Anthropological Perspectives on the Oaxacan Rebellion

Michael Chibnik
U Iowa

Over the past century, many anthropologists have carried out research in the picturesque, ethnically diverse state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Two topics have increasingly become the focus of recent anthropological projects: the massive movements of people from Oaxaca to and from the US, and the effects of the recent decline of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)—an organization that dominated Mexican politics for almost seven decades—on local systems of government.

Since last May, a complex conflict in Oaxaca has been the subject of countless—often superficial—newspaper articles, online publications and blogs. This In Focus series is an attempt to provide an overview of recent events from the perspectives of six scholars with extensive experience in the region. These brief essays can provide only a glimpse of a complicated situation where individuals and organizations have diverse motivations.

A Social Movement Emerges

In each of the past 26 years, a teachers’ union in Oaxaca has mobilized to demand wage increases and improvements in schools. In what has become a ritual, the teachers often close schools and demonstrate in the zócalo (central square) of the city of Oaxaca. Eventually, a settlement is reached through bilateral negotiations with the state government; the strike rarely garners much support or sympathy from the public.

During the 2006 demonstrations, however, the union seemed more militant than usual and the PRI-led state government was less willing to make concessions. On June 14, the state police took the unprecedented step of attempting to dislodge the teachers from the zócalo by force. Although the teachers were at first driven out, they counter-attacked and routed the poorly-trained and outnumbered police. The public outrage against the state’s bellicose response to the teachers’ peaceful protest permitted the union to accomplish what it had unsuccessfully attempted many times before—to gain the support from the hundreds of social action organizations that have proliferated in Oaxaca in the past 20 years. Representatives of about 350 of these groups created a new umbrella organization, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

From its inception, the principal demand of the APPO has been the removal of Ulises Ruiz, the governor of the state. Ruiz, who came to power in 2004 in an election widely believed to be fraudulent, was unpopular prior to the teachers’ demonstrations. He has supervised a costly remodeling of public spaces (including the zócalo) that many regard as both aesthetically unpleasing and a terrible waste of money in one of the poorest states in Mexico.

The APPO and the teachers constructed barricades that blocked off large parts of the city center; anti-government graffiti covered many buildings. Although the schools were open for part of July, they did not reopen in the fall after closing for summer vacation. At least 17 people died between June 14 and October 28 in conflicts between supporters of the APPO and the police. Tourism, a mainstay of the local economy, dropped drastically. Craft producers lost their principal source of income as wholesalers and tourists stopped coming to their communities to purchase wood carvings, weavings and pottery. Migration to the US became an even more popular option for Oaxacans discouraged by political unrest, closed schools and the collapse of the tourist economy.

A Day of the Dead Altar for a teacher who disappeared, November 4, 2006. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Alonso

The national and state elections in July further complicated the situation. Felipe Calderón from the right-center National Action Party (PAN) was declared the narrow victor in the presidential election over Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the candidate of the left-center Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). Roberto Madrazo, the PRI candidate (and a close ally of governor Ruiz), trailed badly. López Obrador refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the election; to govern effectively Calderón needed the support of PRI, which still runs many states and has numerous members of Congress. The state elections in Oaxaca were swept by the PRD, leaving Ruiz with little support in his home base. Vicente Fox, the outgoing PAN president of Mexico, did little as the situation deteriorated in Oaxaca. Although the Mexican senate passed a resolution urging Ruiz’s departure, the governor remained in power.

Recent Responses to the Movement

The APPO has suffered serious reverses in recent months. On October 26, the teachers’ union voted to return to classes after being offered some concessions by the government. On October 28, Bradley Will, an independent journalist from the US, was killed while covering a demonstration. President Fox finally took action as a result of the bad publicity and a desire to attempt to resolve the contact before his successor took office. About 4,000 well-trained and well-equipped troops of the PFP (Federal Preventive Police) forced their way into the city and dislodged the APPO encampment from the zócalo.

During the conflict in Oaxaca, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and teachers constructed barricades that blocked off large parts of the city center. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Alonso

Calderón has taken a hard line with protestors in Oaxaca since taking office at the beginning of December. Leaders of the APPO have been arrested and interred in distant states such as Nayarit. There have been widespread allegations of human rights violations. Although buildings have been painted and graffiti removed, the tourists have stayed away and much of the populace remains angry. The demonstrations have not ended.

Much of the coverage of the Oaxacan conflict has been by “alternative,” left-leaning news outlets with names such as IndyMedia (Bradley Will’s organization), World War 4, the NarcoSphere and Upside Down World. While the sophistication of these reports varies, many take a class-based approach in which the conflict is depicted rather simply as an alliance of teachers, indigenous groups and the poor united in opposition to a repressive oligarchy and corrupt government. The coverage in the mainstream press has mostly consisted of short articles emphasizing the economic and physical effects of the demonstrations on a city which is one of Mexico’s leading tourist destinations. Although these stories ordinarily describe the teachers’ strike and mention the unpopularity of the governor, they rarely say much about human rights violations.

Political graffiti in the zócalo, Oaxaca, summer 2006.

The essays in this In Focus series look at the Oaxacan conflict through an anthropological lens. Ronald Waterbury and Deborah Poole examine the political and cultural context within which the APPO came into being. Jorge Hernández Díaz describes the relationships between indigenous organizations and the APPO; Lynn Stephen highlights the role of women in social movements in Oaxaca. Gloria Zafra discusses the history of the teachers’ union. A careful reading of these essays reveals that the contributors are not always in agreement (compare, for example, the essays of Stephen and Zafra) in their interpretations of recent events. Nonetheless, taken together, these articles show well why this conflict arose and why it is far from over.

Michael Chibnik is professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings (2003).