CNN (constant nincompoop news)

I was recently sitting in the Rochester Airport, waiting for my flight, and the drone of CNN bore down on me like a cascading bucket of bile. Besides its menu of political ads – mostly thinly veiled oil lobby PR about what Shell and Chevron are doing for a “green” future – the talking heads were at their usual best.

(Let’s define “best” as narrow, superficial and glib.)

While it’s no surprise that 24-hour news networks need to fill up the day with something (let’s call it, um, dog shit) their repetitive regurgitation of other people’s “news” is hard to swallow.

It’s as if they intentionally sit down at their daily meetings and think about how to annoy the American public. Mostly, their programs consist of what appears to be well-groomed talking heads repeating the headlines, again and again, and then trying to squeeze something of value from them. “Well, Joe Bob commentator,” they might ask, “What does it mean when Obama uses his left hand instead of his right to itch his ear?” Deep probing and insightful questions such as this abound. Watching this malarkey is like trying to go to sleep on acid; the horribly narcotic concerns of your brain take over and nibble away at nothing until all you want is a gun to quiet your scattered brain.

Having watched CNN, MSNBC and their sister shows during the Democratic primary perform their less than stellar programs, I have come to the realization that they are not just doing more harm than good in their horse race coverage of politics, they are degrading journalism in general.

For instance, on CNN, with their self-described “best political team on TV” there is more comment than actually reportage. One wonders how many actual reporters they have working in the field, actually reporting. From this viewer’s humble spot on the couch, it seems to be about two, and all they ever do is yell into the microphone at campaign rallies.

Come on now guys, with all that “talent” at you finger tips, you might actually produce some news some of the time instead of continually playing with electoral maps of Indiana and commenting on the slow vote count, while a million other things far more important are going on in the world, unreported.

 

APPO, Teachers, Unions and Oaxaca

Donaji Carreno sat hunkered beneath a large tarp on the night of May 19 as a heavy rain fell on the plastic overhead. She was not alone. Around her spread tents, tarps and ropes, all keeping her fellow teachers dry in the early days of the rainy season in Oaxaca´s Zocalo.

This state capital in southern Mexico has been occupied by the state’s teacher union, Section 22 of the national union, SNTE, for what will be a 21 day rotating strike.

But this is more than just a hum drum teacher`s strike. It is a challenge to the unpopular governor as well as a demand for a redress of past abuses.

Those abuses occurred at the last teacher`s strike, which turned into a popular uprising after federal and state security forces were brought in to end the strike. After violently evicting the teachers from the Zocalo, broad support arose for the teachers. Police and federal law enforcement officials were forced from town and barricades were flung up to shut off the city from the authorities.

Life most definitely did not continue as usual. From June to Nov. 2006, Oaxaca was run by APPO, or the Popular People’s Assembly of Oaxaca. What began as a teachers strike turned into a political uprising that made the news and galvanized public support. It also turned the teacher`s union and APPO into symbols of the left and examples of self government.

Now, for the first time since 2006, the center of Oaxaca has been taken over by a tent city of teachers. This strike-slash protest is as much a test of the authorities as it is a demand for better schools and pay.

“This is a consequence of 2006,¨said Domingo Cabrera Vazquez, the union´s representative at the rally.

In the current strike, the union has a bevy of the usual demands: free school lunches, better materials and pay as well as better schools.

But this strike is also aimed at the union`s national leaders, a less militant group who are activley trying to end the current strike. The state union claims that the ruling structure of the union is top-down and therefore anti-democratic.

But section 22`s motivations don’t stop there. Their larger aims are political. They want to free seven political prisoners taken in the 2006 uprising. In demanding the release of these prisoners they are also showing their continued opposition to state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz of the PRI, as well as the national government. Both, they claim are corrupt and all to willing to use violence to put down popular unrest.

While the 2006 uprising was finally put down by force, not much has be resolved in what has become a battle for much more than pay or materials.

Candido Elbbort, who was camped under a blue tarp with a group of other a PE teachers, said that while this strike is about the union`s structure as well as better pay, on a larger level it is a challenge to the government. “This is a kind of test to see what the government will do this time,” he said.

Every three days teachers from one of the state´s seven regions will take their places under the tarps that now cover most of the square. Everyone from Spanish teachers to physical education instructors will take their place in a camp that spreads from the Zocalo out along city streets like a star.

Except for the leftist literature for sale, the Che tee shirts and the communist party booth, the gathering appeared fairly a-political. The feel on the street was more that of holiday than a protest. But there is no doubt that this strike has a special significance. The banners, many with APPO prominently painted across them, slung across the gazebo and through the Zocalo attest to that. an

“The labor question is secondary here,” said Vasquez of the protest.

The day before the protest began, security forces in camouflage uniforms patrolled the streets of down town Oaxaca, some lingering in groups waiting. For what, no one knows.

 

News of Killings

Front Page of Today´s News in Mexico City

It has been a bloody couple of days for Mexico, in an already bloody year. Two top police officials were killed in Mexico City this week, according to reports in local media. One of the killed was the head of the federal police, which is the equivalent of the head of the FBI being killed. Mexico, it seems, is like Chicago in the 1920s, times ten. These high profile killings follow on the footsteps of two other assassinations this month of top federal police officials in the capital. 

Although it is unknown who was behind theses killings or what motivated them, it is speculated that they were hits put on police by the head of the Sinalao cartel, Jaoquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is in hiding after escaping from prison.  

Several of today`s newspaper head lines read “Enough,” in aparent frustration over the federal government`s apparent impotence when it comes to controlling the powerful drug cartels. Despite military operations in conjunction with local and federal police, the bloodletting continues. In addition to these hits on officials, ten more dead were found this week in northern Mexico.

Last year drug cartels in Mexico killed 2,500 people and thus far the 2008 death toll is more than 1000. For a country not at war this is a heavy death toll.

May 14-  The central government has increased the pressure on the waring drug cartels in Sinaloa by sending more troops to a region already inundated with soldiers. Almost 3,000 soldiers and federal police have occupied the capital of Sinaloa, Culiacan and a nearby town, in a show of force. Like much of the government’s efforts in the north of Mexico against drug cartels, militarization seems the last card the government can play in this battle. If this latest attempt to crack down on the drug trade fails, it will be more than an embarrassment for a government who is already battling drug cartels across much of northern Mexico. It is not clear if they are winning or not; the daily death toll does not seem to be lessening. The use of military force in a police matter worries some despite the ill paid and partially corrupt local and federal police forces. But these strong arm tactics are what President Felipe Calderon hopes will finally break the backs of the organized crime groups that have made parts of Mexico increasingly lawless.

- For more posts on Mexican media as well as the drug war look below.

 

Media and the Left

La Jornada´s Michoacan Version

There is no doubt that Leftist politics continue to have a large influence on things  here in Mexico. The Zapatistas of Chiapas continue to make the news; a Marxist guerrilla army, the EPR, recently blew up oil pipelines in the state of Veracruz. The former mayor of Mexico city, Lopez Obrador of the PRD, a national opposition party of the left, lost the presidential election in 2007 to Felipe Calderon by a hair. This influence is seen very much in the press.

La Jornada: This national newspaper out of Mexico City is perhaps the premier newspaper of the left. Its pages are usually filled with reporting on human rights abuses, political corruption, social issues and leftist opinion.  Today there was a piece about Karl Marx´s birth on May 5, 1818. The paper did not publish on May Day. Besides its leftist leanings, La Jornada does a good job of covering politics and has a crusading edge, which to a reader of U.S. papers like me is a breathe of fresh air.

La Jornada also covers art and culture with a vengeance. Besides their daily insert, enmedio, which often carries essays on writers and thinkers such as Jose Marti that span pages, their is a feeling that this paper is really committed to culture. For instance, a recent front page had the byline of none other than novelist, cultural critic and journalist Carlos Monsivais. While you might not have heard of Monsivais before, he is very much a somebody here. And besides, when was the last time you saw on the front page of any U.S. newspaper the name of a writer of any note? The answer would be, about, never. U.S. papers just don´t seem to have a real connection to the literary world. It´s not that U.S. papers don¨t write book reviews or about writers, they do. The fault, if that is what it should be called, lies rather with U.S. culture.  Writers in America don´t hold the same kind of cultural influence that they still seem to in Mexico.

TV: Now this is something you won´t see at home: Cuban television. Any day of the week you can flick your TV on and watch Cuba´s national news cast on Cuba Vision. You can see thousands of Cubans marching on May Day in down town Havana or watch a special on the arts. While this is a low budget operation, it does manage to produce some interesting television. There is nothing like watching television from a country that is vilified by the American political establishment. You feel a little naughty.

The News: This English-language newspaper isn´t exactly of the left, but it does cover social justice issues pretty well. Many of its pages are filled with wire services stories, yet this nicely laid out daily, which has been published in Mexico for 58 years - with a brief hiatus - does have a staff that writes some good features and news on indigenous issues, freedom of speech as well as culture.

 

The Other Media

While Mexico is full of daily newspapers, good and bad, it also has a wide variety of cultural magazines as well as a weird selection of, well, off -beat publications.

Alarma: Where to begin? This truly tasteless magazine is like a mix between soft porn and the driver´s education favorite Red Asphalt. Here is a taste, for you dear readers, of a recent issue. The cover photo was a lovely shot of a very dead women with a piece of steel coming out of her forehead. Or was it going in? In any case, her eyes were still open. No joke. Every time I hold this magazine I gage a little. The truth be know, I can`t even make it through one issue without turning my head in disgust. To add to this vile collection of car wrecks and shooting deaths, the centerfold is, yes, a centerfold. Sex and violence, what more could a young boy ask for? All I can say about this yellowest of yellow journalism is that maybe in Mexico, where most news organizations show pictures of dead bodies almost daily, this is not as horrible as it might be in American. I have heard that US newspaper editors have an unspoken agreement amongst themselves; they will not show unnecessary gore in the pages of their newspapers. I guess I am used to the G-rated news. And yes, you can thank me for not posting the cover of Alarma on this blog. This is a family blog, as a teacher of mine used to say, sort of.

Porn Mags: While there is not much outright porn on Mexican news stands, there is some. Most Mexican pornography, in print at least, comes in an interesting format; pocket-sized photo magazines or, more commonly, as pocket-sized comic books. This cartoon porn is by all counts the most common. Maybe they have laws they have to get around, or maybe men feel less guilty buying dirty cartoons rather than dirty picture mags? I have no idea. Anyway, while these comics tell cowboy stories, crime stories, etc., in the end they all do the same thing with the same overly sized ladies filling up much of theses booklets´ pages. I heard all of this from a friend, of course.

Now for the more enlightened magazines of Mexico.

Tierra Adentro (Interior Territories, roughly): This monthly magazine out of Mexico City is a very nicely put together cultural forum. It has long interviews with poets; short stories, cultural criticism and even photo essays. While this and other publications like it are not what you find on every street corner, it is pleasantly surprising to find so many such publications here.

 

The News in This Part of the World

The newspapers in much of northern Mexico, and there are many, have been filled with the very hot drug war between the Mexican army and the cartels of Juarez and Sinaloa.

El Mexicano of Northern Baja covered several large drug busts recently. Army soldiers in Desert Storm-era fatigues stood before piles of guns and drugs on a recent cover. It seemed that we crossed more road blocks in this part of Mexico than anywhere else too. But it didn´t usually take very long for the young soldiers, with automatic riffles under arm, to look through the van, knock on some surfaces and then send us on our way. This said, it never feels very nice to have so many guns in one place.

Processo, a national weekly magazine, had a recent cover story on what they dubbed “the Battles of the North.” The story documented the assassinations and violence in the fight for control of the drug trade as well as the army´s strong-handed tactics in stamping out the drug cartels. Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Juarez and Baja Norte are at the center of this war.

But the army´s very public presence, there are check points on many of the larger roads, does not sit well with many. El Sol de Sinaloa had a cover story of a large protest outside of the local army base. The protesters, and many newspapers, point to human rights abuses by the army in its fight against the drug cartels.

Also in the news is the current attempt by President Felipe Calderon to reform Pemex, the national oil company. The debate has become so heated that just yesterday leftist senators stormed congress in protest of what they see as a privatization scheme by the current right-of-center government. Pemex holds an important place in national pride since all oil production in Mexico was nationalized, to the US´s chagrin, more than 50 years ago.

 

San Felipe

 The snowy Sierra San Pedro

We crossed the border into Tijuana on the 14th and headed south along the ocean. After the Tortilla Curtain, the road passed along beach resorts and half built towers. It looked alot like San Diego aside from the shacks and dangling re-bar above the buildings. Just north of Ensenada we found a camp overlooking a desolate inlet. High cliffs wound around the waters and a few fishing boats sat off the coast. Our camp, called Playa Saldamando, was perched just above the Pacific on a bluff. No one was there, so we had our choice of spots. Each camp site was demarcated with rocks that had been painted white. 

Ensenada

The next day we drove on the toll road down to Ensenada. The city sits on the coast with a buisy port, cranes and ships fill the harbor.  This large town also climbs up the barren hills that suround it.

We shopped for supplies at a Gigante grocery store and walked around a bit. We bought some fish at the fish market, ate some ceviche from a street cart and then headed out of town. The road went south through the town’s suburbs and up into the hill country along highway 1. We were looking forwhat Freda described as Baja’s wine country. After a military check point we did see vineyards laid out across the valley floor of San Tomas. We camped on the valley floor in a nice camp ground and then we got rained on. The next morning it rained again. In fact, the rain followed us and turned to snow as we crossed the peninsula.

The Sea of Cortez

The road to San Felipe the next day took us over several dry scrub covered mountain chains and through flat table lands in between. After two hours, we finally dropped into desert country and then hit the coast.  

Our third night in Mexico was spent on the shore of the Sea of Cortez in a smallish fishing town called San Felipe. We camped at an abandoned camp site between a trailer park and some houses. A nice old Canadian women said we should be fine. And we were. The next morning the rain clouds that had dropped a good rain the night before were gone, but a nice wind had picked up and blew sand into our breakfast. Tomorrow we head south along the Sea of Cortez.

 

Big News of the Day

SPITZER

 The headlines are filled with the resignation of New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer.   The talking heads, for their part, are blabbing non-stop about how Spitzer’s wife can stand by him after what he has done.  The LA Times had a front page story on the subject. Now it looks like New York will have a blind black governor which is an interesting fall-out from this scandal. Along with discussions on the ethics and morals of this scandal, prostitution has come up as a subject too.