The Long Struggle of Mexican Teachers
The teachers' protests that have erupted in Mexico are part of a century-long fight for equitable schools and genuine democracy.
The Mexican Teachers Union (SNTE) has 1.4 million members, with two hundred thousand or more active in the dissident National Coordinating Committee (CNTE). For four months, CNTE has been engaged in strikes and direct actions that have at times paralyzed the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Michoacán.
The CNTE has been leading a massive movement for thirty-seven years in a struggle to win teachers higher wages and protect public education. More recently, in its battle against the government’s education reform law, it has proposed a new educational model for the country.
How did teachers in Mexico acquire such a central place in the country’s social and political history? How did they become such an organized force both in the government’s corporative labor and political system, as well as in the working class and social movement that challenges the government? What is the dissident teachers movement and what does it want?
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.