, at the antena, and then it was over. This time there were shots at different times. People shouted and we all dove fro cover. "Los cohetes, los cohetes." But were were ill prepated to fire the large bottle rockets. Also there it is hard to know where the shots are coming from and people are scared. When things calmed down it was discovered that one of the guys standing guard at the gate had been shot in the abdomen. The Red Cross has a clinic in the next building. They loaded him into their ambulance and took him to the hospital. He was in critical condition. He has now been stablized.

Today was the 6th Mega Marcha. We gathered at the entrance to the city of Oaxaca at 10:00. There were tons of people. I stood with some punks, next to some Communists and just behind a group of indigenous women. There was a large contingent from mexico City that had just arrived on a caravan. There were all the groups in APPO, teachers, unions, social and indigenous groups. We marched for miles in the hot sun. It was good that the route was long since the march itself stretched for miles. At one point I stopped and watched it pass for an hour or so. There were hundreds of thousands of people. People were in high spirits and chanted the whole way. The march ended at Santo Domingo, the area that the teachers hang out every day. Some people went up to the cops and discovered that they had stretched barbed and razor wire acros the streets to stop us from getting to or past them. A few rocks were thrown and the cops shot back with slingshots. Some people shouted not to provoke the cops and everyone headed to Santo Domingo. The marchers dispersed. Many of those from mexico City will stay for a little while.