By Scott Campbell<\/p>\n
On December 1, 2012, while protests<\/a> were being brutally repressed in the streets, Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto addressed<\/a> Mexico for the first time as the country\u2019s newly-anointed president. He outlined the five main goals of his administration and announced ten \u201cpresidential decisions\u201d to achieve them. To reach his third goal of \u201cquality education for all,\u201d Pe\u00f1a Nieto stated he had decided to pursue a program of educational reform requiring the modification of the constitution and the establishment of a national evaluation system for teachers. And in doing so, Pe\u00f1a Nieto \u2014 the Butcher of Atenco<\/a> and the signed, sealed and delivered choice of the ruling elite \u2014 made clear his intention to target education and take on Latin America\u2019s largest union, the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE).<\/p>\n He wasted no time in getting to work. The following day, the heads of the three main political parties signed the \u201cPact for Mexico<\/a>,\u201d a document committing them to Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s five goals. With such backing, Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s proposed changes to the constitution easily passed both houses of Congress and were quickly approved by a majority of state legislatures. On February 26, 2013, the constitutional reforms related to education went into effect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Full implementation of the reforms required the passage of three regulatory laws, which Pe\u00f1a Nieto sent to Congress on August 14. While opposition to the reform was immediate, the impending start of the school year, along with the introduction of the laws, kicked the resistance into high gear. The struggle was and is led by the National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers (CNTE), a democratic formation within the markedly anti-democratic, corporatist and corrupt SNTE.<\/p>\n Since the announcement of the educational reform, the CNTE has organized marches, strikes, and meetings with government officials, presented alternative models to the proposed reform, and undertaken educational efforts to inform parents and the public in general about the repercussions of the reform. On April 19, teachers from the CNTE established an encampment in the Z\u00f3calo, the main plaza in Mexico City. With the state pushing the reform forward, the National Representative Assembly of the CNTE decided to call off the beginning of the school year and declared<\/a> an indefinite work stoppage starting on August 19. They called for a massive convergence in the Z\u00f3calo and for more than three weeks, over 40,000 teachers from all corners of Mexico have reinforced the encampment, turning the Z\u00f3calo into a tent and tarp city. In an assembly on September 7, teachers from 25 states (out of 31, plus the Federal District) and 37 SNTE branches (out of 59), joined by 55 civil society organizations, announced their united opposition to the educational reform and their plan to amplify the scope of the struggle.<\/p>\n