We saw the first scene in Mexico City on Monday on the Paseo del la Reforma, the main road in the centre of the city. The other two we saw today in Oaxaca, together with a lot of police officers and other signs of political activity in the main square (the Zócalo).
Can you tell me why the children never return? Powerful poster but don’t know the specifics and am curious. Also liked the pink crosses, what are they about?
Think this is referring to 2006 uprising. The pink crosses were anti-discrimination (not just sexuality, though this seemed to be the main focus).
We’ve been painstakingly translating these stark wall stencils – not sure we’ve really got to the bottom of it and suspect it may be more than a tad difficult to inquire.
We were there in May/June 2008 and met a couple of activist women in Oaxaca one of whom was an academic and both of whom were involved in major peaceful protests in the main square in 2006 which were suppressed by the police with violence causing a number of deaths and subsequent disappearances. I can’t remember the detail now except that that particular demonstration involved many teachers, and at the heart of the crisis was a civil liberties deficit. There was a good deal of tension as the anniversary approached and the police seemed to be all over the place. In fact I have never seen so many different kinds of police as I saw in Mexico, quite often racing about in large open-topped trucks off to suppress someone, somewhere.
Thank you Erica – most helpful. We think they reflect both 2006 and another uprising by teachers in 2016 – maybe on the anniversary you mention. Like you, we have seen many varieties of police – some armed, some not.
How interesting – there are signs of protest all over Oaxaca, some about political repression, others about dispossession and some brilliant images from the local Communists equating the police with Nazis.