Today’s New York Times has a story about the ongoing, sporadically violent standoff in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico between citizens and the state government. Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ca), capital of the state of the same name, is in southern Mexico. I spent 10 days there last winter, visiting Adrienne, who was there for two months.
Oaxaca is a colonial city, with churches and palaces dating to the Spanish conquest of the early 16th century. For most of the last 500 years, Oaxaca’s been a backwater, producing red dye and sisal cordage. In the past 50 years, the area has become famous for its handcrafts and artists began moving to the area. The city took on a bohemian aspect and began attracting tourists.
In recent years, Oaxaca has become a popular spot for wealthy Mexicans to build vacation homes. As the tall, pale ricos moved in, the short, brown pobres were pushed out. The zocalo, the city’s central square was once full of indios selling crafts and food. By last winter, it had been cleaned up. New benches had been installed. Tourists could sit in the restaurants lining the zocalo on warm evenings and listen to a brass band playing in the gazebo. One evening the band was running through the John Philip Sousa repertoire, perhaps to celebrate the completion of the conquest. Pity, too. Oaxaca has a tradition of beautiful brass band music; I was hoping to hear some.
Once a week while we were there, teachers and university students tried to stage mid-day demonstrations in the zocalo. The side streets filled with hundreds of protesters, but dozens of heavily armed state police officers kept them hemmed in and off the square.
In the spring, when the schools let out (and the crowds of winter tourists thinned), the teachers were allowed to occupy the zocalo, to set up a protest encampment, as they do every year, to protest their low pay and poor working conditions. Usually the teachers are ignored and go away after a week or two.
This year, with the presidential election in early July (and still disputed), the encampment grew larger and lasted longer than usual. The teachers were joined by other elements of Oaxacan society. People are angry. They city is growing and “prospering” but none of the wealth goes to the Oaxacans. All they get are crappy jobs and disdain from newcomers.
Deep in the Times’s report, it said the striking teachers asked for a pay package worth $150 million and that the state’s final offer in June was worth $8.5 million. The Times noted that teachers also want new textbooks for students and more classrooms and that Oaxaca schools serve hundreds of thousands of students.
If we say there are 200,000 students in Oaxaca and if there is one teacher for every 50 students (an appalling ratio by any standard), then the state is offering teachers the equivalent of $2,125 per teacher, per year. The teachers are asking for $36,125 per teacher, if one assumes 50 students per teacher. If one assumes 25 students per teacher, they’re asking for $18,062.50 each.
What’s that got to do with life in the U.S.? Everything. This is the post-NAFTA, globalized economy, remember? If there’s unrest in Baghdad and unrest in Oaxaca and they decide to have a footrace and your hometown is the finish line, guess who wins? (Hint: it’s not you.)
Do you wonder why there’s an issue with undocumented Mexican workers streaming into the U.S. and no number of border fortresses will stop them? Do you wonder where the growing income disparity in the U.S. is leading?
People can only be pushed so far and so hard before they start pushing back. Like it or not, that’s a problem for the U.S. – and not just in Oaxaca.
It’s All North America
Today’s New York Times has a story about the ongoing, sporadically violent standoff in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico between citizens and the state government. Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ca), capital of the state of the same name, is in southern Mexico. I spent 10 days there last winter, visiting Adrienne, who was there for two months.
Oaxaca is a colonial city, with churches and palaces dating to the Spanish conquest of the early 16th century. For most of the last 500 years, Oaxaca’s been a backwater, producing red dye and sisal cordage. In the past 50 years, the area has become famous for its handcrafts and artists began moving to the area. The city took on a bohemian aspect and began attracting tourists.
In recent years, Oaxaca has become a popular spot for wealthy Mexicans to build vacation homes. As the tall, pale ricos moved in, the short, brown pobres were pushed out. The zocalo, the city’s central square was once full of indios selling crafts and food. By last winter, it had been cleaned up. New benches had been installed. Tourists could sit in the restaurants lining the zocalo on warm evenings and listen to a brass band playing in the gazebo. One evening the band was running through the John Philip Sousa repertoire, perhaps to celebrate the completion of the conquest. Pity, too. Oaxaca has a tradition of beautiful brass band music; I was hoping to hear some.
Once a week while we were there, teachers and university students tried to stage mid-day demonstrations in the zocalo. The side streets filled with hundreds of protesters, but dozens of heavily armed state police officers kept them hemmed in and off the square.
In the spring, when the schools let out (and the crowds of winter tourists thinned), the teachers were allowed to occupy the zocalo, to set up a protest encampment, as they do every year, to protest their low pay and poor working conditions. Usually the teachers are ignored and go away after a week or two.
This year, with the presidential election in early July (and still disputed), the encampment grew larger and lasted longer than usual. The teachers were joined by other elements of Oaxacan society. People are angry. They city is growing and “prospering” but none of the wealth goes to the Oaxacans. All they get are crappy jobs and disdain from newcomers.
Deep in the Times’s report, it said the striking teachers asked for a pay package worth $150 million and that the state’s final offer in June was worth $8.5 million. The Times noted that teachers also want new textbooks for students and more classrooms and that Oaxaca schools serve hundreds of thousands of students.
If we say there are 200,000 students in Oaxaca and if there is one teacher for every 50 students (an appalling ratio by any standard), then the state is offering teachers the equivalent of $2,125 per teacher, per year. The teachers are asking for $36,125 per teacher, if one assumes 50 students per teacher. If one assumes 25 students per teacher, they’re asking for $18,062.50 each.
What’s that got to do with life in the U.S.? Everything. This is the post-NAFTA, globalized economy, remember? If there’s unrest in Baghdad and unrest in Oaxaca and they decide to have a footrace and your hometown is the finish line, guess who wins? (Hint: it’s not you.)
Do you wonder why there’s an issue with undocumented Mexican workers streaming into the U.S. and no number of border fortresses will stop them? Do you wonder where the growing income disparity in the U.S. is leading?
People can only be pushed so far and so hard before they start pushing back. Like it or not, that’s a problem for the U.S. – and not just in Oaxaca.
© Mark Floegel, 2006