Oaxaca, Friday 5 October 2006

Friends,

      Now the anonymous person or people claim(s) neutrality. He/she/they write:

"I don't support either side in this conflict - neither the idealistic lefties or the incompetent and corrupt Mexican government. Why is it that the collateral deaths related to this "protest" are not discussed or even mentioned? Why?"

      Aside from the absurdity of 'neutrality' (this world is a moving train, as Howard Zinn would say), anonymous interlopers ought, in my view, to be ignored. The reason why OSAG is getting some attention is because we -- and I'll mention a few of the "we" shortly -- are honestly trying to learn and to disseminate the truth. Facing a world almost overwhelmingly dominated by the corporate media and government propaganda, "we" are but a tiny voice, and many people, like the coward quoted above, are apparently comfortable swimming with the flood of misrepresentations and lies daily broadcast and printed. The item that began this exchange was an AP dispatch in the Washington Post, but both these giant "news" corporations are notoriously dishonest "mainstream" sources of misinformation.

      A few of the "we" that spring immediately to mind are Irene Jill Friedberg, Nancy Davies, Ben Wise, Lois M Meyer, Mary and Pat Denevan, and Tomás Rosa Bueno. Except for Lois and Tomás, who I know only through e-mails, each of the others is a face-to-face acquaintance. My point is that none of them is hiding his or her identity. I think it preferable to be open about who we are.

      The issue of anonymous actors is on my mind because of recent attacks on a number of members of OSAG and on the group itself, which resulted in the group being suddenly barred from the Oaxaca Lending Library. The author(s) of the anonymous e-mails that initiated our expulsion were cowardly, as were the precipitate actions of the OLL manager and Board President. I posted several items with an account of these unseemly actions. They are:

1) The Oaxaca Lending Library and the Oaxaca Study-Action Group Harrassment by cowardly anonymous Americans, 18 September 2006, at
http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-09-18.htm

2) Request for basic honesty at the Oaxaca Lending Library, 19 September 2006. at
http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-09-19.htm

3) Oaxaca Study-Action Group expelled from Oaxaca Lending Library: anonymous accusations lead to ouster, 28 September 2006, at
http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-09-28.htm

      Obviously there are some people who would be at serious risk if their identity were known. And there are many who simply follow the trend of adopting a quirky name for their e-mail. But there are also the cowards who want to damage other folks anonymously. The problem is how to deal with this latter group, among whom are likely a fair number of psychologically distrubed individuals. My preference, and I know it's 'old-fashioned', would be for as many of us as possible to use our real names.