For those of you not in Oaxaca, you may not have heard the news yet that the Oaxacan teachers have decided to WALK from Oaxaca to Mexico City. They leave this Thursday. Probably about 5,000 of them. And the idea is that other sectors (neighbors, indigenous, students, teachers from other states, etc) will join them.
The teachers have not done this since 1986. They call it a marcha caminata. Since they announced this last night, I have talked with lots of folks in town who, even though they heard perfectly well the term “marcha caminata,” they still assumed it was a motorized march of sorts….walk a few miles and then everyone pile into a bus and go on to the next town. No. The teachers will walk the whole way, passing through the sierra and stopping in communities to talk about their struggle. They plan to pass through Oaxaca, Puebla, Morelos, and the State of Mexico, before arriving in Mexico City to establish an encampment outside the Senate.
