Angry Oaxacan maestros

I've been seeing a bunch of news lately about school teachers in Oaxaca striking because they want higher pay. Then a few articles came out yesterday that a pretty serious encounter between the maestros and the police occured in the Zocalo. Apparently there was some tear gas fired and some independent news sites say that police shot at some protestors with guns as well. The Oaxacan governor denies this, but who knows?



I remember that the teachers were always striking back in December as well, and thus many kids missed school all the time. This time, kids haven't been to school since May! The teachers want higher wages, and the government says they don't have any more money. All of this in the midst of the July 2nd presidential election.

I don't know if this will all settle down before we arrive on Sunday, but it doesn't seem as if there will be a solution anytime soon. Hopefully the conflicts will be peaceful.

Here's an article by the BBC.

And here's one by an independent media source, Infoshop News.

And now, the time is here...

Tomorrow it all begins! CV training will be in Houston until Sunday and then I head off to Oaxaca! It seems like I was a new intern in the IO just yesterday. I'm excited and nervous and really hoping I haven't forgotten to pack anything!

I hope I will have decent enough internet access in my community to keep this blog in tip-top shape. This project ain't called Project TECHNO for no reason!

Here's to a great summer!

-Apoorva