Month: July 2015

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Ayotzinapa a 10 meses + llamada con Nestora Salgado

“Nuestros Sueños No Caben en Sus Urnas” – “Our Dreams don’t fit in their Ballot Boxes”
*** Report-back from Ayotzinapa and direct connection with Comandanta Nestora Salgado, political prisoner in Mexico, on the global day of action to Free Nestora!

Foro sobre el movimiento por la presentación con vida de los 43 desaparecidos, con un enfoque en los últimos meses y el boicot de las elecciones. Vamos a compartir información y perspectivas aprendidas de recientes viajes y conversaciones en Ayotzinapa, así como Tixtla, Guerrero. El evento también incluye una discusión sobre las autodefensas comunitarias en México y una conexión directa con la Comandanta Nestora Salgado, prisionera política en México.

Domingo 26 de julio – Sunday July 26  –
1900 S Carpenter,  6PM-10PM

Join us for a report-back on the Movement for the 43, with a focus on the last few months leading up to the boycott of the elections. This is an effort to share information and perspectives learned from recent travels and conversations in Ayotzinapa as well as Tixtla, Guerrero.  The event also includes a discussion on Community Self-defense forces in Mexico and a brief phone conference call with political prisoner Comandanta Nestora Salgado from prison.

Join us for a critical discussion on what we can learn from these movements. How are these political struggles in Mexico understood in the United States? How are we implicated?
This event is a potluck, all are welcome to bring food or drinks to share. The space is accessible, the event is free and open to the public.

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Comunitarias en Tixla Guerrero

Teaser Guerrero(s) from Fernando Rangel on Vimeo.

La Pantera es una de las pocas mujeres que integran la policía comunitaria en Tixtla, Guerrero. Decide unirse a esta policía a raíz de la detención de su esposo. “Guerrero(s)” es un seguimiento de su lucha cotidiana, de cómo tiene que llevar sustento a su hogar, luchar por la liberación de su esposo y mantener a sus hijos que se han quedado sin padre, en contraste con su actividad de policía comunitaria y la de sus compañeros comunitarios que juntos tienen que proveer seguridad y justicia a su comunidad ante el vacío de Estado.

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Nestora Salgado

11696449_10205797105664649_1427976004_nNestora Salgado is an indigenous freedom fighter and political prisoner who has become a symbol of the ongoing uprisings against state repression in Mexico. She was extra-judicially captured by Mexican federal soldiers in August 2013 and has been held in a maximum security prison. After many months of being denied due process and medical care, Nestora went on hunger strike for 25 days, drawing international attention to her case and that of many other political prisoners in Mexico.
 
As leader of the CRAC-PC (Regional Coordinating Committee of Community Authorities) Nestora Salgado was engaged in an ardent struggle alongside her people in Olinala, Guerrero. She is a Comandanta in a community self-defense force that has successfully pushed back the narcotraffickers as well as fighting against the state mechanisms responsible for the systemic violence unleashed in Mexico under the guise of the “War on Drugs”. CRAC also directly impedes the interests of transnational mining companies from Canada. Salgado is not only an emblematic symbol of defiance against state terror and transnational capital, she has also made breakthrough strides in organizing against patriarchy and gender-based violence. Through her leadership, Womyn who were previously restricted to domestic positions have become central participants in the political process of self-determination and self-defense. 
 
The CRAC is a legally constituted entity, however its purpose and demands exceed and subvert the framework of the law. Guerrero’s constitution allows for the formation of indigenous ‘community police’  under State Law 701 which recognizes original people’s right to self-determination. However, the CRAC is not an attempt by indigenous people to police themselves or to collaborate with established police forces, but rather represents an effort to build counter-power, foment ungovernability and build networks of solidarity and defense against the encroachment of organized crime, the Mexican government, and transnational corporations. This collective project has found itself in a relative deadlock with neoliberal plans of extraction seeking to exploit untapped sources of mineral wealth including gold and silver. As a result Mexico, the U.S. and Canada have worked together to strengthen, arm and paramilitarize organized crime networks with the intent of displacing indigenous people from their traditional lands and securing their economic interests in the region.  The case of Nestora Salgado’s  imprisonment is a direct result of this same politics of economic and military intervention, which seeks to disarticulate the process of indigenous  autonomy and self-determination. 
 
Last year a federal judge in Mexico ordered Nestora’s release; nevertheless, state authorities refused without judicial cause. We have been informed that they are attempting to manufacture more charges which can result in a 1,000 year prison sentence! After a 24 day hunger strike, Nestora Salgado was transferred to Tepepan, Mexico City. Funds are urgently needed for her defense. Please see freenestora.org for more information on her case and how you can support. Please sign this letter for Nestora, which we can send to her though her  family and defense committee.                                                                                                                                              
www.freenestora.org     www.semillas.us