Imagine a world in which classrooms are mandated, teachers are expendable and protests are out of the question. The government is the only one that has a say over curricula, and testing is an obligation for teachers that is really just an excuse for mass layoffs. If the masses, even in rural communities where supplies and resources are limited, speak out against such changes, lives are lost.
No, this is not the plot of the newest young adult dystopian novel, nor is this a reference to the common core phenomenon that has been taking America by storm. These are current events happening just to the south of our border, yet very few people have actually heard about it. Teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico, began protesting ten years ago and formed a social movement to combat the government's education reform. When the protests began in 2006, they were met with tear gas and violence, but it was not until recently that the resistance ultimately turned deadly.
On Sunday, June 19, after one week of demonstrations and protests, Mexican authorities had enough and finally sought to end the "disturbance" of protesting educators. Mexican federal police clashed with unarmed teachers and townspeople, and killed a total of eight people. In addition, one journalist was killed and 53 civilians were also injured during the attacks. Many people have decreed the attack an act of police repression, wherein the police force used violence to silence the voice of the masses, including the voice of the Mexican media.
At first glance, this may strike an American reader as being heinous and brutal. Some people may write it off as an attack that would only happen in a foreign country — a nation where democracy and freedom of speech are absent. However, it is a grim reality the United States has experienced as well. When the Black Lives Matter movement began after the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, American police responded with violence. What started as a nonviolent protest quickly turned chaotic as police responded with pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tasers. A State of Emergency was even declared in Ferguson after police shot and critically injured a protester.
In that instance, the media did not start reporting on Ferguson until long after the chaos erupted, and painted the protesters as the criminals because by that point, many protesters had become indignant and started inflicting damage onto businesses and storefronts in retaliation for the treatment they were experiencing by the ones who were allegedly supposed to help them.
According to the U.S. Constitution, American citizens have a right to protest and assemble in order to get the attention of the government when there is injustice. But, what happens when the government fails to protect that right? Complete chaos and anarchy happened in Ferguson, and that is likely what will happen in Oaxaca as well. Many Americans believe that foreign nations do not have as many rights or freedoms as our nation does. They may even believe that other nations are corrupt and oppressive. While that may be true for a number of countries, the U.S. fails to recognize the oppressive and corrupt nature of many American practices.
Is the reason that very little media outlets are reporting on Oaxaca in the globalized world we live in because it is like a dirty mirror our country does not want to look at? Is Oaxaca a prediction for the future? It is a very plausible reality if there is no immediate change in our government. If Donald Trump, a man who continuously speaks over anyone who does not have the same opinion as him, calls someone an "idiot" or "stupid" if he or she contradicts him, and a man who has made it abundantly clear that he values military spending over improving education, is elected as our next president, this dystopia may be in the not so distant future.
Education is a power that a multitude of Americans currently take for granted, for without education, we are ignorant, and thus, completely powerless. The government tries to use this weakness against us because if we do not know our rights, it is free to oppress us. This is a tactic used by fascist, communist, and totalitarian regimes, for to control a nation, one must control its education and its mind. Mexico is currently using this tactic, and the United States may soon as well, with the new common core curriculum. However, the only difference is that as Americans, we still have the power to protest, at least for now.
One tweet from the teachers' union reads: "La educación es la única arma del pueblo, la del gobierno son los instrumentos de muerte y represión. ¿Quién es el criminal?" ("Education is the only weapon of the people, those of the government are the instruments of death and repression. Who is the criminal?").
The hashtag #PrayForOaxaca has surfaced following the attacks, but thoughts and prayers are not good enough. Action must be taken in Mexico, so the citizens can have rights to education and protest. And, action must be taken in the United States, so our citizens can strengthen our somewhat thin grasp on our rights to education and protest, which means we cannot elect a president who would take those rights away, even indirectly.
