We call on the Head of Government Marcelo Ebrard to stop criminalizing youth who aspire to and struggle for a more just world; they are singled out just because of the way they think, dress and protest. We stand against this bad capital city government which holds hostages such as Víctor Herrera Govea, showing that it is not much different than the PRI or PAN governments when it jails youth who live in this city of “hope”; evicts poor vendors; grabs the lands of the last peasants remaining in the Federal District and of the residents of neighborhoods and towns where the government is carrying out its tourist projects, highways, and metro lines; and looks down on and represses sex workers.

We proclaim that in this “City of Hope” those at the bottom are not able to aspire to live, to work with dignity, to protect the earth, to commemorate struggles and to travel freely without being exploited, looked down on, repressed, evicted and – like Víctor – unjustly imprisoned.

In view of the above, we demand that the Attorney General of the Federal District order the Public Prosecutor to conclude that there are no charges against Víctor Herrera Govea, as the police who accused him gave false, contradictory and unsustainable statements; there is no evidence of the crimes of which they accuse him, seeing as that he didn’t commit any.

The family members, friends and comrades of Víctor have always maintained his complete innocence. At this moment, Víctor is the only political prisoner from the Other Campaign in the Federal District. Víctor is innocent, just like the indigenous Cucapá comrades from Baja California, the comrades from Campeche who are resisting the high electricity fees and the comrades from Atenco, all of whom were prisoners from the Other Campaign recently freed after proving their complete innocence.

We demand a public audience with the Head of the Government and the authorities responsible for procuring (in)justice to oblige them to recognize that, just as there was no legitimate case against our comrades from Atenco, to be young, to protest and to commemorate October 2 is not a crime.

Committee for the Freedom of Víctor Herrera Govea

———————————————
A group of seven comrades from the Committee for the Freedom of Víctor Herrera Govea and supporting organizations entered and were received by employees of the Attorney General’s Office, among them the Assistant Trial Prosecutor Dr. Martha Laura Almaraz Domínguez and the Principal Coordinator of Counselors Manuel Granados Covarrubias with whom we raised the issue of the more than nine-month unjust imprisonment that our comrade Víctor has suffered. We noted that he is a political prisoner , locked up due to orders sent down from on high, as his detention was carried out in minutes and the order that he be held in prison was given within a few hours without any kind of evidence of the crimes of which he is accused (robbery and property damage). We demanded that the Attorney General order the Public Prosecutor to drop the charges, as they don’t have any kind of evidence to keep Víctor kidnapped, and finally, the Committee delivered a letter addressed to the Attorney General which we attach below. They responded that they are government employees with roots in social and democratic processes, and further that they respect social movements. They denied acting on orders from higher-ups and finished by saying that we shouldn’t doubt that if they find that the charges contain irregularities, by August 5 or sooner, they will acknowledge Víctor’s innocence. We will remain vigilant to the end, as to be young, to protest and the commemorate October 2 is not a crime.

The militarization leads to social-control practices which have nothing to envy from those used by the dictatorships of the 70′s: from video cameras to torture chambers, via disappearances and massacres, the regime uses all its resources to establish new conditions for slavery. In addition to the barbarism of the beheaded, the “wrapped” (encobijados), those cooked in soup (“pozoleados”) and other expressions of savagery which the media use to feed the social fear, we find the technology of electronic espionage (phones and internet) as well as the offers for mercenary imports which “will accomplish” the extermination of the criminals. This is how fear and silence appear as the “magical recipes” (extracted from the manuals for psychological warfare) for habituating the media to censoring itself, managing to also desensitize the population towards state and paramilitary-driven violence against social movements.

It might sound exaggerated to talk about “new slavery”, but it is the wager of those in power: the big national and foreign businessmen, the US government and the Mexican promoters of neo- liberalism are determined to take down every obstacle which prevents them from increasing their profit and their control over the country. It’s all about taking over the natural wealth of the country and exploiting the Mexican workers even more. There are examples to spare. Let’s take a look at the extent of the landlord, boss and politician offensive against the whole population:

1. Militarization. Albeit there has never been a “Rule of Law” in Mexico, today we see the armed forces applying the “Rule of the Strongest” throughout the whole country. The army and it’s blue version, the federal police, are already the only pillar holding up the neoliberal project in Mexico. The sinking of key institutions such as the Powers of the Union and the education and public health systems, together with the intense economical crisis unleashed in 2008, have lead to the “heavy hand” as the one and only proposal from the politicians, irrespectively of their political inclinations eg. Felipe Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto and Marcelo Ebrard. From Chihuahua to Chiapas, from the “News Divine” to San Juan Copala, the military boots occupy, pester, torture and kill the people living in the territories they are looking to control. The supposed “combat against drug trafficking” is the excuse for entering states like Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas and criminalizing social movements that try to defend their territories, by labeling them as “guerrilla cover-ups” and through this, justify the imposition of the “Law of the club”.

2. Extinction of social rights. As a byproduct of the unfinished 1910 revolution, Mexico has minimum limits to avoid the exploitation of workers and the giving away of the country to foreigners. These are the last obstacles that the present offense is trying to remove. It’s trying to stop us from speaking of the catastrophic situation of the national education, the electrical power service, the devastation of the Mexican farmlands or about the privatization of water and all the rights which are being destroyed after decades of fighting to establish them. No one forgets that the Zapatista uprising was the result of the counter reform to the 27th article of the Constitution. Today we are living through the privatization of the electrical energy system by the liquidation of the state owned companies and the brutal and illegal blow against the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME). Along with this, we see a growing transgenic threat endangering our native seeds. Education is suffering from budget asphyxiation represented by the drama of millions of youths who can’t find work nor available places in schools. Nothing better can be said about social security, since pensions have entered the game of financial speculation through the AFORES and both hospitals and clinics are being dismantled and have to endure the daily lack of medicines and other resources. To top it all, on April 2010, the right winged party, the PAN, proposed a counter reform to the Federal Labor Law which intends to destroy the basic rights of the workers such as the collective bargaining agreement, labor stability, length of the work day and even the basic right to receive payment for working.

3. Giving away of the country to big money owners. The ongoing war has one main objective: to have the great money owners exploit the abundant wealth of the country. Who is benefited by the Monsanto Law and the permits to grow genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Mexican land? The answer is no secret: Monsanto, Cargill, Syngenta, etc. Who gets profit from the extinction of “Luz y Fuerza”? Iberdrola, AES, Mitsubishi, etc. And we could go on the same way referring to the mining industry, wind energy, infrastructure, the financial sector, etc., where multinationals from all around the world are benefited from the open attitude of Felipe Calderon’s presidency to “attract investors”. A special mention must be given to the “national barons” lead by Carlos Slim, who have managed to take over an important “slice of the cake”. The fact that Slim is the richest man in the world shouldn’t obscure the millionaire deals of the Zambranos (owners of CEMEX), the Azcárragas (owners of Televisa), the Hernández (owners of Maseca) and tutti gli altri. While this bunch of thieves pays for their royal-style of life, 50 million Mexicans live in poverty and hundreds of thousands migrate north in search for a better life, only to find death in the hands of the border patrol (the migra), the desert or the migrant hunters.

4. Gringos to the rescue. Like never before, Felipe Calderon’s government has abandoned the country to the hands of the United States government and army. Mexico is becoming an American protectorate. The crucial decisions are tutored by our “generous” neighbors which freehandedly give away dollars and weapons, increasing their influence on the reality of the country. In 2010 only, the joint execution of military maneuvers, the visit of a military delegation lead by the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the order to remove the army from Ciudad Juárez, issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, are three examples of who is in control of the country. The Mexican government has completely subdued itself to the demands of the gringos which can be synthesized in the “Mérida Initiative” and the recent intentions to implement a Mexican version of the “Colombia Plan”. The military aid (weapons, resources, training) will be complemented with the direct action of US soldiers and mercenaries in our country, enjoying of course, of full impunity.

Facing this scenario, the mass misinforming media play a key role. It’s never excessive to be reminded of the participation of the commercial media in numerous destabilizing campaigns in many parts of the world, for example “El Mercurio” in Chile working against Salvador Allende’s government, “The Daily Gleaner” in Jamaica against Michael Manley’s government, “La Prensa” in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas, the right winged media in Venezuela against Hugo Chávez’s government and the TV networks in Honduras against Manuel Zelaya’s government. The “coverage” of the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq deserve special mention since it demonstrates the propagandistic operation with which the great misinforming networks of the United States, especially Fox News, dedicated themselves to “create the enemy” which Baby Bush needed to justify sticking his finger in the Middle East. In the same manner, the “Inter-American Press Society (SIP)” and the “National Endowment for Democracy (NED)” are media-intervention instruments for the CIA in Latin America. These are all examples of the central role of the media in the social domination scheme that we presently suffer.

Mexico has worked as a first class laboratory to experiment with social control techniques through mass media. The modus operandi of these actors was formulated back in the days of Díaz Ordaz. In the National General Archive of Mexico, we can find an official government document of the 60′s which states: “Through the action of political propaganda we can conceive of a world dominated by an invisible tyranny which adopts the form of a democratic government”. These are nearly 50 year-old words which unfortunately haven’t lost their validity. Conditioning and manipulation are the old but effective recipes used by the commercial media to keep us still and quiet while the country falls apart. And this control apparatus isn’t limited to times of crisis, it functions over our daily life. Misinforming-mass media, model our lives through their messages: they dictate codes of behavior, they tell us what, when and how to do things, they establish hierarchies of the acceptable, of the “good” and the “bad”, they elevate or bring down personalities, etc. In the field of social action, commercial media behave like mercenary armies at the service of the best bidder and as efficient guardians of the established order. The “strategic thinking” of mass media is guided by techniques to manipulate the so called “public opinion”. It couldn’t be any other way when we know that behind the presumed “objectivity” of communicators, lie the threads of power weaved into solid nets. For example, we have the owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates as an important stockholder of Televisa while Carlos Slim is one of the owners of The New York Times.

In the past 20 years, politicians and media owners have established a strategic alliance for mutual benefit: the control of the population by the media, which allows thieves and murderers to govern the country, is rewarded with governmental decisions which preserve the Televisa-TV Azteca hegemony over the whole country. While mass media portray themselves as the stage for democracy and diversity, a look at the owners of the radio and TV companies shows how a small bunch of actors control the communication of homogeneous messages which underpin social control.

The operating concessions for public TV are split between Televisa and TV Azteca, which in 2008 controlled 401 concessions representing a little over 87% of the total. This produces millionaire deals. In 2008, Televisa reported income for over 39 thousand million pesos (39 billion pesos, which was 70% of the income from public television) while TV Azteca received more than 9 thousand million pesos (9 billion pesos). The situation in the radio industry is pretty similar: Grupo ACIR controls 160 radio stations in 26 Mexican cities and Grupo Radio Centro has more than 100 stations. These two groups report having 50% of Monster City’s (Mexico City) audience. What kind of diversity or objectivity can exist when the vast majority of radio and TV broadcasters are controlled by 4 companies? In these oligopoly conditions, communication turned into merchandise is malleable and sold to the best bidder.

Commercial media, particularly television, constitute the main “communication” link within the country. Historically, the Mexican State has focused on two things: leaving the communication spectrum in the hands of private businessmen and crushing any initiatives that spur from society in an attempt to break the media monopoly. Defying this monopoly is a crucial task to ensure the transformation of the country. This explains why free, associative, community media represent strategical players in social protest and action.

Recent history highlights the importance of free media. In 1994, the incipient networks built through the internet helped to stop the war against the EZLN (Zapatista Army for the National Liberation) and the indigenous communities in resistance. The spreading of the repressive actions in San Salvador Atenco and the tenacious resistance of the Oaxacan people in 2006 represented a qualitative leap for free media, which learned to open spaces for those who fight against capitalism and their governments. In May, when the commercial media was lynching the farmers from the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (Peoples Front in Defense of the Land) from San Salvador Atenco, the free media opened a space for condemning the torture and violations suffered by the people arrested and transmitted the summonings for solidarity actions to support those detained. Soon after, in the summer and fall of 2006, the free and taken over media, played a fundamental role in the resistance of the people of Oaxaca: Radio Plantón, the station from the democratic teacher’s union, Radio Universidad, which ended up being the last stronghold of the Oaxacan movement, the radio and TV stations taken over by the people, the work of free media like Indymedia Oaxaca and other such initiatives all allowed the people to efficiently fight off the lies of the mass media to the point where the resistance was only penetrated by the brutal intervention of the Preventive Federal Police (PFP).

In the present, when facing the decomposition of the regime and the militarization of the country, free media represent the only windows through which threads of reality can filter through the lies of governmental propaganda. When defying the media monopoly, free media strike at one of the pillars of social control in this country. This explains why they are harshly persecuted, particularly those who have a massive reach, such as radio stations.

It’s true that free radio stations have payed a high price both in blood and demolished efforts by the action of the authorities. The hardening of the regime can also be noticed in this area. According to the Media Laws (which lack any article concerning free or community radios), broadcasting without permission is punishable with a fine and the confiscation of the broadcasting equipment. For decades, this is how the government acted, however, since 2007-2008, the Calderon administration has changed its strategy by using an illegal resource, to accuse those who transmit without permission of “damage to the national goods”, a crime which is punished with 12 years in jail and a 50 thousand peso fine. At the moment, two comrades are subject to legal processes for being accused of this “original” crime: Rosa Cruz from the Purépecha community station Uekakua, which transmitted with 5 watts from Ocumicho, in Michoacán and Héctor Camero, member of Radio Tierra y Libertad from Monterrey, Nuevo León.

With its severity, the legal machinery plays a secondary part in front of the interference, the murders and the physical aggressions against those who build free or community radio stations. In Oaxaca, Chiapas and Mexico City, the use of a more potent signal from another frequency to create interference, has been widely used by local or Federal authorities to try and silence the free and community radios, for example:

Radio Insurgente, which broadcasts for the EZLN, was interfered in Chenalhó.

Radio Plantón and Radio Universidad in Oaxaca City were interfered during the 2006 movement. Presently, Radio Plantón has to jump around different frequencies to avoid being interfered.

In Guerrero, Radio ñomndaa has lost coverage due to the presence of a signal from Acapulco which prevents the “Words from the Water” from being heard in Ometepec, the closest city to Xochistlahuaca.

In Monster City, Regeneración Radio (105.3 FM) and La Voz de Villa (91.7 FM) have been blocked by a transmission of esoteric messages and music, since 2009.

On occasion, the interference takes the form of a counter insurgent act as what happened in Cancún in 2003 during the protests against the OMC meeting, when a warship which was docked in the port, blocked all the unoccupied frequencies to avoid their use by free radios.

The Ké Huelga Radio has faced 4 interference actions during its 11 years of existence. In 1999 and in 2000 during the student strike, with the noise from a siren and presently with two signals, one from an “anonymous” station which transmits esoteric messages and music and the other from Radio Josna, a station associated to the PRI from the State of Mexico, which transmits from Ciudad Neza. As of June, both interference signals have stopped. However, we don’t leave out the possibility of a repressive act from the State against the Ké Huelga or the return of the interference.

To interfere a radio signal which pursues no commercial interest, constitutes a clear negation to the universal right for freedom of speech.

The less frequent murders and physical aggressions, have also slammed the free media. Lets remember the painful murders of Felícitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista as examples. They were communicators for the Triqui people through the radio station “La Voz que Rompe el Silencio” and were brutally murdered in April 2008. The fellow communicators of Radio Nomdaa have also suffered from imprisonment (David Valtierra in 2007), dismantling attempts (2008) and beatings (Obed Valtierra in 2009).

Maintaining a free communication project hasn’t been easy in the face of the capitalist project which, through terror, military force and propagandistic lies intends to create a new paradise for the rich and their servants of the political caste. Our radio station, the Ké Huelga Radio, born in the heat of the 1999 student strike against the privatization of education, has as its main vocation, the opening of a space for mass communication for people and organizations which fight to transform their lives. For 11 years we have interacted with hundreds of protest and resistance experiences from Mexico and the World. Our continuance in the FM quadrant and in the internet has permitted many people to make use of the frequency and use it to communicate and amplify their thoughts and initiatives. This has been possible thanks to the appropriation of the necessary technologies for transmitting and the commitment of hundreds of people who have participated in the project during these 11 years.

Conceived as a space for communication and exchange the Ké Huelga has opened possibilities for dialog and encounter which question and defy two basic mechanisms of social control: miscommunication and media silence. At the “Ké”, we experiment with a type of communication where those of us who talk through the microphones are by no means specialists and we believe that the practice of communicating only makes sense if those who listen break the passivity and share their words. This is clear in the case of social movements which find in our radio the means to communicate their demands and initiatives. In a more daily basis, the “Ké” allows different cultural, social, political and even individual expressions with “no time in the air”, to have channels for mutual discovery and recognition. Where the commercial media finds “audience”, we see comrades.

The “Ké Huelga” radio station is also a place where we learn to fight, to appropriate the knowledge that capitalism reserves only for its misinformation media and, above all, where we learn to establish contact with others that like us, try to change this world which is quickly disintegrating while threatening to reduce us to mere spectators of our own death.

Despite the advances that we’ve achieved, we presently find ourselves in a delicate situation; we are in the middle of a growing criminalization scheme against social movements and free medias. The defense and broadening of free spaces from those in power is everyone’s responsibility. We invite you to participate in the defense of the Ké Huelga by having a program, contributing with the promotion of the project, collaborating with economical support by donating equipment or in any other way you find convenient.

Monster City, May 2010

Ké Huelga Radio
libre, social y contra el poder
http://kehuelga.org/diario
kehuelga@kehuelga.org

Bank Account: Banamex – number 40484 – office 4395
CLABE – Interbank Code = 002180439500404844
Swift code: BNMXMXMM
Translation: Dra-San ( mil gracias! )

Today Thursday, April 29, members of the National Front of Journalists for Freedom of Expression, family members of reporters David Cilia and Erika Ramírez, and other activists marched from the Juarez Monument to the offices of the federal Attorney General’s Office to demand the live presentation of the two journalists of Contralínea magazine, as well as two members of Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom (VOCAL) and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), David Venegas and Noé Bautista.

Around 400 people stayed outside the building while a group of journalists and activists went inside to get information and call on the Attorney General to guarantee the live presentation and safety of the disappeared people; these demands were denied. The demonstrators blocked Reforma Avenue and chanted slogans: “Right now, right now, what you have to do is bring them home alive and punish those to blame!” and “David, hang on, we’re ready to rebel!”

Things heated up when the riot police showed up to put an end to people’s right to protest; even though some urged the crowd to step back, most people were not in the mood to get out of the street. Finally, after a lot of pushing and shoving, shouts, and blows, the police “cleaned” the street of the people demanding justice. David Cilia’s brothers were among those who were hit.

In a mid-day press conference, Contralínea had revealed that “David Venegas and Noé Bautista had been able to break through the paramilitary siege and get to the town of Juxtlahuaca. They confirmed that David Cilia and Erika Ramírez, with whom they have been in hiding in the hills, are alive and out of danger of death.” In a video taped on April 27, David Cilia reports that he has “a bullet wound in his right leg and another in the left side of his body.” Speaking with great difficulty, Noé Bautista says, “I have a bullet wound in the right side of my ass, another in my right shoulder, and I was grazed on this side of my body.” Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_k07Li_3bc

Erika Ramírez is dehydrated and weak, and the two reporters have asked to be rescued. Today at 4:40 pm, a helicopter rescue operation began, with the participation of Contralínea director Miguel Badillo and David Cilia’s father, David Cilia Olmos. As of this writing, there is no news of the outcome of the operation.

In a communiqué sent today, VOCAL says: “Our comrades appeared today, April 29. At approximately 12:00 am, David Venegas Reyes and Noé Bautista got to the town of Juxtlahuaca. We hold Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and government officials at all levels responsible for anything that may happen to them on their way home. We call on human rights organizations and the news media to be vigilant”. http://elenemigocomun.net/communique-vocal-armed-attack-caravan

For further information and videos, see: http://contralinea.info

Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Some hours after getting the news that comrades were fired upon, killed, wounded, and disappeared by UBISORT paramilitaries yesterday afternoon in the La Sabana community in Oaxaca, two different rallies were held in Mexico City.

Around 1 p.m., approximately twenty members of the Women Weaving Resistance collective, La Otra Cultura, La Otra Obrera, and a family member of ex political prisoner Adán Mejía, protested the attack on the Caravan outside the Oaxaca Government Headquarters in Mexico City with chants, music and graffiti.

A few hours later, the demonstrators joined about 200 other protesters outside Mexico’s Interior Ministry in a rally called by graduate students in Rural Development of the Metropolitan Autonomous University at Xochimilco and members of the Triqui community in the capital city.

They called on people to “demand justice for the brutal ambush perpetrated by the Oaxaca state government and the paramilitary Social Welfare Unit of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) against the Peace Caravan made up of different organizations including Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom (VOCAL); the Community Support Center Working in Unity (CACTUS); the Network of Radios and Communicators of Southeastern Mexico; the Mexican Alliance for the Self-Determination of the Peoples (AMAP); APPO Council members; Section 22 teachers; international observers from Belgium, Finland, and Italy; and journalists from different news media, who were all on their way to the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala to deliver food, supplies, clothing, and blankets to the civilian population, which has been living under a siege implemented by UBISORT and backed by the state government for the last few months”.

In an interview, Victor Castillo Pérez, originallly from San Juan de Copala and now living in Mexico City, explained: “The siege was imposed in the last months of 2009. The paramilitaries have killed a number of people and everybody lives under constant threat of death with no water, no light, no classes, no medical attention. Yesterday, the Caravan intended to break that siege, and the current situation resulting from the attack may be used as a pretext to militarize the whole region”.

With regards to the militarization of the country, it’s important to note that on the same day of the vicious attack, the federal Senate of Mexico approved a National Security Law that allows Ulises Ruiz or any other governor to request the presence of the armed forces in his state, and that gives the National Security Council (now presided over by Genaro García Luna, exonerated of his crimes in Atenco) the responsibility to determine the geographic area and length of stay. And who is charged with making sure the House of Representatives passes the bill? None other than the distinguished repressor now absolved of his role in Atenco and rewarded with the position of House Chairman of the National Defense Commission –Ardelio Vargas.

At the protests, there was a strong sense that any one of us could have been killed, wounded, or disappeared simply for participating in a peaceful activity like a humanitarian caravan. There was also strong clamor to see justice done for the deaths of CACTUS director Beti Cariño and human rights observer Juri Jaakkola of Finland and for the bullet wounds suffered by Mónica Citlali Santiago, as well heartfelt demands for the live presentation of the VOCAL comrades David Venegas and Noé Bautista; Contralinea reporter Érika Ramírez and photographer David Cilia; international observers Viris Jacola and Meni Morne from Finland, David Casinori from Italy, and Martín Santana from Belgium, and possibly as many as 14 other disappeared people.

Gloria also received a phone call from Inés Rodolfo Cuellar who has become the spokesperson for the imprisoned comrades. Several other individual prisoners sent out letters to Gloria and Jacobo, which Gloria gladly promised to answer.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

THE OTHER CAMPAIGN GOES ON!

During her visit to the Molino de Flores Otro Plantón, Gloria Arenas Agis read the following statement:

ATENCO PRISONERS MUST BE FREED

My name is Gloria Arenas Agis, former political prisoner. I’m here today at the gates of Molino de Flores to demand freedom for the political prisoners in this prison and those in the Altiplano prison.

The federal Supreme Court has decided to hear the petition for a protective order in the case of the 12 Atenco political prisoners. Right now, the highest court in the land has the opportunity to correct the tremendous outrage of their imprisonment. It has the opportunity to resolve a conflict in which the dependence of the State of Mexico’s judicial bodies on the Chief Executive has been clearly shown.

It is both politically and legally untenable to keep these 12 prisoners behind bars. Their imprisonment only shows that vengeance rules in this case and that the judges have followed orders from above. The illegality of the prisoners’ arrest and imprisonment is so obvious that people all over the world have demanded their freedom ever since 2006. Last year, members of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) traveled to 12 different states in the country and were received in a show of solidarity by social organizations that organized 100 public events and actions to demand freedom for these 12 prisoners. Several days ago, 11 Nobel Prize winners met with the Secretary of the Interior to deliver a letter to Calderón seeking freedom for the Atenco prisoners; they also met with a magistrate and with several legislators.

Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams said, “What they’re doing to the Atenco political prisoners disgusts me. I mean they’re doing this because it’s a political issue.” In effect, that’s the way the imprisonment of the three prisoners in the maximum security Altiplano prison and of the nine prisoners at Molino de Flores is seen in Mexico and the world –as a filthy, rotten business, a foul display of illegality that has nothing to do with justice or with the state of law. It’s an act of vengeance against the FPDT, which succeeded in avoiding the expropriation of their lands where an airport was to be built. It’s a message sent to teach an insubordinate people a lesson for defending their lands and rights, for standing in solidarity with other struggles, and for telling others about their experience. The imprisonment of the Atenco prisoners is a message sent to keep their example of organization and resistance from being followed by other peoples throughout the country who are now being dispossessed. The imprisonment of the 12 political prisoners of Atenco is also a security message to world capital that says: “Capital can strip peoples of their lands, pollute and loot the natural resources of the country, and the Mexican state will take care of jailing and punishing resistance at all costs to make sure this example will not be followed by others.”

The imprisonment of the Atenco political prisoners is an attempt against freedom of expression and organization that exposes the authoritarianism of the federal, state, and local governments. The Atenco case is political and not legal because the state Governor is campaigning for the Presidency of Mexico in the 2012 elections and wants to send out a forceful message even though it’s based on a chain of illegal acts.

The political nature of the case cannot be hidden from people in this country and the world, and neither can the illegality of the trials and sentences of the three FPDT members and the nine growers found near the scene of the repressive attack against the people of Atenco. In its zeal to lock them up, the government at all three levels has expressly resorted to crimes of repression in the name of defending a non-existent state of law.

Several decades ago, the crime of “social dissolution” was invented, and it was necessary to repeal the statute in order to free political prisoners. Today the measures that criminalize people’s struggles have to do with “organized crime,” “aggravated kidnapping,” and “damage to public thoroughfares,” and these are applied respectively to social organizations, to the retention of functionaries, and to roadblocks, all of which are characteristic expressions of social movements. Putting manifestations of discontent and dissidence on the same level as totally unrelated common crimes is typical of dictatorships. And these are precisely the charges leveled against the Atenco prisoners.

The organized crime charge has been dropped, but the prisoners were tried, found guilty, and sentenced for aggravated kidnapping and for damage to a public thoroughfare. They’ve been unjustly imprisoned for four years. The prison terms of 112 for some and 31 years for others are an abomination that seriously harms the entire country.

The federal Supreme Court’s verdict must be favorable because the social struggle is not a crime. But converting social activists into criminals is, in fact, illegal; it’s a crime. Furthermore, there’s no evidence whatsoever of the participation of the Molino de Flores prisoners in the events, so, according to law, there are no grounds for a guilty verdict. Legally, there is no proof of the responsibility of those charged; accordingly, they must be found innocent of the crimes for which they were tried. The verdict must be favorable because the case of the 12 prisoners is plagued with government misconduct and arbitrary actions beginning with the arrest and continuing throughout the entire judicial process; thus the sentences are illegal.

But the imprisonment of these 12 political prisoners is not the only legal travesty in this case that has damaged the country as a whole; there is also the impunity for the rapists of at least 26 women, the torturers of the 207 people arrested, and the murder of a child and a youth on May 3 and 4, 2006, in Atenco. Authorities at all levels are the intellectual authors and the perpetrators of these crimes, and this matter falls into the public domain. Impunity for these authorities clearly shows the political nature of this case and shows the rotten illegality now impossible to cover up with lies in the news media.

IMMEDIATE FREEDOM FOR THE 12 POLITICAL PRISONERS OF ATENCO!

February 26, 2010

For more details and photos of Gloria Arena Agis’s visit at the Otro Plantón at Molino de Flores, see http://penaldebraye.blogspot.com

FIRST OF THE YEAR 2010

Our compañero Víctor Herrera Govea is still unjustly held prisoner since his arrest at the march of October 2, 2009, where he was beaten and accused with the lie of having robbed an OXXO convenience store…

WE NEVER FORGET AND ARE KEEPING UP
THE FIGHT FROM PRISON…

…He’s inside, we’re outside..

We stand against the forgetfulness, the fatigue, the desperation, the uncertainty.

that you say you’re sorry and beg for a pardon for fighting and living with dignity…

From inside prison we’re determined to keep on being free despite the walls, guards, harassments, lies against us and court dates.

Heads up: This week they should make a decision about granting a protective order.

http://vsencapsulamiento.wordpress.com

To the sound of drums, a little over a hundred of us demanded freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal outside the United States Embassy in Mexico City on December 9, 2009, as well as for Leonard Peltier, the men and women of MOVE, the Angola 3, Sundiata Acoli, Los Cinco, Francisco Torres, Hugo Pinnell, Ruchell Magee, Marilyn Buck, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the Puerto Rican Independentistas, David Gilbert, Ramsey Muñiz, the environmental prisoners and all the social activists that this government intends to bury alive. We also demanded freedom for the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners resisting torture and imprisonment in Israeli jails.

We accuse the United States government of kidnapping Mumia Abu-Jamal and holding him in conditions of torture for 28 years and of making an ongoing attempt on his life. In spite of all the evidence of racial discrimination in his trial, the Supreme Court of the United States ––the highest court in the land–– has denied him justice and, in so doing, has become party to these crimes. Despite photographic evidence that completely destroys the ridiculous scenario put forward by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office of the shooting death of policemen Daniel Faulkner in 1981, the managers of the national security state are now redoubling their efforts to execute this revolutionary journalist. If they’re not able to apply the death penalty, which is nothing but premeditated murder, they plan to hold him captive in silence for the rest of his life. We support the demand for a federal civil rights investigation and all actions necessary to win his freedom.

We also accuse the United States government of fostering political prison and the extermination of the social struggle here in Mexico by training and equipping military and police forces to repress the social movements. We demand freedom for Ignacio del Valle, Felipe Álvarez, and Héctor Galindo, now held with long vengeful sentences which amount to life in prison, and freedom for the prisoners in Molino de Flores, the recently arrested comrades Victor Herrera Govea and Emmanuel Hernández Hernández, and all political prisoners in Oaxaca, Campeche, Guerrero and the entire country. We say NO to Plan México and NO to the construction of more prisons.

Our moderator Armando spoke of Mumia Abu-Jamal as a comrade we’ve supported for a long time, condemned to death or life in prison for “being a critic of the highly racist society of the United States, whose own Declaration of Independence refers to indigenous people as ‘merciless Indian savages’ and which is built on the slave labor of people brought there from Africa. The history of the United States has been one of slavery, imperialism, and the robbery of the wealth of other peoples, all of which we have experienced in Mexico. And since Mumia is a good critic, he brings out these things. That’s why he’s in prison”.

After reading Mumia’s essay on Oscar Grant, whose murder by a BART policeman sparked a rebellion in the streets of Oakland at the first of the year, one of our members, Hilda, commented that although Mumia Abu-Jamal is now officially condemned to life in prison, there is a big effort to execute him and that his life is in grave danger. She explained that this essay is one of many things he has written on different issues, including Atenco, Oaxaca, the war in Iraq, from his small cell on death row where he has no physical contact whatsoever with his family or friends. She mentioned that it’s a paradox to speak of this situation on the eve of the celebration of International Human Rights Day, and she also denounced the numerous human rights violations in Mexico by the Army, a body that has no business patrolling the streets.

It gave us great pleasure to have ex political prisoner Jacobo Silva Nogales with us at this rally. He and Gloria Arenas Agis, recently won their freedom after spending ten years in prison for guerrilla activity with Jacobo arguing their right to rebellion. He said: “And who is Mumia Abu-Jamal? The first time I heard that name I was in prison, and I learned that he was also in prison. I learned that he was a political prisoner, and I was also a political prisoner…. Mumia is a mirror that we’re proud to look at because what we see is admired and respected; it’s what the rest of us are, if only slightly and in exceptional moments. But he’s also a mirror that’s feared because it shows what can happen when self and duty become one and the same thing. The mirror admired and respected; that’s Mumia ––an admirable struggle and a death sentence. So it also reflects those who have sentenced him. It reflects their fear of a better world for the many. That’s why they want him dead; that’s why we want him alive…. It may seem hard, at times, to win freedom when you’re in a prison where they try to ban your very dreams, but it’s possible to get out of there if the dreams from the outside come together with those on the inside…. I know this, because not long ago I was in a place like that, and I was able to get out, and so I’d like to tell him that I think he can get out, too ––that he can, that we can, win out over those bars that are blocking the freedom of his body, like he’s been able to win out over those that block his freedom of spirit. By defending Mumia, we’re defending our own selves!”

Also present were family members and comrades of Víctor Herrera Govea, recently arrested in the annual October 2nd march in commemoration of the Tlatelolco Massacre, simply for being young and protesting in the streets of Mexico City. His sisters invited everyone to participate in the activities in his support and read a letter that he sent to the rally, which says in part: “Today it’s not only in México that we’re experiencing the oppression of the prison system. This is also the case in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was once a reporter for the Black Panthers, has been in jail for 28 years, sentenced to death or life imprisonment….The way his trials have been conducted reflects the nature of the ghetto experienced in the United States, a country where 42% of the prison population is made up of African-Americans….Once again, we find ourselves under attack by the neoliberal prison system. As lovers of freedom and anarchists who defend life lived in collectivity, we are not exempt from government espionage and measures of repression and oppression….The only thing left to do is keep on struggling for our prisoners in Mexico and those outside the country like Mumia Abu-Jamal, who’s been incriminated for a murder he did not commit….There’s no evidence whatsoever against us, either….To Mumia, our heartfelt desire to see him free. To the government, the worst of all possible downfalls”.

We read a letter recently published in La Jornada by political prisoner Felipe Álvarez of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) of San Salvador Atenco: “Eight years after we launched a resistance struggle against an invasive, oppressive, murderous system, I ask you to keep on struggling. There’s no torture that will ever make us give up our ideals; they can chain my body but never my consciousness. Neither can they chain the dignity and spirit of our peoples who are fighting for what belongs to them. The government still intends to dispossess us of what is ours and put it at the service of empire, taking our lands, water, oil, light, and the little wealth we have left….It’s only those of us who struggle for land, natural resources and freedom who can gain the independence, sovereignty, and homeland that those who are looting our country talk so much about. Brothers and sisters, you live in my heart! Not one step backwards! Zapata lives! The Front continues!”

Doña Fili spoke: “Mumia, there are a lot of young people here who hadn’t even been born when you went to jail. We, as mothers, see you as our son and demand your freedom. We will never tire of demanding your freedom. You live in a highly advanced country. Advanced, yes, but in death…You’ve resisted a country that has killed our peoples…In our countries, they impose tyrants, but we’ll bring them down…You are part of our people, Mumia. You’ve marked our history. That’s why we’re here, Mumia. Your spirit lives in each one of us.”

We appreciated the presence of the Federation of the Socialist Campesino Students of Mexico (FECSM), which has been in a struggle against government plans to convert rural teacher training schools into mere technical schools in places such as Tiripetío, Michoacán and Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. Their representative Isaías sent his greetings to Mumia, and said: “Comrades, as a Federation, we’ve had prisoners; as a Federation, we’ve been beaten; as a Federation, we’ve been tortured by the federal government, so we lend our solidarity to all those who struggle from below….We’ve seen how the imperialists have increasingly taken over our freedom and our resources. We have the same enemy and we’ll struggle with you against this common enemy.”

Daniel, speaking for the collective Shouts of Street Rage (GRC), said: “28 years have gone by. Those numbers may be easy to say. 28 años. But I’ve reached the conclusion that my mother was a child when a person, a thinker, a journalist was taken prisoner. Why? Because, as we know, the State is afraid of people who, with their words, their gaze, their actions, generate actions that destroy the system we talked about. You mothers walking by in the street, I ask you: What if Mumia Abu-Jamal were your son? What if they had taken away his freedom and what if he were locked up on death row thinking, ‘Damn! They could shoot me up with drugs tomorrow and end my life!? This comrade, in spite of being behind bars, not being able to see the light of day, not being able to hug his family, has stayed active and is still present in the social processes ––from inside, yes, but he’s part of things. Is it right to just stand by when we see a life in danger right before our eyes? When we see false evidence, a new trial denied, the death penalty, a life sentence, total injustice and impunity? And now the question is– what are we going to do?

From Chiapas, we received greetings from the poet Xmal Ton, adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the EZLN: “This song is dedicated to all our comrade political prisoners in Abya Yala, which is America, in all the continents of the world. Thank you for your bravery and your force, which are the breath of life to us. Thank you for your spirit of struggle, which is the road we take every day. For the liberation of all of us who struggle for our great, sacred mother, which is the Earth.” We read her poem “Four words,” dedicated to all political prisoners and especially to the grandfather Leonard Peltier: “Four words fall from the sky. Do not be sad. Four words fall from the sky. They will heal you. Four words fall from the sky. The morning is ready for you. Four words fall from the sky. The fire will warm your heart. Four words fall from the sky. The air will pray for you…”

After reading the poem, our comrade Bisharú commented: “I feel very close to Mumia because of his words, because of the way he talks about the social movements. Sometimes I feel ashamed when I think that somebody in his conditions can be much freer than the rest of us. He has shown us that freedom is not only seen in actions, but also comes through in Mumia’s words that have brought life and liberty to many of us.”

We denounced the attacks against the Zapatista communities and read a recent letter from the Gómez Saragos brothers, of Bachajón, Chiapas, to all the national and international organizations, where they say: “…we belong to the organization of adherents to the other campaign of the EZLN, and we’re here for defending our territory while the government wants the PRI party members to have it, but we…don’t want them to take away our land because that’s where we work to support our children. That’s why we’re prisoners. But we thank you for your valuable support and hope that you’ll continue to support us in reaching our goals.”

Yazmín of the Chanti Ollin spoke of the recent effort by the city government to take this occupied space away from us, and then she read the text written this past November 25 by Nzingha Shakur-Ali, daughter of political prisoner, Dr. Mutulu Shakur: “My dad goes before the parole board December 2nd. Thinking about my family and the families of other political prisoners and freedom fighters around the world… i am SO truly blessed to come from the family i do, from the Hearne clan, from the Shakur clan. It’s a different way of life in many ways, being children of revolutionaries. Our parents fought, were imprisoned, were exiled, and died fighting for basic human equality; and all the while growing up in discipline and knowledge, love and respect for not only our people, but for all people. we think differently; we see the world differently…. now Mutulu is in Florence, Colorado, the #1 maximum security prison in the united states also known as the ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies, ADX houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control. It is the highest level security federal prison in the united states, and generally considered the most secure prison in the world. Individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement.” That means he gets 1 hour, by himself, outside his cell in heavily guarded area. All of our visits are behind glass and he often handcuffed…. these things come to mind as his parole hearing draws near. They have and continue to do everything they possibly can to keep him in prison… i am humbled by those who, like mutulu, saw their difficult path before them and even still chose to stand and fight, rather than lay down and continue to be enslaved….i give thanks for the people who fought and are still fighting for freedom and equality…. My blood? is a million stories. FREE ‘EM ALL. Peace.”

Victor of the Popular Kitchen of the Che Guevara Auditorium talked about the way prisons exemplify capitalism, commenting that for Mumia Abu-Jamal, “the American dream, for whites only, was just a prison and the Black Panther Party was his road to freedom.” He quoted from Mumia’s book, We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party: “I went to jail…. I was here for defending my people. I was here because I was a member of the Black Panther Party. Within a few weeks I was back, no worse for the wear. I was out of jail and back in the swing of things. I was working on the paper, selling them, and editing stuff…The days were long. The risks were substantial. The rewards were few. Yet the freedom was hypnotic. We could think freely, write freely, and act freely in the world. We knew that we were working for our people’s freedom, and we loved it. It was the one place in the world that it seemed right to be.” In speaking of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s relationship to the MOVE organization, Victor said: “Mumia rediscovered people bent on freedom and an organization that was an alternative to the logic of the coercion and degradation of human beings by the panoptic prison. But the prison system still existed along with its forms of repression and sabotage. In the face of the genocidal attacks by the North American system against the MOVE movement, Mumia could not remain silent; he denounced the massacre.” Victor concluded his presentation, citing Mumia’s essay “Absence of Power”: “The police are agents of white, ruling-class, capitalist will––period. Neither black managers nor black politicians can change that reality. The people themselves must organize for their own defense, or it won’t get done.”

Pachón of Mexico City Anarchist Black Cross read the following text: “Mumia’s case is not isolated; it’s part of a strategy of social control by governments to try to break the righteous social movements and silence people who make them uncomfortable. The United States is the country with the highest percentage of its population imprisoned, the majority of whom are Black or Latinos. More and more people in jail. That’s what the goverments and private industry want so they can build more and more prisons….Mumia’s example should give us the strength to redouble our efforts to win his freedom. IN conclusion, we want to call attention to the cases of other political prisoners in the United States and name some of them: Abdul Azeez, Abdul Majid, Alvaro Luna Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Avelino González Claudio, Bill Dunne, Byron Shane Chubbuck, Carlos Alberto Torres, Chuck Sims Africa, Daniel Mcgowan, David Gilbert, Debbie Sims Africa, Delbert Orr Africa, Ed Poindexter, Edward Goodman Africa, Erik Oseland, Eryn Trimmer, Francisco Torres, Fred “Muhammad” Burton, Garret Fitzgerald, Gerardo Hernandez, Hanif S. Bey (B. Gereau), Herman Bell, Jaan K. Laaman, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Jalil Muntaqim, Janet Holloway Africa, Janine Phillips Africa, Jeffery “Free” Luers, Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen, Leonard Peltier, Luce Guillen-Givens, Luis Medina, Malik Smith, Maliki Latine, Marilyn Buck, Marshall Eddie Conway, Matthew Depalpma, Max Specktor, Michael Davis Africa, Mondo We Langa (D. Rice), Monica Bicking, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Nathanael Secor, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Rene Gonzalez, Robert Seth Hayes, Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, Ronald Reed, Ruben Campa, Russell Maroon Shoats, Sekou Kambui (W. Turk), Sekou Odinga, Sundiata Acoli (C. Squire), Thomas Manning, Tsutomu Shirosaki, Veronza Bowers Jr., William Phillips Africa, William ‘Lefty’ Gilday, Zolo Agona Azania”.

Despite sound problems, the comrades of The Other Culture closed the rally with their original song dedicated to Mumia as a gesture of solidarity, and also brought copies of their new CD highlighting the song. Several images of Mumia were left behind on the ground and the concrete barriers around the Embassy, along with the ashes of the stars and stripes.

Amig@s de Mumia, México

PHOTOS: Thanks to Pedro
VIDEO: Thanks to Serch of rz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3by8iAh7e3Q
and notilibertas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EazikbFhI1M
AUDIO: Thanks to Clayton http://www.archive.org/details/MumiaAbu-jamalSolidaridadD.f.Mexico12-9-09

“Judicial police, after beating people up and telling lies and covering things up, how do you explain all this at home when you’re asked: what do you do?”

This question written on a poster is one of many that around twenty demonstrators hurled at the judicial police who covered their faces as they left the courtroom in the prison known as the Reclusorio Sur after appearing to give false testimony in the case of the young political prisoner Víctor Herrera Govea on Thursday, November 19: How does it feel to be a torturer? Did you enjoy putting out your cigarette on our comrade’s face? Do you have a mother? How much do they pay you for torture? How much do you earn for a kidnapping? Don’t you feel sick when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Letter demanding freedom for Victor Herrera Govea

For being only 21 years old, Víctor has thrown his grains of sand into the most important struggles that have happened in Mexico in recent years. He may not be seen as a movement leader, but he’s much loved by the people who are always in the streets demanding justice and freedom. As word got around about his brutal arrest, lots of comments about what he’s done could be heard: “I know he helped out on a work brigade in Chiapas.” I saw him in Oaxaca when he was helping to build [the ecological project] La Cacita.” “He has his problems, just like we all do, but at the camp outside Molino de Flores prison, he was there.” “It’s not for nothing that he’s known as ‘Atenco’”. “I think he was with the comrades who were selling flowers and candy outside the bars all night long to raise money to get some other comrades out of jail”. “I knew him when we were in the same class together in the school of Humanities”. “Yeah, he’s an adherent to the Other Campaign”. “Sure, we know him. He’s an anarchist isn’t he?” In his own statement written on October 15, Victor also mentions his work in informational brigades to spread the word about struggles “like people defending themselves against the Parota dam and reservoir” and “the dispossession that’s going on in Tlahuac for the construction of Line 12 of the subway.” He says: “Now more than ever we’re seeking freedom for all the political prisoners in the country like Jacobo Silva and Gloria Arenas [recently released] and the comrades from the Loxicha region in Oaxaca and those at El Amate in Chiapas”.

When Víctor Herrera went to the annual march held on October 2 to commemorate the State murder of students in ’68 and to oppose the repression now going on in Mexico, he was beaten, tortured, arrested and incriminated on charges of aggravated gang robbery and property damage. By aggravating the charges and charging Victor with gang activity, the capital city PRD government of Marcelo Ebrard aims to turn this young activist into a criminal to be able to lock him up for years even though there’s not a bit of evidence against him.

In a call to several November actions, the Committee in Support of Freedom for Victor says: “Víctor Herrera Govea…is one of more than 200 political prisoners that state and federal governments are now holding in the prisons of this country: La Palma and Molino de Flores in the State of Mexico; El Amate in Chiapas; and others in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Campeche, Veracruz, and Tamaulipas. In Mexico City, we’re also experiencing repression and the imposition of neoliberal policies; you can hear all about this from the street vendors forcibly pushed out of the downtown area and public spaces in different districts of the city, the artisans of Coyocán, the communal landholders of Tlaltenco, and others. The “War on Organized Crime” has caused more than 5,000 deaths from one end of the country to the other.”

“There is no justice in this country. Those guilty of bank fraud and corrupt government functionaries go free, while the people you’ll find in jail are farmers who’ve been defending their land, forests and water; indigenous people defending their traditional forms of government, people demanding fair electricity rates, or young people fighting for a better world.

In violation of the law, only the immediate family was allowed to be present at the hearing on November 19, while Victor’s comrades were removed from the courtroom, but not before he saw they were there to support him. They say he looks strong and in good spirits. His mother Eduviges Govea thinks the pressure put on the authorities in several public actions has had the effect of putting them on notice that they’re responsible for his security while he’s in jail.

As it turns out, the judicial agents will have to come back again to testify because only three of the four subpoenaed appeared, so their testimonies were postponed. Meanwhile, supporters are organizing an overnight watch outside the prison on the night of November 29, and support the next day when Victor is scheduled to testify.

He can receive letters at presos2deoctubre@hotmail.com
For more information, see: http://viclibre.acervo.org
Contact: libertadavictor@gmail.com

x Carolina

We would also like to inform you that Victor was transferred to a dormitory. He called us yesterday and he’s staying strong. He sends his greetings to all the comrades who’re concerned about his situation and sends special greetings to everybody from Oaxaca who’s sent their support from that rebellious land. He’s asked us for a show of solidarity in the form of phone cards and cigarettes to help him out economically inside. For further information about this, you can write directly to his family at this address: libertadavictor@gmail.com . International comrades who’ve asked us for a bank account number can also find out about this by writing to the same email address.

Meanwhile, we’re not letting this get us down. We have the firm conviction that our comrade is innocent and we won’t stop until we see him free, struggling here with us outside.

We would also like to inform you that yesterday, during a protest related to several different issues that have come to the fore in our society, there was yet another mobilization in which a street was blocked in front of the high school known as CCH Azcapotzalco. Many comrades who are students, some comrades from our collective and others were demanding the cancellation of the presidential decree doing away with the public power and light company; the freedom of all political prisoners, including Victor and the other prisoners arrested on October 2, both here and in Oaxaca; and an end to the construction of the new “golden” subway line in Mexico City. Once again though, groups of hired thugs were ordered to attack all of us who were protesting, including the students.

One of the members of our GRC collective was wounded deeply enough in the calf to require stitches, and several other people participating in the protest were also wounded.

We also denounce the judicial police who violently attacked three of the comrades from our collective on their way home, beating them badly and holding them at gunpoint.

We’re aware that university authorities know about these attacks and have done nothing to deactivate these groups of thugs at the schools, and furthermore, that these groups are paid by the Mexico City government to tear apart movements made up of social activists and rebellious youth in general. We hold them responsible for what happened yesterday at CCH Azcapotzalco and call on all conscious and freedom-loving people to join forces to defeat the fascist, oppressive system imposed on us and to stay tuned for further activities planned to show that there are more of us than there are of them who are struggling for public education, freedom, and justice.

Please spread the word about the activities and attend as many as possible.

BLOQUE G.R.C.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

Rally to inform and protest against Victor’s imprisonment at 11:00 A. M. in front of City Hall.

Friday, November 13, 2009.

Rally in support of the Oaxaca prisoners in front of the Torre Mayor on Reforma at 10:00 A. M.

On November 14 there will also be a gathering of Mujeres y la sexta to receive Gloria Arenas at the intersection of 5 de Febrero and Lucas de Lasaga near the San Antonio Abad subway station behind the Miguel Galas print shop.

Monday and Tuesday November 23 and 24

Informational work about Victor’s case from 8:30a.m to 5:00 P. M. at the San Lorenzo Tezongo campus of the UACM.

Sunday and Monday, November 29 and 30

A rally will be held at 3:00 in the afternoon on Sunday, November 29, after which everyone will spend the night outside the Reclusorio Sur to be on hand for Victor’s court appearance on Monday, November 30.

30 Tuesday, December 1

Week of actions for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the African-American writer sentenced to death for his activity with the Black Panthers in the 60s, for defending the MOVE organization against the Philadelphia police in the 70s and early 80s as a journalist, and for his continuing combative journalism.

Saturday, December 5, 2009.

Forum of family members and friends of political prisoners at the Oventic Caracol.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Rally outside the United States Embassy for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal at 4:00 in the afternoon. Victor’s family members are invited to speak at the rally.

We’d like to share some more information with you about our friend and comrade Victor Herrera. As you know, he’s still being held prisoner in the Reclusorio Sur in Mexico City. His lawyers, along with friends and comrades, have been making a big effort to gather all possible evidence to prove that Victor did not participate in the acts he’s accused of (gang robbery and property damage to the OXXO convenience store). The assault against him is intended to punish all young libertarians and social activists, and we’ve kept up a constant political struggle for his release; yet we want to urge more people to join in so that our shouts for his freedom will be loud and forceful enough to stop the repression against him. We need to reflect on what’s happening and actively show our solidarity with this struggle. Right now it’s for Victor, but next time it could be for any one of us.

One of the activities we’re organizing is a mobilization outside City Hall on October 28 at 11 a.m. We’re counting on your conscience and solidarity so that our comrade will soon be out on the streets again, keeping on in this struggle that must be carried on.

¡¡¡¡FREE VÍCTOR HERRERA!!!!

¡¡¡DOWN WITH PRISON WALLS!!!

We remind you that you can write letters to our comrade to motivate and encourage him as he lives through the corruption and despotism of the city government of Marcelo Ebrard and the judicial authorities. Letters can be sent to this address: presos2deoctubre@hotmail.com . Please help spread the word about this campaign.

BLOQUE GRITOS DE RABIA CALLEJERA (SHOUTS OF STREET RAGE)