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tonyburton

Nov 5, 2006, 10:03 AM

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Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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Daily thread continues

geri

Nov 5, 2006, 1:48 PM

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Re: [tonyburton] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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I'm about a mile from the zocalo. Don't know what is happening there. I heard that someone got shot in the chest and that the teachers aren't going back to class tomorrow. Guess I better turn on the radio. No helicopters overhead. Seems VERY quiet. Sundays are quiet. This is a VERY quiet Sunday. From where I am, it's all very peaceful, but I realize it could be different a mile away.

I decided not to go to watch the march. An aging gringa getting caught in the crosshairs would NOT help their cause any. It wouldn't help tourism in Oaxaca for sure. Besides, I'm a sissy!! :-)

bournemouth

Nov 5, 2006, 3:04 PM

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Re: [geri] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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You're not a sissy, Geri - just very sensible.

waltw

Nov 5, 2006, 6:01 PM

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Re: [geri] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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Hello Geri,

Here's an article that talks about the shooting:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/...2006/11/5/124043/519

Here's an article in Spanish that talks about today's Megamarch that ended in Santo Domingo, without incident. Quite a turnout, by the looks of the photo.

http://www.milenio.com/...hp/2006/11/05/12107/

The zocalo yesterday was a rather eerie scene, with 98% of the people there being the PFP. The main attraction being a vendor selling rompecabezas (metalic figurines that you extract one of the metal pieces from and then reinsert into the puzzle.) Several PFP playing with these to pass the time. The flowers that used to grace the Zocalo are completely gone now, except for a few, sickly plants in the far, right-hand corner.

Bubba

Nov 5, 2006, 6:56 PM

Post #5 of 10 (3311 views)

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Re: [waltw] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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Walt wrote:

Hello Geri,

Here's an article that talks about the shooting:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/...2006/11/5/124043/519

Here's an article in Spanish that talks about today's Megamarch that ended in Santo Domingo, without incident. Quite a turnout, by the looks of the photo.

http://www.milenio.com/...hp/2006/11/05/12107/

The zocalo yesterday was a rather eerie scene, with 98% of the people there being the PFP. The main attraction being a vendor selling rompecabezas (metalic figurines that you extract one of the metal pieces from and then reinsert into the puzzle.) Several PFP playing with these to pass the time. The flowers that used to grace the Zocalo are completely gone now, except for a few, sickly plants in the far, right-hand corner.

Just a couple of points:

NarcoNews is far from an objective source of news. Local Oaxaca media and tonight´s news have nothing, so far, to say about this reported shooting. We´ll see tomorrow morning but this latest idea of breaking Oaxaca news into daily segments is interfering with the continuity of postings so management might want to rethink the daily lock on postings.

Secondly, the term Mega March implies a huge and/or vast event by definition. The cited article above does not estimate the number of participants. Tonight´s newscast from Televisa also does not estimate the number of participants. A Oaxaca newspaper is quoted on one source as reporting that an estimated 500,000 participants stretched out over about six kilometers from the plaza area but who knows. Actually, whatever the size of the crowd it looks as if things ended today without any significant negative events. We´ll see in tomorrow´s news reports but, once again, if threads are broken into daily segments, there will be no true continuity with today´s comments.

Television news reports tonight show truly sad pictures of some of the long term devastation . It´s sad. It will probably take years for the local community to recover.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Nov 5, 2006, 7:14 PM)

jacpowell

Nov 5, 2006, 7:15 PM

Post #6 of 10 (3301 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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I don't care what format the posts take - daily or otherwise. I am able to cope with a break for each day, and it is easier to see what's new. And there's something new every day. I really appreciate Geri's and DoDi's posts. Most of us are able to figure out who's coming from which side of the issue.

Well, they aren't calling this the Million Man March. These days NOB anything over 10 people is a megamarch because everybody sits at home in front of the tube. At least a bunch of folks are out letting their opinions be known, by some non-CRT means.

Jackie

arbon

Nov 5, 2006, 7:19 PM

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Re: [Bubba] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

"Taking every thing with a grain of salt"

Including the ostrich meat from Lakeside Bubba?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

waltw

Nov 6, 2006, 6:38 AM

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Re: [Bubba] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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NarcoNews is far from an objective source of news.

That's true. I completely agree with you.

However, I think this particular reporter, Nancy Davies, has written some of the best articles, in English, analyzing the situation in Oaxaca that I've read (though the last article posted, the sole source being the Radio Universidad announcer, is not representative of her best work.) I did see one additional Spanish newspaper report of the incident, but haven't read anything else, either. So if I performed a disservice posting the article, I appologize.

Most of the articles I've seen written by the International Press summarize the situation, but don't go into any analysis of why, except to say that Oaxaca is poor and PRI has been in control forever. So to understand the situation, I think you have to read reports given by people with an agenda, as they have the most intimate knowledge of the situation.

Bubba

Nov 6, 2006, 7:07 AM

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Re: [waltw] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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Walt:

I was not being critical of you in any way. I found your posting informative.

Jackie:

I was simply suggesting that the break down into a daily format makes it a bit more difficult to follow events over time and respond to the observations of others either positively or negatively. For instance, there was an ongoing discussion one day of events in Chiapas piggybacked onto the Oaxaca discussion and that is a fairly complex issue since the two states are very different and the discussion was not served by chronological segmentation. One might argue that that discussion should be in a separate thread but we all know how tangential issues naturally arise from discussions of many topics. That doesn´t make the discussion less valuable until it becomes too far afield.

Whatever, this was simply an observation. The moderator makes the final decision.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Nov 6, 2006, 7:09 AM)

caldwelld

Nov 6, 2006, 7:16 AM

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Re: [tonyburton] Oaxaca: Nov 5, 2006

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Hope no one is accepting anything on this thread as news. It is opinion - and not very well informed or objective opinion imho. The notion that a few gringos can begin to understand this political activity after being in country only a part of a lifetime is interesting.

This is a classic leftwing struggle for populist power, which the proponents often confuse with “democracy”. It has been going on in this country and elsewhere in the world, (with relatively little success), for 2 centuries and the professional demonstrators that turn up for these events (over 5 months!!) are not simply “concerned citizens”. You cannot take anything they say at face value any more than you can believe completely those that hold power. Spokesmen on both sides are being paid to lie but it is hard to argue that the non-elected group (led as it is by a convicted criminal) has more credibility than the government – again imho.
Resolution of this problem is being handled in the Mexican way and this is quite foreign to those used to govts NOB. Nevertheless make no mistake; it is a war being fought here. In wars people will get hurt. Fortunately, because it is being handled in a quintessentially Mexican way, the number of casualties will likely be kept low unless too many people insist on a quick resolution or some silly foreigners get too involved.
dondon