Sunday, October 01, 2006
Good Morning, Oaxaca
I am actually very sympathetic to the businessmen of downtown Oaxaca. They too are victims of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. Many of them may send their kids to the same substandard schools that were the spark that ignited this strike.
But it was not APPO that refused to pay a living wage to the teachers. It was URO. It was not APPO that fired on people at the Guelaguetza festival. It was Ruiz Ortiz's agents. It wasn't APPO that destroyed the radio stations or dropped teargas from helicopters or assassinated teachers. It was URO's agents.
Mass demonstrations like this simply don't occur for no reason at all. Like the Boston Tea Party, they occur because people have had enough and will take no more.
As Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."
Amen.
The APPO alleges that Ruiz Ortiz is engaged in massive corruption, violence, and murder.
The federal government has the power to go in and investigate. Perhaps it could enlist an internationally-respected jurist to head the investigation.
Assuming that even a small part of the complaints probably has the power to arrest him and remove him from office.
Then there are free and fair elections.
End of story, end of uprising.
Instead, Vicente Fox has refused to even investigate.
Fox has always had the power to end this peacefully. Instead, he'll kill a bunch of people and try to blame it on APPO. That's because in some degree he is part of the corruption, violence, and murder.
It DOES matter what the objectives of each side are.
What you are saying is that FOX's objective(s) is to have and protect a government that is corrupt, commits violence and engages in murder? I can believe the corruption claim but to say that he is deliberately involved in violence, murder has no substances.
If this was the case then we can easily say that all governments at all levels, from all countries engage in corruption, violence and murder. Then, who is to say that once the APPO comes to power or even if there are free elections upon defeating Ruiz Ortiz all these hideous acts will stop?
There is no end to these problems as they are presented and the current uprising will likely not make things better; hence their objective(s) won't matter. It is only a band aid to the bigger picture...
They have not.
Indeed, Fox's own sons are in danger of indictment for illegal enrichment, i.e., kickbacks, bribery, sweetheart deals, etc.
But it's worse than that.
Much worse.
I don't have the time to go into detail right now. You will find some examples in our archives, and if you decide to follow the blog regularly, I might be inspired to start a thread on the source of violence in Mexico.
But bottom line: there's a h--luva lot of money in play.
Enough to corrupt a saint.
Enough to bring an ordinary man to violence and murder.
Revolutions never seem to make sense when they start. Bostonians dressing up as Indians to throw tea into the harbor? Gandhi marching to the sea to make salt? The comfortable middle class looks at these acts and mutters, "Crazy idiots"... until something happens to make the craziness make sense.
In Mexico's case, the wake up will probably come over economic decline. A recession in the US, for example, would probably devastate the Mexican middle class.
If the PAN had allowed the votes to be counted, this whole thing would have worked itself out. If PAN had moved against corruption, they might have taken the moral high ground. But now a third of the country is openly hostile to the government. A recession is looming, and with it, the government will lose all legitimacy.
The fuse is lit, and I doubt that anyone can put it out.
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