Compañer@s:

Is it November already? Apologies for the lag getting this month's newsletter out, but as many of our readers are aware, things have been increasingly tense in the past month throughout Mexico. Both CASA collectives have been actively involved in the developing events in Oaxaca, the Otra Campaña's caravan got back underway after being stationed in Atenco since this May, and there has been increased repression against some EZLN support bases located on lands recuperated in the late 1990's.

In Oaxaca, CASA Chapulin has gotten off to a lively start in Oaxaca. The first volunteers arrived in September, and found themselves in the middle of an impressive grassroots uprising that we all have a lot to learn from - there seems no end to the creativity and will of citizens. To demand the resignation of Ulises and attention to their demands, citizens have employed methods as diverse as massive marches, intensive civil disobedience (including the peaceful occupation of government buildings and media communication centers), strikes, sit-ins, disruption of traffic, public art including graffiti, sculptures, sand murals, music and street theatre, a 21-day hunger strike by members of the teachers' union, and the use of public spaces to construct altars for assassinated activists.
One of the most important roles the CASA collectives have played is in divulging information. The international press has tended to present a simplified and distorted version of events in Oaxaca, portraying a pacifist movement with basic demands for government accountability, transparency, and respect for human rights, as violent reactionaries. As collectives, we have written articles, given interviews, and submitted photographs for newspapers, magazines, and radios in the U.S., Sweden, Finland, Canada and Italy, as well as aiding in the efforts to organize solidarity actions in these countries.

CASA Chapulin is collaborating with the Oaxacan Network for Human Rights on translations of Urgent Actions and to develop a program for international accompaniment, and continues to provide food and lodging to activists who, amidst many illegal detentions, disappearances and assassinations, fear being victims of the violence instigated by the state governor.

From Chiapas, CASA de la Paz has been involved in disseminating information and translating, collaborating with independent media outlets, and with activists here in Chiapas to organize solidarity actions. A number of marches were held in San Cristobal, the stage at the cultural festival "El Cervantino" was taken for more than 20 minutes to spread news of the repression in Oaxaca. On November 1st, many local activists collaborated with the massive actions of EZLN bases of support, blocking more than 15 highways throughout the state.

Solidarity actions have continued in Chiapas - with the November 9th departure of a caravan to Oaxaca organized by the communities of Las Abejas, 45 of whom were killed in the famous 1997 massacre in Acteal - and throughout Mexico and the world. The APPO, Oaxaca's unarmed grassroots movement, international solidarity is crucial and we hope our readers will feel compelled to take action in their own countries.
In addition to further news from Oaxaca, and an article on Immigration by Rudy Poe, there is a short history of the community Ch'ol de Tumbala, EZLN support bases that recuperated lands in 1999 and had been living there until a violent displacement this past August left them without land, food, or houses. The situation continues to be tense since their re-entry in the beginning of October, and a Peace Camp has been installed, despite the imminent threats of another violent displacement, and potentially even a confrontation with local ranchers.

Things will continue to heat up, as much of momentum from these past months throughout Mexico will be focused on the ascension to power of Felipe Calderón on December 1st, Andres Manuel López Obrador's being named as the 'legitimate president of México' the week before, and all of the non-electoral grassroots organizing exploding out of the situation in Oaxaca and the conclusion of the Otra Campaña's caravan. We urge readers to stay in tune with events down here through our webpage, and partners at independent media outlets throughout the world.

Most of all, we should be inspired by the explosion of organizing that Mexico is currently witnessing, and reaffirm our commitments to struggles in our own communities. Get organized. Take the streets. Take the media.

PFP AND ULISES RUIZ OUT OF OAXACA!

FREEDOM FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS IN OAXACA, MEXICO, AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!

IMMEDIATE PRESENTATION OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARED!

STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA, AND ALL THOSE IN THE STRUGGLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!

In Solidarity,

CASA Collectives
Chiapas and Oaxaca, México.