Subject: [Fwd: [oaxacastudyactiongroup] Implicit threats to OSAG -- Oaxaca Library welcome withdrawn]
From: George Salzman <george.salzman@umb.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:09:17 -0500
To: David Myler <library@oaxlibrary.com>
CC: Bill Pumphrey <vivatexas_one@yahoo.com>, Tonee Mello <toneemello@hotmail.com>, Alvaro Ricárdez Scherenberg <montecarmleg@yahoo.com.mx>, Alvaro Ricardez <alvaroric@hotmail.com>, Nancy Davies nmsdavies@yahoo.com>, Stephen Dunifer <xmtrman@pacbell.net>, Julia Steinberger julias@promessage.com>, William Blum <bblum6@aol.com>

Oaxaca, Tuesday 19 September 2006

Hi David,

      The more I think about it the more I am struck by the absurdity of the last anonymous e-mail you included in your request last night asking that OSAG not meet in the OLL. The very idea it proposed, namely that a bunch of state hoodlums (in or out of uniform) might storm into the library to rough up and arrest a handful of older Americans and in the process might beat up "innocent" old folks who happened to be there (with their canes, walkers and wheelchairs) and who were not OSAG members (and hence not "guilty"), is so riduculous that it's almost laughable, were it not the creation of someone(s) who is/are completely bonkers.

      Have you made information about these smear letters available to the OLL membership through your mailing list? Or have they been left largely in the dark, allowing their fears to be fed by gossip and rumours? There's little question in my mind but that you and Bill Pumphrey, and perhaps other Board Members, have been panicked by the crude smear attack, and that if the membership of OLL has been left uninformed by any reliable information, the result has been a great injustice to the individuals who were attacked. I ask you to send this note, with my last two messages, the one to Julia Steinberger and others, and the one to the OSAG Yahoo discussion list, both of which I am attaching here, to the entire OLL membership, in the interest of basic honesty.

      As you can see, I am more than slightly perturbed by these developments. By now you know me quite well, you also know there is an extreme right-wing loony (or loonies) responsible for the vendetta, and I think you owe it to me, and to the other individuals so vilely portrayed in the anonymous e-mails, to communicate this request and the attached documents to the complete OLL membership. Thank you.

Very sincerely, and with best wishes,
George

Subject: Re: Implicit threats to the Oaxaca Study-Action Group -- Oaxaca Library welcome withdrawn
From: George Salzman
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:14:14 -0500
To: Julia K. Steinberger <julias@promessage.com>, William Blum <bblum6@aol.com>, David Myler <library@oaxlibrary.com>, Bill Pumphrey <vivatexas_one@yahoo.com>, Tonee Mello <toneemello@hotmail.com>, Alvaro Ricrdez Scherenberg <montecarmleg@yahoo.com.mx>, Alvaro Ricardez alvaroric@hotmail.com>, Nancy Davies <nmsdavies@yahoo.com>, Stephen Dunifer <xmtrman@pacbell.net>

Oaxaca, Tuesday 19 September 2006
Hi Julia,

      Thanks for writing, and for thinking about what's going on here. Bill Blum is on my mailing list. He should have received my message, but I honestly don't think it's worth bothering him about this miniscule smear campaign. We are small peanuts in the global struggle, pathetically unable to disseminate the truth of what we experience here to more than a handful of individuals, while the mainstream media continue (reliably) their gross misrepresentation of events. Bill has more important stuff to think about. No matter how it all develops, this moment in Mexico, and especially in Oaxaca, is a rich and inspiring curtain-raiser for what could happen in the world once enough ordinary people realize that they/we can take part in shaping human social evolution. Man, am I itching to witness it before the end of my days! I dream of a world of happy children.
All the best,
George
---------------------------
Subject: Re: Implicit threats to the Oaxaca Study-Action Group -- Oaxaca Library welcome withdrawn
From: Julia K. Steinberger <julias@promessage.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 11:11:51 +0200
To: George Salzman <george.salzman@umb.edu>

Hi George,

I have been reading about your events and adventures in Oaxaca, thanks for sharing this important information which doesn't make it into the mainstream news.

Have you sent this last missive exchange to Bill Blum? He might be able to decode the "CIA-linguistics": the tried and true tactic of preventing democratic meetings and discussions by tarring a group with the violence of its adversary ...

I hope you all stay well and safe, and that Oaxaca, Mexico and the world will remain the better for the activism that is happening there. In other news, the US has again publicly interfered with the democratic process of a sovereign latin american nation by telling the Nicaraguans not to vote for Ortega - implicitly "or else".

Take care of yourselves,
Julia

Subject: [oaxacastudyactiongroup] Implicit threats to OSAG -- Oaxaca Library welcome withdrawn
From: George Salzman <george.salzman@umb.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2006 08:46:30 -0000
To: oaxacastudyactiongroup@yahoogroups.com

Oaxaca, Tuesday 19 September 2006

Friends,

      This past week the Oaxaca Study-Action Group (OSAG), and some of us individually, were unscrupulously and anonymously attacked in e-mails by still unknown parties in what appears to be a vendetta against the work of OSAG.
      I wrote an account intended to introduce these ugly events to folks who have no prior information about them. The link, which I am mailing to my so-called "large" list of about 1,500, and to the OSAG list, which is close to 150, is http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-09-18.htm .
      The most recent of these bizarre harrassing e-mails came last night in a note from David Myler, the Library Manager, after my account had already been posted on my website. I am including it here, but suggest first reading my article linked to above for background. Despite the alarming nature of the contents of his e-mail, when I telephoned Dave last night to ask about it, I learned that he had made no effort to verify from the U.S. Consular Agent whether he knew anything about the statements allegedly attributed to him in this or previous letters. Nor does Dave have any idea who is the anonymous author(s).
      Those of you who are members or friends of the library may wish to write the Library Manager to share your thoughts with him and Library Board members, several of whom are also members of OSAG.

All best wishes,
George

Dear OSAG ---
Bill Pumphrey and I pass on the following correspondence to you, including a message from Mark Leyes, Oaxaca US Consular Agent. In consultation with Library Board members, we must respectfully ask OSAG to discontinue meetings at the Library, including the meeting you have scheduled for this Wed., 20 Sept. We pass this decision on to you now so that you will have an opportunity to find another venue for your meeting should you so desire.
David Myler
Board member and Library Manager

On 9/18/06, Alias aka <alias_aka@latinmail.com> wrote:

Dear Mr. Pumphrey,

What follows is an opinion from Mark Leyes US Consular Agent in Oaxaca.
I consider it highly important that the Library membership be aware of what it says!

There is an OSAG meeting planned for Wednesday Sept. 20. It is contrary to the best interests of the Library to allow OSAG to hold any future meetings, presentations or events on the Library premises. That must include the meeting of Sept. 20.

I will be awaiting news this evening of your decision to curtail all OSAG activity at the Library. I will be available to check for your email after eight this evening.
If your decision is for the Library to continue hosting the OSAG meetings I will have no alternative but to forward Mark's opinion to the general Library membership which may then make an informed decision on what action to take.

Again please excuse my anonymity but I wish to avoid any personal consequences.

Thank you,
Anonymous

What follows is Mark's opinion and our recent correspondence.

***********
Alias, i agree that the library COULD suddenly find itself embroiled in more than it wants or suspects. In any case, the authorities here, if and when they act, will likely do so in a very summary and all-inclusive fashion I have no way of knowing whether they would be interested in making finer distinctions about exactly who is responsible and for exactly what. I no longer belong to the library but i would be concerned if i were an officer there, or a member worried about seeing the place closed down in the middle of some kind of misunderstanding. please, i am NOT predicting this, but at the same time neither i nor anyone else could guarantee you the contrary, either.
mark leyes

----- Original Message -----
From: Alias aka <alias_aka@latinmail.com>
To: Mark A. Leyes <conagent@prodigy.net.mx>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 1:33 PM
Subject: RE:Re: Library Safety

Dear Mark,

Thanks so much for your reply, but what I really want to know is if there is any risk for non-OSAG library members being on the Library premises? Is there any chance the state government (using either uniformed or non-uniformed officers) could target the OSAG group at the library, thereby endangering others present on the premises? I think that engaging in what appears to be subversive activity (supplying clandestine radios to anti-government forces) is much more serious than taking part in a parade or demonstration and could result in a prison sentence before deportation.

Thanks again,
Anonymous

Dear Alias, I received the information you sent and I thank you for it. However, consular agents, or state department foreign service officers in general, are not allowed to investigate, denounce or prosecute our fellow citizens here, nor are we allowed to have an active role in their defense, if they should suddenly find themselves in trouble. Mexican law is quite clear in that it forbids foreigners to participate in 'political activities'. The local authorities are who decided what is political and what is not, and it is at their discretion that people are spoken to, detained, deported, etc. They have been extremely tolerant at times, and then again they have on occasion been very strict in their interpretation and in their response. When I say 'strict', I refer to summary justice: they (can and will) detain you and deport you within 24 hours, with no recourse to appeal or due process. I am sure that the American citizens who are here as guests of the MX. govt. understand what they are doing and have simmply decided to act out on their own and at their own risk. I understand that the 'warning' appeared in the library newspaper. Feel free to contact me for this or any other reason. - Mark Leyes, Oaxaca, MX.

----- Original Message -----
From: Alias aka <alias_aka@latinmail.com>
To: Mark A. Leyes <conagent@prodigy.net.mx>
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 4:39 PM
Subject: Library Safety

Dear Mark,

At the end of this letter is an extract of an article written by George Salzman. It outlines how much of the violence in recent months has focused on communication media, primarily for the control of radio and television stations.

Mr.Salzman is a self-described anarchist/communist. He is an extreme left-wing activist here in Oaxaca and is an active supporter of the APPO.

Mr.Salzman and Oaxaca Library director Tonee Melo founded the Oaxaca Study Action Group (OSAG). Library director Alvaro Ricardez is also a member of the group. The OSAG is in full support of the APPO and discusses ways it can help the APPO in carrying out its goals and is now providing active physical support including financial donations. The group has been existence for eight months and holds weekly meetings hosted by the Oaxaca Lending Library.

On Wednesday September 13 the invited speaker at the OSAG meeting was Stephen Dunifer. The title of the presentation was "Project TUPA (Transmitters uniting the peoples of the Americas) and Community Radio"

--
Dávid Myler de Oaxaca