– La protesta contro la riforma costituzionale del sistema educativo promossa dal nuovo governo di Enrique Peña Nieto degli insegnanti messicani aderenti al sindacato SNTE è iniziata nello Stato meridionale messicano di Guerrero, presto repressa con l’arresto del capo del sindacato, accusato di appropriazione indebita e riciclaggio di denaro.
– La lotta è stata portata avanti da un gruppo di insegnanti dissidenti, non aderenti al SNTE, con forme insolite, che hanno fatto notizia, come il blocco dell’autostrada per Acapulco durante le vacanze pasquali.
– La polizia li ha sloggiati, ma la protesta è continuata:
o Si è unita al movimento degli insegnanti la “polizia di comunità” e gruppi di autodifesa armati che pattugliano i villaggi, perché lo Stato non è in grado di contrastare la violenza legata al traffico di droga,
o Per due volte hanno minacciato di ricorrere alla forza per liberare gli insegnanti contestatori arrestati dalla polizia.
o C’è chi pensa che questi gruppi di vigilantes siano collegati ai guerriglieri che in alcune occasioni hanno lanciato attacchi sui monti del S-O.
o Il capo degli insegnanti ribelli nella sierra ha dichiarato che i vigilantes vogliono restaurare l’ordine, non il contrario.
– Il 16 aprile gli insegnanti contestatori hanno costretto il Congresso (parlamento)dello Stato di Guerrero a discutere proposte contro alcuni dei principali punti della riforma, come la creazione di una istituzione nazionale di valutazione degli insegnanti. Se gli emendamenti passano saranno applicati solo nello stato di Guerrero, ma potrebbero incoraggiare il movimento degli insegnanti del resto del paese a ammorbidire la riforma.
– Il ministro dell’Educazione riconosce che potrebbe essere ingiusto usare metodi di giudizio per gli insegnanti dello Stato di Guerrero – dove molti bambini parlano spagnolo come seconda lingua e alcuni non hanno una scuola al coperto – uguali a quelli per gli insegnanti delle scuole di città.
Ma la capitolazione alle richieste degli insegnanti potrebbe avere alti costi politici, dato che i protestatari intendono affrontare altre proposte del governo, come la modernizzazione del settore energetico controllato dallo stato, e il sistema fiscale.
Stick-wielding schoolmasters pose a challenge to the new government
Apr 20th 2013 | CHILPANCINGO |From the print edition
– SOME wear genteel straw hats, others red bandanas hiding their faces. Some carry parasols, others sticks and metal rods that they brandish sullenly. The motley crew of middle-class teachers and their rough-necked supporters in the south-western state of Guerrero hardly look like a force to be reckoned with. Yet their protest represents a challenge to the new government of Enrique Peña Nieto. How he copes will influence a reform agenda that he is pushing forward at lightning speed.
– The protests come from an unexpected quarter. When prosecutors arrested Elba Esther Gordillo, the caudillo-like head of the National Education Workers’ Union[e] (SNTE), on February 26th on charges of embezzlement and money laundering, it looked as if Mr Peña had removed the main obstacle to a constitutional reform on education signed the day before. The reform’s backers were delighted that he had struck against a union[e] that for decades had held sway over education policy.
– But a group of dissident teachers unaffiliated to the SNTE filled the vacuum. Using maddening tactics, such as blocking the highway to Acapulco during the sweltering Easter holidays, they made up in headlines what they lacked in political clout.
– When federal police, led by a stoutly nicknamed Commander “Spartacus”, dislodged them on April 5th, many Mexicans applauded the government for showing that it would not stand for any nonsense.
– But the protests did not end. Since then the teachers have acquired more intimidating muscle: local “community police” and self-defence groups who patrol their mountain villages with guns, claiming the state has lost control amid a surge in drug-related violence. They have joined the teachers’ movement (naming one of their heavies “Commander Wolf”, to take on Commander Spartacus). At least twice they have used the threat of force to free dissident teachers from police detention.
– Some fear that such vigilantes have links to guerrillas who have occasionally launched attacks in the mountains of the south-west. Manuel Rodríguez, leader of the rebellious teachers in the sierra, denies this, saying that the vigilantes are trying to restore the rule of law, not break it.
– More worrying for the government may be the challenge to its education reform, which still lacks implementing legislation. On April 16th dissident teachers forced the state congress in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, to debate proposals that challenge some of the reform’s central pillars, such as the creation of a national institution to test teachers. A vote was expected on April 18th. If it passes, the amendments will apply only in Guerrero. But they may encourage teachers elsewhere to seek to dilute the reforms.
– Silvia Romero, Guerrero’s education minister, says that any law coming from the teachers’ proposals might be challenged on constitutional grounds. She also accuses the teachers of wanting to protect the custom of selling their positions when they retire, or bequeathing them to family members, which she says helps explain Guerrero’s low levels of literacy.
– But she acknowledged that there might be merit to some of the complaints. In a state where many indigenous children speak Spanish as a second language and some have no roof on their school, let alone internet access, it may be unfair to judge teachers by the methods used at well-equipped schools in cities. Eduardo Andere, an education expert at ITAM university, says the reform leaves no room for “local realities”.
– Yet capitulating to the rebel teachers could carry a high political cost. The protesters say they already have their sights on some of Mr Peña’s other proposals, such as modernising the state-controlled energy sector and overhauling the tax system. In that case, Mexico may soon be seeing more of Commander Spartacus.