A hopeful sign

I went in search of protests and marches today and found only graffiti. That is one of the "disappeared" teacher, I think.

There appears to be progress on the teacher strike, but it is too early to tell how it will all play out.  Plus people are upset about lots of things.  

In the DF,  the Ministry of the Interior came to an agreement with the teachers of CNTE and the government of Oaxaca to end the current conflict.  That agreement says: that teachers would resume classes this coming Monday, withheld salaries would be paid, and that 15 million pesos would go for a program of teacher training within the Programa para la Transformación de la Educación de Oaxaca (PTEO).

 

See, irony is not dead.  You can still buy your things for the patriotic fiestas.

PTEO offered an alternative plan to the federal reform program and it has been accepted.  PTEO's plan is to improve education with assessments for teachers and teachers according to the characteristics of each region of the State.  The plan was endorsed by both the Feds and trade union leader, Rubén Núñez Ginez, who said the agreement was an historical achievement for the magisterial movement.

There are still a lot of hurdles to cross.  For instance, what happens in the schools that switched to Section 59 teachers?  So we hope for the best.

Of course, there is still the whole oil issue, which is linked to the whole corporatacracy thing, but I am sure there will soon be rational and just solutions to those problems as well.... yeah, right.

Meanwhile, the storms have really done a number on the country.  I think it is the first time in 60 years that two storms hit at the same time.  No major problems here, but the roads are falling apart as always.

This is a really good and complete story from Aljazeera 

Political recriminations are underway in Mexico as the death toll, devastation and economic cost from two simultaneous storms escalated on Thursday.

At least 80 people have died in 10 states since Sunday amid widespread flooding and landslides caused by Hurricane Ingrid on the Gulf coast and Tropical Storm Manuel on the Pacific coast. It is the first time Mexico has been battered by two tropical storms within 24 hours since 1958.

Further misery and destruction seemed inevitable after tropical storm Manuel was upgraded to a category grade 1 hurricane as it approached Sinaloa with 120kph (75mph) winds. The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned of "life threatening flash floods and mud slides" in the northwestern states of Sinaloa, Nayarit and Baja California, with up to 38 centimetres (15 inches) of rain and gusts of 128kph (80mph) forecast for the next 24 hours.

 Meanwhile in El Norte, I see that the House has voted to stop feeding hungry people and to take away healthcare for millions.  American exceptionalism?  As Elphaba says, "What a world.  What a world."