Is this the first true grassroots insurgency of the 21st century?

The teachers union has been on strike for 26 days. Every year members of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación take to the streets to protest their subsistence wage salaries and working conditions in a Mexican state where the governor and his deputies have salaries and perks that reach six figures.

This year they've taken over the center of Oaxaca. Things turned violent last Thursday with the police using force and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

How did the teachers respond? Most throwing stones. Some flinging molotovs. Univision and other news organizations are reporting four people are dead, among them one child. Hundreds are reported as hurt. The government insists they have no evidence of any deaths.

One million kids have been left without classes. The city government has been shut down. Businesses went dark. And now unions from all over the Mexico and the hemisphere, including the United States, are throwing their support behind the teachers with protests and demonstrations all across the American hemisphere.

Half a million people marched yesterday in Oaxaca. Labor unions of all kinds but whole families with their kids as well. The reason is more than just solidarity with the teachers : Mexico's general election is on July 1st and many believe these protests are a prelude to the country's marching to the ballot boxes.

I can't help but think that what's happening in Oaxaca is something completely related to the April and May pro-immigration marches we had here in the United States.

I reported about the protests held in New York City at CUNY teaching staff protest in solidarity with Oaxaca striking teachers | The Daily Gotham.

All of these video clips were found in a search of "Oaxaca" at YouTube.