from a friend, tennessee:

Dear friends/Querido Amig@s,

This letter is in a mix of Spanish and English. Esta carta es una mezcla de español y ingles.

This past weekend close friends of mine from the Mixteca region of northern Oaxaca were the target of paramilitary attacks. As far as we know everyone is alive, but there are people jailed, possibly dissappeared and my friend Betty received a threat by phone. She is the mother of the two cutest kids I have ever seen in my live. Hearing the news has left me feeling helpless.

El fin de semana pasado amigos mios de la Mixteca en Oaxaca fueron atacados por los paramilitares. De que sabemos ahora todos están vivos, pero hay gente encarcelados, tal vez desaparecidos y mi amiga Betty recibio una amenanza por telefono. Ella es la mama de l@s nin@s mas chul@s que yo conozco. Escuchando las noticias me hizo sentir impotente. Betty trabaja con CACTUS, un grupo que trabaja en economia solidaria y trabajo comunitario en los municipios mas pobres de Mexico. Esa comunidades sufren del peor de la negligencia del estado. Pegado abajo son los detalles de que pasó.

Betty works with CACTUS, a group that does solidarity economy work and community organizing in the some of the poorest municipalities of Mexico. These communities suffer from the worst state neglect. Pasted below are the details of what happened in Spanish. I haven’t had time to translate them yet. In short, Betty and CACTUS have been organizing with APPO-The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca. APPO formed on June 17, 2006 in response to the brutal state represion against the teachers union on strike in Oaxaca City. Since June the city has been occupied by APPO demanding the resignation of governor Ulises Ruiz who ordered the attack on the teachers. Two hours north in La Mixteca Betty and CACTUS have also been fighting for the demands of APPO. This past weekend folks from La Mixteca set out on two buses towards Oaxaca City for a big march planned there. Paramilitaries stopped the buses. One bus was off loaded and burned. The passengers had to seek refuge in neighboring houses and many walked through the night to get home. The death squadron let the other bus go and later arrested all of the passengers. Folks are still sorting out where everyone from the two busses are to make sure no one has dissapeared.

I talked to Betty yesterday. She said they are looking for help with human rights observation. They’d love to have human rights observers based in their offices. In addition to the events of this past weekend they know they are being watched and they’ve had documents stolen from their offices. Eventhough Huajuapan de Leon, where they are based, is a sizeable city they spend most of their time working in remote mountains of La Mixteca.

In addition to help with human rights observation they need some cash to help get folks out of jail. They are also trying to set up a better system of communication, which means getting phone cards and cellphones. They are also trying to figure out a way to better secure their offices.

I’m going to do a teach-in/benefit show on December 12th. If you have connections to human rights groups who might be able to help that would be great. If you would be interested in going down and helping out let me know. And if you want to raise some money to help out that would be great too. Does anyone know anything about setting up security systems?

Below is the description of this weekends events in Spanish:

COMPAÑEROS Y COMPAÑERAS: EL DIA DE AYER COMO PUEBLO DE OAXACA SUFRIMOS UNA SITUACION VERDADERAMENTE DE GUERRA. NUESTRO PUEBLO FUE ATACADO DE LA MANERA MAS VIL Y MAS COBARDE. DEBEN SABER QUE EN LA MIXTECA OAXAQUEÑA, CACTUS ESTA PARTICIAPANDO EN LA ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE LOS PUEBLOS DE OAXACA JUNTO CON OTROS COMPAÑEROS Y COMPAÑERA DE OTRAS ORGANIZACIONES. HA MANTENIDO TOMADO DURANTE 4 MESES EL EDIFICIO DEL AYUNTAMIENTO MUNICIPAL DE HUAJUAPAN DE LEON Y SE A ORGANIZADO JUNTO CON LOS DISTRITOS DE LA REGION PARA LA CONFORMACION DE LA APPO MIXTECA, HEMOS TOMADO CARRETERAS, CERRADO OFICINAS DE GOBIERNO ETC. TODO ESTO EN PROTESTA Y DEMANDANDO LA SALIDA DE ULISES RUIZ. TODA ESTA SITUACION NOS HA PUESTO EN EL OJO DEL HURACAN EN LA MIXTECA Y EL DIA SABADO PARTIERON VARIOS AUTOBUSES Y VEHICULOS CON RUMBO A LA CIUDAD DE OAXACA PARA PARTICIPAR EN LA MEGA MARCHA NUMERO SIETE. AL SALIR DE LA CIUDAD DE OAXACA UN ESCUADRON DE LA MUERTE DE ULISES RUIZ LES ARREBATO UN AUTOBUS Y LO QUEMO POR LO QUE LOS COMPAÑEROS TUVIERON QUE REFUGIARSE EN CASAS PARA PASAR LA NOCHE ALGUNOS AMONTONADOS Y DE PIE YA QUE NO HABIA LUGAR SUFICIENTE PARA DESCANSAR. EL DOMINGO EMPEZAMOS A REAGRUPARNOS Y A ORGANIZAR LA SALIDA Y A LA ALTURA DE NOCHIXTLAN NUESTROS COMPAÑEROS QUE VIAJABAN EN UN AUTOBUS DESAPARECIERON DESDE LA SIETE DE LA MAÑANA. POR LA NOCHE LOGRAMOS DAR CON 23 LOS CUALES SE ENCUENTRA EN LA CARCER DE TLACOLULA DE MATAMOROS. COMO SI FUERAMOS DELINCUENTES CUANDO SOLO EXIGIMOS NUESTRO DERECHO A VIVIR CON DIGNIDAD. EN ESTE MOMENTO NO TENEMOS LA LISTA DE LOS QUE VIAJABAN EN EL AUTOBUS LA ESTAMOS CONTRUYENDO Y ADEMAS NO SABEMOS DONDE ESTAN LOS RESTANTES PUES EL AUTOBUS IVA LLENO. HACEMOS UN LLAMADO A SU SOLIDARIDAD PARA QUE SI ALGUIEN PUDIERA VIAJAR HASTA OAXACA PARA VER CUAL ES LA SITUACION DE NUESTROS COMPAÑEROS NOS INFORME Y LO HAGA YA QUE NOSOTROS ESTAMOS ATADOS DE MANOS POR LAS ORDENES DE APRENSION GIRADAS EN NUESTRA CONTRA. AYER MISMO YO RECIBI UNA AMENAZA TELEFONICA DONDE DECIAN “BETTY HABLAS MUY BONITO Y LO PRIMERO QUE TE VAMOS A CORTAR ES LA PINCHE LENGUA” COMPAÑEROS ESTAMOS PIDIENDO AUXILIO NOS SENTIMOS MUY SOLOS Y SI ALGUNA ORGANIZACION DE DERECHOS HUMANOS PUDIERA INSTALARSE EL LAS OFICINAS DE CACTUS PARA DOCUMENTAR LAS VIOLACIONES EN LA MIXTECA SE LOS AGRADECERIAMOS MUCHO. PUES OJALA Y RECIBAMOS MUESTRAS DE SOLIDARIDAD A ESTE MENSAJE. NO NOS DEJEN SOLOS LOS NECESITAMOS. ESTA NUESTRA VIDA DE POR MEDIO. OJALA Y LOS COMPAS QUE ANDAN POR ALLA EN VALLES EDUCA Y CENTEOTL PUEDAN HECHARNOS LA MANO DE ALGUNA MANERA CON LO DE TLACOLULA YA QUE NO PODEMOS IR POR ALLA ALGUNOS DE LOS NOMBRES DE NUESTROS COMPAÑEROS SON: CIRO PEDROZA GUADARRAMA, JOSE LUIS OROPEZA SABEMOS QUE ANDAN MUY ATAREADOS TAMBIEN USTEDES PERO NO SE ALGO. POR OTRO LADO TENEMOS UN COMPITA EN CU Y NO A PODIDO SALIR POR QUE NO TIENE A DONDE IR SE LLAMA FERDANDO URBANO MORALES Y ES DEL EQUIPO DE CACTUS. MUCHAS GRACIAS POR LEER NUESTRO MENSAJE. HASTA LA VICTORIA¡

Si ustedes interes en ayudar con observacion o fundos para sacar gente del carcel dime. Tambien ellos necesitan celulares y tarjetas telefonicas para mantener mejor comunicacion.

Gracias por tu tiempo. Thanks for your time.
Tennessee

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more information:
Deaths and Disappearances Continue in Oaxaca indybay
Oaxaca’s popular movement suffers yet another brutal day indybay
Indybay - Americas
Centro de Medios Independientes(CMI) Oaxaca en español
OaxacaLibre!! en español
Oaxaca Revolt.org

by Mitchell Szczepanczyk, CIMC
18 Nov 2006

About 30 Chicagoans demonstrated at two downtown Chicago intersections to raise awareness about the case of an antiwar activist who burned himself to death in an antiwar protest.

The actions, held at the State Street and Michigan Avenue intersections of Chicago Avenue in the mid-afternoon, focused on Malachi Ritscher, a music connoisseur and political activist who doused himself with gasoline and immolated himself to death to protest the U.S.-led war and occupation in Iraq.

Activists distributed flyers describing the case and also held signs bearing assorted antiwar slogans. Each of the signs also bore a likeness of Ritscher’s visage and the phrase “I heard you, Malachi”.

“We’re here because no one knows about Malachi Ritscher. He killed himself protesting the war, and we think that Americans need to know about this”, said Jennifer Diaz, an organizer with the newly-formed “I heard you, Malachi” campaign, dedicated to raising awareness of Ritscher.

Ritscher’s protest received scant mention in the corporate media in Chicago and in the United States. Notable exceptions include a Chicago Sun-Times column by movie reviewer Richard Roeper and brief traffic reports describing the protest as a suicide and as a delay for traffic on Chicago’s Kennedy Expressway.

Ritscher’s immolation took place on November 3, 2006, leading some participants to remark “Remember, remember, the third of November” — a pun and homage to the famous nursery rhyme about the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot, set on the fifth of November, 1605.
[from: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/74977/]

links, more articles:
http://www.iheardyoumalachi.org/
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/2006/11/07/malachi-ritschers-apparent-suicide/
http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/39663/Malachi_Ritscher_19542006

Chicago Indymedia has learned that last Friday local music and art afficianado and peace advocate Malachi Ritscher burned himself to death on the side of the Kennedy Expressway near downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour. Near Malachi’s remains, police found a camcorder with videotape inside and a homemade sign that read “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”

Besides the note and videotape at the scene, Malachi also left a longer letter explaining his actions and his motivations. “What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy?” he wrote. “If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country.”

Malachi was among more than seven hundred peace protesters who were illegally arrested on March 20, 2003, when thousands turned out to protest the beginning of the U.S. war on Iraq. His death, to date has received very little news coverage — and outlets that did report his death treated it as a simple suicide and the cause for slower-than-usual traffic that morning. The contents of the videotape he left have not been made public.

full story: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/74806/index.php

malachi’s websites: savagesound | myspace

MANHATTEN, NY. “Today’s bike ride-inspired by a Zapatista call for actions-turned out to be an excellent form of public awareness raising and continued to bring heat upon the Mexican government and the commercial media. The Friends of Brad Will, organizers of the ride, will be celebrating the Day of the Dead tomorrow in memory of Brad. On Friday morning some will gather to discuss sending a New York City delegation to Oaxaca and Mexico City.” - nyc imc article

the ride for Oaxaca yesterday was powerful. i rode on a “sound bike,” a tricycle with a sound system on the back. a woman had burned a cd of music from Oaxaca. about 50-75 people rode through manhattan, chanting and blasting mexican music. we passed out flyers to spread the news. we stopped at three places: the NY Times, the Mexican Consulate, and the UN building. at each stop, someone spoke about the government forces in Oaxaca, the seven murders, and their friend brad will. at the mexican cosulate, two people unfulred a large banner that had a photo of brad with a young mexican child, both smiling, and everyone aplauded with both joy and rage. everyone rode their bicycles with such powerful emotions revolving around us. the police followed us with their motor scooters, and let us do our thing at each stop. at the UN, someone tried to block the entrance, but was pushed out by security. we lagged at the end of the ride, just standing outside of the UN unsure that we had done enough, but feeling somber and sort of lost in the whole thing. the cops didn’t seem to try to push us out, but we eventually moved to keep from causing a problem. on the ride away, the cops finally pulled out their tricks, the cop in the white shirt announcing to the other cops on scooters to grab anyone who crosses the intersection at the red light. we had been riding through red lights–with their assistance–all day. my sister and a few others got nabbed. while i waited with my sister as the cop wrote her a ticket, we saw a struggle at the next intersection. a biker was grabbed for blocking the intersection and there was a bit of commotion from both sides, fighting the usual fight when a protester gets grabbed. one person was dragged away in plastic cuffs.

everyone split up after the arrest, but all heading to thompson sq. park to recouperate together and eat.

links:
Photos: Brad Will Ride for Oaxaca
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/78459.html
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/78549.html
Oaxaca Solidarity Demonstrations in the US on Thursday, Nov. 2nd
http://nyc.indymedia.org/or/2006/11/78560.html

Friends of Brad Will | nyc.indymedia.org | news.infoshop.org