Hello everyone,

As promised, I am writing to you about the Oaxaca Program. I’m sure that all of you have been following the news, increasingly alarming, from Oaxaca and that you will not then be surprised to hear that we must cancel the Program for next quarter. This is a heavy decision, made only after some considerable discussion and consultation. We had hoped of course that the troubles in Oaxaca would subside and that the city would return to its usual tranquility by now. But this has not happened, and the future is difficult to predict. I am, personally, sad that we have had to take this action, partly because this has been a wonderful program and partly because many of you, I know, have been planning for it with some enthusiasm. But the safety of our students is a non-negotiable priority. To proceed with the Program would be irresponsible. I am sorry.

I should like to outline here some alternatives to the Oaxaca Program, but first I want to invite you to a meeting in which Messrs Borges, Gorny, Santamarina, and I will be on hand to talk about how you might proceed. The meeting is tomorrow, specifically:

Friday
November 3
12:00 noon
Kelly 114

Obviously this isn’t a “required meeting” for a program that now no longer exists. It is though a chance to talk about this unfortunate situation (even more unfortunate, you will appreciate, for our Oaxacan friends), to discuss alternative paths, and to answer questions. I do hope you will be able to come by.

This is an unhappy business, and I can appreciate that many of you will be disappointed at seeing your Mexican plans evaporate. We too are disappointed, but we recognize that matters beyond our control make this decision unavoidable. I do hope you’ll be able to come by tomorrow’s meeting– Friday, noon, Kelly 114–to chat about things.

All the best,

Lewis Fortner
Associate Dean of Students in the College
Academic Director of Study Abroad

Categories: Mexico, Winter 2007
3 Comments »

I learned a new word since coming to university: historiography. The study of how history is written and comparison of different accounts.

Following the events in Oaxaca the last few days, I think that there ought to be a similar concept for newspapers and studying how each of them records the days’ events. (And “Media Studies” is just too wimpy a word.) I have always read about biased media, and comparing, say, Fox News, the New York Times, and the Manchester Guardian provides some examples of different spins and focuses on the same events. However, this Oaxaca story has provided an example of very selective reporting.

I have been reading my normal British and American news outlets all along, and since the Oaxaca situation started, I’ve been reading La Jornada, a newspaper based in Mexico City that was recommended by a Mexican friend. All along La Jornada has had a daily story with updates on the situatio on Oaxaca, while the anlgophone media has occasionally had a paragraph or two. Then they started to diverge:

Ten days ago: a vigilante killing of a Mexican teacher (one of the few fatalities in the protests):
La Jornada: big front page story
Anglophones: nothing

Last week: a North American Journalist is killed in a shooting:
La Jornada: big front page story
Anglophones: big front page story

Saturday: Federal Police invade the city:
La Jornada: big front page story
Anglophone: big front page story

Anglophone readers are left with the impression that all of a sudden a journalist from the US is killed, and all of a sudden the Mexican government does something about riots of indeterminate origin. Mexican readers, on the other hand, have watched the build-up to a climax which had multiple forebodings (the other killing, politics among senators in the capital, etc).

Furthermore:
Sunday and Monday: Federal Police are in control of parts of the city now, but the violence continues:
La Jornada: front page story
Anglophone: a small hard-to-find story

Now most anglophones think that all is resolved, while Mexicans know that little has changed.

The bottom line is still that I doubt I’ll go. The Study-Abroad Office will announce tomorrow.

Categories: Mexico, Winter 2007
6 Comments »

Last spring, my application was accepted to go on a study abroad trip to Oaxaca Mexico for the winter term this year (January through mid-March). I would live with a family, take three classes in Latin American Civilizations (fulfilling a graduation requirement for civilizations studies), take a Spanish class, live with a Mexican family, do a bit of traveling, and maybe take some cultural (cooking, weaving, dancing) classes available at the language school in the city.

As you may or may not know, there has been a spot of civil unrest in Oaxaca. The issues are many:

• Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was popular with the indigenous and poor who make up much of the state of Oaxaca’s population, lost the presidential election this summer by about 200,000 votes. In a country of 90 millions, such a small margin allows for some questioning to occur. Lopez Obrador questioned, and many of his supporters, including those in Oaxaca, have demonstrated in his support.
• The public school teachers in the state of Oaxaca are not being paid very much. They wish they were being paid more. They went on strike in order to communicate this fact. In going on strike, they used a common Latin American tactic: blockading streets. In theory, this causes such a disturbance that the government will cave in.
• Ulises Ruiz, the governor of the state of Oaxaca, is a member of the PRI, the political party which ruled the country nearly unopposed from 1911 to 2002. He did not cave in to the protestors. Tensions escalated. There are now proceedings in the Mexican senate to have him removed from office for his inability to solve the problem, however party politics (no party now holds a majority, and there isn’t even a clear plurality in the senate) are making this a rather slow process.
• The current president, Vicente Fox, will leave office on 1 December when his successor Felipe Calderon is sworn in. Calderon belongs to Fox’s party, and so Fox has made it clear that he intends to clear up the Oaxaca situation before he leaves office. Such a tight deadline has further escalated tensions.

With all of this in mind, when we had our first study-abroad meeting of the fall a couple of weeks ago, they told us that it was likely that the program would be canceled. However, the College is going wait until 1 November before making a call. In the mean time, we’ll all just have to wait. So, I went to my friend Walter, who is half-Mexican, to ask him what would be a good Mexican newspaper to read in order to follow the situation. (Walter has a Dutch last name, but his two middle names are both hispanic, leading us to joke that when he says he is half-Mexican, he means the middle half.) He suggested a newspaper from Mexico City called La Jornada.

I found them online and opened the website this morning to be greeted by this (a pdf; not for the faint). The sign on the body denounces the teacher for breaking the strike and cooperating with police.

The thirty or so students on the trip are still waiting anxiously for 1 November, but I think it’s pretty clear what the decision will be.

Categories: Mexico, Winter 2007
2 Comments »