Oaxaca
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- Oaxaca is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the state. For the city, see: Oaxaca, Oaxaca.
Oaxaca is a state in Mexico with an area of 95,364 km²; it is the fifth largest state in the Republic. In 2003 it had an estimated population of 3,597,700 people.
The state borders Chiapas to the west and is located in the mountains and valleys of the Sierra Madre del Sur range. Oaxaca is Mexico’s second-poorest state and has the second-largest population of indigenous peoples. According to human rights organizations, nearly 80% of Oaxaca lives in extreme poverty.[1] The main industry that props up the economy of Oaxaca is tourism. And like all tourist areas, most people work in services where wages are low, and many public services are geared towards visitors as opposed to actual residents.
International trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have only made things worse. The implementation of neo-liberal reforms to the Mexican state, which has meant an overall cuts to basic necessities over the past several years, has made it even more difficult for people to survive.(“Oaxaca’s Dangerous Teachers,” Dollars & Sense: the Magazine of Economic Justice, September/October 2006.) In recent years, Mexico has been unable to keep pace with China’s offer to the altar of economic sacrifice: its immense, expendable and therefore cheap work force. Thus Mexico has been subject to the migration of factories and jobs to Asia in the same way that the United States has experienced “job loss” to Mexico. Thus, it is not hard to see that dictates of the market care little about countries, and that capital flows in the direction of greater profit and greater misery. [2]
Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples. It has been fertile ground for resistance and popular struggle for centuries. Some of the more notable figures to come out of the state include Benito Juarez.
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[edit] History
During the millennia prior to the arrival of the Aztecs in 1436, the most powerful and influential groups in what is today Oaxaca were the Zapotec, the Mixtec and the Mixe. The civilizations achieved by these groups are reflected in important archeological sites including Monte Albán, Mitla, Guiengola and Huijatzoo.
The influences changed when the Aztecs settled around the Cerro del Fortín and down to the present Church of Carmen Alto where their temple was located. The name of the state comes from the Nahuatl designation they gave to the Central Valley around the capital – "Huaxyácac" or place of guaje trees because of the great number of this species (Leucaena leucocephala).
As the Spanish who arrived less than a century later found this difficult to pronounce it evolved into the present name of Oaxaca, for the city and for the state. The settlement founded by the Spanish in 1521 as Segura de la Frontera, later known as Nueva Antequera, was officially raised to the category of a "royal" city in 1532 by decree of Emperor Charles V (Carlos I) with the name of Antequera de Guaxaca.
[edit] Recent History
See 2006 Oaxaca protests In May of 2006, a teachers' strike calling for higher wages led to the occupation of many buildings and streets in Oaxaca's capital city. On June 14, 2006, the Oaxaca Teachers' Union was evicted. By October of 2006, supporters of the strike, which was led by the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), had grown to tens of thousands. Strikers called for Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz to resign. Demonstrators launched a widespread campaign of civil disobedience and took over the state-run television station. [3] On October 27, 2006, paramilitary forces fired on a crowd of protesters, killing three: Esteban Zurrita and Emilio Alonso Fabian, two locals involved in the demonstrations, and Brad Will, a U.S. independent journalist and activist who had been videotaping the protest. [4] On October 28, 2006, Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered riot police to regain control of the city. [5] On October 29, police and military forces used bulldozers, water cannons and tear gas to push Oaxaca's citizens back. [6] Government forces seized Oaxaca's town hall by mid-afternoon. At least one more person was killed in the most recent violence, raising the total of persons killed to "more than a dozen."[7]
Early in the morning on November 2, Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday, the PFP attempted to clear barricades surrounding the Autonomous University of Oaxaca Benito Juarez, which houses the radio station Radio Universidad, one of the last radio or television outlets still under the control of the APPO. A pitched battle ensued, during which police lobbed tear gas onto University grounds and dropped gas canisters from low-flying helicopters, and protesters hurled rocks and fireworks at police and set buses and vehicles on fire as impromptu barricades. After several hours, the police withdrew, having failed at least temporarily to gain control of the area surrounding the University or to take the radio station off the air.
Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN has also called for the resignation of Governor Ruíz. [8]
[edit] Culture
[edit] Crafts
Oaxaca has a number of native crafts, including the production of alebrijes, weaving and black clay objects. Oaxaca is also known for producing mezcal, similar to tequila and sometimes with the worm inside the bottle. Oaxaca also produces alebrijes, which are popular wooden figurines of mythical beings, animals, and fantastic combinations of both, usually painted with very vibrant colors.
[edit] Cuisine
Oaxaca is known for its seven moles. There is also a breakfast specialty, generally only available in Oaxaca - huevos oaxaqueño - eggs poached in a chili-tomato soup.
[edit] Plants and Shamanism
Oaxaca is also known for at least two plants which are native to this particular area of the world, both used in Shamanism: Psilocybe mushrooms and Salvia divinorum. Though the former is preferred in shamanic practice, the latter is known to be the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen Template:Fact, and belongs to the Mint family.
[edit] See also
- Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca
- 2006 Oaxaca protests
- Oaxaca Solidarity
- Municipalities of Oaxaca
[edit] Further reading
- Abductions of Civil Movement Leaders Continue in Oaxaca, Infoshop News, December 21, 2006.
- Diaries from the Barricades - from an unnamed Wobbly in Oaxaca, Infoshop News, December 22, 2006.
- Gause, Rochelle. "Oaxaca: Confronting power, Building alternatives". Left Turn 23.
- The Other Campaign in the North of Mexico: Saying “Oaxaca” from Above and Below, Infoshop News, December 6, 2006.
[edit] External links
The page was seeded with material from Wikipedia
