Three Members of CODEDI (Indigenous Rights organization) Killed in Oaxaca

The Following text is a translation of a statement from the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI) following the ambush and killing of three of their members on Monday the 12th of February, 2018.

The organization CODEDI (Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights) is an autonomous organization that works for the indigenous communities of the Southern Mountains, Central Valleys and Coast of Oaxaca, in solidarity with all just causes. We currently work with 50 communities, creating the dream of living in autonomy through daily practices, with more than 20 years serving the peoples of Oaxaca. We are part of different alliances in the state, country, and world; alliances based in processes of autonomy and struggle. The leader of our organization is Abraham Ramírez Vázquez, an indigenous leader from Santiago Xanica who was imprisoned from 2004 to 2011 by order of former governor José Murat, the father of the current governor.

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Review of 2017 Edition of Look for Me in the Whirlwind

This book contains the original version of Look for Me in the Whirlwind: The Collective Autobiography of the New York 21 with new texts that place it in the context of the whirlinds of our times

Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st Century Revolutions. Sekou Odinga, Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Shaba Om, Jamal Joseph. Ed. dequi kioni-sadiki and Matt Meyer. Foreword Jamil Al-Amin. Afterword Mumia Abu-Jamal. (Oakland: PM Press. 2017)

Review by carolina saldaña

At 5 am on April 2, 1969, hundreds of FBI, CIA and NYC police agents armed with shotguns, bullet-proof vests and a shoot-to-kill attitude broke down the doors of dozens of houses, apartments and offices to serve arrest warrants on 21 key members of the New York City Black Panthers. According to the absurd accusations, based on information provided by three infiltrators, these men and women had conspired to blow up schools, department stores, police precincts and the New York Botanical Gardens. It was the longest trial ever held in the city at that time.

Two years later, on May 13, 1971, the Panther 21 were acquitted of all charges after only 45 minutes of jury deliberation.

Originally published in 1971, Look for Me in the Whirlwind: The Collective Autobiography of the New York 21, written in prison, emerges anew with additional texts that point to the relevance of this experience for the struggles of this century. Here we find poems, stories, analyses, eulogies and songs never or rarely seen before.

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Solidarity with Radio Totopo in Oaxaca, Mexico

In Oaxaca, México, Radio Totopo is raising funds to rebuild their community radio station following September’s devastating earthquakes.

Radio Totopo is a community radio that has transmitted from the city of Juchitán in Oaxaca, Mexico for more than 10 years. Totopo’s work in the community has earned it the respect and backing of local residents, who recognize the radio as a space that uses their diidxazá language to reflect their ancestral culture as Binnizá, or Zapotec, people. Totopo has also established itself as a vital cultural and community space that serves as a physical meeting point for community members. There children take academic classes; a gallery space features paintings and photographs, documentary screenings, concerts, and the sale of traditional food; and the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People holds regular meetings.

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Support Autonomous Brigades from Oaxaca Bringing aid to the Areas Affected by the Earthquakes

All funds collected will be delivered equally to two different autonomous brigades. One of the brigades is comprised of collectives and organizations that work directly with affected communities, taking aid and supporting the community in alternative healing practices. The other brigade is composed of 2 doctors and other volunteers taking aid and engaging in medical assistance and now setting up two community kitchens feeding approximately 13 – 15 families.

The Most Devastated Zones

Two strong earthquakes battered Mexico this September. The first, with a magnitude of 8.1 degrees, hit the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca on September 7th; the second arrived on September 19th with a magnitude of 7.1 degrees, affecting areas in Puebla, Morelos, Mexico City, and Mexico State. In Oaxaca in the South of Mexico, two of the most devastated zones were the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the neighboring Sierra.

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Oaxaca: Geopolitics and the Earthquake

“The heart aches, but it is of utmost importance that in the face of this tragedy we do not cease to observe the geopolitical context of the Ithmus region.”

By: Griselda Sánchez
Photos by: Marisol Balbuena Delgado y brigada médica y solidaria.

The people of Oaxaca have had a difficult week. First came President Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit to the capital on Thursday, September 7th for the inauguration of a Cultural and Convention Center, on the occasion of the 24th Conference of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE). It was evident that the conference was the main motive for Peña’s presence at the event, since he was joined by Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, the Mexican Secretary of Economy, and Valentín Diez Morodo, the President of COMCE, as well as businessmen from important national and international companies; ambassadors and their commercial counselors from the diplomatic corps; the secretaries of the federal government, and the Director of Trade Negotiations of the World Trade Organization.

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