View From Casita Colibrí

Another reason I love Oaxaca…

Yes, I know street blockades are inconvenient for drivers and I know the trade unions are not immune from the corruption that dominates politics here, but at least workers are not sitting on their hands doing nothing as austerity measures threaten to take away what little they have.

According to signs posted on various trucks, trash collectors are demanding cancellation of a 300% increase in the cost of using the municipal dump, access to the dump 7 days a week, and the dismissal of the municipal services director.

Last fall massive protests against austerity measures spread across Europe, the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia earlier this month was sparked by the self-immolation of a young college graduate who couldn’t find a job, and, as I write, hundreds of thousands of students, women, industrial workers, unemployed, and others are marching in Egypt in what is being called “a day of wrath against poverty.”

Workers in the USA should be taking notes…