Quiero mi ciudad sin bloqueos

"I want my city (to be) without blockades" or "Quiero mi ciudad sin bloqueos" is a petition movement that many city residents have signed onto.  Blockades are a normal part of life in Oaxaca, but people are sick of them as they disrupt all aspects of life and severely impact business, the economy and people's lives.  The right to protest is held sacred here, but that right has been exceeded in the eyes of many.

It is a complex web of connections and causes, the latest being students from the teaching colleges, normals, protesting the educational reforms that are being implemented nationally.   The students seized buses, closed roads, took over radio stations and hijacked trucks loaded with commercial items.  They also closed the toll booths in Huitzo on the toll road to Mexico City, but let cars and trucks through for free.

These soon-to-be teachers are no longer automatically insured jobs and must take national exams and hence the protests.  Educational reform is sorely needed in Oaxaca and nationally and with the recent arrest of the powerful president of the teachers' union, Elba Gordillo and the newly legislated reforms, things are heating up.  This is not to say that things are not always hot when it comes to education and Section XXII.  The protests and sit-ins have been going on for over thirty years, but this time, maybe a critical mass has been reached and reforms will actually kick in. However, not without many more conflicts.  Ay!  Just contemplating the annual May protests gives me heartburn.

How will it go?  Who knows.  People are sick of the protests and blockades until it is their protest or blockade.

It does make me contemplate what it would be like if anything like this ever happened in El Norte, the States.  My short visit to the Boston area just reinforces that I am bouncing between two completely different cultures.  If students hijacked buses and closed down the Mass Pike, given the hyper-militarized police forces here, well.... I don't think the response would be similar to Oaxaca's.

I often feel that Oaxaca is ahead of the curve in many ways.  It has an engaged populous and a myriad of problems.  The US also has a boatload of problems, but a more detached and semi-soporific population.  Hey, maybe we will wake up soon and follow some of Oaxaca's examples, both in protests and reforms.

Me, I gotta got vote today on an override to do more in Newton.  The one thing I have realized in living other places is what a good city Newton is and how well it does what it is supposed to do.  Schools, roads, trash, water, library, police, all are done exceedingly well here.

Update:  The override passed, which I guess indicates the people are sometimes willing to pay taxes to get good things..... because.... SOCIALIZM, I mean, FREEDOM;-)