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Please Copy This Film Bonus Interview: Nicole Betancourt Chats with Tami Gold

Published on March 14, 2007

A note from Tami Gold: It has come to my attention that some people who have read the interview below feel that I represented myself as having videotaped all the footage in Land Rain and Fire. It is important to make clear that the footage of the June 14th, 2006 police repression of the teachers strike and most of the demonstration footage was videotaped by members of the Mal de Ojo IndyMedia collective.

This bonus interview is offered as a supplement to the article "Please Copy This Film: Video and the People's Movement in Oaxaca, Mexico."

Nicole: I loved your film, Land Rain and Fire and I am amazed that you made it so fast. How long did it take you again?

Tami: In total, we spent six weeks editing it, designing the video case art work and the Take Action card inside the case. It was a very fast process -- we did not do any re-cuts, every edit was a commitment, the guiding force was speed. We needed to get the word out, but we did stop to redo the end after Brad Will (IndyMedia journalist) was killed.

Nicole: How do you think the murder of Brad affected the situation in Oaxaca?

Tami: It had a dramatic impact on me. I was inside Oaxaca every minute of my breathing day since returning to NYC. I slept with the phone next to me. All my friends from Oaxaca were online with me daily. Then on a Friday night I went to the theatre with my entire family to see Emergencee about racism and white supremacy. I had to turn my phone off. As soon as the show was over I turned the cell phone on and there was an emergency message about Brad. Many of us in the alternative community knew him. I did not know he was in Oaxaca. Yes it has had a loud impact on the coverage of Oaxaca and the people's struggle. It shook the earth under many of us. This could have been any one of us.

Protest graffiti on the streets of Oaxaca. Photo by Nicole Betancourt

Nicole: It certainly made me nervous when I considered going out in the streets and shooting video.

Tami: First there were immediate demonstrations in NYC at the consulate -- there was a service at the St. Marks Church. Democracy Now! did a very long and in-depth story about Brad and then finally they told the story of the struggle. It was difficult to get the attention of Democracy Now! -- I had called them many times from Oaxaca to turn them on to all that was happening. Finally after Brad was killed they jumped to it and have been doing tremendous coverage since. The Village Voice did a front page major story on the struggle basically through the life story of Brad and the cover page had a painting of Brad -- the angelic white male Jesus -- it was wonderful and filled with contradictions. I have learned to accept contradictions in the press and try to use the press in this struggle as with all struggles to tell the stories of working and oppressed people.

Most important is that fact that the Spanish language press has been covering the story of Oaxaca in the NY area way before all the other -- even progressive -- press. We need to connect to the Spanish language press and make allies there.

Nicole: It has been interesting to watch the media coverage in the US while living in Oaxaca. Mainstream media seems to get it wrong a lot of the time. The best information in Oaxaca seems to be from talking to as many different Oaxaque�os as possible. Have you been concerned for your safety?

Tami: Yes, I have been concerned about my security -- absolutely -- this was true before Brad was killed. I have been careful and well-educated on the way police operate, in Mexico and in NYC. I always had my camera with me. Always. When I drove into a blockade, I would act like a tourist and jump out of my car and just film a bit and then I would return to driving to where ever I was headed. We did the two major interviews for the film away from the streets. The young woman in the video, a student, was interviewed in the Zocalo (main square). There was a people's mass on the Sunday that the university radio station (APPO's main radion station) was attacked. I filmed the mass and it was brilliant -- a people's mass for the struggle -- there was incence and no priest wore a robe. They passed around tortillas and there she was, this 17-year-old, and she asked me to interview her. She said "I have to tell you the truth, please interview me." That is how we got her interview.

Nicole: How would you describe the role of video in the human rights movement in Oaxaca so far?

Tami: Following the June 14th attack on the teacher's sit-in at the Zocalo, the Zocalo was filled with vendors who were immediately selling DVDs of the attack -- this was brilliant. It was part of the groundwork to build mass support...of the popular assembly. I must explain one thing -- before the June 14th attack on the strike by the governor and the police, there was very little popular support for the strike. I was alone in my support -- most of the people I met at the indigenous film festival thought that I was a weird American. I was proud that my NY union had a demonstration in support of the strike. The videos being sold in the Zocalo were clear evidence that the governor and his paramilitary tools were out of control -- this was the last draw. But there is (and I am still learning about this) a long history of a people's movement in the state of Oaxaca outside the city. So the oppression was a spark that connected with already organized forces throughout the state -- this is important. Oaxaca has hundreds of human rights, ecological, women's organizations, etc. -- deep in the Oaxacan soil there is great class consciousness. I did not notice this as much in the city, but following the June 14th attack, the spark ignited and this was a major force for the development of APPO. Video has been a strong component in the people's struggle -- I was introduced to folks who have been creating videos in their unions throughout the state. They are quite sophisticated.

People watch Maldeojo TV documentaries on the street. Photo by Nicole Betancourt

Remember -- going back to the video Land, Rain and Fire -- I had been videotaping in Oaxaca for over one year about the situation of Zapotec women in the small towns. Much of this material was used in the video. As I said, I always have a camera in my classy pocket book. So I would be visiting ceramic artist and filming them. The scene of the old man was shot while I was with the son of Dolores Portas, the famous potter, and I ran into this man. I have hours and hours of people in the state just living their lives, and this was, I think, most important in a video about struggle.

Nicole: You were going to say something about how the teacher's union has been working in Oaxaca -- I am particularly interested in how they use video. I don't think many people know that Oaxaca has this tradition of video activism.

Tami: Yes, there is a long time history of popular media activism -- this has been true in Chiapas for decades and also in Oaxaca. Maldeojo is an outgrowth of much of the work that Indymedia has been involved with for some time. Then there is the more structural use of video production i.e. unions. I saw wonderful short pieces at the [teacher's] union office in Oaxaca -- people were telling stories of struggles in different parts the state. Now with small format video production and all kinds of software for editing, people use video in Mexico much like the Mexican tradition of the painters making murals. There is a profound interconnection between class struggle/ indigenous struggle/women's struggle and art -- a brilliant history. Just think of the immediate reactions to the June 14th attack by the police -- there must be over a dozen corridas (songs) about the incident. Immediately everyone picks up the tools of their art and begins to express themselves -- this is now true with video -- video activism has gone global as well as McDonalds. Remember all that happened to Diego Rivera and his white-washed murals? And of course Zigueados and his massive murals -- in Mexico art is everywhere.

Nicole: It is truly incredible how creative this movement has been. How do you think that the role of media like radio, video and the web has changed with this crackdown?

Tami: RADIO RADIO RADIO RADIO RADIO is the key -- it has been the connecting tissue during the entire struggle. It has been the line into the forgotten communities. I found Radio Planton by chance -- I fell into it just after it was created. My immediate reaction was "my spanish must be terrible, because I think these people are saying stuff and they cannot really be saying this," or "This is Pacifica with a sense of humor." Then, once the strike started this past June I began to listen daily. I do not have radio reception in my home and no TV so I would sit in my car and listen. I learned about the history of the teacher's movement, the class struggle in the state, the long and painful stories of PRI's [the ruling party in Oaxaca's] corrupt relationship to the state, etc. So radio was situated in a very important place right from the start -- the key link! Then with the repression and the takeovers of the radio stations and [public] TV, an important message was communicated -- the power of this medium and the role of the State and its ability to miseducate, distort, etc, the truth. Following this, the takeover of the commercial stations enlarged this discourse. But now the stolen equipment from Radio Planton and Radio Univ is being used by the State on the station Citizen Radio and it is sending out more mistruths. The struggle has become, in additon to the resignation of the Governor and the corrupt paramilitary, etc, the question of who owns and operate the airwaves, the real estate of radio and tv transmission! I just heard that one station is back up, Radio Planton, but there is some interference that hurt the signal.

Nicole: What is your target audience for the film? What impact is the film having on that audience now and what impact do you hope it will have in the future?

Tami: In our fundraising we are requesting support to creatively distribute Land, Rain and Fire, which we produced in just two months. Before the piece was completed, we initiated a high-impact distribution campaign throughout the United States using segments of the documentary as a way to raise awareness about and build solidarity with the people's movement currently sweeping the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Now that the documentary is complete, we are trying to get support to build on this work, which will include screenings at unions, churches, schools, community centers, educational forums, etc. It is critical that this work coincide with the recently formed NY-Oaxacan Solidarity Committee. What happens in Oaxaca is having a ripple effect throughout Mexico and the US. Land, Rain and Fire comes out of the belief that it is very important for progressive people to monitor, learn from and build support for this movement.

Police barricades block off the street. Photo by Nicole Betancourt

We are working to build support and an understanding of the popular movement in Oaxaca through the video's distribution. It is through our discussions and outreach, that we are raising the important connection to the role of the United States-based institutions such as the School of the Americas in the training of violent torturers who have been responsible for much of the violence in Oaxaca, Mexico. What began as a teacher's strike for better wages and more resources for students has erupted into a massive movement for profound social change in the state of Oaxaca. Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico. The situation has been exacerbated during the last decade as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the privatization of public services. NAFTA is an invention of corporate America!

We have produced a documentary in record speed (for us) that speaks to an emergency situation in Mexico. We understand the power of art in direct organizing. To this end, we have circulated over 500 copies of the DVD at cost or for free. We have been on seven radio shows and have been on the Spanish language cable program Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network "Dialogo de Costa a Costa." We have presented Land, Rain and Fire at City Tech CUNY, at Queens College Anti-War Mobilization, Global Action Project, the Brooklyn Parents for Peace Conference, the HERE Union in Chicago, the Fellowship Hall of the Summerfield United Methodist, the University of Oregon, New York University's Film Department, the Worker Education Queens Center, the Brecht Forum, Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, Park Slope Food Coop Film Nights, the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, University of Massachusetts, Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis, Department of Sociology at Vassar College, The Berkana Institute, City College and many local community groups in the Metropolitan area.

The documentary is being cablecast over Manhattan Neighborhood Network and made available to other public access programs nationally at no charge. Many schools throughout the northeast have invited us to present the program and it will be presented at the upcoming Labor Tec Conference. It has been licensed by Free Speech TV and will be on 40 networks nationally.

We plan to organize local meetings in community centers, housing projects, schools and religious centers around the issues raised in this film. The outcome of this work is to open up discussion around the role of the United States in Mexico and the interconnectedness between the growth of the people's movement, the North American Free Trade Agreement and globalization. In addition, with the distribution of Land, Rain and Fire, we are building a national consciousness and movement in support of the popular movement in Oaxaca.