Peoples Geography — Reclaiming space

Creating people's geographies

Federal Police and Paramilitaries Enter Oaxaca City: NYC Indymedia Journalist Killed

IMC-US,

October 27, 2006 – A shooting occurred today in Oaxaca City, Mexico, leaving New York City Indymedia journalist Bradley Will dead after being shot in the chest. He died before reaching the hospital, according to La Jornada. A photographer from the newspaper Milenio Diario, who was at Will’s side, was shot in the foot and reported injured, his status unknown. Radio APPO, radio station of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, is reporting truckloads of armed paramilitaries entering the city. APPO is calling for people to reinforce the thousands of barricades that have been constructed for months as part of the statewide teachers’ strike and popular uprising that has demanded the removal of PRI governor Ulisis Ortiz Ruiz.

Coverage: NYC Indymedia journalist Brad Will shot dead by government forces in Oaxaca || Brad Will, New York Documentary Filmmaker and Indymedia Reporter, Assassinated by Pro-Government Gunshot in Oaxaca While Reporting the Story || NYC Indymedia volunteer Brad Will killed in attack by Paramilitaries in Oaxaca


friend and companero brad was killed
by friends in NYC at 28.Oct.2006 04:52

Our friend, brother, and companero, Brad Will was killed today by paramilitaries in Oaxaca Mexico.

Brad has been an inspiring and passionate militant, joining struggles all over the world, from land occupations in the Pacific North West of the US, to direct actions against global capital, to rebellions in Argentina, land occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. Brad was always a part of whatever he was in. He was always with people, not organizing them. He taught me, and so many others so much through example. He will be missed in so many ways.

Brad was a part of our communities. We should remember him with the love and affection that he showed, and we feel. We should also carry on with direct action to stop those that are trying to stop social creation, in the US, Mexico, Argentina, and the globe.

brad Presente!
brad presente!
brad Presente!


Brad’s last email dispatch
by ya basta! at 28.Oct.2006 04:56 Brad’s last email dispatch …

early dawn, oct16

yesterday i went for a walk with the good people of oaxaca — was walking all day really — in the afternoon they showed me where the bullets hit the wall — they numbered the ones they could reach — it reminded me of the doorway of amadou diallos home — but here the grafitti was there before the shooting began — one bullet they didnt number was still in his head — he was 41 years old — alejandro garcia hernandez — at the neighborhood barricade every night — that night he came out to join his wife and sons to let an ambulance through — then a pickup tried to follow — he took their bullet when he told them they could not pass — they never did — these military men in civilian dress shot their way out of there

a young man who wanted to only be called marco was with them when the shooting happened — a bullet passed through his shoulder — he was clearly in shock when we met — 19 years old — said he hadnt told his parents yet — said he had been at the barricade every night — said he was going back as soon as the wound closed — absolutely

just days before there was a delegation of senators visiting to determine the ungovernability of the state — they got a taste — the call went out to shut down the rest of the government — dozens went walking out of the zocalo city center with big sticks and a box full of spray paint — they took control of 3 city buses and went around the city all morning visiting local government buildings and informing them that that they were closed — and we appreciate your voluntary cooperation — and they filed out preturbed but still getting paid — shut — as they pulled away from the last stop 3 gunmen came out and started shooting — 2 buses had already pulled away — mayhem — 10 minute battle with stones and slingshots and screaming — one headwound — another through the leg — made their way to the hospital while the fighting continued — shout out on the radio and people came from all parts — the gunmen were around the side of the building — they got away — they were inside — no one sure — watchful — undercover police were reported lurking around the hospital and folks went running to stand watch over the wounded

what can you say about this movement — this revolutionary moment — you know it is building, growing, shaping — you can feel it — trying desperately for a direct democracy — in november appo will have a state wide conference for the formation of a state wide assemblea estatal del pueblo de oaxaca (aepo) — now there are 11 of 33 states in mexico that have declared formation of assemblea populares like appo — and on la otra lado in the usa a few — the marines have returned to sea even though the federal police who ravaged atenco remain close by — the new encampment in mexico has begun a hunger strike — the senate can expell URO — whats next nobodies sure — it is a point of light pressed through glass — ready to burn or show the way — it is clear that this is more than a strike, more than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition of fragments — it is a genuine peoples revolt — and after decades of pri rule by bribe, fraud, and bullet the people are tired — they call him the tyrant — they talk of destroying this authoritarianism — you cannot mistake the whisper of the lancandon jungle in the streets — in every street corner deciding together to hold — you see it their faces — indigenous, women, children — so brave — watchful at night — proud and resolute

went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who came from an outlying district a half hour away — went walking with angry folk on their way to the morgue — went inside and saw him — havent seen too many bodies in my life — eats you up — a stack of nameless corpes in the corner — about the number who had died — no refrigeration — the smell — they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out — walked back with him and his people and now alejandro waits in the zocalo — like the others at their plantones — hes waiting for an impasse, a change, an exit, a way forward, a way out, a solution — waiting for the earth to shift and open — waiting for november when he can sit with his loved ones on the day of the dead and share food and drink and a song — waiting for the plaza to turn itself over to him and burst — he will only wait until morning but tonight he is waiting for the governor and his lot to never come back — one more death — one more martyr in a dirty war — one more time to cry and hurt — one more time to know power and its ugly head — one more bullet cracks the night — one more night at the barricades — some keep the fires — others curl up and sleep — but all of them are with him as he rests one last night at his watch

uro= Ulises Ruiz Ortiz “governor” of the state of oaxaca
planton= sit in, vigil, encampment
zocalo= central plaza

more info:
http://narconews.com/Issue43/article2180.html
http://mexico.indymedia.org/tiki-index.php?page=DesalojoOaxaca
http://www.oaxacalibre.org/libertad/
http://elenemigocomun.net/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/messages

‘In sum, we are an army of dreamers, and therefore invincible. How can we fail to win, with this imagination overturning everything. Or rather, we do not deserve to lose.’
– Subcomandante Marcos

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

Information

This entry was posted on 28 October, 2006 by in Activism, Alternative Media, Human Geography, Iraq, Mexico, Militarism general, USA, Zapatistas.

Timely Reminders

"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley

"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination. All others are subsumed by it."
-- Diane DiPrima, "Rant", from Pieces of a Song.

"It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there"
-- William Carlos Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"


Categories