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Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:39:26 -0500 (CDT)
From: Mary Ellen Sanger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: En;GX,Gibler:APPO Protesters Confront the Media,Oct 16
APPO Protesters Confront the Media
Special to The Herald Mexico/El Universal
October 16, 2006
By John Gibler
APPO protesters confront the media
OAXACA CITY - The Oaxaca People's Assembly (APPO) does not hire professional
media consultants or issue well-crafted press releases to get their message
out. Instead,
the protesters have walked through the unlocked doors of radio stations across
the city
and simply informed the workers that the APPO would be taking over.
"It is absolutely necessary in this movement to have our own media and not to
depend on
the commercial press," says Carmen, a 40 year-old preschool teacher and APPO
radio
announcer, from inside the barricaded office of Radio Ley, the only working
radio station
still under APPO control.
The radio has played a pivotal role in the APPO's ability to organize its
members,
especially in response to attacks on their protest camps. As a result, the
protesters' radio
stations have been the targets of multiple attacks from police, machine gun
wielding
paramilitaries, and even paid internal saboteurs.
But critics claim that political organizations such as the Popular
Revolutionary Front
(FPR) have taken over the control of the occupied radio stations, and used them
to spread
their organization's views and even incite listeners to clash with opponents.
"They are teachers so you think they are going to put on cultural programs,"
said Mari, a
travel agent who has lived in Oaxaca 14 years, "but no, they don't even play
much music,
it is pure revolution."
REPRESSION BACKFIRES
During the first minutes of the raid on June 14, when Ulises Ruiz sent state
riot police at
dawn to break up the protest camp of striking teachers, the police sought out
and
destroyed the transmission equipment of the teachers' pirate radio station,
Radio Planto'n,
beating and detaining four teachers who were guarding the station. The station
is still off
the air, but has begun internet broadcasting.
The following day, June 15, a group of students took over the local
university's seldom
listened-to radio station and began to air messages calling for Ruiz's
resignation and
announcing upcoming protest marches.
In the following weeks, the APPO used Radio Universidad to criticize state and
national
media, claiming that mainstream media didn't tell the truth about the violence
on June 14.
The radio's criticism helped create a tense atmosphere for journalists where
APPO
protesters with clubs chased off television cameramen and constantly demanded
that
reporters identify themselves.
On July 22, the first attack against the radio came. Carmen was on the air when
she heard
machine gun fire hitting the walls of the station. Only a few women, some with
their
children, were on duty. They all hit the floor.
"I asked for help," Carmen says, "and was able to say that we were being
attacked before
the signal went dead."
The shooting lasted about 15 minutes before several thousand people began to
arrive at
the station, chasing off the police cars and paramilitary pick-up trucks. No
one was
injured, and volunteers quickly repaired the damage to the station's antenna.
TV BROADCAST
Two weeks later, on Aug. 8, the signal went dead again. This time Carmen and
several
volunteer technicians went into the control room to find fumes rising from the
transmitter.
Two young students had been paid about US$250 to throw sulfuric acid on the
radio
equipment. Carmen broadcasted for a few hours more before the acid worked its
way
through the transmitter and Radio Universidad went off the air.
But by that time, several hundred women from the APPO had taken over the
state-run
television and radio stations known as CORTV.
During an Aug. 1 march of over 3,000 women banging on pots and pans to protest
against Ulises Ruiz, the women-ramped up by the high energy of their noisy
march-
decided to continue beyond the central plaza out to CORTV. Once there, they
requested
permission to tell their version of what happened during the June 14 raid on
live
television.
The station director denied their request, but the women, undeterred, walked
past her and
occupied the station. Only a few hours later they were able to broadcast live,
on statewide
television.
Then, on Aug. 21, over 60 gunmen attacked and destroyed CORTV's transmitter,
causing
the protesters on guard to flee the scene. By noon the next day, thousands of
APPO
protesters had spontaneously organized and taken over 12 of the 13 commercial
radio
stations in Oaxaca City.
The next day the APPO released 10 of the stations and maintained control of
two, Radio
Oro and Radio Ley. Gunmen in a caravan of about 40 cars and pick-ups, including
police
vehicles, returned that night, shooting at photographers and into the crowd of
protesters
outside Radio Ley, killing one person.
DENUNCIATIONS
Jose' Manuel Villarreal, a spokesperson for the Oaxaca Communicators
Association, a
press advocacy organization grouping together 27 radio stations and newspapers,
denounced the APPO's occupation of radio stations.
"We are the owners of the media, so of course we cannot agree with these
violent take-
overs," he said. "They allege that we have not given them space in the media.
We think
that they do not want space so much as they want to control the media for their
propagandistic purposes."
"They have used the radio in completely condemnable ways to provoke
confrontations
between the people of Oaxaca and to call for the lynching of those who oppose
them," he
said, referring to radio announcers' calls that protesters invade a hotel where
the journalist
Ricardo Rocha was interviewing state politicians.
Villarreal emphasized that one must be careful to distinguish between what he
called the
legitimate social demands underlying much of the conflict and the manipulations
of
"political mercenaries" on the left who have jumped into the APPO and led the
radio
occupations.
And while APPO protesters have apologized for past rough treatment of
journalists, they
insist that the media is dead set against them and unabashedly defend their
radio
occupations.
"It was a natural reaction that came about immediately from the people to take
possession
of all the radio stations to have a way of organizing ourselves, to disseminate
the APPO's
messages," said Carmen of the Aug. 22 occupations, "but also it was an act of
repudiation
against the official journalism, the pro-government press that has always
attacked the
social movements here in Oaxaca."
------_NextPart_000_01CE_01C6F3AD.E1F7E810
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APPO Protesters Confront the Media<?xml:namespace prefix o ns
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"/> <o:p> </o:p>
<SPAN classarticlebyline><SPAN style"COLOR: brown">Special to The Herald
Mexico/El Universal </SPAN> (http://http:/www.mexiconews.com.mx) </SPAN>
<SPAN classarticlebyline>October 16, 2006 </SPAN>
<SPAN classarticlebyline>By John Gibler </SPAN><o:p> </o:p>
APPO protesters confront the media <o:p> </o:p>
<?xml:namespace prefix st1 ns "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"/>
<st1:place w:st"on"><st1:PlaceName w:st"on">OAXACA </st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st"on">CITY </st1:PlaceType> </st1:place> - The Oaxaca
People's Assembly (APPO) does not hire professional
media consultants or issue well-crafted press releases to get their message
out. Instead,
the protesters have walked through the unlocked doors of radio stations across
the city
and simply informed the workers that the APPO would be taking over. <o:p> </o:p>
"It is absolutely necessary in this movement to have our own media and not to
depend on
the commercial press," says Carmen, a 40 year-old preschool teacher and APPO
radio
announcer, from inside the barricaded office of Radio Ley, the only working
radio station
still under APPO control. <o:p> </o:p>
The radio has played a pivotal role in the APPO's ability to organize its
members,
especially in response to attacks on their protest camps. As a result, the
protesters' radio
stations have been the targets of multiple attacks from police, machine gun
wielding
paramilitaries, and even paid internal saboteurs. <o:p> </o:p>
But critics claim that political organizations such as the Popular
Revolutionary Front
(FPR) have taken over the control of the occupied radio stations, and used them
to spread
their organization's views and even incite listeners to clash with opponents.
<o:p> </o:p>
"They are teachers so you think they are going to put on cultural programs,"
said Mari, a
travel agent who has lived in Oaxaca 14 years, "but no, they don't even play
much music,
it is pure revolution." <o:p> </o:p>
REPRESSION BACKFIRES <o:p> </o:p>
During the first minutes of the raid on June 14, when Ulises Ruiz sent state
riot police at
dawn to break up the protest camp of striking teachers, the police sought out
and
destroyed the transmission equipment of the teachers' pirate radio station,
Radio Planto'n,
beating and detaining four teachers who were guarding the station. The station
is still off
the air, but has begun internet broadcasting. <o:p> </o:p>
The following day, June 15, a group of students took over the local
university's seldom
listened-to radio station and began to air messages calling for Ruiz's
resignation and
announcing upcoming protest marches. <o:p> </o:p>
In the following weeks, the APPO used Radio Universidad to criticize state and
national
media, claiming that mainstream media didn't tell the truth about the violence
on June 14.
The radio's criticism helped create a tense atmosphere for journalists where
APPO
protesters with clubs chased off television cameramen and constantly demanded
that
reporters identify themselves. <o:p> </o:p>
On July 22, the first attack against the radio came. Carmen was on the air when
she heard
machine gun fire hitting the walls of the station. Only a few women, some with
their
children, were on duty. They all hit the floor. <o:p> </o:p>
"I asked for help," Carmen says, "and was able to say that we were being
attacked before
the signal went dead." <o:p> </o:p>
The shooting lasted about 15 minutes before several thousand people began to
arrive at
the station, chasing off the police cars and paramilitary pick-up trucks. No
one was
injured, and volunteers quickly repaired the damage to the station's antenna.
<o:p> </o:p>
TV BROADCAST <o:p> </o:p>
Two weeks later, on Aug. 8, the signal went dead again. This time Carmen and
several
volunteer technicians went into the control room to find fumes rising from the
transmitter. <o:p> </o:p>
Two young students had been paid about US$250 to throw sulfuric acid on the
radio
equipment. Carmen broadcasted for a few hours more before the acid worked its
way
through the transmitter and Radio Universidad went off the air. <o:p> </o:p>
But by that time, several hundred women from the APPO had taken over the
state-run
television and radio stations known as CORTV. <o:p> </o:p>
During an Aug. 1 march of over 3,000 women banging on pots and pans to protest
against Ulises Ruiz, the women-ramped up by the high energy of their noisy
march-
decided to continue beyond the central plaza out to CORTV. Once there, they
requested
permission to tell their version of what happened during the June 14 raid on
live
television. <o:p> </o:p>
The station director denied their request, but the women, undeterred, walked
past her and
occupied the station. Only a few hours later they were able to broadcast live,
on statewide
television. <o:p> </o:p>
Then, on Aug. 21, over 60 gunmen attacked and destroyed CORTV's transmitter,
causing
the protesters on guard to flee the scene. By noon the next day, thousands of
APPO
protesters had spontaneously organized and taken over 12 of the 13 commercial
radio
stations in <st1:place w:st"on"><st1:PlaceName w:st"on">Oaxaca </st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st"on">City </st1:PlaceType> </st1:place>. <o:p> </o:p>
The next day the APPO released 10 of the stations and maintained control of
two, Radio
Oro and Radio Ley. Gunmen in a caravan of about 40 cars and pick-ups, including
police
vehicles, returned that night, shooting at photographers and into the crowd of
protesters
outside Radio Ley, killing one person. <o:p> </o:p>
DENUNCIATIONS <o:p> </o:p>
Jose' Manuel Villarreal, a spokesperson for the Oaxaca Communicators
Association, a
press advocacy organization grouping together 27 radio stations and newspapers,
denounced the APPO's occupation of radio stations. <o:p> </o:p>
"We are the owners of the media, so of course we cannot agree with these
violent take-
overs," he said. "They allege that we have not given them space in the media.
We think
that they do not want space so much as they want to control the media for their
propagandistic purposes." <o:p> </o:p>
"They have used the radio in completely condemnable ways to provoke
confrontations
between the people of <st1:State w:st"on"><st1:place w:st"on">Oaxaca
</st1:place> </st1:State> and to call for the lynching of those who oppose
them," he
said, referring to radio announcers' calls that protesters invade a hotel where
the journalist
Ricardo Rocha was interviewing state politicians. <o:p> </o:p>
Villarreal emphasized that one must be careful to distinguish between what he
called the
legitimate social demands underlying much of the conflict and the manipulations
of
"political mercenaries" on the left who have jumped into the APPO and led the
radio
occupations. <o:p> </o:p>
And while APPO protesters have apologized for past rough treatment of
journalists, they
insist that the media is dead set against them and unabashedly defend their
radio
occupations. <o:p> </o:p>
"It was a natural reaction that came about immediately from the people to take
possession
of all the radio stations to have a way of organizing ourselves, to disseminate
the APPO's
messages," said Carmen of the Aug. 22 occupations, "but also it was an act of
repudiation
against the official journalism, the pro-government press that has always
attacked the
social movements here in Oaxaca." <o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
------_NextPart_000_01CE_01C6F3AD.E1F7E810--
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