Indigenous Demands and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca

Jorge Hernández-Díaz
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociologicós U Autonónoma de Benito Juárez de Oaxaca

After the state police’s unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the unionized teachers from the zócalo in Oaxaca, the political situation changed dramatically. Various forms of protests arose in support of the teachers, one being the formation of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). The group later changed its name to the plural Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, which recognized that its membership included individuals from many cultural and ethno-linguistic groups rather than one alone.

Responding to State Repression

When the APPO emerged, the group seemed to be a heterogeneous conglomerate of organizations that spontaneously joined together solely to protest government repression and to support the teachers’ demands. These groups continued to stick together without relinquishing their heterogeneous character. They were unified by one common demand—the removal of the state governor from office through whatever political mechanism needed: resignation, discharge, dissolution of powers, or a political lawsuit.

A movement of this nature could be explained in part as an opportunity that presented itself to a population that had been slighted and subjugated for decades while the regimes of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held absolute power. The aggravations and insults that had built up were being repaid by those who now challenged the government. Even the governor recognized this explanation on October 30, 2006, when he was interviewed on television, promising the social organizations that he would “review the offenses.”

The social, political and economic complexity of the state is often mentioned among arguments explaining the events in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is one of the most culturally diverse states of Mexico, with the largest percentage of indigenous language speakers, and with the highest number of distinct municipalities (570 of a national total of 2,437). These characteristics make the region complex, but do not necessarily cause conflict. However, this cultural diversity exists in a context where other factors do generate social unrest— precarious living conditions, cacicazgos or rule by political bosses, government authoritarianism, and manifestations of ethnic, cultural and racial discrimination.

Tzetzil native women from Chiapas support the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) by participating in a peaceful protest at the main square (zócalo) of Oaxaca City, November 11, 2006. Photo courtesy of F Juan Carlos REYES/AFP/Getty Images

Reclaiming Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity in Oaxaca affects many aspects of the daily lives of the state’s inhabitants. It is not surprising then that one of the arguments slowly making its way into the discourse of APPO members is the reclaiming of that diversity. APPO has made the cultural diversity commonly suppressed in Oaxaca visible, at least symbolically. Events held by some of the organizations encompassed in this broad front included a variety of religious rituals in their opening ceremonies. There were sometimes implicit or explicit assumptions about the ethical superiority of the indigenous communities’ practices to those of liberal democracy. However, others within the movement uphold the values of liberal democracy, arguing that Mexico should build a political system based upon free, participatory and responsible citizenship.

Working within the framework of APPO, some branches of the indigenous organizations and associated NGOs organized the Forum of the Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca (Foro de los Pueblos Indígenas de Oaxaca). At a meeting held in Oaxaca City on November 28 and 29, 2006, concrete demands were made that had to be implemented if the indigenous organizations were to continue as members of the APPO. These demands concerned self-determination and autonomy; land, territory and resources; education and intercultural indigenous communication; and human rights. As a conclusion to the assembly, the participants issued a declaration, from which one section can be highlighted for its conviction of the defense of plurality and the need to build a peaceful movement:

We call for the strengthening of the process of unification founded in the diversity of identities and agendas, providing approaches that are organic, programmatic and that involve mutual action by all peoples, branches and movements.

We declare that we must foster an attitude and a plan of action based on the richness, the experience and wisdom of our indigenous peoples, as our cultures, systems of autonomy and organization, and collective labor, among other elements of our communities, constitute the keys to constructing any social and political alternative.
We urge society to build new initiatives and proposals with the intent of linking the movement, the organization and the dialogue throughout all the different areas of our lives, our work and the political struggle of our peoples.

We call upon the APPO to strengthen its process of organization and mutual action, and above all, to infuse the basis of every movement and organization with this new attitude: to commit to everything that is articulated, everything that can bring change that is based on our experience, everything that is built from the bottom up.

To our brothers and sisters who walk alongside us from the Popular Council of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca we say that, more than ever, we must reaffirm our conviction and our commitment to building a peaceful movement that attends to the deep-rooted causes of the conflict that we are living in and that builds a foundation for a new social contract and a new judicial order that provides justice, peace and democracy for all.

This declaration shows that the indigenous organizations of Oaxaca do not support the demands of the APPO unconditionally. This can be seen especially in the final paragraph implicitly warning against violent protests and escalation of the conflict.

An Interrupted Dialogue

This was the discourse that began to take hold in the forums held by member groups regarding the actions of the APPO, but was not necessarily at the heart of the umbrella organization itself. The indigenous organizations stressed the need to examine issues related to the maintenance of cultural diversity. Without a doubt, this issue had to be resolved in order for the continued participation of those who sought a dialogue that would lead to democracy in a plural or multicultural context.

This was an opportunity to promote discussion about forms of political participation that could ensure that the people would recognize the government system in place while guaranteeing the rule of law and respect for civil, social, political and cultural rights. Unfortunately, this dialogue was abruptly interrupted when the federal government decided to provide a different way out of the conflict, privileging alliances with traditionally anti-democratic factions and rejecting, at least for now, the opportunity to mend or rebuild the social fabric of Oaxaca.

Jorge Hernández-Díaz is a professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociologicós Universididad Autonónoma de Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. He is the author of Reclamos de la Identidad: La Formación de las Organizaciones Indígenas en Oaxaca (2001). Leah Leone translated the original draft of this commentary from Spanish to English.