On Infoshop, there is a moving eyewitness report about what really happened at the barricades. Apparently, the footage has been recovered, too. I wonder if this is the first Indymedia volunteer who died since Indymedia was founded.
Infoshop reports:
“Suddenly, about a dozen people started shouting, donning masks, picking up Molotov cocktails (known as bombas Molotov) and cohetes (large bottle rockets typically shit out of PVC pipes the people call bazookas), and collecting rocks and sticks.”
And:
“Many corporate news outlets, most notably those relying on AP “reporter” Rebeca Romero (widely believed to be on Ulises Ruiz’s payroll), have claimed it was “unclear” as to who shot first. It was the Pristas. From the ground, on the receiving end of the gunfire, there is no doubt as to who shot first. There is nothing “unclear” about it. It was the PrÃistas, shown by El Universal photos and local television to be armed to the teeth, who shot first.”
Basically since Genoa, everybody knows that making alternative media can be dangerous, even more, dangerous than mainstream media, and, tatatata and surprise – the main danger are the police and capitalist forces, not the protesters.
But there have been quite a few people close to Indymedia been killed, in Argentina, or Indymedia activists have died or committed suicide (I think there was a case..).
Yesterday, I was quite down. if something like this happens I am always reflecting if I do the right thing with my life.
But is dying on the barricades, protecting your ideas whilst fighting for freedom with the pen and the videocamera, not a noble death we thought had last been possible in the Spanish Civil War?
On the other hand, I was reading a report on Narconews that begged him not to go to Oaxaca, but to Atenco instead.
Comments
Comment by Adam on 2006-10-29 16:50:09 +0100
The only positive we can possibly draw from this is that, through his death, Brad has brought world attention to grassroots resistance in Oaxaca, and to Indymedia itself. Mainstream sources have said ‘Indymedia’ and ‘journalist’ together, and people will have logged on. That has to be a great legacy.