The public square

Times Square--to be fair, not a random sampling of America--but nonetheless a shocking transition from the topiary and family-friendly zocalos we have enjoyed in every town in Mexico.

Music Abroad, Keeping it going, Eclectic as always

Akire vs. The Devil

This week was great for connecting with new musicians and experimental music scene in Guanajuato. At Chocolate, a new sweet cafe in downtown San Miguel, there was a great concert presentation of the music of Alejandro Morse, and Molloy and his Bike, both from the Leon area. It was refreshing to hear the more experimental shades of music after all of the other styles we've come across (ranchero, cumbia, banda...)
You can find more about this performance at www.umor-rex.com/releases/#uphill

On the ambient electronica: "I wanted to make a painting of the music of Edgar's Alejandro Morse, it would be hypermello, spacious, in tones of blue grey and long paint strokes, with a dark, heavy basic colors and little bits of golden light peeking through." (Erika)

In other good news, El Diablo and Akire (AKIRE vs. THE DEVIL) are almost ready to release their album which has been a great process. They are researching ways to release the music in mexico - so if you are someone who knows anything about that, please send us a note.

You can check out this link and hear some of the pre-release tunes:
http://enterthedevil.com/akire.html

Oaxaca Update, Saturday November 11

Here's some more news of the week, regarding what's going down in Oaxaca.

"The resistance of the people of Oaxaca has created a worldwide solidarity chain of actions and protests. In support with the resistance, campaigns and solidarity actions have been started everywhere...

Elsewhere there have been actions to support Oaxaca, in diverse cities such as San Francisco, Boston, Berlin, Germany and Melbourne, Austrailia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in the states of Washington and North Carolina, U.S.A.

"In open disagreement with the office of the president, Mexico's Council on Tourism has instructed Mexican travel agents around the world to discourage tourist visits to Oaxaca de Juarez..." ('Mark in Mexico')

"Mexico, Nov 9 (Prensa Latina, Cuba) While the removal of Gov. Ulises Ruiz is still in the waiting, leaders of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), are pending Thursday an refuge request to be honored by catholic officials of that Mexican state.
Flavio Sosa, Florentino Lopez and Zemen Bravo said that the demand is founded on latest threats that they could be killed or detained by the ministerial police or groups working for the local governor.
As relatives and friends of APPO leaders have been also harassed and menaced by the local government, they asked for refuge in any building of the church to continue leading the popular movement from there.
Likewise, the popular assembly announced its action plan for the next days, which includes a siege-rally around the transition residence of president-elect Felipe Calderon, taking cashboxes along nationwide roads and surrounding the federal police headquarters."

"MEXICO CITY: President Vicente Fox is calling for constitutional reforms that would allow Mexican leaders to travel abroad without congressional approval, a day after lawmakers irked Fox by refusing to grant him permission to go to Australia and Vietnam... Legislators said they were upset that Fox wanted to travel abroad even as a political conflict in the southern state of Oaxaca continues to smolder, and small bombs presumably planted by guerrilla groups exploded Monday in Mexico City." (AP)

This news comes amidst rumors that Fox wanted to go to Australia to visit his daughter. (Well, remember he made a 'vow' that he would resolve the Oaxaca problem before he leaves office, which is in about 1 month now!)

"Mexico, Nov 10 (Prensa Latina) The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca(APPO) will hold its first Congress to appoint a permanent leadership and outline its action plan to settle the five-month conflict with the governor that has cost 17 lives to date.
The agenda of the APPO Congress -- sessioning from Friday through Sunday-- includes a declaration of principles, an action plan and election of permanent leaders."

See the side bar links for other sources of recent news, and for video on the street see:
http://www.oaxacalibre.org/libertad/

The Panteon Islands, Michoacan

Day of the Dead, Patzcuaro

Noche de los Muertos was incredibly interesting, it was a
true mix of tourists from Mexico City and elsewhere, a handful of Northamericans or Europeans, and local indian tribes, who are mostly Catholics, and keep this tradition alive.
There were mobs of people, packed in, in the panteons
(cemetaries) on all of the islands surrounding Patzcuaro...and everything was candlelit and adorned
with marigolds. There was also a lot of drinking
which made it a little dangerous because there were
just too many people in one place, some whom had just lost relatives. There were boatloads of people getting shipped in and out of the islands' cemetaries from the main area of Patzcuaro, all night long. On the day of the dead children, the
main event night where people morn their dead kids, the numbers of people were astronomical and highly uncomfortable, but very unique. We didn't (couldn't) get back to the hotel to rest until 6 AM.
This was an event that I would most liken to the experience I had at Diwali in Veranasi, India, on the nights that people bring dead bodies to the Ganges River and set them on fire. It is very beautiful, but uncomfortable for the uninitiated. Weird smells and scenes of people dancing very ancient
dances with insense, (reminding me of the Nepalese 'Yak Dance') and lots of hard alcohol being consumed - this isn't for the routine tourist. The line between respect for the dead and drunken partying was crossed at many points, but I admit that my understanding of that 'line' is minimal.
The Michoacan tourist board put on some good performances, some nice classical music concert in the church, with the state symphony, for example. At every intersection of town there was an event taking place, showing off regional dance, music, art, and as many vendors as could squeeze in with their goods of coffee, wood, wool, and candied skulls. Regardless, the general population of Patzcuaro seems overwhelmed
with the influx of tourists into their cemetaries (how do you control that??) and just doesn't quite have the resources to accomodate everyone. 100% of the hotels
were overloaded. There were tent cities in the parks and basketball courts, loaded with people who couldn't afford a hotel (and modern day gypsies), and campsites were also full weeks in advance. Very overwhelming..indeed. But all turned out just fine. It was very important to me to go to this event once in my life. It was spectacular.

The new "Great Wall"

I am not sure if it receives as much attention in the U.S.A. media as it does here in Mexico, but the aim our congress has to build a wall between Mexico and North America receives a great deal of coverage here in the media. Most Mexican folks I have talked to find the idea absurd.

Putting aside all reasoning and logic for a moment, does it not seem irreputably wasteful and medieval to try to barr one country from another with an obscene material object such as...a WALL? Shall we venture to ask, how many people will pay for it with their lives (on either side?) either attempting to cross it or in its construction?

Other walls in human history:
The "Great" Wall of China. Did it work to keep people out? People suffered in building it, and died crossing it and protecting it... Now people just walk on top of it as a tourist adventure, and it is kind of amazing (yet also disgusting like an unhealed scar,) that one can see this structure from the moon.

The Wall dividing West Germany and East Germany. Did it help? (Well, we got a good Pink Floyd album out of it.) Remember how long it took to dismantle it. Remember the rejoice when it was torn down.

The news today:

"MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (Reuters) - Leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal on Sunday criticized U.S. plans to build a fence on the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants and urged Washington to reconsider.
Ending an Ibero-American summit focusing on migration, leaders from 24 countries issued a special statement expressing "deep concern" about the fence plan.
"The building of the wall doesn't help us go in the right direction," said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
President Bush signed legislation last month approving the construction of the 700-mile (1,100-km) fence -- a move that angered Mexico's goverent.
The border fence controversy has overshadowed the two-day summit's theme of looking at ways to control the number of Latin American migrants heading to the United States and Europe."

The Oaxaca - San Francisco Connection

We want to draw attention to some news, that our beloved town of San Francisco is showing more support for Oaxaca, with Halloween/Day of the Dead activities at the Mexican Consulate (we spent plenty of time there getting our vehicle permit the day we left.) We also note that the folks in Berlin, Germany are also showing their support in a big enough way that we would find out about it here in the middle Mexico.
This week has been extremely difficult for the Oaxacans. Imagine a town that was totally peaceful, but grumpy about the corruption of their government. In less than 6 months, that town turned into a war zone. Think about your own town, as you read.
As for local news in the Bahia of Mexico, all the headlines of all today's newspapers (and much of the week's headlines actually) showed pictures of Oaxaca, buses and cars burnt out and the barricade fires out of control (not enough bomberos/firefighters) and reports of drive by shootings of the random and dangerous type have occured.
(These photos included in this post are from Oaxaca, taken on 2,3 November 2006)


Read the blog article by clicking here regarding how Oaxaca gets support from SF

Noche de los Muertos in Michoacan