MEXICO — Union leaders from Mexico, the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Argentina, joined by the Caribbean Union of Teachers and the Federation of Teachers Organizations of Central America were joined by leaders from the student movements of Montreal, Mexico and the United States CEMPIO (Coalition of Indigenous Education Teachers and Promoters in Oaxaca and Occupy), and Los Angeles Freedom School to discuss “Putting the Public Back Into Public Education: Alternatives for the Future,” this year’s theme. This Conference was held from May 17 – 20, 2011 in Mexico City.
Most of the discussions were framed within the context of the worldwide movements of the 99%, particularly of the youth, against the policies of the 1%. Workshops included: Reconceptualizing the Sense of Teaching – teaching in times of change, Economic Crisis and Education Funding, Problems and Alternatives: Elementary School, Secondary School, Higher Education, and Indigenous Education. Visit http://www.trinational-usa.org/home.htm and look for us on Facebook to get information regarding reports, actions, and the upcoming conference here in the U.S.
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994, two groups began organizing against the neoliberal attack on the social fabric of Mexico, Canada and the United States that NAFTA represented.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation issued its first declaration from Chiapas, Mexico on January 1, 1994, the day when NAFTA went into effect. Ten months later, on a much smaller scale of course, at a conference in Zacatecas, Mexico, delegates from Canada and Mexico agreed to create a Tri-National Coalition to coordinate activities among unions to defend public education in all three countries from being privatized under NAFTA’s plan.
These educators knew from following the NAFTA negotiations that turning public education into a commodity for sale in the capitalist marketplace was a central component of the agreement and neoliberal policies to come. They understood that at stake was not just public education but the very idea of the “public.”
That government’s function in the public interest through the provision of services deemed “too precious to be sold on the open market” was being undermined in all three countries.
Unfortunately, they were correct, and today we see the calls from the 99% trying to reclaim their governments across the globe.
