La Sexta Megamarcha en Oaxaca: A Mega Million Take to the Streets in Peace

The streets were filled yesterday--estimates have ranged between 80,000 and 1.5 Million--as the megamarcha brought people out of their homes and into the streets: young and old, rural and city, light skinned and dark skinned, APPO organizers and casual supporters, teachers and students. The call went out on the radio and through the assemblies of teachers; a caravan from D.F. brought busloads of supporters from UNAM and Atenco, from the protests, blockades, and negotiations taking place in the capital. As the march wound down the hill from the Juarez statue, people lining the streets joined the march, families poured out of their homes lining the route, business owners waved, cheered, and applauded.

This is not to say that 100% of the people of Oaxaca City support the continuing protests, marches, and blockades. There are those who would rather see the PFP put an end to all of this by any means necessary. But the numbers were overwhelming, and from the fotos below you´ll see the diversity of the participants. After watching Sunday´s MegaMarch, it´s hard to say that there aren´t a huge number of Oaxacans prepared to take to the streets despite the occupation, that there´s a ´small group´ of ´radicals´ who control ´one little street in Oaxaca City´ (to paraphrase ex-governor Ulises Ruiz). It was overwhelming. Not since marching through LA´s garment district at the 2000 DNC have I felt such obvious support from passersby and workers, from neighbors in windows, waving families and shopkeepers.

Other observations: I didn´t get the foto, but I did see a man who had left the march hand a video camera bag to a PFP agent, presumably after filming the march. A strange glider-shaped and almost silent airplane flew over the march relatively low--it has been circling the city since the ´govern´ment announced it was suspending fly-overs by helicopters. The march entered the city center, greeted by PFP lines reinforced by crisscrossed razor wire, penning the troops in behind a dumpster, a burned bus, and other obstacles. The huge march was directed away from the central Zòcalo by APPO organizers. In the interest of demonstrating overwhelming community support and non-violent resistance, marchers headed to the `new Zòcalo,´ Plaza Santo Domingo.

Most of the fotos were taken early in the march just outside of Canal 9, the state-run TV station and media complex taken over August 1st by local women who were evicted from their blockade earlier this week by the PFP. I watched almost the entire march pass from the one spot, and I´d easily agree to a million or more marchers.
A video is attached as well, 50 seconds and low quality, showing the march from the Cathedral of Soledad.