Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

28 • islands of resistance
included one FM and one AM station as well. In so doing, they wrote
another chapter in the history of people, and most particularly women,
seizing the means of communications and reclaiming what is theirs.
By evening the women were broadcasting on Channel 9 with demands
for the resignation of the governor. Videos by indigenous community
members followed the initial broadcast. For the next approximately
three weeks, the indigenous communities saw what they have never
seen before on Channel 9 — themselves!
In response to the occupation, armed paramilitaries and police
attacked the main transmitter and support equipment for Channel 9
in the early morning hours of August 21. High velocity bullets ripped
into equipment, effectively putting Channel 9 off the air. One person
was wounded. As the word spread about this attack, a spontaneous
movement seized 12 to 15 commercial radio stations in Oaxaca City.
Expecting to be attacked at any time, neighbourhoods and communities
throughout Oaxaca City organized a complex network of
barricades and notification systems, using materials such as bells or
fireworks to warn of an impending attack by the police and/or paramilitaries.
The people were in control and the official government no
longer functioned in many parts of the state of Oaxaca.
Humiliated by the turn of events, the governor and his allies in both
the Mexican government and private sector commenced a “dirty
war” against the popular assembly movement. Reminiscent of similar
tactics employed in Central America in the 1980s, people were “disappeared”
and became targets of “random” shootings. One of the victims
of this “dirty war” was Brad Will, an American journalist with
Indymedia and a documentary filmmaker. He was shot and killed on
October 27, 2006 by police and paramilitaries acting on behalf of the
governor. Interestingly enough, Brad had been involved in the creation
of a free radio station, Steal This Radio, in New York City in the
mid-1990s. Increasing numbers of federal troops were brought in to
crush the popular rebellion. Finally, a force numbering approximately
4000 were dispatched in November 2006 to recapture Oaxaca City
and return it to “normalcy.” Despite repeated attacks, including being
strafed with bullets, Radio Universidad continued to broadcast until
the very end as the voice of the Oaxaca Commune. Police forces were
never able to invade and shut down the station. Fierce and determined
resistance prevented federal police from entering the university. Free