Occupying Mexico City: Teachers protest like they actually care about their livelihoods

Photo by Andrew Stefan

Public school teachers from all over Mexico have occupied Mexico City’s iconic Zócalo to oppose national reforms designed to make way for the “punitive standardized assessment” of teachers across the country. Today, I accidentally stumbled upon the educators’ protest encampment. It looked almost insignificant inside the behemoth Zócalo—a small patch of makeshift tents and tarps strung over plastic chairs and sleeping bags. The occupation was well-decorated with powerful dissident artwork and colorful banners of resistance, but it still wasn’t a particularly awe-inspiring sight. Regardless, the importance of the endeavor was certainly not lost on me. After I wandered into a tent belonging to Oaxaca’s notorious Section 22 union of the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), I had the opportunity to speak with three dedicated teacher-occupiers. Some of what they told me seemed striking as I thought back to teachers’ unions and their actions—or lack thereof—in the US. 

The first person I spoke with—an elderly gentleman with graying hair and a John Waters pencil-moustache—spoke with great pride as he stated that he and his comrades will continue the occupation of the Zócalo until the federal government "actually considers" meeting their demands. His co-occupiers nodded in firm agreement. The group’s dedication was palpable. I thought back to my own cold, bureaucratic—and totally ineffectual—teachers’ union in Baltimore last year. I tried to imagine any of its leaders or active members displaying such commitment to the well-being of teachers and students—even if only in rhetoric. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. I began to wonder how serious these rebel-educators in the Zócalo might actually be. I asked, “How long have you been occupying the Zócalo?” A short, middle-aged woman to my right enthusiastically chimed in, “About twenty days.” Twenty days of sleeping on concrete. In the cold. And often in the rain. Whoa. 

Hmmm. Clear demands? A confrontational political action designed to realize those demands? Serious commitment to that political action? It all seemed to make too much sense. I grew increasingly depressed as I thought back to my old teachers’ union in Baltimore. I thought back to the district's regular use of punitive standardized teacher assessments, which created an unrelenting sense of job-instability among teachers and made the classroom a needlessly-tense environment for both educators and students.

Toward the end of my encounter with the teacher-occupiers, I described what I considered to be some problems of overlap between the US and Mexican education systems. I also shared a few tales of my own experiences in public education. The occupiers all suggested that teachers in the US and Mexico need to build stronger relationships of solidarity and friendship to overcome obstacles to social justice the classroom. I nodded, smiling in full agreement. However, I did so knowing that, on the US end, any such relationships would probably have to be pursued by rank-and-file members of teachers’ unions. I simply couldn't imagine my union leadership in Baltimore condoning meaningful talk or action toward teacher-empowerment or greater fairness in the classroom.