Cuba USA
- Mexico Government: "from The Perfect Dictatorship To The Perfect Caricature"
by Juan Villoro source Aristegui Noticias interviewed by Carmen Artistegui "Mexican politics is a theater of appearances," says Juan Villoro. The writer and journalist has just published 'Funerales preventivos' [Precautionary Funerals] (Rafters),...
- Progressive And Opposition Governments In Latinamerica
by Juan J. Paz y Miño C. source El Telégrafo translation Cuba – Network in Defense of Humanity In the years that have passed it has been demonstrated that progressive and new left governments in Latin America have three basic “enemies”: the high...
- Mexico Elections: Detestable Green Party Reflects Mexico's Weak Democracy
by Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquezsource mexicovoices Some say that Flaubert's letters were his masterpiece. More than his novels, writing comes alive in his letters; you can see critical spark, irony and venom. In one of them I find he confesses his...
- Mexico Protests: Social Mobilization Versus Violence In The National University
By Javier FloresSource La Jornada These days two distinct forms of social reaction to the disappearance of students from the Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa are being expressed.One of them is a form of spontaneous protest that shows the great dissatisfaction...
- "mexican Hope" The Land Of Zapata Has Once Again Become A Beacon Of Hope In The Middle Of The Arid Desert Of Corruption.
By John M AckermanSource Latino Rebels The land of Zapata has once again become a beacon of hope in the middle of the arid desert of corruption which today controls politics as usual in Washington, Mexico City, Ottawa and beyond. While Mexico’s...
Cuba USA
Mexico Government: Civil Society Way Ahead of Its Political Leaders
by Víctor Flores Olea
source La Jornada
Among the indicators of today's Mexico, one stands out: the superiority, the advance of civil society with respect to the government. Society has greater dynamism and a more accurate view of the future, with the idea of making national institutions more democratic. Society's perspective is "much more fitting of the Mexico that we all want", not just for democracy, but also for equality and justice. In the face of these objectives, the government's action is just imprecise babble, very backward and piecemeal. It is true that, in general, it is about different generations but, above all, it is about the private interests that are present and that impose on government action and make [the government] forget society's multidimensional interests.
Of course, many will say, not without reason, that civil society, especially if we go to the Left, is greatly divided and fragmented. There are, however, indisputable common elements, which would be other than clear pathologies. They are issues requiring urgent attention, such that:
-Corruption may continue to be the main modus operandi of doing business, especially involving the government in its various levels [federal, state, municipal];
-Democracy prevail—this one is definitely positive—not only in elections, but more generally in the entirety of social relations;
-Violence and insecurity prevailing in large areas of the national territory, which undoubtedly impede peaceful coexistence so necessary for development, but which doesn't seem to be moving toward resolution, despite official claims to the contrary;
-Efforts from many sides to break the legal order, which has much to do with corruption, but is much broader and seems to have seeped into very wide sectors of the Judiciary.This list of practical negative aspects with which very broad groups of civil society live would be almost endless, but it doesn't compare either in quantity or quality to the citizenry that aspire to a true Mexico, peaceful and without either shady or corrupt deals such as those that still infringe on us.
In this great step forward, the political parties and social movements should play a pioneering role of radical advance. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The citizenry has an extraordinarily widespread distrust of the political parties, and the parties, with few exceptions, do not conduct themselves in ways such that they might claim the truth before the public. Potentially, social movements in this field would have much more to offer and to construct, but the wide dispersion of these movements makes the task even more difficult.
In informal surveys, even at the university level, the trend of preferences seems clearly to be the one indicated earlier, with something worth mentioning: political organizations, in their eventual transition from movements to political parties, take on a special significance in the eyes of the public, which is the shift from great hope and confidence to the standard measure of negative judgment poured on all political parties.
Without going any further, this is the situation that Morena has probably experienced in university circles. As a movement of political opposition, it awakened not only curiosity but enthusiasm. However, as admitted by a good number of university students, Morena's conversion to a political party and its role in the political environment caused disappointment and detachment.
A characteristic note must be mentioned: the fact of an extremely individualized leadership [centered on AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador], which some even characterize as a "caudillista [political boss] leadership" style, would be one of the main reasons for distrust of the new political party.
In any case, recognizing that his [AMLO's] good judgment, more abstract than practical, additional reflection could still lead to 'moment of truth' and a vote for Morena—given the distrust that they [students] have developed of other parties. Above all, [distrust] with respect to the PRI [Party of the Revolutionary Institution], which they consider the origin and matrix of all the distortions that Mexico has suffered in the life of its political parties. In the beginning, there would have been corruption, violation [of the law] unpunished by the law, denial of democracy in a thousand-and-one ways, and the origin in Mexico of caudillo [political bossist] governments. Of course, the Leftists would be the real counterweight and, by definition, opposed to the PRI governments.
Undoubtedly, the question that arises from this situation is: What to do? Among other considerations is the fact that the Mexican Left is divided and fragmented. The situation is extremely serious because we have lived too many years—for decades now—in an environment where the political parties seem neither to offer any promising future nor does there seem to be a social movement of such magnitude that it might include the vast majority of civil society.
In any event, it is undeniable that today there is a much broader awareness than that of a few years ago, in the recognition that things must fundamentally change in Mexico. This, however, does not mean that there must necessarily be an elaborate plan about what to do and how to carry it out. Once again, it would seem that in Mexico events will develop according to the circumstances and not necessarily according to a previously prepared plan. Such a thing definitely does not mean that different groups are not already thinking about courses of action, even when the actions aren't necessarily going to adjust promptly to those preliminary preparations.
Obviously, nor does this mean that the groups and vanguards dedicated to these considerations might not meet their scheduled or proposed goals.
But the undeniable fact is that civil society as a whole is, in both lucidity and will, very above and beyond government actions, whose structural reforms are very far from the social sense. Once again, it is confirmed that society is far above and way beyond its political leaders.
- Mexico Government: "from The Perfect Dictatorship To The Perfect Caricature"
by Juan Villoro source Aristegui Noticias interviewed by Carmen Artistegui "Mexican politics is a theater of appearances," says Juan Villoro. The writer and journalist has just published 'Funerales preventivos' [Precautionary Funerals] (Rafters),...
- Progressive And Opposition Governments In Latinamerica
by Juan J. Paz y Miño C. source El Telégrafo translation Cuba – Network in Defense of Humanity In the years that have passed it has been demonstrated that progressive and new left governments in Latin America have three basic “enemies”: the high...
- Mexico Elections: Detestable Green Party Reflects Mexico's Weak Democracy
by Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquezsource mexicovoices Some say that Flaubert's letters were his masterpiece. More than his novels, writing comes alive in his letters; you can see critical spark, irony and venom. In one of them I find he confesses his...
- Mexico Protests: Social Mobilization Versus Violence In The National University
By Javier FloresSource La Jornada These days two distinct forms of social reaction to the disappearance of students from the Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa are being expressed.One of them is a form of spontaneous protest that shows the great dissatisfaction...
- "mexican Hope" The Land Of Zapata Has Once Again Become A Beacon Of Hope In The Middle Of The Arid Desert Of Corruption.
By John M AckermanSource Latino Rebels The land of Zapata has once again become a beacon of hope in the middle of the arid desert of corruption which today controls politics as usual in Washington, Mexico City, Ottawa and beyond. While Mexico’s...