In Oaxaca this week they decided the show must go on, in spite of ongoing efforts by members of the teachers’ union to see that it didn’t.
The show was the Guelaguetza, an annual festival that celebrates the traditions of the eight regions of the state of Oaxaca. Dating back to 1932, it is said to be the most important dance and folkloric festival in Latin America.
Held on two consecutive Mondays in July in the state’s capital city of the same name, it is a huge tourist draw. On Monday, nearly 11,000 people gathered in the auditorium on the hill named El Fortín, to be entertained by traditional music and dance.
But two weeks ago members of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) painted slogans on the walls of the theatre and pulled down promotional banners advertising the event.
On Monday they blocked some of the access routes to the theatre, staging a protest that had, according to one report, an atmosphere of “tense calm.”
On Tuesday they erected a blockade on Highway 175, which provides access from the city to the airport and the coast. A survey of several Guelaguetza visitors who were on their way home found many saying they would never return due to the inconvenience created by the protests.
While the teachers have been protesting for many years, recent demonstrations have been focused on the federal education reform and, more specifically, the testing that has been carried out this month to admit new teachers into the system.
Oaxaca’s teachers are demanding that student teachers receive automatic admission into the system, and have successfully prevented many of the entrance exams from taking place. They were rescheduled to be held in Mexico City this week.
Exams in the state of Michoacán have also been blocked by teachers.
Meanwhile, exams conducted through the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show dismal scores for Mexico as a whole, and the state of Oaxaca is near the bottom of the test results.
There are no recent PISA results for Oaxaca because teachers have blocked those tests as well, but the 2009 tests put the state near the bottom in Mexico. Between eight and nine students out of 10 were not prepared for the tests and fared poorly.
Mexico as a whole placed 48th out of 65 countries in the tests, which are given to 15-year-old students every three years and measure performance in reading, mathematics and science.
Meanwhile, back on the Guelaguetza stage was at least one Oaxaca school teacher.
Felipe Miguel commented that the festival serves “to show the world our culture, our language and the world view of our towns.” But he admitted that many of his colleagues had “punished” him for participating.
“They say I’m a traitor but I tell them that culture is something very different from politics.”
Source: Terra (esp)