Cuenta que en Oaxaca, se toma mezcal con cafe

Mezcal is drunk with coffee when in Oaxaca, count on that.... Lila Downs

I just came back from a short trip to Oaxaca. A city, a state which has been a long theme of inspiration for me during my time in Mexico. This was my 5th visit to Oaxaca.
Oaxaca, for me, is so much: it is art (a disproportionate amount of incredible Mexican artists are from Oaxaca), indigenous diversity, pain, beauty and conflict; not to mention the extraordinary cuisine of this state.

Here is a photo from the Sierra Juarez mountains taken from last year on the Day of the Dead in Mexico - in the very region where Mexico´s first indigenous president, Benito Juarez, was born;




During 2006, Oaxaca lived through a low-intensity war or social conflict, in which over 200 people were arbitrarily detained with charges and many more were detained for shorter periods, as well as dozens of people tortured and during this period 26 deaths including that of a foreign journalist:



And now, this week, I was privileged to be in a public press forum in Oaxaca this week called "Mexico in the eyes of the United Nations", as this week mexico was examined in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
We debated about the aspects of international law mechanisms and their relevance for social struggles such as those in Oaxaca.
We showed the video of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior speaking about the advances in indigenous rights and poverty erradication in Mexico before the Human Rights Council.
On witnessing the lies that his own government was making towards the international community , one older indigenous man even got to talking with tears in his eyes.

I drank a few mezcals (like tequila, but more complex and stronger) with one of the most amazing social activists I have met. Before the social conflict of 2006 she was doing her own thing as a mother of a family and completing a masters. then came June 2006 and she was shocked by what was happening. Something has to be done, she said. the next day she put out an announcement convoking lawyers from everywhere. The next day over 60 lawyers arrived in response to her announcement. A committee of lawyers was formed, and then kept reducing in size, as there were ones who were in it for personal and political gain. After more than 2 years, this social activist now has a small juridical and activist committee basically made up of 3 women. thanks to these 3 women, some 109 prisoners from the political conflict have been freed from prison. And all of this without negotiating with authorities, but rather using stictly legal recourses to obtain unconditional liberty for these prisoners.






Being an international lawyer it is sometimes so hard to insist on the importance of utilizing such intangible mechanisms as UN treaty bodies and other such instruments. However, I am convinced that it is due to the international attention lent to Oaxaca and the many international observation missions during and after the conflict of 2006that some of the human rights defenders in the region are now better supported, visibilised and backed up.
That´s not to say the situation is still not very grave in Oaxaca.

But its great to see the city alive again, art and beauty radiating as always.

And I give you a song, by Lila Downs from Oaxaca: More than anything else, this video shows you Oaxaca!
It´s waiting for you, my dear sisters!

2 years. A humble collage.

I have come to the end of 2 years overseas. It is time for a hiatus.

I originally wanted to do a photo slideshow with music for this post, however all of the programs and websites I found were very annoying... so I have pasted a few photos here to commemorate 2 years of adventures.

I think I have learnt a lot during this time: I can't even begin to compile all my experiences.
Some things I hope I have learnt, and I believe have affected me, have been: the power and importance of compassion, and community.

More to come.

































"Solo le pido a Dios,
Que el dolor no me sea indiferente
Que la reseca muerte no me encuentre
Vacía y sola sin haber hecho lo suficiente"


- Mercedes Sosa

Maddy speaking spanish

hehehe, For a sample of me speaking another tongue, listen to this link of a radio interview:

http://www.emedios.com.mx/tools/detallenota/muestra_detalle_nota_radio_tv.asp?id_noticia=7771031

Photos from recent trip to Hidalgo

After reviewing my blog, especially my more serious post of "women. men. love and life." I realised that it may have been getting a little heavy and above all a little unnerving, for my mother! Looking at that post and making it clear - that it is not based on things that I have experienced!

anyway, as a counter balance to the heaviness of late on this blog, here are some lovely photos from an awesome trip I and the mates from my old Uni had to the countryside of Hidalgo, a state above mexico city.







we stayed in a cabin and kayaked and played boardgames and read and drank good tequila, and passed by a lovely old mining town on the way back where we drank hot fruit punch in the square and ate hot bread and empanadas inspired by the Cornish miners who arrived in this town years ago and gave mexico the wonder of pasties.
and i got an eight buck poncho and a one buck green ring. how nice it was. very "relax" as they say here in mexico.

Fun!

On Friday, it was fun to do something for a campaign that I used to be very part of:



It was really good, in the middle of a very heavy time in the Center, with cases of torture, disappearances and a general overworkload, : just to get together for a simple and fun act of good old activism.

Taking advantage that we had a number of people in the Center on Friday for an indigenous rights workshop, we grouped everyone together and took a photo to support the "Stand Up Against Poverty" global campaign.

I was taking the photo, and we are in the entrance of Center Prodh in front of one of the murals.
"Fin de la pobreza indigena" = "End Indigenous Poverty"


http://flickr.com/photos/standagainstpoverty/2957240464/

PD/PS - humanity and fragility

After getting some jittery comments from my family about my recent posts, and after passing a rather explosive weekend (Margaret tells me that Jupiter is reigning at the moment and apparently that means conflict), I thought it would be fitting to write a little PS:

I just went down to my local market, which for me is always a good Sunday activity that gives good respite - the vendors there fill my heart and really treat me well.

I was also able to talk about these recent thuderous thoughts with a couple of friends - my Colombian friend, who is only too familiar with violence and conflict, shrugged his shoulders and said "don´t let yourself get affected". He's right. I cannot let myself get sangrona, hot blooded and edgy.

Then, it all just clicked: I'm tired. I want to go home.
Ever since having my ticket back to Sydney booked, my thoughts have been in another place, and I feel ever more inquieta. However much I love this country and I adore my life at the moment, and am so grateful for my job, my blessings, everything. I am tired.

Suddenly, my own words jumped into my head: words that I used a year ago, writing on this very blog, living in this very same country, learning about it; growing back then as I am now:

I am facing it straight on, getting up and coming and goin, and realising that the millions of lives struggling to make their way in this city do NOT funnily enough combine to make it a trampling rat race, but rather you feel lifted up and carried by the collective journeys of so many dreams travelling around you. And you feel people caring for people - understanding that at the end of the day they have their aunt, their brother, their friend to look after and share life with. The infallible Mexican community identity always comes through. The truth that is felt so strongly in this country is that the people around you are the most important part of your life.

It´s been a journey, a long one. I am ready to be on Australian shores, and rest for a bit, before coming back to my beloved Mexico.

Being in Europe (Geneva and Berlin) next week will be very good for me I think.

Signing off from a somewhat more calm state of mind.....!

Some very whacked statements

In a nutshell, Mexico is going through a period of alarming increases in violence related to organized crime, (in case I hadnt made that clear in earlier posts, ahem)...

Anyway, I thought I wanted to publish some of the more whacked statements that have come out as of late:

Of course there is the classic from the president Felipe Calderon: "If you see dust flying, don´t worry, we are just cleaning the house" (justifying the dramatic rise in deaths)


And then, today, this one is a special freakshow of its own:

The death penalty has recently been thrown around in Mexico as a popular and demagogic response to fear over crime levels:
Yesterday,María Elena Morera, the head of "Mexico United Against Crime" (a citizens group that brings together the worst of knee-jerk policy responses and is in bed with the big business sector), stated:

"If the public is asking for life sentences and the death penalty for serious crimes, we should give it to them, although this does not solve the problem. I wonder whether we crimes such as house robberies should also be considered for the death penalty".

What a corker.


All this comes admist proposals from the Mexican Army to train all federal police in military formation, and to top them off with the death penalty if they dont behave.


Yep. They´re really across it all.