A Raleigh Protest Where, at Least, No One Had to Die

Summary

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As a foreign correspondent, you learn quickly what is "news." In El Salvador, as in Mexico, it is a well-known, if deeply disturbing, truth that an American death is "worth more" in U.S. news reports than scores of native dead. Since the "War on Terror," rural Mexico has rarely made the foreign news threshold in any case. It has been left to independent media to cover the drama of Oaxaca's 70,000 teachers on strike for five months, joined by the Oaxacan Popular People's Association (known as APPO), a large coalition of community groups advocating for bread and butter reforms like better pay and an end to political corruption. The latest clashes followed APPO's call for a work stoppage in their efforts to oust the state Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who is accused of election fraud and hiring off-duty police to use violence against protesters.

Having just seen the list of demands, I found the "spin" vaguely amusing but a little scary. Especially the part about hostages. I did not see any frightened children. The walkway outside the door was filled with Mexicans watching the demonstration. Some nodded in approval, others seemed apathetic. I chatted with Jose, a large man wearing a baseball cap with "Mexico" stitched on the front. He had driven here from Salisbury, where he works for an asbestos removal company, to renew his consulate-issued ID card. "I understand why they're demonstrating," said Jose. "It's terrible what's happening in Oaxaca with the violence, but what can you do?"

"It was the least I could do," he said, describing his admiration for Will's years of reporting from Mexico. [Neal Robertson] said he had run into Will in recent years at Mexico solidarity events and had camped out with him. "He wasn't just a reporter, he was also active in the movement. That's the good thing about IndyMedia, they provide training so that ordinary people can get involved reporting the news."

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A Raleigh Protest Where, at Least, No One Had to Die

The e-mail message stuck in my throat like bad indigestion. Maybe because I'd been working on my Salvador book that day, and the death squads that live in my head were prowling-there's this endless clip of my friend Tita being stuffed into a car trunk; it replays with gruesome variations since we never found out how she was "disappeared."

For whatever reason, I took it to heart when I read that Brad Will, a U.S. journalist with IndyMedia, had been shot dead by Mexican paramilitaries while fil...

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