ECOCLUB, Issue 92
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25
A feast for unity divides
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Until May 2006, Oaxaca was known to the world as a quaint colonial town, one of the
first established by the Spanish in the Americas, and a living monument enjoying
Unesco World Heritage status. It was thus receiving many independent travellers who
wanted to sample the real Mexico, a world away from the picture perfect beaches of
Cancun and the dated resort of Acapulco.
In May 2006, a prolonged teachers strike and occupation of the Zocalo – the main
square and tourist attraction –
was met by violence by the local government and
vigilante elements, and after constant and increasing upheaval was eventually put down
at the end of October 2006 by 10,000 federal police and troops, and strikers leaders
arrested. Over this period, the deaths among teachers, including that of an American
Indymedia journalist Bradley Will, shot by vigilantes, shocked the world, scared the
tourists, and forever changed the quaint image of Oaxaca.
In July 2006, the demonstrators has been successful in cancelling the annual
Guelaguetza festival, which is important to the local tourism sector, and set fire to the
amphitheatre, while they celebrated their own Guelaguetza ‘popular at Oaxaca’s
University.This year, the authorities were absolutely intent on avoiding this, and when
30,000 demonstrators tried to interrupt the official celebration by organising an
alternative ‘ people’s Guelaguetza’ and march towards the hillside amphitheatre where
the official Guelaguetz was held with 15,000 spectators, the police cracked down
heavily, with one death and many injured.
Guelaguetza, a word with Zapotec language, is a popular gift-giving festival (now gift-throwing to the audience) with pre-
colonial roots, launched in 1932 in Oaxaca, a year after a disastrous earthquake, as a humanitarian effort, and a celebration of
local culture, bringing together dancers and folk artists from the 16 ethnic groups of the state. Guelaguetza is celebrated each
year, on the two Mondays following July 16, St. Carmen’s day July 16. This year Guelaguetza was celebrated on July 23 and
July 30, but demonstrators accused the local governor of turning the festival into a propagandistic farce, with police disguised as
spectators, while critics on the left view the event within the “typical hypocricy of creole racism”, as a banquet of power, a 400
peso event sponsored by Coca-Cola and administered through Ticket Master.
"Mini-Guelaguetzas" are conducted at several
hotels throughout the year but obviously they are even less authentic.
Local tourism businesses are among the victims of the conflict with occupancy rates below 40%. According to Oaxaca-based
travel journalist and Planeta.com Editor Ron Mader “Numerous businesses have closed. While others have taken out loans that
they need to repay in the near future, while tourism newspapers such as Go Oaxaca and the Oaxaca tourism map have not had
new editions for more than six months, with not enough local advertising to resume publication” He adds that “Things in
Oaxaca are still very tough. Tourism is down 80% and even the school where we hold the Rural Tourism Fair is moving because
of the lack of students.” The Annual Rural Tourism Fair is a shining example of what Tourism can do, if it is from the people
and for the people. To assist local artisans cope with diminished sales, Mader has taught many of them how to use the Web to
sell their work. According to Mader, ecotourism and responsible travel contribute to democracy when travellers seek out
operations that benefit locals. He sees Guelaguetza as connecting indigenous traditions with the Catholic faith and explains that
at its base is an exchange of products and services, an age-old tradition of 'paying it forward.'
Asked whether it is safe for
tourists to visit the city, he replies that most Oaxacans say 'yes' it's time to promote travel and the sooner the better. Things
remain ‘unresolved’but that alone should not deter visitors.
Trying to encourage tourists to return to the city, Andres Bello Guerra, president of the Oaxaca hotel association was recently
quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying."The city of Oaxaca is very tranquil, there are no problems. You can come here
with your family." Meanwhile international attention will not go away. On July 31, Amnesty International urged the Mexican
government on Tuesday to investigate possible torture and abductions by state officials during months of protests against the
governor in the city of Oaxaca in 2006. Currently Amnesty’s International Secretary General Irene Khan is visiting Oaxaca,
while protests about human rights abuses in Oaxaca were held outside Mexican consulates in some US cities in July.
Underdevelopment may be quaint but can never be a solid basis for Ecotourism in the long run. Ecotourism requires human
development, individual liberty, social justice and a genuine, functioning democracy. Whether and how it can play - or be
allowed to play - any role in bringing about the above remains to be seen.
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Further Reading:
