On October 27th, activists in several cities around the US and the Americas gathered in front of Mexican consulates to call for justice in the case of slain indymedia journalist Brad Will, who was killed in Oaxaca, Mexico on October 27, 2006, while filming the people’s uprising. The protests marked the anniversary of Brad’s death, as well as the recent arrests of Brad’s friends and comrades for his murder, in direct contradiction to forensic evidence, video evidence, eyewitness reports and the Mexican government’s own Human Rights Commission report.
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National call to action for the weeks around October 27 – the anniversary of the invasion of Oaxaca
October 23rd, 2008 – Solidarity Without Borders – NYC writes: In recent days, there has been an escalation of state repression in Oaxaca specifically directed at our companer@s in the APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca/Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca), CIPO-RFM (Consejo Indigena de Popular de Oaxaca-Ricardo Flores Magon/Council of Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca) and other organizations of resistance.
Last Thursday, the Mexican state arrested Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, an activist with the APPO, outrageously charging him as the author of Brad Will’s murder, and fellow activist Octavio Perez Perez for covering up the crime. There is video evidence that agents of the state, affiliated with Governor Ruiz Ortiz, are responsible for this killing and the killing of many other activists in the fall of 2006 during the popular uprising.
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By John Gibler from the October 20th, 2008 issue of The Indypendent
On October 27, 2006, Brad Will stood on Juarez Avenue in the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca, Mexico. He was filming a violent clash between armed, civilian-clad municipal police and officials and members of the Oaxaca Peoples’ Popular Assembly, or APPO.
Brad, a longtime New York City activist and independent journalist, traveled to Oaxaca in early October 2006 to report on the protest movement led by the state teachers union that sought to oust governor Ulises Ruiz of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which had ruled Oaxaca with an iron fist for almost 80 years.
Brad stood amid the APPO protesters and other journalists, filming down the length of Juarez Avenue where armed officials were firing at the protesters. Brad was shot and fell to the ground, his camera still running, having recorded the sound of the shot that hit him. Brad was shot from straight on, just below the chest, and yet his killer does not appear in the camera frame at the moment of the gunshot. Brad died on the way to the hospital. He had been shot twice.
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Press Release, 10/20/08
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Melissa Mundt melissajmundt(at)gmail.com
Rachel Wallis, rachel.a.wallis(at)gmail.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Monday, Oct. 20: Days after Mexican authorities arrested two activists for the murder of independent journalist Brad Will, Mexican photographer and witness to the murder, Gustavo Vilchis, denounces the arrests as politically motivated. Vilchis, along with human rights organizations and members of the media, argue that plainclothes police officers and a local elected official are responsible for Will’s murder.
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October 16th, 2008 – AWK writes: For almost two months, the teachers union in the Mexican state of Morelos rose up against the “Alliance for Quality Education”, a neo-liberal plan akin to “No Child Left Behind” that would pave the way to the privatization of education, among other things.
They were supported by the people of Morelos in their marches, encampments in public plazas, and blockades of interstate highways. On Oct. 7, 8, and 9, the army and state and federal police were sent in to brutally smash the movement. This model is a mirror of the crackdown that occurred in Oaxaca in 2006 and has enraged teachers and the public across Mexico.
There is little to no information in English about the situation in Morelos, but there are photos that don’t require translation. These are some that have been widely sent around. Please continue sending them around and spreading the word of the Morelos rebellion – which may have been brutally repressed but has not been extinguished.
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