David Gómez vazquez (1992–2017)
The first time I met David, he was 22 years old—a bright eyed, slightly shy, and quick-stepped “compañero.” We met at a workshop about organizing for community health. We didn’t speak much that time but I remember him earnestly jotting down notes and asking questions with a look and tone that transmitted both interest and urgency. This was one of the first collective encounters that gave birth to the Brigada de Salud Comunitaria 43, a grassroots, community-based project and organizing space that David participated in and supported until the day of his assassination on February 11th, 2017, a few weeks shy of his turning 25. David’s sense of urgency was one that we shared in the almost three years that we knew each other as friends and compañeros, supporting the work of the Brigada in one of the most politically, economically, and socially turbulent regions of Mexico: the state of Guerrero. A sense of urgency permeates daily life in this region and country where forced disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial assassinations, alongside worsening living, work, and health conditions, are factors that organizers contend with, strategize around, and far too often, lose their lives to. David often spoke about the need to do as much as possible while he “was still young” and still had energy. He viewed grassroots organizing as an identity and way of life. His life’s path and choices reflected this deep commitment. At the age of thirteen he participated in the mobilization that pressured for the release of political prisoners detained during the anti-globalization protests in Guadalajara, his home city. He continued to participate in various spaces in Guadalajara until making the decision to move to Mexico City in 2010 at the age of 17, in order to participate in the vibrant and radical student movement. It was during this period that his interest grew in supporting organizing efforts in the state of Guerrero. Over the next few years he would support the organizing efforts of students at the Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College and the Community Police (CRAC-PC) while remaining active in solidarity efforts in student-led spaces in Mexico City. As I got to know David, I was surprised by his dedication, especially his solid theoretical base. I admired his familiarity with various political processes and social movements from different eras of Mexican history but above all the ease with which he brought people from different organizing spaces together and participated in the construction of community-based efforts. In the various community-based organizing spaces I witnessed David in, it was evident that he inspired trust, hope, respect, and, above all, a sense of family—something we always spoke of as being fundamental to solid organizing efforts. During the most difficult days in which the weight of political repression and violence hung heavily over us, during the mourning for compañeros fallen in struggle, I could always count on David to make sure I didn’t give up hope. He believed it was possible to construct community-based autonomy with a mix of socialist and anarchist principles through praxis that respected indigenous identity, local needs, history, and experience. This is the commitment that we hold to David’s memory and the memory of many other compañeros we have lost. David, I can only say thank you for your energy, your ideas, your mistakes, and the time that you shared with us—part of your family rooted in struggle.
David, hermano mío, contigo seguiremos siendo pueblo, haciéndonos pueblo y estando con el pueblo. Descansa en eterna rebeldía.
Brigada de Salud Comunitaria 43 28 de febrero, 2017 México