Popular Uprising Backs Striking Teachers in Southern Mexico

In Chiapas, Mexico, what started as a fight for teachers union power has exploded into a popular movement against the privatization of public education and the entire public sector.

Fifty thousand teachers, students, parents, and small-business owners marched at sunset July 11 through the streets of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital city of Chiapas — in just one of at least 10 protests across five states.

Meanwhile an hour east, in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, parents, students, social justice organizations, and members of civil society were gathering for the 15th night of their highway blockade.

The protests came as representatives of the CNTE, the dissident caucus in the teachers union, met with federal representatives in Mexico City for their third dialogue on the controversial education reform.

The teachers have been fighting this reform since 2012, when the Mexican Congress passed the measure. It’s being imposed gradually, region by region. But in the last few months, as the reform has encroached on the more militant southern states, the fight for teachers’ rights has attracted more allies and blossomed into a movement against education privatization.

“We’re not guerrillas, we’re citizens raising our voices to tell the government that we don’t want this law,” said Amanda del Rosario Morena Gutiérrez, regional president of the parents organization in Los Altos, Chiapas. “This fight is everybody’s now — all poor people.”

School Takeovers, Highway Blockades 

Since launching their strike May 15, teachers across Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán, and Mexico City have held marches almost daily, set up permanent encampments in city centers, seized tollbooths in daily highway blockades, and even blocked trains.

When the teachers first went on strike, many principals threatened to fire them if they did not return to work. But the parents of their students occupied the school buildings, saying they wouldn’t allow the teachers to work, so the principals could…

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