THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014
PAGE 3A
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Panel to discuss missing Mexican students
MARK ARCE
@Mark_Arce13
TOP: Two people hold up a black Mexican flag dotted with photos of people during a march in Mexico City on Monday. Protesters marched in several cities in Mexico to mark the second anniversary of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration and demand the government find students who disappeared at the hands of police.
ABOVE: A protester sets on fire several busts and photographs of former Guerrero state governors outside the state government palace in Chilpancingo, Mexico, on Wednesday.
This Friday, a student organization will hold a roundtable composed of students and faculty to discuss the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico, and among other topics, how the incident relates to violence and corruption. The roundtable will take place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall in room 318.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Latin American Graduate Organization president Marisela Chavez, a graduate student from Colima, Mexico, sees the roundtable as a way for other members of the group to stay connected with activism in response to the event, while also contributing to the overall conversation surrounding it.
"It definitely helps us feel more connected to what's going on," Chavez said.
The panel will discuss a variety of subjects related to the disappearance of the 43 students, such as: education after the Mexican Revolution, how the government has criminalized activities like protesting, the Mexican president's response to the event and the domestic and international response to the event in Mexico.
"It's not just about learning, it's about discussing and it's about questioning, it's about being upset and it's about hearing different perspectives from different people and their interpretations and how do we make sense of that," Chavez said.
The panel will be made of University faculty as well as graduate students. Faculty includes professors Magali Rabasa, Rafael Acosta and Ruben Flores, and lecturer Elizabeth Villalobos. The faculty will be joined by graduate students Adolfo Bejar, from Mexico City, and Tomas Soriano, from Tampico, Mexico.
The panel is a part of an ongoing reaction to the disappearance of 43 students from Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers' College that were abducted by local police in Iguala, Mexico, in September. The students were protesting controversial hiring and funding practices by the Mexican government.
Rabasa, one of the panelist, said the solidarity shown for the students is part of a larger problem.
problem.
"I see what's happening in Mexico right now and the case of the missing 43 students as absolutely tied to not only 500 years of resistance and exploitation, but also to the last eight years of the war in Mexico," Rabasa said. "I think it's really kind of a tipping point, which is why we've seen so many protests around it."
For Chávez, the panel format is an informal way to discuss a complex topic.
complex topic.
"I think the accessibility is an important part," Chávez said. "There will be some more experienced scholars, some emerging scholars and then everybody who really has some genuine questions."
Rabasa thinks the panel serves as a way to show struggles students in other parts of the world face, and can give insight to the place some recent immigrants are coming from as well as raise awareness.
"Raising awareness is just one of the ways we can actually intervene in what's happening.
because when a government knows the world is watching they start to pay more attention to what they are doing." Rabasa said. "It's not to say I think that the Mexican government is going to start being nice, but international attention has always been a very, very powerful strategy and so my hope is that
by adding Lawrence to the list of hundreds of cities around the world that are doing actions like this and having events to inform people, contributes to that actual awareness and that potential to intervene."
Edited by Lyndsey Havens
This Sunday is the 109th anniversary of Helium being discovered at KU and the 42nd anniversary of the first Jayhawk alum to travel in space. Big day!
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