Greetings CASA Friends!

This month, you may have the opportunity to see CASA in action! Our book, Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca, is touring the U.S. and Canada with Mexican guest speakers Gustavo Vilchis and Silvia Hernandez and CASA activists and interpreters Melissa Mundt and Chris Thomas. To pre-order the book online, click here.

The Teaching Rebellion speaker tour aims to foster dialogue among activists from Oaxaca and the U.S. around organizing strategies and movement building utilizing the experience of Oaxacan organizers who brought together labor, indigenous, women’s, youth and neighborhood organizations to build a powerful movement for democracy and accountability.

Between October 11 and November 25, the tour will be in L.A., San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Portland, Berkeley, Davis, Seattle, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Toledo, Oberlin, Cleveland, Providence, New Haven, Brattleboro, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Montreal. Click here for a complete tour schedule. And keep checking it as we continue to confirm more events!

“Once you learn to speak, you don’t want to be quiet anymore.”  Alfredo Land, indigenous community radio activist.

A Sneak Preview…the back of the book:

In 2006, Oaxaca, Mexico came alive with a broad and diverse movement that captivated the nation and inspired communities organizing for social justice around the world. Fueled by long ignored social contradictions, what began as a teachers' strike demanding more resources for education quickly turned into a massive movement that demanded direct, participatory democracy. Hundreds of thousands of Oaxacans raised their voices against the abuses of the state government. They participated in marches of up to 800,000 people, planned strategy over the barricades, occupied government buildings, took over radio stations, held sit-ins, and reclaimed spaces for public art and altars for assassinated activists.

In the now legendary March of Pots and Pans, two thousand women peacefully took over and operated the state television channel for three weeks. All this despite the fierce repression that the movement faced—with hundreds arbitrarily detained, tortured, forced into hiding, or murdered by government forces and paramilitary death squads. And the Oaxacan people are still determined to make their voices heard.

Accompanied by photography and political art, Teaching Rebellion is a compilation of testimonies from longtime organizers, teachers, students, housewives, religious leaders, union members, schoolchildren, indigenous community activists, artists and journalists—and many others who participated in what became the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca. This is a chance to listen directly to those living and driving one of the most important social uprisings of the 21st century.

Reviews

"These remarkable people tell us of the historic teachers' struggle for justice in Oaxaca, Mexico, and of the larger, hemispheric battle of all Indigenous people to end five hundred years of racism and repression." Jennifer Harbury, author of Truth, Torture and the American Way

"During their marches and protests, whenever the Oaxaca rebels sighted a reporter, they would chant: "Press, if you have any dignity, the people of Oaxaca demand that you tell the truth." Teaching Rebellion answers that demand, with ample dignity, providing excellent context to understand the 2006 uprising and extensive and eloquent interviews with the participants themselves; an amazing read and an important contribution to the literature of contemporary rebellion." John Gibler, author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt

"Teaching Rebellion presents an inspiring tapestry of voices from the recent popular uprisings in Oaxaca. The reader is embraced with the cries of anguish and triumph, indignation and overwhelming joy, from the heart of this living rebellion." Peter Gelderloos, author of How Nonviolence Protects the State

Click here for Peter Gelderloos’ complete review.

Speaker Bios

Gustavo Vilchis, a native of neighboring state of Guerrero arrived in Oaxaca as an independent photographer, seeking to cover the people's resistance and provide coverage alternative to that offered by the commercial media. He has collaborated extensively with the Liga Mexicana de Derechos Humanos (Mexican League of Human Rights). Many of his photographs and his testimony are featured in the book.

Silvia Hernández, a sociology student active in the barricades and in the defense of Radio Universidad when it was under attack by state police, continues to actively organize for autonomous spaces and alternatives to the state's neo-liberal development plans. She was arrested on July 16, 2007 when the Oaxacan social movement sought to occupy the Guelaguetza auditorium to carry out the traditional Guelaguetza festival, and spent nearly a month as a political prisoner. She belongs to VOCAL— Voces Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty).

Melissa Mundt coordinated CASA Chiapas from 2004-2006 and laid the groundwork for CASA Oaxaca. She now works for Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project providing legal services to detained immigrants in Arizona.

Chris Thomas spent two years collaborating with groups working in the Zapatista autonomous school system, developing teaching materials and working to reinforce the ongoing development of community educators in the region. He coordinated CASA Chiapas from 2006-2007 and can generally be found somewhere between New York and Mexico.

The need for cross-border solidarity is urgent. For information on Plan Mexico and reflections on Mexico’s southern border, check out Kristin Bricker’s Plan Mexico Spending Released and The Construction of the Southern Border by Juliana Morris.

For more information about the work of CASA in general, read From Scarcity to Abundance: Stories from the streets of Oaxaca. by Joel Love, Friends of the Earth activist from Australia.

Our hearts are with the friends and family of Marcela Sali Grace, a well-loved activist and dance teacher in Oaxaca who was brutally murdered on September 23^rd. One of Sali’s causes was for the freedom and self-defense of women, and her death reminds us of the rampant, unchecked violence against women everywhere that we must continue to struggle against.

In Solidarity,

The CASA Collectives

Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico