After 150 days sleeping on the streets of Oaxaca City, the teachers of Section 22 are voting on whether or not to return to classes. In the first days of October, thousands of military and police officers were moved into Oaxaca. Although no large scale repression occurred, the federal government has continued to put immense pressure on the teachers union and APPO to accept an offer granting the rezoning of pay demand by the teachers and the dropping of arrest warrants for movement members. The offer does not include the number one demand of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), the resignation of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. On Oct. 18 the Mexican Senate voted against removing the current state government from power.

APPO has stated that they will continue the struggle for Ulises' resignation even if the teachers choose to end the strike. There is great fear that if the teachers return to their communities while Ulises is still in power the remaining movement members will become even more vulnerable to repression. On Oct. 14, the state government's dirty war continued as undercover soldiers fired on a barricade, killing APPO member Alejandro Garc'a, while he and his family were serving coffee to those keeping watch at the roadblock. On the evening of Oct. 18 Panfilo Hernandez, an indigenous elementary school teacher, was gunned down as he left an APPO neighborhood meeting.

Teachers and supporters who marched the 280 miles to Mexico City demanding Ulises resign remain camped out in front of the congressional chambers. A hunger strike was initiated there by 21 members of APPO on Oct. 16. Multiple forums and dialogues have been held in the past month to increase national and international solidarity with the people of Oaxaca and to continue to take steps to formalize APPO with plans to create a Constituent Assembly. This assembly will be made up of democratically elected delegates from communities, neighborhoods and workplaces throughout the state of Oaxaca. Development of this form of popular governance is spreading quickly, and assemblies modeled after APPO have recently been created in at least 11 states in Mexico. --Rochelle Gause

Green Party US Senate candidate Aaron Dixon was arrested Oct. 17 when he refused to leave the KING TV studios during a scheduled taping of a debate among Senate candidates including Democratic senator Maria Cantwell, Republican candidate Mike McGavick, and Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Guthrie. KING TV President and General Manager Ray Heacox said Dixon, a co-founder and former captain of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panthers, was prohibited from participating in the debate because he did not meet their qualifications for public support and fundraising.

Dixon was told he was not allowed to enter the building but did so anyway as an act of civil disobedience. A crowd of supporters outside the studios protested the actions of debate organizers and the arrest of Dixon for trespassing by the Seattle Police Department.

Mike Gillis, Dixon's campaign press secretary, has a statement posted on the website condemning the exclusion of the Green Party's candidate. Gillis claims the Dixon campaign has actually raised more funds from members of the community than Guthrie, who made a million dollar personal loan to his own campaign in order to fund his Libertarian Party bid for the US Senate seat currently occupied by Cantwell. He also claims Dixon's poll numbers are three times that of Guthrie's. According to a Sept. 26 SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KING-TV, Dixon is polling 3 percent of Washington voters to Guthrie's 1 percent. --Mark Taylor-Canfield

Help ETS! with distribution! We're still seeking volunteers to fill some very important distribution routes. To our great dismay, for the last few issues we've had no distribution downtown or most of Capitol Hill. We're also seeking a replacement in Southeast Seattle (Rainier Valley, Rainier Beach, Columbia City). The task involves picking up papers at our office and dropping them off at predetermined locations. In addition to these pre-established routes, we also are seeking to develop new routes on Queen Anne Hill, Beacon Hill, the Green Lake area, and Greenwood/Phinney Ridge. If you can commit to distributing in any of these areas every two weeks, please contact distribution coordinator Peggy Hotes at 425-423-4429.

We're also looking for help with newspaper layout. If you're interested, have graphic design skills, and know how to use Adobe InDesign, please contact Lance Scott at 206-632-2162.