Reforma: Sergio Aguayo
With the conflict over the educational reform, the temptation to use violence to settle differences reappears.
The reform addresses a major national problem, but has as its background the attempt by Enrique Peña Nieto and his allies to achieve an effective State, restoring the authority of the State and strengthening the Presidency. The teachers of the National Coordinating Committee of Education Workers are rebelling against the reform and, in the background, in Guerrero large sectors of Mexico, marginalized and beaten by crime, join them. I deliberately adopted a prudent tone in order to review some points of the dispute.
Evaluation and retention: The educational reform does condition obtaining a teaching position and keeping it on independent evaluation mechanisms. The Coordinating Committee struggles to maintain the current system by creating state level institutions. I don't share this position of Committee, but I recognize that they are discriminated against because the reform does favor public universities, where the evaluation will not affect retention. Why not include the latter in the demand for quality education?
Privatization: I am convinced by the position of the Coordinating Committee regarding a possible "privatization" of education. By this they mean that school fees [charged to parents] will be institutionalized "under the leadership of the school's director". The fees, they argue, go against free education and do matter in areas of extreme poverty.
Decentralization and autonomy [of school management]: [These changes] generate positive and negative energies, as evidenced by contrasts between states and municipalities. In Mexico there is a culture of corruption and abuse and, if not corrected in the regulatory law, this paragraph of the reform could legitimize abuses by school directors in the name of autonomy.
The Politics: The conflict goes beyond the classroom. It is also a political battle over the distribution of power and the kind of country we want. Teachers are considered representatives of the marginalized people, and part of that community supports them in Guerrero. Given the breadth of its goals, the Coordinating Committee wants to be a respected national interlocutor and rejects the "media campaign" against it. However, if they want the support of more moderate sectors, they would do well to reflect on their methods of struggle with a dose of self-criticism.
I find their deep contempt for those affected by their blockades to be unacceptable. Some teachers seem to enjoy immobilizing thousands of people for several hours. They forget that a democratic society requires a permanent balancing of different rights. Freedom of expression and freedom of movement must be compatible.
Our children deserve a quality education. The Coordinating Committee says that they know how to achieve it. That is hard to believe when one looks at what is happening in Oaxaca, where they control most senior positions in the State Institute of Education of Oaxaca (IEEPO), thanks to an agreement signed on October 28, 1992 by the then Governor Helladio Ramírez with the teachers union. They have not delivered good results and bear responsibility for the contradiction of being both judge and complainant.
Peña Nieto's dilemma: The President will be decisive in the evolution of the conflict. In May 2006 he was Governor of the State of Mexico and authorized the repression in Atenco: two dead, hundreds injured, dozens detained and women who were harassed and raped. Six years later students from the Iberoamerican University reproached him and he took responsibility: "I made the decision," he said, to exercise the "legitimate right of the Mexican State to [use] the police". After the uproar of that day, the political and media supporters disqualified the students and hence arose the movement #YoSoy132, which cost Peña Nieto millions of votes.
Mexican society does not like that the government represses. In 1968, the capital's majority disagreed with the students [repressed in the massacre of Tlatelolco] but, according to some surveys ordered by the Secretariat of Government Relations [SEGOB]in Mexico City, the repression on October 2 cost President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz 50 points in approval. Peña Nieto is a pragmatic politician who is making corrections to preserve his image and achieve his goals. In March of this year, the government formally apologized to the victims of Atenco at a hearing of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in Washington. The victims rejected the apology because those responsible are still unpunished.
When tempers are heated it is easy to let the adrenaline run and try to eliminate the opposition. So far there is only an exchange of "your mother is.." type insults, disqualifications and blockades. It is a potentially delicate situation in which everyone must remember the importance of maintaining consensus regarding peaceful methods. As it seems that it will be a long conflict, I intend to continue participating with more information and few adjectives. The difficult but necessary thing is prudence. Spanish original