To add to our class's graffiti discussion

As I was checking out the AK Press blog, the image of the cover of this new book caught my eye. "Protest Graffiti Mexico: Oaxaca" is described like this on the AK Press website: "On October 27, 2006, Mexican police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the city of Oaxaca, killing three people (including American journalist Brad Roland Will), and the world became aware of a social conflict that at its core was about the right to an education. Since 1981, teachers in the Mexican state have held annual strikes, but 2006 was the first time that violence erupted. Within hours of these shootings, graffiti calling the region's governor a murderer was sprayed throughout the city. The graffiti that has since overwhelmed the historic city center constitutes the protest art of a community rising up.

Unlike in other cities where graffiti is recognized by many as a form of public art, in Oaxaca, graffiti became a way of achieving justice through community organization, creating and facilitating an ongoing dialogue of rage. And because teachers in Mexico are primarily women, the graffiti is very much inspired by and made by women.

Oaxaca resident Elaine Sendyk took the photographs in this book during the summer of 2007. Depicting oppression, empowerment, and the messages of struggle and revolt, this graffiti echoes universal desires, making for stunning and poignant visuals that remind readers: 'We Are All Oaxaca!'"

I went to Oaxaca as a volunteer for Amigos de las Americas to do health care work in a town about 40 minutes outside of Oaxaca City in 2001. At that time, Oaxaca City didn't feel oppressive nor overflowing with public art. I am a huge fan of public art that has been well executed. In the context of this book, it is impressive to me that artists are able to take the time to design beautiful images that convery political messages (probably because I don't have a knack for that sort of thing). I think that using public spaces as a place to express political dissent is a creative solution to the resistance's radio station being seized by the government because, if the government is not responding to other forms of dialog with the teachers, then the teachers and their supporters have to find a way to get their case heard (or in this case, seen). Public art can be an effective means of communication because the audience can take in the image and its meaning without consciously trying to do, if for example, a politician goes downtown to get a bite for lunch and he sees a graffitied message on his route to lunch (or home or wherever). I am not so optimistic to think that just street art will change the way the Oaxacan government is treating its teachers, but I do think that in a city whose downtown is relatively free of large scale advertising, large amounts of protest art will effect the teachers' struggle in a positive way even if the politicians can tune it out (like, for example, by recruiting more people to the cause or uplifting the teachers' spirit). Hasta un amanecer nuevo!