Dear colleagues:

RIDEF 2024 is slowly approaching. It will take place in the city of Oaxaca, in the southern region of Mexico, at Moisés Sáenz High School within the federal system. It's important to start marking your calendars because we are eagerly awaiting your arrival. The event is scheduled from August 2nd to August 11th, 2024, as our school calendar ends in late July.

Oaxaca has been a hub for various social movements, such as the Oaxaca Commune of 2006, with the people's struggle (APPO) alongside democratic teachers of Section 22. They primarily aim for the emancipation from colonial practices that indigenous communities have endured.

Therefore, our society maintains a constant practice of resistance.

On the other hand, Oaxaca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known as the "Verde Antequera" for its magnificent green quarry colonial-style architecture. This city is brimming with traditions, festivals, music, crafts, markets, museums, galleries, street art, colorful neighborhoods, and a rich culinary tradition. Oaxaca brings together countless cultures from all over the state. Its people are known for their hospitality, hard work, and kindness.

The theme we've proposed for this RIDEF is: "The Genesis of Critical Thought and Resistance in Teacher Training."

We identify ourselves as Freinet educators, providing spaces in our classrooms for the free expression of children and young people's thoughts. We organize assemblies where critical thinking intertwines with cooperative processes to help students address and solve their problems. We believe that schools nurture a scientific mindset against all forms of dogma. We value questions more than correct answers and believe in the liberating power of art, words, color, music, and movement. Not to create artists or win prizes, but to allow the free expression of every child and young person.

But the question now is: How do we become Freinet educators? How do we train ourselves, and how do we train others? We invite you to ponder these questions and start answering them because we want the workshops and reflection spaces at RIDEF to allow us to share the paths of our own training and that of new colleagues joining our movements.

OPEN DOORS DAY: TAMAZULAPAM NORMAL SCHOOL

Drawing inspiration from the open doors day organized in Nantes, the RIDEF in Oaxaca, Mexico, proposes a day to meet with the Tamazulapam Rural Normal School teachers to share the project of rural normals in constant resistance against neoliberal policies, aiming to train educators for the people. The program for this day will be organized with the Federation of Socialist Peasant Students of Mexico (FECSM) with the goal of sharing their self-training strategies and their work program to educate teachers with an awareness of the rural communities' realities.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS, AND YOUTH WITHIN RIDEF

During RIDEF, we will hold an in-person and virtual meeting of children, adolescents, and youth from our country and other nations to listen to their reflections, questions, requests, and acknowledgments for their teachers and schools. We want to know what children and adolescents think about their teachers, classes, schools, virtual classrooms, what is taught, what is learned in school, and what they would like to learn. This will help us deeply reflect on our educational tasks, change what hurts them, and reinforce interventions that allow them to fully enjoy the school environment. Let's listen to our children and adolescents; it will be the best lesson we can receive.

IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL ELEMENTS IN RIDEF

We've analyzed the richness of virtual meetings held since 2019 in REMFA Cuernavaca, as well as the FIMEM General Assembly in 2020 and REMFA Brazil in 2021. We want to express our readiness to conduct hybrid sessions (both in-person and virtual) to accommodate as many movement members as possible. In this case, the feasibility of sharing the General Assembly, the Children, Adolescents, and Youth Meeting, the visit to the Normal School, some conferences, some extended workshops, and intercultural events via the internet will be explored.

We have a strong desire to share our pedagogical practices, landscapes, food, and culture with you and welcome you with open arms, just like in 2008.

So, get ready for Oaxaca 2024. We look forward to your presence!