politics for the 99%

… and also about FREXIT – Published on Labor Notes, by Jane Slaughter, June 28, 2016.

Mexican federal police killed a dozen teachers and students June 19 when they opened fire on a demonstration in the small town of Nochixtlan, Oaxaca.

Teachers and supporters were protesting the government’s brand of “education reform,” which they say will not help students and is designed to get rid of teachers and break union power.  

“The government chose force,” said Francisco Bravo, a leader of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), the activist caucus within the official union. “They thought they could end our struggle quickly by arresting our leaders, that we would back down. They were wrong.”

The government at first denied that its troops were using live bullets, but was forced to retract that assertion. The dead included two middle school students and a motorist, according to the People’s Human Rights Observatory. Most were in their twenties … //

… Up the Ante: … //
… Wholesale Attack on Labor: … //

… When labor law reform was passed, Dan La Botz, the editor of Mexican Labor News and Analysis, wrote, “The Mexican independent labor movement is weaker today than at any time in the last 25 years.” Given the big defeats suffered by Mexican workers under a succession of pro-employer neoliberal presidents, it is even more remarkable that the teachers are holding out.

Asked about next steps, Bravo said teachers would hold “demonstrations, protests, blockages, marches, and rallies, till we have something definite from the government.”

Today the Mexican press reports that 29 highways in Oaxaca are being blocked, and that teachers have closed four international bridges from Chiapas to Guatemala.

(full text).

FREXIT related Links:

• FREXIT on YouTube-search;
• Grexit? A flesh wound compared to Frexit, on Dr. Rich Swier, June 30, 2016;
• Hollande rejects Le Pen’s calls for Frexit referendum, on RT, June 26, 2016 … (stupid, now our Frenchies wanting a Frexit have to wote for a Le Pen, and the Left needs some more 100 years to learn what’s fine politics – Heidi);
• take inspiration for FREXIT on Google Images-search;
• MAPPED: Czexit, Pexit, Frexit – EU referendum CONTAGION sweeps Europe amid political quake, on EXPRESS.co.uk, by REBECCA PERRING and MONIKA PALLENBERG, June 25, 2016;
• Support for the EU: OUT resp IN, on Twitter/FREXIT, June 24, 2016;
• The UK vote’s effect on French politics, on Global Risk Insights, by Riccardo Dugulin, June 24, 2016;
• Getting too big for his boots? Now Germany is fed-up with ‘head of EU government’ Juncker, on EXPRESSco.uk, by Allan Hall, June 20, 2016;
• Now French voters call for FREXIT after Germany faces demands for EU referendum, on David Icke, March 21, 2016;
• Une majorité de Français (53 %) souhaite un référendum sur la sortie de la France de l’UE, dans Le Monde.fr, par Philippe Bernard, le 3 mars 2016;

Other Links:

HRW: Amnesty calls on UN to suspend Saudi Arabia from Human Rights Council, on RT, June 29, 2016;

The People’s Summit, June 17-19, 2016, Chicago, IL:

• on the official website: PEOPLE’S SUMMIUT;
• on The Huffington Post/THE BLOG: Building the Political and Social Movement at the People’s Summit in Chicago, by Rose Ann DeMoro, June 23, 2016:  in three momentous days June 17-19, 3,000 activists gathered in a People’s Summit in Chicago to embrace a continuing resolution to building a broad, bigger progressive movement to transform the nation and the plane …;
• on truthout.org: Why the Sanders “Revolution” Must Take on the Permanent War State, by Gareth Porter, June 8, 2016: the People’s Summit in Chicago June 17-19 dramatically displayed both the strengths and the vulnerabilities of what has emerged in 2016 as one of the most potentially powerful movements for fundamental change in the United States in many decades …;
• on Common Dreams: What Happens Next? People’s Summit to Fortify Sanders’ Political Revolution, by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer, June 6, 2016.