political upheaval and a history of disobedience young and old

oaxaca owns a unique place in mexican political history for a variety of reasons, but most seem to be linked to a certain revolutionary spirit. oaxaca was home of course to benito juarez, revolutionary and first president of mexico, sort of the mexican george washington, a true father of the nation. oaxaca was also the site of revolutionary and anti church activity, culminating in the capture and execution of guerilla leader vicente guerrero, who was kept at the convent in cuilapan, the very place i am analyzing sherds today, before he was shot in the backyard. more recently southern parts of oaxaca state were on the fringes of the zapatista activities, only furthering its revolutionary reputation. it has been more recent events that still play out today however. in the early summer months of 2006 the teachers union in oaxaca went on strike, as they usually do at the end of the semester, to protest for better wages and benefits. strikes are common in oaxaca, we had a taxi driver strike just last week, and most commonly they block a few key intersections in the city and then move when they are resolved. the 2006 teachers strike however was not quickly resolved and as it grew longer political agitators in the region latched on to it. earlier that year the current right wing governer of oaxaca had won an election under dubious circumstances and demonstrators against his administration flooded into the streets as well. simultaneously a communist group named APPO (associasion political de poblacions de oaxaca) who sought the overthrow of oaxaca´s entire regional government came into the city as well. for several months the center of the city was completely shut down and gangs of government thugs and revolutionaries clashed in the streets. eventually, the army was sent in, culminating in a clash in the center of the city in which more than a dozen people (some accounts have it close to 100) and an american journalist were killed.
as you can imagine these events significantly detered tourists, both domestic and foriegn, from coming into the city, and still tourism has not entirely recovered. the city now however feels very safe for tourists. people here are extrodinarily friendly and at night the streets are well lit and filled with people, especially now with the festival in town. more importantly though the governor is far away from oaxaca city, the governor´s palace in the center city remains conspiciously empty, and while he was in town for the galuegetza, he rarely shows his face here he is so unpopular. also since the disaster of the teachers strike in 2006, people here in oaxaca are much less tolerant to those kinds of activties. causing a major disturbance is recognized as a great bane to the city and anyone displaying any sort of disruptive attitude is quickly admonished and ostrisized. small strikes continue of course, but the participants are fast to reach preliminary agreements to avoid being labeled or associated with organizations like APPO which are blamed for the 2006 disasters. oaxacans still maintain their revolutionary spirit, but they are wary of the consequences of action spiraling out of control and today the city, sometimes still bearing the signs of past conflict, especially in grafitti, seems tranquil and open making walks along its open streets and large parks enjoyable, peaceful, and safe.