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1997 Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997
Rank and file Mexican teachers fight for democracy
Since the time of the revolution education has been a key area of struggle
in Mexico. In recent years this struggle has intensified on many fronts,
education is primarily for the elite, for every 1,000 children who enter
the first grade in Mexico, only 30 will ever obtain a college degree
(National Association of University Institutions and Higher Education).
Within education there has also been a struggle by teachers for the last
two decades against government control of their union (el SNTE) and for
higher wages and better benefits.
Over a period of fifteen years rank and file teachers in the state of
Chiapas and Oaxaca, and to a lesser degree in other states, succeeded in
creating a mass movement, the National Coordinating Committee (la CNTE) of
the teachers union. La CNTE consciously decided not to attempt to form a
rival independent union--a strategy adopted by some other union reform
movements in this period--rather la CNTE defined itself as an opposition
current within the official union.
By the mid-1980s both the Chiapas and Oaxaca rank and file movements
succeeded in winning control of the state conventions and the executive
committees. Even then la CNTE did not disband as a rank and file
organization. It was felt that the struggle committees and councils would
continue to play an important role, even though the reformers now had
control of the official structure. They decided to have two structures, one
legal and official, the other legal and unofficial.
They made changes in the official structure as well. Most importantly, the
state-wide assembly became the ruling body, rather than the smaller state
executive committee. The state-wide assembly schedule was changed so that
it met once a month or more often if necessary, and the assembly was
expanded to include not only the official representatives, but also rank
and filers from the coordinadora. Individual offices were replaced with
collective commissions, to spread the knowledge and the responsibility.
Also rank and filers were incorporated into these collective commissions
along side elected officials, to keep everybody honest.
The membership demanded the right to make decisions. In the state assembly
itself, delegates were required to take the debate back to their local
areas before voting and adopting a decision. This process of "consulta" or
consulting with the rank and file was essential to la CNTE's vision of
democracy. Delegates to state assemblies often had to produce an "aval," a
document proving that they had actually consulted with their members and
were representing their position. "It was this daily practice of discussion
and decision making that was at the root of the new political consciousness
movement leaders wanted to instil in union members."
The CNTE has been able to organise strikes and demonstrations against the
wish's of the union bureaucracy. In April this year they undertook a major
campaign for improved education, pay, working conditions and democratic
reform. This saw some 3,000 Oaxaca teachers, marching on Mexico city to
demand higher wages and improvements in benefits. They also demanded the
demilitarisation of the state and an end to the repression in the Loxichas
region. This broadening of the demands to ones 'outside' of education has
been typical of the rank and file teachers movement. The states response
has included arrests, killings and disappearances. In Guerrero on March3 of
this year, two Nahua Indian teachers, Marcial Salvador Arriaga and
Heriberto Moreno Romano, were murdered. The teachers were members of the
Emiliano Zapata Union of Workers and Peasants (UOCEZ) and had just attended
a teachers' meeting. Each dead teacher left behind a widow, one with seven
children, the other with five.
On January 31, in Chiapas three thousand teachers affiliated with the
General Council of Struggle marched through San Cristobal de la Casas to
demand fulfilment of the San Andres agreements between the government and
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). In Tuxtla Gutierrez,
capital of Chiapas, on February 19, 200 delegates of the Indigenous
Education Bloc of Local 7 of the teachers' union (el SNTE) representing
12,000 indigenous teachers announced their support for the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation in its negotiations with the government.
On May 1 in Mexico City, 40,000 teachers from 18 states attempted to march
on the presidential residence Los Pinos. Riot police stopped the
demonstrators, and in violent confrontations several teachers were
seriously injured and had to be hospitalised. Teachers then chanted,
"Stupid cops, we're fighting for your children!" In June after a month of
sit-ins, protest marches, and repeated violent assaults by the police,
several thousand teachers led by the National Coordinating Committee of the
Teachers Union (la CNTE) ended their protests in Mexico City. But la CNTE
says it will continue its strikes and demonstrations in several southern
states.
Its been said that "the democratic qualities of the Chiapas and Oaxaca
movements may have come from indigenous traditions of democratic
self-government." Many of the CNTE members in Chiapas are themselves of
Indian descent and bilingual school teachers but in any case El CNTE is one
example of how the direct democracy of the Zapatistas is not limited to
small communities or isolated regions.
NOTE: The May addition of the Irish Mexico Bulletin included an article on
the construction of autonomous schools in Chiapas. The Mexico Group is also
producing an education pack to be used in schools. Contact us at 5 Merrion
Row for copies of either of these. Much of the information in this article
was obtained from the Mexico Labour Bulletin, the web version of this can
be access via the IMG web page at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3102