Oaxacalibre

This coming week was a bit stressful after the incidents in the Istmo (the largest region within Oaxaca) and in the Zocalo (the heart of the city of Oaxaca), where the teacher protests escalated and led to multiple deaths of teachers as well as others that were not teachers but were in the community. There is and has always been controversy and arguments from different perspectives, yet listening to many of them has given me a larger perspective on the incident. I listened to opinions from families in Arrazola when we visited Monte Alban, from our Spanish teacher, from the teachers and directors in SURCO, from our professor, from our homestay moms, from the news, and many more. They all made really good and important points, which led me to understand why the situation has been going on for a while and why it is so complicated. This year was said to be even worse than 2006, and unlike in 2006, the federal police got involved and used violent measures towards the teachers. I believe we can make a difference here and back at home, first by continuing to educate ourselves about the culture, the many political conflicts that are going on and have been for a while, about the history of Oaxaca and Mexico as a whole, and by carrying this with us and telling the story back home. I think no matter what perspective one holds about the situation, we can all agree that we have one thing in common: we all want peace. We can all work towards that no matter what. No matter where we are, we can always make a difference both at home and abroad.