The Oaxaca Crisis

The origins of the current conflict in the city of Oaxaca began in May, with what intended to be a peaceful demonstration of teachers demanding higher salaries. Within one month, on June 13th, state police surrounded the 30,000 thousand teachers to try to break up the protest, as ordered by the controversial Governor Ulises Ruiz. By August, teachers seized twelve radio stations to send messages of defiance against Governor Ruiz, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) party, urging him to resign. Besides giving inadequate attention to teachers, the protestors, now a diverse group of teachers, women’s rights groups and Indigenous Peoples groups, want Governor Ruiz ousted from power because of his repressive policies and his alleged rigging of the 2004 elections. Now in October, with children still out of school since May, the pressure increases and the fight becomes more politically focused.

The protestors’ standoff in the Zócalo, the main square in the city, ruptured this past Sunday when President Vicente Fox called for a raid on the city by federal officers. According to the Mexican government, the reason to intervene and send troops was necessary to secure safety in the area, control the protestors, and prevent any more killings, especially after two protesters and an American activist working as a journalist were killed on Friday. Many protestors claim the state officers are responsible for these deaths.

The arrival of 3,000 federal troops into the city on Saturday was the catalyst and added to the already burning fire. Within twenty-four hours riot police pushed protestors out of the Zócalo, but only to have them scatter throughout the surrounding streets. Police took guard behind their shields, responding to protestors’ attacks with water cannons and tear gas. Protestors resorted to burning nearby cars; public buses and one group even hijacked a bulldozer and doused it with gasoline.

Governor Ruiz in the past worked to avoid this exact kind of protest, by prohibiting marches or protests that were often in response to his repressive policies. “He didn’t realize it, but he was closing the escape valves that let the pressure off,” declares Flavio Sosa, head of the New Left of Oaxaca and a leader of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). The leftist driven APPO, a coalition of 350 teachers and social movements from Oaxaca, joined in the teacher’s protest in June. The APPO is also demanding attention from the federal government to develop Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico.

In regards to the past conflicts, not all citizens of Oaxaca agree with the desperate measures taken by many protestors. A group of residents dressed in white, as a symbol of peace, marched in support of Gov. Ruiz and thanked the Federal Preventative Police force for coming in to help save the distressed city.

According to a recent October 31 article from a Cuban newspaper, members of Congress are ruling that Ruiz leave his post and regain control of Oaxaca. Many Oaxacans see the legislative decision as a violation of “the sovereignty of the state of Oaxaca,” but country officials demand that classes in schools be reestablished and therefore the federal government must intervene. On a side note, the Mexican economy is feeling the affects of the conflict. The Mexican peso lost ground after federal police stormed the city’s center on Sunday.

Since protestors are currently out of the main square, this once popular tourist spot is slowly regaining its claim to fame. As noted in a New York Times article late this evening, many residents and visitors who have not visited the Zócalo since the protestors’ occupation in May, are returning and noticing change. Graffiti covered facades are being painted over, as tourists sit on benches and police officers take breaks to rest and admire indigenous art.

President Fox claims he will try to end the conflict before he leaves office on December 1. Yet, many officials are beginning to think that the incoming President-elect Felipe Calderon will only inherit the Oaxaca crisis. Inevitably, the people of Oaxaca are the ones in control and will rage a revolution to maintain free expression and guarantee political equality in their city. Protestors currently have their operations base in Oaxaca University and its radio station. In an article published earlier today, protestors are using the university radio station as a stronghold to continue disseminating their message to mobilize the population.

Guatemalan-Venezuelan fight to win

Venezuela and Guatemala's tie up of the General Assembly is costing the United Nations (U.N) well over twenty thousand dollars a day. The Guatemalan-Venezuelan fight to win the one open Latin American seat in the Security Council for 2007 has been lingering since balloting began on October 16. The battle came to another stalemate today, ending on the 47th round of balloting, as neither country managed to obtain the required two-thirds majority of the one hundred and ninety-two U.N General Assembly members.

The hold-up for Venezuela has come after its President Hugo Chavez has turned Venezuela's campaign into a race against Washington not Guatemala. Chavez tore into Bush's Presidency last month announcing to the General Assembly "The devil came here yesterday and it smells of sulfur still today," referring to Bush, who had addressed the assembly at its annual meeting the day before. Many diplomats have stated that this speech has cost him votes on winning a Security Council seat.

Chavez claims his country wants a seat on the Security Council

so they can stop the United States from creating a unipolar world. Attaining a position on the Security Council will give Chavez a world platform to pour out his resentments towards Washington, a basis for why the United States is participating in its own firm lobbying against Venezuela. Ambassador Bolton stated outside the General Assembly, "We have given the reasons why we think Venezuela's candidacy is problematic and why Guatemala's candidacy has a lot of merit to it. And countries are making up their own minds, at least as far as we're concerned".

Guatemala backed by the United States is vying against Venezuela for the open seat. Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas, the Ambassador of Venezuela, has lashed out, saying Guatemala is "obscene” and "is Washington's puppet". Guatemala has been leading by at least 23 votes in each round of balloting. Its Foreign Minister stated today "Venezuela clearly is not doing well, but they want to bring us down with them as the proxy for the United States." Normally when this kinds of stalemate happens the country that is behind withdraws.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N John Bolton has claimed that it is important Washington prevents Venezuela from getting the seat because that will ensure that the Security Council work is not disrupted. "It's very rare for the United States to say anything in a Security Council race, and we didn't do this because of expectation of votes on the Council. We did it because of our concern for the integrity of the Council itself," he said.

Tomorrow the Foreign Ministers of both Venezuela and Guatemala are attending a meeting held by Grulac to discuss the stalemate. Both countries ambassadors said today they are willing to have consultations with Grulac tomorrow to try and agree on an alternative candidate. Heraldo Munoz, Chile's U.N. ambassador told reporters today "The votes are consolidated. They are frozen, shifts are minimal, and so we have to think of a political alternative."

In order for another candidate to be chosen, it has to first be agreed on by the contenders and then approved by Grulac's 35-members at the U.N. On Monday during a Grulac meeting, no decisions by the 35 nations were made on an alternative candidate. However, after the meeting Venezuela's ambassador said, "We have to be realistic, this has gone on for several days now, and we can see that there's no movement in either of the candidates being able to get two-thirds of the vote, so we have to think of a third consensus candidate for the region."

Venezuela and the United States have both said they would back the Dominican Republic, but this is just one alternative diplomats have mentioned along with Ecuador, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

December 31st is when Argentina the current member sitting in the Latin American seat will vacate and the new Latin American representative will take over. The most powerful members of the Security Council, the United States, China, Russia, France, and Britain are on it permanently; and then for two year terms ten other nations get to sit on it, five of which get elected each year.

The four other non-permanent Security Council seats were all decided on the first day of balloting with no interference. Without opposition Belgium and Italy got the European seats, Indonesia defeated Nepal in the race for the Asian seat, and South Africa was elected for the African seat.

When Croatian Skeletons come out

In the past few years Croatia has successfully promoted its image abroad. Not only is it in the run to join the EU, its beaches also attract German, Czech and Italian tourists by the droves, it was even listed as No.1 vacation destination by Lonely Planet. But recent coverage (look at FT.com for an example) of the country is unfortunately unrelated to its natural beauty; Croats appear to be attempting to deal with their not so far-away past. After his detainment on Friday, member of parliament Branimir Glavas faces a trial for war crimes in ’91 and ‘92. Glavas, a former Croatian army general, was a commander in the city of Osijek during the Croatian war for Independence. Glavas was allegedly at the top of a chain of command responsible for the murder of ethnic Serb civilians in the city. This will be the most important war crime trial dealt with by the Croatian local judicial.
After about 15 years, many think it is about time to look into what happened at Osijek. After Glavas was stripped of parliamentary immunity last week, it appeared as though the country was ready to deal with some of the ugliest sides of its struggle for independence. According to a recent poll, 68 percent of Croats declared they knew of war crimes committed by Croat toops in the effort to respond to Serbian offensive. In the same survey, though, most Croats expressed mistrust for the judiciary system and thought its reform should be brought up during talks about future EU membership.
Glavas, who expresses his views in his website, is among those who do not trust Croatian courts. He has been denouncing political involvement and corruption on the prosecutors’ side ever since the investigations began over a year ago. Now Glavas has begun a hunger strike, protesting his innoncence. Glavas was a founding member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the party currently lead by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. Following disagreements with Sanader on the pro-Eu line, Glavas left the party and ran independently. The investigation began a year ago when a former militant in the military unit under Glavas’ command, Krunoslav Fehir, publicly denounced what had happened in Osijek. Fehir was only 16 when he started participating in military actions which allegedly involved the torture and murdering of ethnic Serbian civilians. The scandal broke out when the Feral Tribune published Fehir’s story, almost immediately after the former soldier gave his deposition. Amidst the great clamor, some criticized this young man’s alleged love for publicity. Many others wondered at how Glavas had been able to avoid investigations for so long, and criticized judges for not requiring immediate detention. The accusation of influencing witnesses through his still well established local power was supported by a few cases of depositions being changed once the witnesses’ names were made public. Even Fehir was taken to the capital and local police was not entrusted with the investigations. Thus there was little surprise when parliamentary immunity was lifted last week and Glavas voluntarily drove into Zagreb to be detained among much clamor and publicity.
Croatia is in the process of applying to join the EU in 2010. Talks are on-going and the decision regarding the Croatian candidacy will take place in June. Reform of the judiciary will certainly be an important step in the process of institutional renovation, but so will the test the judicial system is about to undertake. No matter how beautiful the Croatian beaches may appear, there are still a few skeletons to deal with in Osijek.

Africa Awareness

Lucy, who is roughly 3.2 million years old, has plans to come to America. Some in the United States, however, don’t think the old girl from Ethiopia is up for it. “Rick Potts, the director of the New York Smithsonian Museum's Human Origins Program and an influential paleoanthropologist, said he and many other scientists agree that Lucy is too fragile to travel,” the Washington Post reported on Saturday. This has nothing to do with new immigration policy, I’m sure. America’s own old lady, Miss Liberty, says “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me…” But the fragile-boned dead need not apply.

Lucy, a three foot, six inch female skeleton that was discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1974, is thought to be one of humanity’s earliest known ancestors. Her presence, then – in the discourse of the Western world, if not in the glass cases of America’s museums – is significant: it reminds us that, according to our DNA, we are all, scientifically speaking, of African descent.

This fact, of course, is not new to Western science. It does seem, however, to be picking up unprecedented attention in the world of American pop culture and mass marketing. This week, on billboards and bus stops around major American cities, black and white photographs of major celebrities from musicians David Bowie and Lenny Kravtiz to models Tyson Beckford and Gisele Bundchen to actresses Gwenyth Paltrow and Lucy Liu could be found on the same poster with bold text which read: “I AM AFRICAN.” It seems Lucy’s message has made it over without her.

The poster, the most noticeable effort from the Keep A Child Alive foundation in recent memory, then directs audiences to learn more about this latest campaign to alleviate AIDS-suffering in Africa at the foundation’s website. “Each and everyone of us contains DNA that can be traced back to our African ancestors,” the opening web page reads. “These amazing people traveled far and wide, now they need our help. Most Africans cannot afford the lifesaving antiretroviral drugs that have transformed AIDS in the West to a treatable and manageable disease.” After reading that “for just one dollar a day” we can help provide these medicines and “help save the life of a child, a mother, a father, a family, our human family, our first family,” we are asked to go to www.keepachild.org “to keep Africa alive… before its too late.”

The “I Am African” campaign comes right on the heels of Gap’s recent collaboration with (PRODUCT) RED to create the Gap PRODUCT (RED) collection aimed at ending Africa’s AIDS plight. 50% of the profits from sales of the new, limited edition collection of Gap clothing and accessory items, “each badged with subtle yet distinct details inspired by (RED)”, goes to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. To promote the product, Gap, like Keep A Child Alive, used a star-studded cast: Steven Spielberg, Penelope Cruz, Don Cheadle, and Mary J. Blige among them.

Most Africans have been in need of Western aid for a long time. But now, all of a sudden, the fight for Africa has become the hot button issue that celebrities flock to identify with. This “Africa-awareness” among celebrities, and therefore in pop-culture, has been simmering for some time: first Hotel Rwanda, widely popular from its very first week, received even more attention after Don Cheadle received the Oscar for his role as Paul Rusesabagina. Then, like September 11^th on the heels of Pearl Harbor, in came the news from Darfur. Shortly after Africa Action, an agency for Activism for Africa, published the article “A Tale of Two Genocides: The Failed U.S. Response to Rwanda and Darfur,” George Clooney spoke at a press conference at the United Nations on September 14^th and told the international community: “[T]his genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy — your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz.” Meanwhile, pictures and reports from Darfur gained frequency on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

For over a week the (RED) campaign seemed to dominate magazines and street corners in New York City, trying to catch the recent wave of popularity and make support for AIDS elimination in Africa a style statement. Upon first sighting of the “I Am African” campaign this weekend, the whole continent of Africa itself – and every human being’s relationship to it – became almost impossible for anyone to ignore. (Add as well the easily sighted posters around town for Catch A Fire, the new drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa).

All of that brings us to the front page of today’s New York Times – the Sunday, and most widely read, edition – where we see the picture of six-year old Mark Kwadwo, an indentured servant in Kete Krachi, Ghana, scooping water out of his master’s canoe, above the headline “Africa’s World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old’s Eyes”. Open to the center spread - or slideshow, online - and the pictures are arresting, the quotes heartbreaking: most of all when Kwadwo whispers, out of earshot of his employer (for fear of being hit over the head by an oar), “I don’t like it here.” Child trafficking can be tacked on to the Western world’s awareness of Africa, between AIDS and genocide.

The question, of course, is will the rise in celebrity and public awareness, accompanied by the efforts of organizations like PRODUCT (RED) and Keep A Child Alive, actually continue until Africa’s greatest problems have been solved? Political focus shifts quickly – in popular memory, New Orleans will soon seem as long ago as Galveston; Indonesia already seems as mythic as Atlantis. Style and Fashion are even worse: as fickle with their interests as Don Juan was with his. Today it is AIDS in Africa, but few want to think of Africa’s tragedies over the Holidays, and nobody will want to wear it, literally, around the Thanksgiving table.

Poverty, of course, is both the source and result of Africa’s greatest problems: a continual downward spiral. In 1970, Africans accounted for 11% of those who lived in extreme poverty – below a dollar a day. In 2000, the number had increased to 35%. If the trends continue, Africa will account for 68%, the majority of the world’s poor. It is too soon to tell if the latest Africa awareness efforts will be effective in curbing these trends, but they certainly have not encouraged intervention or assistance from President Bush, who has declined to offer any American contribution to a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, while rather hypocritically telling the U.N. that it’s “credibility” is on the line there.

No, Sudan will likely go the way of Rwanda. Child trafficking will continue as the consequences of an unjust free market. AIDS will continue to plague the masses.

Africa may be suffering, but it has been suffering for a long time, and a brief rise in public awareness of that fact will not be enough to inspire our politicians to really concern themselves with the suffering of people in a faraway, politically unimportant region.

Hopefully, if Lucy does make the trip, she won't visit the White House. It might break her.

Dylan Byers

Goings on in Sudan

Newspaper coverage of the ongoing crisis in Sudan reveals the conflict to be a web of entangled issues battling for political movement and also for airtime. On October 27 and 28th, news from Sudan focused on the expulsion of UN special envoy Jan Pronk from Sudan by the Sudanese Government in Khartoum. Accused by Sudan’s General Command of Armed Forces of threatening national security and “propagating erroneous information that casts doubts about the capability of the armed forced in maintaining security and defending the country”, Pronk was declared a persona non grata.

The story that lies beneath Pronk’s deportation is that of the currently hotly debated question of whether or not UN troops should be deployed in Sudan. With his statements that the Sudanese army was mobilizing Arab militias after being dealt heavy losses by rebel fighters, Pronk was perceived by the Khartoum government to be attempting to prove to the international community that the national army and the African Union were unable to protect civilians, thus spurring the UN to implement its Resolution 1706. This resolution would expand the UN’s mission in Sudan to include the deployment of 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, rather than augmenting the currently underfunded and ill-equipped Africa Union peacekeeping forces of 7,000, or boosting the Abuja peace deal.

The Khartoum government stands firm in its opposition to any such deployment, insisting that resolution 1706 is a Western plot to steal Sudan’s resources. Articles published Saturdayby pro-government news portal, the Sudanese Media Center claim that the conflict in Sudan causing so much concern is over and that the UN is pursuing occupation of Sudan as part of a hidden Zionist agenda. Questioning of UN motives for the deployment of troops in Darfur goes beyond government-engineered news. On Friday, the BBC published a debate about Darfur between Smith College professor Eric Reeves and foreign editor of the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram. While Reeves insists that a UN presence is necessary to face “genocidal destruction” in Darfur and that no increase of the AU’s operation could get the job done, Nkrumah considers the potential for non-consensual UN deployment a threat to sovereignty and a move based on Western political agendas, not concern for Sudanese civilians. Nkrumah compares the possible intervention in Darfur to Iraq and believes that US and UN interest in Sudan are fueled by oil. In an Al-Ahram article published this week , Nkrumah points out that statements made by George W. Bush a week ago emphasized first the fact that the humanitarian situation in Sudan is deplorable, but secondly, that Sudan’s oil threatens US national security.

Oil is certainly part of this equation, possibly in more ways than one. China, currently importing 6% of its oil from Sudan, is a chief ally to Khartoum with the ability to veto sanctions on the government. China is currently coming under criticism for its support of a government that is widely considered guilty of ethnic cleansing, but Nkrumah suggests that the West’s real problem with China’s relationship with Sudan is that it is demonstrating the fact that Sudan doesn’t need the US to make economic strides forward. Jeffrey Gettleman’s New York Times article published October 24th, "Despite Embargo, Sudan Builds a Booming Economy Based on Oil," attests to Sudan’s oil boom, which is making parts of the country incredibly rich. Gettleman writes that while American sanctions have kept many Western powers from investing in Sudan, foreign investment in the country has leapt from $128 million in 2000 to $2.3 billion this year. The foreign money pouring in from Asian countries makes the effects of the American embargo seem pithy, and emboldens Khartoum by basically eliminating the government’s economic dependence on the West.

Woven throughout competing power interests and political agendas is the dire humanitarian crisis on the ground in Darfur. The conflict has displaced more than 2 million people, and estimates of the death toll reach as high as 500 thousand. Villages have been burned and pillages, food and seed stocks destroyed, and water wells deliberately poisoned.

The conflict has spread to Chad, internally displacing at lease 50 thousand Chadians Civilians along the border of Sudan are subject to violence by both Chadian rebels and Darfur-based Janjaweed militias. The governments of Chad and Sudan are meanwhile pointing fingers at each other: Chad is accusing Sudan of bombing four villages and Sudan is accusing Chad of providing refuge to fighters. Accusations have not been proven, but one thing that is clear is that the situation that civilians find themselves is increasingly dim and that help is not expected to come from the governments involved any time soon. Even parts of Sudan not immediately affected by the conflict in Darfur find themselves struggling. Another recent NYT article by Gettleman profiles the hardships being endured by the Beja population in Eastern Sudan, who are without food, water, or means of producing either, and feel forgotten in a country receiving an influx of foreign aid.

Sudanese civilians in general are at risk of being forgotten amidst the current political turmoil and policy questioning. An article published October 25th in the Boston Globe calls Pronk’s expulsion a “sideshow to genocide”, diverting attention away from the people who need it. While Khartoum holds its ground and while the UN gets flustered about an official getting kicked out, people are still in a desperate situation that only becomes more desperate as it continues.

The Assignment

This week, I want each of you to imagine yourself as the writer of a blog that focuses on international issues - political, cultural or otherwise. I will leave the choice of issues to you, but there will be an expectation of multiple sources exploring the issue in question from various angles. A minimum of ten links should be included in your blog entry, which should be between 400 and 500 words. Examples of the kinds of issues you might tackle: news about AIDS in Africa, about China-North Korea trade now that UN sanctions are supposed to be in effect, about Russia after Putin (he announced last week he wouldn't run for another term), or about, for instance, Europe's efforts to keep American culture from overwhelming its film, art, television, fashion and other industries.

Another important caveat: at least half of your ten links should be to overseas newspapers (in English). A great source for these is "onlinenewspapers.com". Also, the style should be fluid, not just "Paper X says this, while paper Y says that. Read a few Daily Analysis Briefs from my site, CFR.org, to get the idea. The ideal is this: if you removed all the links, the entry would still be worth reading.

Some other basics: Make sure your links work, don't link to sites that require subsciptions (though 'registration' is okay), and you get extra credit for adding a photo.

I'm going to assign each of you a day to do this, and we'll review the results in class next week. Feel free to edit or to collaborate. But no one is to edit another person's work unknowingly. You are on the honor system in that regard. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS IS CONTAINED ON TEH BLOGGER PAGE "HELP." GOOD LUCK.

So here's the schedule:

FRIDAY:
Marika and Dylan (separate entries, of course)

MONDAY
Ilaria and Christiane

TUESDAY
Alexandra and Jack and Natalie

Wednesday
Daniella and Demian