By Charles Mostoller

Despite assassinations, community radio is spreading throughout southern Mexico

“Some people think that we are too young to be informed, but what they should know is that we are too young to die.”

These were the fateful words of Felicitas Martinez Sanchez and Teresa Bautista Merino, two indigenous Triqui radio broadcasters who were assassinated in southern Oaxaca on April 7th.

The two girls, aged 20 and 24, had worked for the recently inaugurated Radio Triqui, “The Voice that Breaks the Silence”, in the autonomous Triqui municipality of San Juan Copala.

San Juan Copala declared autonomy from the state government in January of 2007, unifying more than half of the 24,000 Triqui indigenous peoples into a single municipality, and has faced many obstacles—often violent—in its quest for self-determination.

The community is governed by usos y costumbres, the traditional indigenous form of government which is based around the popular assembly, and has thrown out all of the corrupt political organizations that had been dividing and arming the community.

As part of the community process to start the radio—which began transmitting in January—Martinez and Bautista had been elected by their community to serve as broadcasters. [Read more →]

Many think America is waning: Are they right?

The mainstream opinion about America, Iraq, and Israel, is that the Iraq war is a disaster, and Israel is overly influential of U.S. policy. This article posits a completely different reality, where all is as the U.S. desires, and Israel is an utter servant of U.S. intention.

The recent American power expansion started with the Gulf War, as a demonstration of hegemony following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a consolidation of energy dominion. Then came 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, and perhaps now Iran and the entire Middle-East.

Step by step America has tightened its control of the Mid-East, with hardly a word from the presumably very interested PRC (People’s Republic of China). Yet for all our efforts to draw them and any others into war, there are still no takers. More than that, the significant states of the world vote yes in the U.N for all our military actions and initiatives. [Read more →]