Oaxaca, La cara del fascismo mexicano, miercoles el 21 de marzo de 2007
Oaxaca, The face of Mexican fascism, Wednesday 21 March 2007
Friends,
It’s worth keeping in mind the basic WHY of a very large part of the horrendous violations of so-called human rights in vast portions of the world. The reason is not obscure. It was spelled out in precise language by a very senior official in American planning for the future, back in 1945, sixty-two years ago!.

“We have about 50 per cent of the world’s wealth but only 6.3 per cent of its population. In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. We should cease to talk about such vague and unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratisation. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”

George Kennan, ex-US State Department Policy Planning
Staff Chief, Document PPS23, 24 February 1948

The situation in Oaxaca can be seen as part of the result of U.S. success in robbing so much of Mexico’s natural wealth. This note contains three items on human rights struggles in Oaxaca:
1. The third human rights delegation of the Oaxaca Solidarity Network.
2. Third urgent action communication from “Los Olividados/The Forgotten Ones” Oaxaca Solidarity Network/EDUCA Campaign for the release of political prisoners.
3. Testimony of Juan Carlos Luis Mendoza, one of the tortured political prisoners who was uninvolved with the popular movement, a chance victim.
____________________________________________________________
1.
HUMAN RIGHTS/HUMANITARIAN DELEGATION TO OAXACA

VICTIMS OF ONGOING AND WIDESPREAD GOVERNMENT REPRESSION IN OAXACA, MEXICO ASK FOR CONTINUED INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION

WHEN: April 22-April 28
WHERE: Oaxaca, Mexico
CONTACT: Oaxaca Solidarity Network,
U.S. phone: 303-800-4453.
COST: $80 per day, which includes lodging, transportation during the
delegation, all meals, guiding and translation.
WHAT: The Red Oaxaqueña de Derechos Humanos (Oaxacan Human Rights Network) www.rodh.org.mx/spip has extended a formal invitation to the Oaxaca Solidarity Network www.oaxacasolidarity.org and Rights Action www.rightsaction.org to continue with its work in increasing the international presence and awareness by organizing human rights delegations to Oaxaca to observe the current, ongoing government repression in the city, and to develop international solidarity efforts.
This delegation is a follow up to the December 16-22, 2006 and the February 10-16, 2007 emergency human rights delegations organized by the Oaxacan Solidarity Network and sponsored by Rights Action. Delegates—including human rights lawyers, journalists, authors, investigators, graduate students and activists—met with Oaxacan human rights organizations, victims of repression, leaders of grassroots non-governmental organizations and government officials. The reports, articles, documentaries, testimonies, photographs, and other materials produced by members of our delegation will soon be available at www.oaxacasolidarity.org (at present they are available at web.mac.com/oaxacasolidarity).
WHY: October 30 this year marked the arrival of some 4000 Federal Preventative Police (PFP), whose goal was to break up a non-violent popular movement calling for true participatory democracy and an end to widespread government corruption and grinding poverty. Since the PFP arrived in Oaxaca, there have at least 20 murders, more than 350 arbitrary detentions, hundreds of wounded and searches without warrants of homes of many popular leaders. There are many documented reports of torture and disappearances. (For background information and delegation goals, see below)
In spite of the government’s recent campaign to promote tourism in Oaxaca, repression against members of the popular movement continues…
—There are 51 political prisoners still being held in various jails throughout Oaxaca.
—Many leaders of the popular movement are openly threatened with pending arrests warrants to discourage continued dissent.
—Arbitrary arrests continue, including the arrest, interrogation and strip-search last week of a well-respected German artist and Columbia University professor for a benefit event for Oaxacan political prisoners.
—More than 100 schools have been taken over by supporters of the Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortega (URO), and there have been violent confrontations at several. The state teachers union is again threatening a general strike if the situation remains unresolved.
—Streets are constantly patrolled by members of various police/military units—often in camouflage with bullet-proof vests, carrying sub-machine guns.
Due to the ongoing repression and violence in Oaxaca, continued international presence is critical, as is the urgent need to learn and spread the word about the grave, ongoing violations of human rights in Oaxaca. This human rights/humanitarian delegation will continue the work of demonstrating solidarity, and of international education and activism.
ITINERARY: During the 6 days in Oaxaca, delegates will have a series of meetings with families of the murdered, detained and disappeared, leaders of the popular movement, human rights activists, journalists, local grassroots indigenous rights organizations, victims of repression, and possibly government officials, representatives of the business community, and representatives of police forces. The itinerary also includes a day-long trip to a community outside of Oaxaca that has experienced repression due to their involvement in the non-violent popular movement for social justice, human rights and true democracy.
WHO: Our trip is being sponsored by Rights Action and the Oaxaca Solidarity Network, in collaboration with various human rights organizations. The Oaxaca Solidarity Network is a collective of concerned U.S. and Mexican citizens working to raise international awareness of the non-violent popular social movement here, and create international pressure to end the widespread human rights violations throughout the city and state of Oaxaca.
We invite ANY interested persons or organization to join our delegation. The Oaxacan Solidarity Network and the Red Oaxaqueña de Derechos Humanos have specifically asked for solidarity and for human rights observers, so we are particularly interested in the participation of activists, journalists, lawyers, professors, students and others who, upon return to the U.S. or Canada, can work effectively to put the current abuses into the international spotlight.
CONTACT: Oaxaca Solidarity Network, U.S. phone: 303-800-4453.
Recent history of the current conflict: Oaxaca, Mexico has long been one of the country’s premier tourist destinations, with the world-renowned archeological sit of the ancient Zapotec city of Monte Alban, a vibrant indigenous culture, diverse artisan and culinary traditions, and natural beauty.
But in May last year, Oaxaca’s state-wide teachers’ union initiated a strike and non-violent occupation of the city center, demanding better pay and work conditions, as well as improvements to the state’s educational infrastructure. At dawn on June 14, state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (popularly referred to as URO) sent in state police to violently break up the ongoing, peaceful teachers’ protest. The brutal police action, which included the firing of tear gas from helicopters onto the crowd below, sparked widespread indignation and outrage in many Oaxacans. The repressive tactics backfired resoundingly, and teachers had retaken the city center by nightfall, pushing back the police—mostly through the forces of their numbers and determination.
More importantly, the violent police action sparked a widespread, broad-based, non-violent popular movement. URO has awakened a sleeping giant—thousands of students, housewives, small business owners, workers, professors, professionals, campesinos, intellectuals and artists have come together to demand the governor’s resignation.
They formed the People’s Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), made up of at least 350 different civil organizations working in arenas of indigenous issues, sustainable community development, human rights and social justice. They are working to build a transparent, inclusive, participatory political system—true democracy from the grassroots.
But on October 30 this year some 4000 Federal Preventative Police (PFP) entered Oaxaca with full riot gear, shields, clubs, tear-gas launchers and gas masks. They were backed up by a fleet of more than 30 armored vehicles—equipped with high-pressure water canons, bulldozer blades, and video cameras—and military and police helicopters.
Mexican President Vicente Fox’s stated reason for sending the PFP to Oaxaca was “to reestablish order”. The true motivation for the arrival of the federal police and military forces, however, is to break a widespread people’s movement to oust Oaxaca’s corrupt, repressive and illegitimate governor and build true democracy based on social and economic justice and respect for human rights (see background history below).
The arrival of the PFP has effectively turned Oaxaca into a police state. In the city, and throughout the state, there has been—continues to be—widespread repression and the attendant violations of basic human rights.
In spite of ongoing repression, the formation of a police state, and the criminalization of dissent, the struggle continues.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND BACKGROUND , VISIT THE WEBSITE THAT LISTS REPORTS, ARTICLES, TESTIMONIES, AND OTHER MATERIALS FROM THE FIRST OSN/RIGHTS ACTION DELEGATION: web.mac.com/oaxacasolidarity
Goals of this delegation: This human rights/humanitarian delegation to Oaxaca is being offered to promote international awareness and solidarity. Participants will meet with:
—families of the murdered, detained and disappeared
—victims of repression
—leaders of the popular movement
—human rights activists
—journalists
—local grassroots indigenous rights organizations
—possibly representatives of the business community and local police forces/government
—others that have been closely tied with the movement (teachers, artists, etc)
Participants in the delegation will gain a detailed, balanced and informed glimpse into Oaxacan civil society today, and the dangerous crisis it is facing.
The goals of the delegation are twofold: to provide an in-depth understanding of the Oaxacan popular movement and the government’s response, and to spread that awareness widely upon the delegates’ return to the U.S. It is our hope that such knowledge and awareness can aid in the growing movement of international solidarity with the people of Oaxaca. The pressure of international solidarity can help curb the violence, arbitrary detentions and murders of Oaxacans involved in the movement for true democracy and a politics based on hope, respect and justice.
En solidaridad,
Jacob and Eva
Oaxaca Solidarity Network (OSN)
“You must make injustice visible.” Mahatma Gandhi
____________________________________________________________
2.
Third urgent action communication from the
Oaxaca Solidarity Network/EDUCA Campaign, “Los Olividados/
The Forgotten Ones” for the release of political prisoners
Websites: Oaxaca Solidarity Network (OSN) www.oaxacasolidarity.org
EDUCA A.C., Services for an Alternative Education (Civil Association) www.educaoaxaca.org/
E-mail:
Telephone: ( U.S.) 303-800-4453

March 20, 2007
Friends,
Imagine a young couple happily planning their upcoming marriage. They’re walking through their community’s shopping center to buy things for the wedding, when suddenly they’re caught up in a crowd being chased and badly beaten by police. The young woman escapes into the crowd and gets away, but her “novio” is grabbed by the police, badly beaten and detained. You’ll find parts of his tragic story below, and his full testimoy is attached…

1. Brief Background on our campaign: In response to the pleas for help of the Oaxacan political prisoners that remain imprisoned, and in solidarity with those Forgotten Ones—”Los Olvidados”—OSN is partnering with the local grassroots organization EDUCA (Services for an Alternative Education), and a number of other Oaxacan human rights and other grassroots organizations in a campaign to press for the immediate, unconditional release of all political prisoners. We’ll be sending out profiles of individual political prisoners each week, highlighting the cases of individuals—but always demanding the release of ALL prisoners of conscience (see this week’s prisoner profile below).
2. GOOD NEWS! Amnesty International took on the case of the first political prisoner we profiled—FELIPE SÁNCHEZ RODRÍGUEZ.FELIPE was freed last week, along with three other prisoners from Tlacolula Prison, and another three from the Miahuatlan Prison in Oaxaca!!! A warm thanks to all of you who played a part in making their release a reality!

URGENT ACTION: Please help us see ALL the political prisoners freed. Send faxes and make phone calls to the government officials listed below (as well as to your own representatives), demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Oaxacan political prisoners, most of whom have been imprisoned since November, badly beaten, and in some cases tortured. Please see details on recommended actions, and addresses below in the WHAT YOU CAN DO section…

3. THIS WEEK’S PRISONER PROFILE: Juan Carlos Luis Mendoza is a young man from Baja, California who had just moved to Oaxaca three weeks
earlier to find work and make plans for his upcoming marriage to his “novia”, Mariela García Salas, a native of Oaxaca. But the magic and the youthful hope of buying things for their wedding was crushed by a nightmare. Juan Carlos and Mariela got caught in the November 25 confrontation with the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) and the Popular Movement of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) and the Sec. 22 Teacher’s Union. On that day, the PFP did a massive, brutal sweep of
Oaxaca’s city center, and using teargas, police dogs, clubs and automatic weapons—arbitrarily beat and arrested 162 people.

Juan Carlos and Mariela were not involved in Oaxaca’s popular movement; they were simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time on that fateful Nov. 25. They saw a crowd of people running toward them, and soon saw that they were being chased by the PFP.

“They were elements of the PFP (Federal Preventative Police), and they were attacking people when they reached us. We got caught in the middle of the rumble and we started to recognize the smell of tear gas, which began to suffocate us. Hardly able to breath, we were trying to get out of there. But it was impossible to see how because of the gas. Our eyes were all teary, and breathing became more difficult,” Juan Carlos explained during a recent testimony from jail.

Some nurses on the scene tried to assist them, giving them bandanas soaked in vinegar to help block the gas—and telling them to get away as soon as possible. Mariela managed to lose herself into a crowd and escape; Juan Carlos was less fortunate.

“When we were leaving, the PFP was now almost on top of us, and I told my fiancé to run. As I turned around, there were already three of them. I wanted to run, but they grabbed my shirt and pulled me to the ground. They began to hit me hard. After beating me, they told me to get up and get out of there. I stood up and tried to leave, but I saw that they were going to hit me again, so I ran, but there was no exit, everything was closed off by the PFP,” he said during a visit to the jail by the priest who took this testimony. “The only place that I could go was to the church door where the stairs were. There were many people there yelling that they not beat us, but they did not listen, and I, pushed up against the door, saw how all of the others screamed every time they hit them. Then, all of the sudden, a bunch of the PFP came toward us and began to fire tear gas bombs directly at our bodies (note: when the PFP entered Oaxaca on October 29 last year, one person—a nurse—was killed when PFP fired a tear gas canister directly into his chest). The bombs opened right under us, and came directly to our mouths and noses. There was nowhere to go. I felt as if I was
going to faint, and at that moment I felt like it was the end and I asked God to care for my fiancé and my family…”

Juan Carlos was very badly beaten, repeatedly humiliated and told he was going to die—an all-too-common story heard from those arrested by the PFP. His complete compelling, painful testimony is both below and attached. He’s been in prison since November 25. His fiancé goes to the Tlacolula Prison to visit him every chance she gets. His release is very long overdue… The same is true for ALL other political prisoners.

4. PLEASE SEE THE “WHAT TO DO” SECTION BELOW, AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW YOU CAN HELP PRESSURE THE OAXACAN GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE JUAN CARLOS, LAST WEEK’S POLITICAL PRISONER, FLAVIANO (SEE JUST BELOW), AND ALL OTHER OAXACAN POLITICAL PRISONERS. YOUR ACTION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF THESE PEOPLE AND OF THOSE THAT LOVE THEM. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CARING AND SOLIDARITY…

FOLLOW UP ON LAST WEEK’S POLITICAL PRISONER PROFILE: Flaviano Juárez Hernández, day laborer. Flaviano makes his living with a hand cart, hiring himself out to whoever needs help moving large boxes and other cargo. He is the father of two children—a 1 ½ year-old girl, and an infant that was born just one week before Flaviano was arbitrarily detained by the PFP. His wife, Esther, is struggling to pay for food and rent; she is doing cleaning and laundry—but it’s difficult to find work when she has two children to care for. She’s very worried about Flaviano, and about her children.

In a recent testimony, Esther said: “I go and see Flaviano every 8 days, if I have enough money for the bus, because sometimes I don’t—how would we eat? And sometimes the children get sick, and I can’t go then. When I go to visit him, if I have a little money I bring him water, and his tlayudas (large tortillas), that’s what he eats. He’s holding on, and I am too. But sometimes I think this is just too much, and I don’t know when it’s going to end.”

5. Background on Oaxacan Political Prisoners: As of today, 51 political prisoners remain illegally detained in various prisons throughout the state of Oaxaca (as well as in other parts of the country). Many of them were detained while participating in non-violent protests against the current repressive government of Oaxacan Gov. Ulises Ruiz. Others were not involved politically in any way, but were caught up in a wave of massive detentions carried out by state and federal police in an attempt to crush a popular movement that is using non-violent tactics to demand political change.

Local and national human rights organizations, as well as the Oaxaca Solidarity Network (OSN), have recorded many testimonies of people who were brutalized during their illegal arrests. Most of the 51 detainees aren’t directly connected with popular organizations; hence they lack the support that helped many other political prisoners to win their release. Many of them recently reported that they feel forgotten and are fighting despair.

6. WHAT TO DO: Contact your local representatives and Mexican consuls and inform them of your concern about Juan Carlos and the other “Olvidados” political prisoners. Ask them to contact local Mexican consuls and national Mexican authorities (listed below). Please also send appeals to official addresses below (by fax is most effective) to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language, making the following points:

1. Members of the recent Oaxaca Solidarity Network/Rights Action Emergency Human Rights Delegation can point out that they recently heard repeated testimonies of torture, forced confessions, and arbitrary detentions, and that they demand the immediate release of all political prisoners.
2. Express your concern for the well-being of Juan Carlos Luis Mendoza, Flaviano Juárez Hernández,and all other Oaxacan political prisoners.
3. Call for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the illegal detentions of people engaged in peaceful protest, for findings to be published, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
4. Remind the authorities that they have a duty to carry out an independent and impartial investigation into the alleged fabrication of charges against political prisoners, with the results to be made public.

SEND APPEALS TO MEXICAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS LISTED AT THE BOTTOM OF
THIS E-MAIL…

MORE ON WHAT YOU CAN DO:
• A fundamental element to work in favor of global justice, equality and the environment is to fund and support local organizations that are leading their own struggles in defense and promotion of development, the environment and human rights.
• Get involved in education and activism work in your home community concerning the negative impacts of North American investors and hydro-electric and mining policies on community-controlled development, the environment and the human rights of local populations in Oaxaca.
• Consider coming in on one of OSN’s Human Rights/Educational-Activist Delegations and meet with victims of the repression, local human rights groups, leaders of the popular movement, local political and business leaders, and to visit local indigenous communities to learn about vital social, economic and political issues. Our next delegation is in late April, 2007.
• Invite us to give educational presentations in your home community.
• Get on our e-mail list and visit our website for news updates, delegation announcements and more.

TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS: You can make donations to Oaxaca Solidarity Network by making a check payable to “Rights Action”. Please write “FOR OSN” in the memo space and mail to:
UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887;
CANADA: 509 St.Clair Ave W, box73527, Toronto ON, M6C-1C0.
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: www.rightsaction.org. Please note that the donation is for Oaxaca Solidariy Network.
QUESTIONS:

URGENT ACTION ADDRESSES:
U.S.:
Ambassador Carlos Alberto De Icaza Gonzalez
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
MÉXICO:
President:
Lic. Felipe Calderon Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de ‘’Los Pinos'’, Casa Miguel Aleman
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 52772376
Salutation: Senor Presidente/Dear President Calderon

Minister of the Interior:
Lic. Francisco Ramirez Acuña
Secretario de Gobernacion, Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez, Delegacion Cuauhtemoc,
Mexico D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5093 3414
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Secretario
No e-mail, please send fax.

Minister of Public Security:
Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Procurador General de la Republica
Paseo de la Reforma #211-213 Cuactemoc Mexico D.F. C.P. 06500
Colonia Juarez, Delegacion Cuauhtemoc,
Mexico DF. C.P. 06600, Mexico
Fax: 011 52 55 5241 8393
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Secretario
To send e-mails online: pgr.gob.mx/index.asp

President of National Human Rights Comisión
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Periférico Sur 3469, Col San Jerónimo Lídice, CP 10200, México, D.F.

Governor of Oaxaca:
Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca
Carretera Oaxaca - Puerto Angel, Km. 9.5
Santa Maria Coyotopec, C. P. 71254
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, MEXICO E -mail:
Fax: 011 52 951 511 6879 (if someone answers, say ‘’me da tono de fax, por favor'’)
Salutation: Senor Gobernador/Dear Governor

COPIES TO:
President of the Oaxaca State Human Rights Commission:
Dr. Jaime Perez Jimenez
Presidente de la Comision Estatal
Calle de los Derechos Humanos no. 210
Colonia America, C.P. 68050
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Mexico
Fax: 011 52 951 503 0220
Please send appeals immediately. Thank you for your solidarity and support.
Jacob and Eva
Oaxaca Solidarity Network
____________________________________________________________
3.
Cereso Tanivet, Tlacolula, Oaxaca

My name is Juan Carlos Luis Mendoza. I’m a native of Ensenada, Northern Baja California, born to a Oaxacan father and mother from the state of Michoacán. This is my testimony of the events that occurred on November 25, 2006 up until today. They are events that have affected and continue to affect me physically as well as psychologically—and that also affect my family and closest friends. The government (of Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz) is violating all of the rights that they themselves assure you that you have.

I arrived to the city of Oaxaca on November 1st to prepare for my upcoming wedding and marriage to my fiancé, Mariela García Salas, a native of Oaxaca City. Five days later I found a job in a computation center called CCS. On November 25th, I was headed toward the center of town with my fiancé around 4pm, with the intention of buying her a pair of pants. After this, we were heading toward Jardín Conzatti, but when we arrived we realized that there was no market that day, so we decided to return to her mother’s house to talk about the wedding date and plans.

We decided to walk to Santo Domingo Church. Arriving at Santo Domingo, we saw a large mass of people heading toward us, as if they were running from something. And we realized that it was a confrontation. They were elements of the PFP (Federal Preventative Police), and they were attacking people when they reached us. We got caught in the middle of the rumble and we started to recognize the smell of tear gas, which began to suffocate us. Hardly able to breath, we were trying to get out of there. But it was impossible to see how because of the gas. Our eyes were all teary, and breathing became more difficult. Noticing the situation that we were in, two nurses arrived and asked us what we were doing there. We told them that we were just passing by. They told us to get out of there and gave us something to cover our mouths—to protect us from the gas.

When we were leaving, the PFP was now almost on top of us, and I told my fiancé to run. As I turned around, there were already three of them. I wanted to run, but they grabbed my shirt and pulled me to the ground. They began to hit me hard. After beating me, they told me to get up and get out of there. I stood up and tried to leave, but I saw that they were going to hit me again, so I ran, but there was no exit, everything was closed off by the PFP.

The only place that I could go was to the church door where the stairs were. There were many people there yelling that they not beat us, but they did not listen, and I, pushed up against the door, saw how all of the others screamed every time they hit them. Then, all of the sudden, a bunch of the PFP came toward us and began to fire tear gas bombs directly at our bodies (note: when the PFP entered Oaxaca on October 29 last year, one person—a nurse—was killed when PFP fired a tear gas canister directly into his chest). The bombs opened right under us, and came directly to our mouths and noses. There was nowhere to go. I felt as if I was going to faint, and at that moment I felt like it was the end and I asked God to care for my fiancé and my family…

One of the PFP members grabbed me by the neck, threw me to the floor, and—along with several other police—they beat me. But in that moment, I was only thinking of God, and that He help me to get out of this alive—and that my fiancé was safe. And only by thinking of that, none of the beatings hurt me. I only thought of that. Then, they dragged me to the Zócalo. There were women, children, and others by my side and they kept beating them, continuously. When we arrived to the Zócalo, they threw us on the ground in front of a hotel. We were one on top of another—like people that die in battles that are just thrown away like trash. The ones that were on bottom began to suffocate because of the weight on top of them. Many of the police said things to us like, “Now you’re screwed, this is what happens to you for being trouble-makers”, “Bring gasoline to light them on fire.”

When they realized that the ones on the bottom of the pile of people couldn’t take it any longer they began to pick us up one by one. They put us in rows, thrown face down on the ground. All of this happened in about two hours. And they asked us, “Where are you from? What’s your name? Where do you live?” After this, they picked me up and took me to a Ram pick-up truck and threw me in the bed along with another eight people, and four others sat down. During the trip, they would stop and hit us and ask us our names. Several times they held the barrel of an M16 to my head, and used it to hit me hard in the temples. They were doing this throughout the whole trip.

When we arrived to the prison, they took us inside and sat us down on the floor and asked us our names again and they began to take us inside the jail with our heads down. Before going into the cell, they hit me three times in the stomach. They took our shoes, and I tried to sleep, but the cold, the beatings, and all that happened to me would not allow me to rest.

The next day, Sunday, November 26th, I asked them to let me make a telephone call because it is my right, and they only said tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow afternoon. That same Sunday, at about 3 or 4 pm, they fed us, and at night the public ministry arrived and took our statements, along with someone from the state human rights office. And then they gave us a blanket. On Monday, November 27th, at about 5:15 in the morning, they woke us up, took our blankets off us, and cuffed us with some plastic tape. They told me to get into a large military vehicle, along with many other prisoners. We didn’t know where we were going at first, but we eventually realized that we were going to the city’s airport.

When we arrived, we you could hear an airplane’s engines. When they took us off, they lined us up, and they put metal handcuffs on us, on top of the plastic cuffs that we already had on. They chained the arms and legs of some. All of this seemed like something they’d do to transfer drug traffickers and highly dangerous people. There were a lot of journalists there, who kept taking photos and videos. Someone took me by the back and led me to the plane and told me, in a very strong tone, to yell my name. He put me on the plane and told me to keep my head down because if I looked up they were
going to beat me. I did not know where we were going, but I was preparing myself for what was to come.

The flight lasted about two hours. When we arrived, all crouched over like we were, they told us to get off. Getting off, they made us go through the same procedure of yelling our names and ages. A very tall man quickly twisted my hand behind my back and brought me over to a truck, threw me in, and checked me over. He put me in the truck, put me face-down looking at the floor and told me, “If you turn to look up, or if you move, I’ll hit you.”

It took us about an hour and a half to go from there to get to the penitentiary where they were taking us. Arriving, the truck stopped and you could hear the women screaming as if they were being tortured, and they said to us, “Ha.ha. ha! If that’s the women, imagine what you’re gonna get for all your trouble-making.” While this went on, inside the truck they were hitting us in the temples, in the back, and sides. Sometimes they kicked us in the face. When we entered, they threw us to the ground and told us not to move. They looked us over one by one. They made us take all of our clothes off and do sit-ups. After examining us, they gave us some brown clothes, and brought us to a room where they shaved our heads and made us shave our faces, with the same razor. Then they took our personal information, and took pictures of us from the front and the side. They took our fingerprints and more information. Then they took us to our cells, where there was one bed with three heavy blankets as a mattress, a table and a bench. They threw us in like dogs, three per cell. They space was very small, but we accommodated ourselves as best we could.

At that moment, a guard came to tell us that we were to line up every time a guard came, with our heads down and that if we did not do it, then we would be punished. The same guard told us that we were in the Federal Prison, El Rincón of Tepic, Nayarit. Every day, we were locked up inside, without being able to go out, and without being able to sleep because they passed by every 20 minutes during the night. They made visits very difficult. Being there was very stressful. Many cried, suffered, and they remained quiet realizing that they could not do anything.

On December 23rd, in the middle of the night they got us up. They made us get all of our things and they took us to the exit. They examined us, and they transferred us back here again. And this is where I remain today, in the prison of Tlacolula.

Signed, Juan Carlos Luis Mendoza
____________________________________________________________

Subject: Another quiet night in Oaxaca
From: George Salzman
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2006 04:38:07 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Oaxaca, Sunday 3 September 2006
Another quiet night in Oaxaca
In Mexico, the seeds of hope are sprouting

Friends,

The rebirth of Mexico is proceeding apace, miraculously so far with a show of strength and commitment to non-violent civil disobedience by a popular movement that stirs the hearts of those of us who seek peace, true peace with dignity for all people. And who seek no vengeance. And no power except the power to control our own lives.

It’s a formula for revolution that terrifies the ruling power structure. Ignore the panic-driven lies of the corporate media. They are trying to stir fears in the minds of decent people. If there are any “guerrilla groups” operating in the northern or southern Sierra of Oaxaca, they are either armed gangs of Oaxaca State police thugs or inventions of bought-and-paid-for “journalists”, such as Mr. McKinley Jr. of The New York Times, whose effort to frighten us, at
www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/world/americas/01briefs-007.html?_r=1&oref=slogin , follows:

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: September 1, 2006
The civil unrest in Oaxaca took a bizarre turn as a small group of armed masked men blocked a highway and distributed pamphlets warning the federal police and the military not to intervene in the three-month teachers’ strike that has spread and paralyzed the city, news reports said. “The revolutionary armed organizations are in a state of alert to respond strongly in case the national security forces intervene in the conflict,” the pamphlet said. It was signed by six radical groups. The men who blocked the road numbered at least eight, wore fatigues, had bandannas over their faces and carried automatic weapons, according to pictures from Agence France-Presse.

This kind of bogus “news”, pure lying propaganda, is everywhere in the U.S. and Mexican corporate media, doing its capitalist best to prevent the changes that the bulk of the Mexican people desperately wish for.

Nancy and I went to the zocalo in Oaxaca the evening of Sept 1 to witness the mammoth gathering there following what The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO in its Spanish initials) termed its Fifth Mega-March. It was all so peaceful, a Quaker would have beamed with joy, as we did.

Yes, we’ve had another quiet night in Oaxaca. As a matter of fact, no one has been killed by the state’s hired assassins (some in uniform, others not) since 22 August at 12:50 am when Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, an APPO adherent, was shot in the back by police at the corner of Eucaliptos and Emilio Carranza streets in Colonia Reforma, a rather nice neighborhood in the city.

I think that by getting the word out to the international community and thereby prompting Amnesty International and other human rights advocates to speak out, the hand of the Mexican federal government has been stayed, at least temporarily, and they have told the local Oaxaca authorities to “cool it”. So we have a reprieve. We must do everything possible to prevent the federal army from being used to crush this legitimate peoples’ movement.

I just posted an overview of this phenomenal struggle to date. Titled, “Incipient Revolution in Oaxaca“, it’s at site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-08-29.htm .

The Oaxaca Study-Action Group (OSAG) maintains a Yahoo Group list that you can read at groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/
If you wish to subscribe to this open, unedited list, so that you can also post to it, write to
The Oaxaca daily newspaper Noticias at www.noticias-oax.com.mx/ has intensive coverage for those who read Spanish.
The National daily newspaper La Jornada at www.jornada.unam.mx/ has regular coverage now that things are heating up. It too is in Spanish.
___________________________________________

All comments and criticisms are welcome. <>

If you want me to add or remove your name from my “large”
e-mail distribution list, please let me know.

Here a brief but important statement on the current Israeli incursion in Gaza by the Fédération anarchiste francophone in France: http://international.federation-anarchiste.org/breve.php3?id_breve=9 It reminds us that politics in Palestine/Israel must project beyond the interminable clash of narrow nationalisms:
“It is once again the civilian population, directly affected, who is paying with its blood, living conditions, and freedom for the conflict between two nationalist, capitalist, military, and religious logics in the ongoing war between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. [….]

Israeli governments have always sought out this religious conflict and as such encouraged the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in order to legitimate their colonial policies of domination and ethnic apartheid to the West.

As anarchists we know that States separate peoples by erecting borders. Just as creating the State of Israel did not settle anything in this region or for the exiled Jewish peoples, themselves in a desperate situation in another era, the creation of a real Palestinian State cannot satisfy us. Indeed, how would a more formal State help Palestinians ? [….]

We propose anarchist federalism, fundamentally egalitarian and adapted to a Middle East composed of a mosaic of peoples, favouring the free association and federation on egalitarian bases of the individuals and groups of individuals making up this federalism. [….]

An alternative is possible in the Middle-East if both Israeli and Palestinian peoples reject the artificial barriers which separate and oppose them in order to unite against their common enemies, political, economic, religious, and military power to together build the bases of a society which guarantees peace and harmony.

The existence of collectives made up of Palestinian and Israeli individuals, for example struggling together against the Wall or supporting military deserters and opponents, proves once again that that which unites us, mutual aid and solidarity, is stronger than that which divides us.”

The FA is is the French affiliate of the International of Anarchist Federations: http://www.iaf-ifa.org/ , an international network of class struggle anarchist socialists. The only national affiliate of the IAF in an English-speaking country is the Anarchist Federation in UK: http://www.libcom.org/hosted/af/

The future may see an akin organization emerge insh’allah in Palestine. ان شاء الله

David (Ashan) of Anarchists Against the Wall has a posting June 21, summer solstice, about the CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) decision to call for a boycott against Israel. [tao.ca/~CUPE3903/web/?q=node/372 ] I think he says something that needs to be heard. About struggling against capitalism in the backyards closest to you.
************************************************

Ashan: It feels good to get support from an international organization for the cause with which we are involved, specifically, in this case, tear down the wall. However, as someone who has spent most of my life in occupied First Nations land (KKKanada), I can tell you that the Canadian genocide of the Aboriginal peoples of Turtle Island (North Amerikkka) is of Holocaust proportions. First Nations people are still fighting till this day to reclaim their land, their rights, and the dignity. Even right now, there is a standoff in Ontario between evil capitalist land developers (and their evil capitalist government allies) and the Mohawk peoples of Caledonia. You can read more about their on-going struggle at: http://sisis.nativeweb.org/

Today is Summer Solstice — the longest day of the year, a pagan holiday — and also National Aboriginal Day in KKKanada. On today of all days, I ask of you; before blindly supporting an organization that calls for a boycott of the Israhelli government, remember: the enemy of our enemy is not always our friend! It’s all very nice that CUPE is condemning the stealing of Palestinian land, suppression of Palestinian rights, and squashing of Palestinian dignity, but why are they not doing the same for Mohawk peoples right in their own backyard? Where is the anti-KKKanadian colonialism resolution on the CUPE website? Plainly, it does not exist; because as people of European origin, they *benefit* from it.

In summary, I would like to say something that may not be popular in Israeli (A)narchist circles, but I feel needs to be expressed nonetheless: In my mind, anti-Zionist activity by non-Middle Eastern peoples is legitimate if it is coupled with anti-colonial and anti-capitalist activity, as well. But anti-zionism without anti-capitalism IS antisemitism, plain and simple. Please do not allow these people to wash their hands clean and walk away feeling holier-than-thou because they’ve pointed out *our* problems. They cannot be allowed to have a clean conscience, while the First Nations peoples of Turtle Island continue to be genocided with the help of CUPE’s active participation of in the KKKanadian colonial capitalist economy.

In our rush to crush the wall, let us not abandon our First Nations Canadian cousins who are fighting for freedom, by supporting CUPE’s racist hypocritical stance. I say, boycott every capitalist country, starting with the one closest to you.

Your loving sibling in the struggle,
David
xoxo

from: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/againstwall

*****************

In the spirit of what Ashan reminds us, “anti-Zionist activity by non-Middle Eastern peoples is legitimate if it is coupled with anti-colonial and anti-capitalist activity” is a good watchword, maybe a yardstick. From a guy risking his body on a nearly daily basis in struggle on a dangerous front against the Israeli state. I don’t know if you can agree with xoxo’s “But anti-zionism without anti-capitalism IS antisemitism, plain and simple.” But keep in mind the principle behind it: “I say, boycott every capitalist country, starting with the one closest to you.” Maybe pass that on to the Presbyterian Church AmeriKKKa. Go into CUPE’s web site and you’ll learn that their Anti-Racism Working Group is “currently inactive” ….

An excellent site worth exploring in depth on strategies for people power is http://www.peoplepowerstrategy.org

Many stimulating articles, including David Solnit’s “A
People Power Strategy to End the War,” George Lakey’s classic “Strategy for a Living Revolution” and some others.

This ensemble of concrete strategy and revolutionary vision is feeding into discussion in the new SDS/Movement for a Democratic Society and will bear fruit there.

Part of what is missing in discussion of transforming Israel/Palestine is this vision of how to build a movement for truly radical change among Israelis, and radical democratic synergy between them and Palestinians. A movement of resistance that projects wildly, with radical compassion for people, beyond the intolerable status quo.

Read Lakey and wonder how it might be applied from the street up, the Israeli street, the Palestinian. Not through daydreams of economic sanctions, a politics of multiplying misery for working Israelis, many already in dire poverty, to such an extreme point that their children begin to die of hunger, their medical systems collapse, they are driven en masse to the point of emigration. Is that a scenario of ‘left populist politics’?! Maybe its travesty.

It should be about building popular movements for radical change, anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, radically inclusive — not strangling simple people to some fanciful point of desperation. Which is precisely what the ruling class in Israel is doing to the Palestinians at every imaginable scale of existence.

Here a journal INCENDIO well worth connecting with as reader or writer: http://anti-politics.net/incendio/index2.htm , a journal of Latin American theory and solidarity, inspired in part by the anarchist journal ABOLISHING BORDERS FROM BELOW

      The single focus of this note is my support for a request from Dorothy Naor, a compassionate and wonderful Jewish Israeli woman, who writes, in part

. . . poverty in Israel has increased sharply. Over 1/4 of Israelis now live under the poverty line. A staggering 34.1 percent of them are children. Last year 1 of every 5 children lived under the poverty line; now 1 of every 3 children goes to bed hungry. And every 4th elderly person is poor. No wonder, then, that Israel’s elderly are “Suicidal,” as Yedioth Ahronot revealed in a report showing that over 50 percent of suicides in Israel every year are committed by people aged 65 and more. There are additional worrying trends. Not only are the few rich getting richer and the numerous poor getting poorer, but also many in the middle class who have jobs are sliding into poverty due to low wages.

      I ask you to take the few moments needed to read her letter, frightening in its candor, and to then support the request to the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. to begin divestment from Israel.

      Here is Dorothy’s letter, on behalf of the feminist peace group New Profile.

Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator
Stated Clerk
Office of the General Assembly
100 Witherspoon Street
Louisville, Kentucky, 40202-1396
USA

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

New Profile, an Israeli organization, wishes to express appreciation to PCUSA for contemplating adopting a policy of selective divestment as a means of bringing peace to Palestinians and Israelis. We fervently support such an endeavor, and hope that PCUSA will indeed adopt divestment as a non-violent means of ending Israel’s Occupation of Palestinians and their lands.

We wish to assure PCUSA that it is no more anti-Semitic to criticize and oppose Israeli government policies than it was anti-American to oppose the Vietnam war.

Indeed, ending the Occupation can only benefit Israelis. For, the Occupation exacts a price from Israelis as well as from Palestinians. In addition to loss of life and increased militarism, Israelis have witnessed these past years a steady devaluation of human life, as is evident from the socio-economic sphere and the affliction of post-traumatic distress. It also seems clear that without outside help, Israel’s Occupation of Palestinians and their lands is unlikely to end.

Successive Israeli governments have spent enormous amounts of money on expansion, to the detriment of social benefits for the Israeli population. While it is true that had their been no Occupation, Israeli governments might not have spent the money on social benefits, the fact that expansion continues a pace reveals Israel’s intent to prevent the emergence of a Palestinian state and to rid the West Bank of as many Palestinians as possible.

To this end, money is spent on maintaining a large military presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, on erecting the apartheid wall at 4 million dollars a mile, with 400 miles planned (twice the length had it been built on the ‘green line’), constructing 6,000 more units in highly subsidized settlements (this past year alone, some 12,000 new settlers moved into the West Bank, 4,000 more than were evicted from the Gaza Strip). Much money goes also for constructing super-highways for Israelis-only in the Occupied Territories, as well as for new lookout towers (that can double as sniper towers), and checkpoints galore (mainly separating Palestinian communities).

While all this is taking place at considerable economic cost, poverty in Israel has increased sharply. Over 1/4 of Israelis now live under the poverty line. A staggering 34.1 percent of them are children. Last year 1 of every 5 children lived under the poverty line; now 1 of every 3 children goes to bed hungry. And every 4th elderly person is poor. No wonder, then, that Israel’s elderly are “Suicidal,” as Yedioth Ahronot revealed in a report showing that over 50 percent of suicides in Israel every year are committed by people aged 65 and more. There are additional worrying trends. Not only are the few rich getting richer and the numerous poor getting poorer, but also many in the middle class who have jobs are sliding into poverty due to low wages.

One result of the increased poverty is that now 25% of Israelis forego medical care because they cannot afford it. 75% of the poor cannot afford medication. But of all the sad statistics, one of the more shocking is that 40% of Holocaust survivors now live in desperate straits. It is shameful that of all places in the world, in Israel, Holocaust survivors live in dire poverty and misery.

The worsening economic conditions contribute, in turn, to escalation of stress and violence. Thus one of every five elderly Israelis is subject to abuse, mainly by spouses or children. Additionally, the Israeli police recorded a 36 percent increase in violence among minors in 2004, a 24% increase in violence among them the first months of 2006, and a 55% increase of violence against children these past 10 years.

A direct cost of Occupation and a threat to Israel’s welfare is post-traumatic stress, which can result in addiction to drugs and alcohol, and can also contribute to violence.

A rehabilitation center that opened in 2001 with capacity for 25-30 addicts, soon discovered that most of the problems resulted from experiences the addicts had had while in the military. The center, Kfar Izun, then publicized itself, and was shocked to receive 900 requests for help in a single week.

A counselor at a rehabilitation center terms the malady “a ticking bomb,” Help, he relates, is unavailable for many soldiers who have gone “into terrible distress of drugs, beatings, violence, impatience, … soldiers who clashed with a civilian population, and when they were discharged understood that they had been wrong.” Hundreds, he reveals, “are roaming about with the feeling that there is no point to living, and the path to suicide and drugs is very easy. We are afraid that former soldiers will commit criminal acts as a result of their distress.”

One young woman, having succumbed to drugs after her discharge, blames the drug phenomenon on the “sick Israeli society”- a “society of war.” The soldier who killed “a man or a child” or “entered the home of an Arab family at night, beat a child, a mother and took the father into detention” upon release takes drugs “to try to forget the pictures that are with him all the time since then.” She said that drugs are “an expression of the strong desire of young Israelis to escape from the insanity that has been forced on them.”

Yehuda Shaul, a former conscript, caps it all: “It’s a situation that screws up everyone. … People start out at different points and end up at different points, but everyone goes through this process. No one returns from the territories without it leaving a deep imprint, messing up his head.”

I apologize for the length of this letter, but hope that the above data will help PCUSA realize that every non-violent endeavor to end Israel’s Occupation would be a humane act to Israelis as well as to Palestinians.

Below [Dorothy’s personal note] is New Profile’s policy statement on Selective Divestment.

Sincerely,
Dorothy Naor,
for New Profile

Dorothy’s personal note:

I would very much appreciate your forwarding as widely as possible New Profile’s recent letter to the Presbyterian Church USA, which will decide in June whether to adopt divestment or not. The letter endeavors to furnish the PCUSA with arguments to counter accusations of anti-Semitism. The New Profile policy statement on divestment that follows … was drafted in February 2005 and at that time was sent to PCUSA to encourage its initiative to divest from companies that contribute to Israel’s occupation of Palestinians and their lands. True, the letter and policy statement refer merely to selective divestment, whereas much more is needed. But both the letter and the policy statement were drafted with an eye to encouraging existing initiatives in selective divestment. Let’s get those going, then work for stronger sanctions (which I personally support). Thanks, Dorothy
PS … for those of you unfamiliar with New Profile, I strongly recommend that you scan our website www.newprofile.org

Here is the New Profile Policy statement on Divestment

“We, a group of feminist women and men, are convinced that we need not live in a soldiers’ state. Today, Israel is capable of a determined peace politics. It need not be a militarized society. We are convinced that we ourselves, our children, our partners, need not go on being endlessly mobilized, need not go on living as warriors. We understand that the state of war in Israel is maintained by decisions made by politicians-not by external forces to which we are passively subject. While taught to believe that the country is faced by threats beyond its control, we now realize that the words “national security” have often masked calculated decisions to choose military action for the achievement of political goals.”

[The opening paragraph of the New Profile Charter, www.newprofile.org]

New Profile aims to transform Israel from a highly militaristic society to a civilian society dedicated to equality of gender and ethnicity and firmly based on universal human rights.

One of several characteristics of militarism is the use of force to obtain political objectives. New Profile deems Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinians to be a use of force to obtain the political objective of creating the ‘greater Israel.’

New Profile opposes the Occupation on three counts:
1. Its destruction of Palestinian life, society, land, and property.
2. Its role in maintaining militarism in Israel.
3. Its erosion of Israel’s socio-economic and moral fabric

We therefore seek non-violent means of ending this catastrophic Occupation. One such means is using economic sanctions to pressure the government to change its policy. To this end New Profile welcomes and supports selective divestment aimed at divesting from companies that contribute to the continuation of the Occupation by supplying arms, other equipment, or staff.

We welcome all such endeavors, believing firmly that ending the Occupation is not only to the benefit of the Palestinians but also necessary for the welfare of Israel, its youth, and future generations. Over 22,000 Israeli soldiers have died in its wars since 1948. Enough. It is time to beat our swords into ploughshares, to bring security to Israel by giving the Palestinians their freedom and recognizing their absolute right to exist, and to build a future for today’s Israeli youth and generations to come by creating a civilian society whose underpinnings are equality of gender and ethnicity and universal human rights.

      I will simply mail a personal endorsement of the letter from Dorothy to the address she provided, with perhaps a few words identifying myself and a few comments.
Sincerely, and with best wishes,
George

29 May 2006

Dear Mr. Ufford-Chase,

I am writing in support of the contemplated divestment policy by The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. as a move towards ending the conquest of the Palestinians by Israel. In particular I endorse the statement from the feminist Israeli organization New Profile, which follows my own note. Dorothy Naor, who wrote that letter, is a good friend, a trusted and well informed Jewish Israeli woman.

As an 80-year old Jewish American veteran of World War II, I well remember my wife’s and my enthusiasm in 1947-48 as the state of Israel came into being, and our initial material support for the nascent Jewish state. Over the years that early, uninformed view gradually changed, and long before my wife’s death 25 years ago, we had divested ourselves of our Israeli Bonds. Now I am appalled at the Nazi-like behavior towards Palestinian Arabs, treated as undesirable, unwanted human beings by their conquerors. The blatant anti-semitism of the ruling semites towards the oppressed semites is totally inhumane and inexcusable. That they carry it out under the banner of the Nazi Holocaust is obscene. The truly good Jews of Israel, as those of America, will welcome all efforts by The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. to help end the apartheid rule in Israel-Palestine.

Very sincerely yours,
/signed/
George Salzman

Dear George,

This week Israelis are celebrating the 58th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, and Palestinians are mourning the 58th anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe, their expulsion from their homes in Palestine.

I’m writing to tell you about a just-published book — The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan (Bloomsbury, May 2, 2006) which sheds light on both of these watershed events of May, 1948. It is the story of a house in Ramle/Ramla. It was built in 1936 by the al-Khairi family on land which had been in their family since the sixteenth century. They were expelled in 1948 when Bashir al-Khairi was six years old. Soon after, the Eskenazi family – refugees, dispossessed — arrived on a ship from Bulgaria, and moved into the house — which, they were told, had been abandoned. Their daughter, Dalia was one year old.

Dalia and Bashir meet nearly 20 years later and through the complex, deep, affectionate, and conflicted relationship they forge – the relationship of Bashir, Dalia, and the house with the lemon tree — Sandy tells the story of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

It reads like a novel, and is accessible to a popular audience, but it contains not a drop of invention — it is excruciatingly well documented journalism with every event verified from both Israeli and Arab sources in the 66 pages of source notes - so it will be of great use, as well, to scholars and university students.

If enough people read this book it could change the course of the conflict. One of the greatest obstacles to peace, I believe, is the persistence of ignorance of the Nakba. Of course the forced expulsions are no longer denied by serious historians, but I myself have heard some of the most educated and otherwise sophisticated Israelis pronounce with great authority that there were no expulsions, and the delusion is even more common outside of Israel. Because this book is based on careful research and unimpeachable sources (Israeli and Palestinian), and because it is so fairly and compassionately presented, I think it will finally set the record straight for the non-historian.

The truth about the Nakba is a pill which many Jews have found impossible to swallow. There’s no sugar coating on it here, but because this telling evokes authentic empathy for the needs, hopes, and fears of both groups of refugees, for both families who have known the house as their only home, and the paths that brought them there, I think this book can convince where others have failed. If so, its importance will be immeasurable. Just as you simply cannot make sense of the Israeli stance without the context of the holocaust, neither can you understand the Palestinian stance without the context of the Nakba.

The book is getting praise from all directions, including Israeli and Palestinian scholars. I’ll post some quotes and links below.

But the true potential of the book will be unlocked not by the adoration of critics, but by the candid and uncomfortable engagement of readers — in debate, discussion, argument, in challenging unexamined assumptions, in airing forbidden thoughts, in violating taboos, in lifting up fears and doubts and hopes.

I hope that your readers will read The Lemon Tree. I look forward to reading their reflections on this site.

Yours,

Vicki Lindsay

The first chapter is available at salon.com
www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/05/08/tolan/index.html

An interview with Terry Gross was aired on Fresh Air May 15. www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=05-15-2006&view=storyview

A 1998 radio documentary that was the inspiration for the book.
www.homelands.org/

Reviews:
Institute for Middle East Understanding
imeu.net/news/article001239.shtml

Christian Science Monitor:
csmonitor.com/2006/0509/p15s01-bogn.html

Mother Jones
www.motherjones.com/arts/books/2006/05/books_may_lemon_tree.html

A review from the head of a Hadassa book club in the readers’ reviews on the Amazon site
www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1582343438/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/103-7026954-4276643?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Advance praise:

This truly remarkable book presents a powerful account of Palestinians and Israelis who try to break the seemingly endless chains of hatred and violence. Capturing the human dimension of the conflict so vividly and admirably, Sandy Tolan offers something both Israelis and Palestinians all too often tend to ignore: a ray of hope.”
-Tom Segev, author of One Palestine, Complete and 1949: The First Israelis

This is a hard book to read with dry eyes and without a lump in one’s throat. And it is a hard book to read, also, without feeling – dare one even say the word in speaking about the Middle East? – something approaching hope. Sandy Tolan has found a remarkable story and has told it in all its beauty and sadness.
-Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains and King Leopold’s Ghost

This is a passionate and astonishing story through which some of the most extraordinary events of the twentieth century unfold. The inspiring lives of two unique people, and Tolan’s compassion and cleverness in narrating them, illuminate the tragedy of Palestine in the most moving and revealing way. Readers will acquire a huge amount of knowledge while being carried along effortlessly through the epic events of war and peace in the Middle East.
-Karma Nabulsi, Prize Research Fellow, Oxford University,
and author of Traditions of War

This painfully beautiful narrative lingers in the mind long after the book is over.
-Elif Shafak, professor of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona,
and author of The Flea Palace and The Saint of Incipient Insanities

In Mexico, tourists and foreign residents are witnesses as well as economic contributors.

-An opportunity to protest government repression in Oaxaca and in Mexico

by writing a letter.-

Many of us are aware of the current escalation in human rights violations in Mexico documented by the United Nations, and the increased pre-electoral violence in several states, including Oaxaca. This government violence includes, in 2006, police riots and murder in San Salvador Atenco in the state of Mexico; the arrest of three Columbian journalists in Mexico state; the arrest of four American journalists in Oaxaca along with three Mexicans; and the intimidation of Oaxaca’s local leaders in San Pedro Huilotepec, Tehuantepec, San Blas Atempa, Santiago Cuixtla and several other towns.

Oaxaca alone holds a minimum of 25 political prisoners in its jails, some estimates are much higher.

Many Mexicans fear the renewal of the “dirty war” by this repressive president, and by the PRI governor, Ulises Ruiz of Oaxaca. We have received several e-mails asking for assistance in whatever way we can offer it, as individuals of conscience.

Those of us whose dollars and euros contribute to the Mexican economy can raise our voices. Tourism is a major industry. Tourists wield economic influence. Tourists are witnesses.

Each of us makes private decisions about what we can and will resist as members of the global community. These moral decisions do not belong to any political party, and are not sponsored by any group.

Individuals who want to remind Governor Ruiz and/or President Fox that we “see” them, can write, fax or e-mail a letter. Inform the governments of Oaxaca (and/or Mexico) that a tourist destination is not desirable so long as government repression, violence, fraud, and corruption continue.

1. Write courteously but without hesitation.

2. CC your letter to as many other Mexican officials as you can (List below). You might prefer to write to a travel agency in your home state and CC that letter to Mexican officials.

3. It’s okay to write in English or another language.

4. Please let us know how many letters you send. ()

These letters are not a boycott. They are a little reminder, a note in the mail, if you will, that government does not act in a vacuum. Tourists, as well as Human Rights Watch, are witnesses.

This act of letter writing is in no way illegal or likely to place in jeopardy the person who writes. Nevertheless, you may choose to take the extra precaution of sending or mailing from outside the country!

The following is a suggested guideline. Write your own:

Dear Governor Ruiz,

I want to advise you, as I will advise my friends and family, that at present Oaxaca and Mexico are not desirable tourist destinations.

Unprovoked arrests and violence toward newspaper reporters and others (such as the 7 arrests on May 1, 2006 in Oaxaca, including arrests of foreigners), have long been preceded by local clashes. Several towns in Oaxaca and in other states have lost citizens to assassination, while struggling against control by caciques. Human Rights Watch reports that over 40 percent of prisoners in Mexico have never been formally convicted of any crime.

Twenty-five political prisoners are presently held just in Oaxaca, and arrests are made weekly. As many as 78 warrants are outstanding, leaving these people in fear.

Mexico’s, and Oaxaca’s, government repression and violence, as well as its corruption and theft are publicly documented.

I’m sure many travel options are available which don’t sustain a government or a tourist industry which deserve no support until the people of Oaxaca and of Mexico are permitted to build better lives for themselves.

Sincerely yours,

Mary Jones
Cincinatti, Ohio
USA.

TOURIST AS WITNESS PART II

A good suggestion was made to refine the letters or calls: those interested in showing solidarity with the repressed or imprisoned people in Oaxaca and/or Mexico may do so by contacting a Mexican tourist or government office, TO INQUIRE IF IT IS SAFE TO TRAVEL IN MEXICO because of reports of arrests and repression.

I pass along these office addresses because it seems to be a fairly simple and reasonable inquiry: Is Oaxaca and/or Mexico safe for tourists?

ADDRESSES OF INTEREST:

Governor of Oaxaca:
Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca
Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Angel Km 9.5
Santa María Coyotepec
Oaxaca, México

Fax: 011 52 951 5020530 (If someone answers, say “Tono de fax, por favor.”)
or 011 52 951 51 637 37
Salutation: Señor Gobernador / Dear Governor

Attorney General of Oaxaca:
Lic. Rosa Lizbeth Caña Cadeza
Procuradora del Estado de Oaxaca
Avenida Luis Echeverría s/n
La Experimental
San Antonio de la Cal, Oaxaca
CP. 71236, México

Fax: 011 52 951 51 1 5519
Salutation: Dear Attorney General / Estimada Procuradora

Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Salutation: Dear President Fox

Director of Human Rights – Federal Interior Ministry:
Maestro Ricardo Sepúlveda
Secretaría de Gobernación
Reforma 99, PISO 21, PH
Colonia Tabacalera, C.P. 06030
Mexico D.F. MEXICO

Fax: 011 52 55 5128 0234 (If someone answers, say “Tono de fax, por favor.”)
Salutation: Estimado Maestro / Dear Sir

Ambassador in Canada
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for the United Mexican States
45 O’Connor Street, Suite 1000
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4

Fax: (613) 235-9123
E-mail:

Human Rights Non Governmental Organization:
Centro de Derechos Humanos y Asesoría a Pueblos Indígenas
León #15, Barrio San Diego
Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca
C.P. 69800, Mexico

State Human Rights Commission of Oaxaca:
Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado de Oaxaca
Calle de los Derechos Humanos No. 210
Col. América, CP. 68050
Oaxaca, Mexico

Ambassador Carlos de Icaza
Embassy of Mexico in the United States of America
1911 Pennsylvania AV, NW, Washington D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 728 1600

Mexico Tourist Center For USA and Canada:
Call Center: 1-800-44-MEXICO (1-800-44 63942) E-mail:

Lic. Carlos Maria Abascal Carranza
Secretario de Gobernación

Lic. Eduardo Tomás Medina Mora Icaza
Secretario de Seguridad Pública Federal

Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de México

Lic. Abel Villicaña Estrada
Procurador General de Justicia del Estado de México

Lic. Wilfrido Robledo Madrid
Comisionado de la Agencia de Seguridad Estatal.

Lic. Nazario Gutiérrez Martínez
Presidente Municipal del Ayuntamiento de Texcoco, Estado de México

Lic. Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez
Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal

Ing. Joel Ortega
Secretario de Seguridad Pública del Distrito Federal

Mtro. Bernardo Bátiz Vázquez
Procurador General de Justicia del Distrito Federal

Mexico State Tourism Offices
Oficinas Estatales de Turismo de México

Numbers must be preceded with your international operator number and country code of 52.

Antepongan el prefijo de llamada internacional de su operador y el código de país que es 52 si llama desde el extranjero.

Aguascalientes
Av. Universidad No. 1001
Edif. Torre Plaza Bosques 8 Piso
CP 20127 Aguascalientes, AGS.
Tel: (449) 912-3511 * Fax: (449) 912-1990

Morelos
Av. Morelos Sur No. 187, Las Palmas
CP 62050 Cuernavaca, Mor.
Tel: (777) 314-3872 * Fax: (777) 314-3654

Baja California
Blvd. Diaz Ordaz s/n
Edif. Plaza Patria Nivel 3
CP 22400 Tijuana, B.C.
Tel: (664) 634-6330 * Fax: (664) 634-7157
E-mail: ">

Nayarit
Calz. del Ejército y Av. México s/n
Ex-Convento de la Cruz de Zacate
CP 63168 Tepic, Nay.
Tel: (311) 214-8071 * Fax: (311) 214-1017

Baja California Sur
Carr. al Norte Km. 5.5 Fracc. Fidepaz
CP 23090 La Paz, B.C.S.
Tel: (612) 124-0100 * Fax: (612) 124-0722
E-mail: ">

Nuevo Leon
Zaragoza No. 1300 Sur
Edif. Kalos Nivel A-1 Desp. 137
CP 64000 Monterrey, N.L.
Tel: (81) 344-4343 * Fax: (81) 344-1169

Campeche
Av. Ruiz Cortines s/n
Plaza Moch-Couoh, Centro CP 24000 Campeche, Camp.
Tel: (981) 811-9200 * Fax: (981) 816-6068

Oaxaca
Independencia No. 607 esq. García Vigíl
CP 68000 Oaxaca, Oax.
Tel: (951) 516-0717 * Fax: (951) 516-1500
E-mail: ">

Chiapas
Blvd. Belisario Dominguez No. 950, Planta Baja
CP 29060 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chis.
Tel: (961) 613-9396 * Fax: (961) 612-5509

Puebla
5 Oriente No. 3
Centro Histórico CP 72000 Puebla, Pue.
Tel: (222) 246-2044 * Fax: (222) 246-2044
E-mail: ">

Chihuahua
Calle Libertad No. 1300
Edif. Agustin Melgar, 1er Piso
CP 31000 Chihuahua, Chih.
Tel: (61) 429-3421 * Fax: (61) 416-0032
E-mail: ">

Queretaro
Av. Luis Pasteur No. 4, Nte.
Centro Histórico
CP 76000 Ouerétaro, Qro.
Tel: (442) 212-1412 * Fax: (442) 212-1094
E-mail: ">

Coahuila
Blvd. Luis Echeverría No. 1560
Edif. Torre Saltillo Piso 11
CP 25286 Saltillo, Coah.
Tel: (884) 415-1714 * Fax: (884) 415-2174
E-mail: ">

Ouintana Roo
Carr. a Calderitas No. 622
Entre Ciricote e Ignacio Comonfort
CP 77010 Chetumal, Q. Roo
Tel: (983) 835-0860 * Fax: (983) 835-0880
E-mail: ">

Colima
Portal Hidalgo No. 96 Centro
CP 28000 Colima, Col.
Tel: (312) 312-2857 * Fax: (312) 312-8360
E-mail: ">

San Luis Potosi
Alvaro Obregón No. 520
CP 78000 San Luis Potosí, S.L.P.
Tel: (444) 812-9939 * Fax: (444) 812-6769

Distrito Federal (Mexico City)
Amberes No. 54, 2 Piso
CP 06600 México, D.F.
Tel: (5) 553-8759 * Fax: (5) 525-9386
E-mail: ">

Sinaloa
Av. Camarón Sabalo esq. Tiburon
Edificio Banrural 4 Piso
CP 82100 Mazatlán, Sin.
Tel: (667) 916-5160 * Fax: (667)916-5166

Durango
Hidalgo No. 408 Sur
CP 34000 Durango, Dgo.
Tel: (618) 811-3160 * Fax: (618) 811-9677

Sonora
Centro de Gobierno, Edif. Estatal Norte 3er Nivel
Comonfort y Paseo Río
CP 83280 Hermosillo, Son.
Tel: (662) 217-0076 * Fax: (662) 217-0076

Guanajuato
Plaza de la Paz No. 14
CP 36000 Guanajuato, Gto.
Tel: (473) 732-1574 * Fax: (473) 732-4251

Tabasco
Av. Los Ríos s/n esq. Calle 13 Tabasco 2000
CP 86035 Villahermosa, Tab.
Tel: (993) 316-5134 * Fax: (993) 316-2890

Guerrero
Av. Costera Miguel Alemán No. 4455
Centro Cultural y de Convenciones de Acapulco
Fracc. Club Deportivo
CP 39850 Acapulco, Gro.
Tel: (744) 484-2423 * Fax: (744) 481-1160

Tamaulipas
16 Rosales No. 272
CP 87000 Cd. Victoria, Tamps.
Tel: (834) 312-1057 * Fax: (834) 312-7002

Hidalgo
Carr. Mexico-Pachuca Km. 93.5
Col. Venta Prieta
CP 42080 Pachuca, Hgo.
Tel: (771) 717-8117 * Fax: (771) 717-8116

Tlaxcala
Av. Juárez esq. Lardizábal
CP 90000 Tlaxcala, Tlax.
Tel: (246) 462-0027 * Fax: (246) 462-5307

Jalisco
Morelos No. 102, Plaza Tapatia
CP 44100 Guadalajara, Jal.
Tel: (33) 613-1196 * Fax: (33) 614-4365

Veracruz
Blvd. Cristóbal Colón No. 5
CP 91190 Xalapa, Ver.
Tel: (228) 812-8500 * Fax: (228) 812-5939
E-mail: ">

Mexico (state) (estatal)
Urawa No. 100
Edif. Centro de Servicios Admvos. Puerta No. 110
CP 50150 Toluca, Edo. de México
Tel: (722) 212-5998 * Fax: (722) 212-1633
E-mail: ">

Yucatan
Calle 59 No. 514 entre 62 y 64, Centro
CP 97000 Mérida, Yuc.
Tel: (999) 924-9389 * Fax: (999) 928-6547

Michoacan
El Nigromante No.79, Palacio Clavijero, Centro
CP 58000 Morelia, Mich.
Tel: (443) 312-5244 * Fax: (443) 312-9816

Zacatecas
Av. Hidalgo No. 403 Segundo Piso
CP 98000 Zacatecas, Zac.
Tel: (492) 924-0552 * Fax: (492) 922-9329

The antiauthoritarian anticapitalist nodes of resistance in New York City are well reflected here: http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos18088.html. We need similar descriptions of the reticulation* of counter-power in & across the neighborhoods in other landscapes, urban and rural. NYC is especially rich in on-the-ground anarchy, a paradigm for grassroots people’s projects.

*reticulation means formed into a network or web. —G.S.