13 November 2007

Oaxaca and the Sheffield Anarchists

This ended up in my inbox today. Not sure yet what I think about it.

The problem is that APPO, as I understand it, was never supposed to be an anarchist organization. APPO was formed as a means to unify the collective might of the 300-some smaller teachers' unions, workers' groups, pueblos' organizations and the like that made their way to Oaxaca City in 2006, in solidarity with the striking teachers, to protest the oppressive regime of the Ulises Ruiz government.

A major complaint against many demonstrations that took place in Oaxaca in 2006 and again in the summer of 2007 is that they attracted anarchists who simply want to throw rocks at police and light buses on fire, thus undermining peaceful attempts to draw attention to human rights violations and oppressive government policies in Oaxaca, and giving police a green light to start busting heads (and they don't appear to need much provocation on this order).

So when the fashionable Sheffield Anarchist Federation, boasting that their fundraising gig got shut down by "the riot squad," donates a little bit of money to the APPO, and the APPO accepts it, how can anyone argue that the APPO functions as a legitimate organization for responsible change?

I need more time to think about it.