Teaching and Learning in Oaxaca

More than five years ago, I was on the track to become an academic and studying for a crucial graduate-level Spanish exam. Don Quijote was on the required reading list. I'd been putting off reading it, simply because it was so important, so daunting and so long.

I decided I needed some time by myself. I had some money saved up, so I went to Oaxaca City in Oaxaca, Mexico and rented an efficiency apartment near the town center (in fact, right behind the breathtaking colonial cathedral) for six weeks. At the same time, I signed up for tutoring at a private language school, since I was at that awkward advanced level where formal classes don't really help anymore. I'd been to Oaxaca City before. It is (or was?) one of the most beautiful places in Mexico. It has such a vibrant urban indigenous culture; I could hear the old languages spoken every day just walking along the streets or stopping by the marketplaces. The food in Oaxaca is the best in Mexico, in my biased opinion, and therefore the best in the entire Western Hemisphere… there are even many non-Oaxacan Mexicans who'd agree.

My tutor was a young man named Hugo who happened to be studying for his own linguistics degree. I'd already formed a sort of stereotype of Mexican intellectuals, and Hugo fit that to a T: slightly pudgy, wearing glasses, speaking in soft, serious tones and formidably intelligent. I really needed his help, because I'm not the most social person and find it difficult striking up friendships with people I randomly meet. Without Hugo I wouldn't have anyone to really practice my Spanish with. We never had lesson plans. We just talked for an hour each day, and he'd correct me when I said a word or phrase wrong, then give me new vocabulary and the occasional informal writing assignment. He had a wry sense of humor and once teased me for using "palabras domingueras" -- he explained these were ornate words employed by haughty, high-class families who had formal picnics every Sunday. Of course, I was picking up these words from the 17th century Spanish of Don Quijote. We spent most of the time talking about linguistics, Don Quijote, history, anthropology and culture. Hugo's ancestry was Zapotec, and he was in the process of learning the Zapotec language. Zapotec has multiple tones, like Chinese, but unlike Japanese, Korean or the Indo-European languages.

Oaxaca City is in a sad state today, and I really hope Hugo is doing OK. The whole problem in Oaxaca started with a teacher's strike. Teachers are pitifully underpaid. My own lessons with Hugo were dirt cheap by American standards but much more than he would have received in the public system. As far as I understand it, every year there was a traditional strike, and every year the government would give them a small raise, since otherwise the teachers would never get an extra penny. The new PRI governor of Oaxaca decided not to follow the tradition and instead clamped down on the teachers strike and demonstrations using paramilitary goon squads. An association including the teachers union, other unions and left-wing groups began massive demonstrations. Tourism, one of the mainstays of the economy, has disappeared. Protesters have been shot and killed, arrested and tortured, disappeared. Federal troops are currently occupying Oaxaca City.

The situation has gotten very little coverage in the US English-language press. Since a U.S. filmmaker was shot and killed there last month, there's been more of it. Sadly, he filmed his own death.

From the Mercury News:

No obvious gunfire is audible when the fatal bullet enters Will's abdomen. There's just a sickening thud and then a high-pitched scream, the final sound the 36-year-old filmmaker recorded of himself as he stumbled, then collapsed. The last several seconds of the video are clearly taken with the camera on its side, motionless.

Today a tense uncertain calm reigns in Oaxaca. Within days of the Dec. 1 inauguration of Mexico's new conservative President Felipe Calderon, the leftists who'd been leading protests in Oaxaca were arrested. They've been charged with sedition, among other crimes. Efforts to bring Will's killers to justice may tell much about whether Calderon, after a divisive election, can take control of this troubled state and nation.

Six months of unrest have taken a heavy toll on Oaxaca, a place famed for its archaeological sites and beaches, but it remains among Mexico's poorest states, with high rates of illiteracy, poverty and disease. About a dozen people have died in the unrest, most of them protesters. Hundreds more have been arrested, detained or, in a handful of international cases, deported.

What can people in the U.S. do? Here's an appeal I just ran across doing a web search, posted in CounterPunch. Oddly enough it has an Apocalypto connection.

From One of the Actors in Apocalypto
An Urgent Message on the Disappeared of Oaxaca
By BERNARDO DIAZ

Greetings from Oaxaca, Mexico.

My name is Bernardo Ruiz and in this movie, Apocalypto, I play the part of Drunkards Four.

My Oaxaca friends Emiliana and Hilaria, who now live in Austin, agreed to pass on to you my message. Apocalypto is about some of the amazing ancient history of our country and its indigenous people. But as you probably know, our struggles continue even to this day.

In recent weeks, our beautiful city, Oaxaca, has been occupied by federal troops. It came at a time when many of our people were beginning to stand up for our civil rights with sit-ins and other kinds of non-violent protest. Now the troops have started tracking down and arresting not only our leaders, but also many people from our artistic community here. One of them is my good friend the painter Gerardo Bonilla. Another is the artist Dionisio Martinez.

Some of you know Gerardo, because three years ago, he exhibited his paintings at La Peña in downtown Austin. It means a great deal to me--and I know to Gerardo and Dionisio--just to feel that you in know something about our real lives today, and to know that you are thinking of us and support us.

Call the local Mexican embassy and your state and local representatives and please send a letter on their behalf addressed to President Calderón.

Consulate General of Mexico
800 Brazos St, Suite 330
Austin, TX 78701
512-478-2866 ext 107

I said this before, but I really hope Hugo and his family and his teacher friends are OK. I will be writing a letter to my own Mexican consulate.

Mexican Consulate
2600 Apple Valley Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
(404) 266-2233