Feb 4, 2020
This week on The Final Straw, an anarchist living in Mexico
talks about the reign of the MORENA party of Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador (aka AMLO), the new face of capitalism it presents, it’s
relation to social movements and indigenous sovereignty and the
anarchist and indigenous resistance to the regime. We cover
mega-projects being pushed through around the country, the
repression of activists and more in this whopper of an episode.
Here’s a great English-language blog based mostly out of Oaxaca
that covers struggle in Mexico and across the northern border:
https://elenemigocomun.net/
To learn more about the Anarchist Days that our guest spoke
on, you can email janarquistas2020@protonmail.com!
Channel Zero Fundraiser
The gofundme can be found at https://gofundme.com/Channel-zero-network-2020-fundraiser/
.To check out the video to match the audio you just heard so you
can enjoy and spread it around, check out our show notes or at
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Final Straw Notes from the guest:
AMLO & Mexican social movements
- Partido
Revolucionaro Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party) 71
years in power 1929-2000
- PRI lost
in 2000 to Vicente Fox (PAN)
- 2006
Felipe Calderon PAN
- 2012
Enrique Peña Nieto
- 2018 AMLO
(MORENA)
AMLO's History (Career Politician)
- 1977
Director of National Indigenous Institute of
Tabasco
- Late
1980’s joined the PRD Party
- AMLO is
elected mayor of Mexico City in 2000 with the PRD Party
- 2006 ran
for president with the PRD Party
- 2012 ran
for president with the PRD Party, afterwards leaving the PRD to
form MORENA in 2014
- 2018 won
the presidency with 53% of the vote
AMLO’s politics, modernization & neoliberal efforts. Fourth
transformation?
Discourse
of "Anti-corruption, address poverty, security, businessmen as
mafia of power"
Capitalism
with a new face “Post-neoliberalism?”
Populism-
Appeals to national sovereignty, nationalism, domestic
self-sufficiency
"Popular
consultations" to justify and impose megaprojects “mandar
obedeciendo”
Abrazos
no balazos (hugs not bullets) “we don’t repress
anyone”
"Pacifist
Government"
Modernization,
development, overcoming of marginalization, bringing Indigenous
communities into the national economy
Problematic
support of AMLO from leftists in the global north
If you
want to understand the politics of Mexico, listen to the voices of
Indigenous peoples and communities, women in struggle,
campesinos
Indigenous populations and megaprojects
Airport Lake Texcoco
New
International Airport of Mexico City proposed in 2001 by Vicente
Fox, but cancelled shortly after due to organized
resistance
AMLO
cancelled project after carrying out a "popular
consultation"
Cancel
one mega-project to impose three more
Expansion
of Santa Lucia and Toluca airports
Naucalpan-
Toluca highway
Interurban
train
- Tren Maya (Mayan Train)
950-mile
train connecting principal tourist destinations in the states of
Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, Yucatan and Quintana Roo
17
stations including Playa del carmen, Tulum, Palenque, Merida,
Cancun
Infrastructure
projects to be built around train stations
For
tourists and cargo
- “Corredor Transistmico” Interoceanic
corridor
Industrial
corridor connecting the ports of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, on the
pacific coast, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, in the gulf of
Mexico.
The
project is meant to compete with the Panama Canal, as a route of
land transportation connecting the Pacific with the gulf of
Mexico.
United
States has been trying to get this project going since the 19th
century
Train
routes and a super highway, modernization of ports, and various
older train routes
- Proyeto integral de morelos (PIM) (Integral Project of
Morelos)
Project
that began in 2012 and has faced stiff resistance from the Frente
de pueblos en defensa de tierra y agua Morelos-puebla-tlaxcala
(People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water
Morelos-Puebla-Tlaxcala)
The PIM
roject includes:
Thermoelectric
plant in Huexca, Morelos
A natural
gas pipeline to supply gas to the plant which passes through 60
Indigenous and campesino communities in Tlaxcala, Puebla and
Morelos
An
aqueduct that seeks to move 50 million liters of water daily to the
thermoelectric plant from the Rio Cuautla
Italian
and Spanish transnationals
Zapatismo:
Armed
Indigenous rebellion in Chiapas in 1994. After failed talks with
the government, they took the path of autonomy
2003-formation
of five caracoles (zones of autonomous self-government) The
caracoles are regional administrative units where autonomous
authorities come together and from which clinics, cooperatives,
schools, transportation and other services are
administered.
The
Zapatista communities are managed by the Juntos de buen gobierno
(Good Government Councils), which are made up of representatives of
the autonomous councils of the rebel municipalities.
Expansion of autonomous territory: In august
of 2019 the Zapatistas announced 7 new New Centers of Autonomous
Zapatista Rebellion and Resistance (CRAREZ) and 4 new rebel
Zapatista autonomous municipalities. Added to the 5 original
Caracoles for a total of 16. In addition to the 27 original
autonomous municipalities, giving us a total of 43 (CRAREZ). Made
up of different assemblies, autonomous municipalities,
etc.
Zapatista
communities made up of Insignous tzotziles, tzeltales, mames,
choles, tojolabales y zoques
Zapatista activities in December of 2019: Celebration of Life: A
December of Resistance and Rebellion
Film
Festival 7-14 of December 2019
Dance
Festival December 15-20
Forum in
Defense of Territory and Mother Earth December 21-22
3,259
women
95 little
girls
26
men
From 49
countries
Celebration
of the 26 Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion
December 31 and January 1
Autonomous struggles in Indigenous and campesino communities.
Processes of self-organization
Community
assemblies
Community
and free media
Self-defense
and community police forces
State repression of social movements and
migrants
Repression
and suppression through consultations, social programs
2019:
31
defenders killed
11
communicators
Militarization (national guard) (Discipline,
hierarchy)
The
Secretariat of Security and Citizen protection, Alfonso Durazo
Montaño, announced at the beginning of 2020 the deployment of
21,170 new elements of national guard in 50 new regions to reach a
total of 200 regions.
More and
more Police in streets of Mexico city
Samir
Flores, Indigenous community radio worker and organizer from
Amilcingo, Morelos, killed February 20, 2019
CODEDI
(Comité de Defensa de los Pueblos Indígenas)
Took over
an abandoned coffee plantation in 2013
Centro de
capacitación, training center
CODEDI assasinations:
On
February 12, 2018- Ignacio Ventura, Luis Angel Martínez and
Alejandro Diaz Cruz.
On July
17, 2018- Abraham Hernandez Gonzales
On
October 25, 2018- Noel Castillo Aguilar
COPIG-EZ assasinations:
Concejo
Indígena y Popular de Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata CIPOG-EZ
(Indigenous and popular council of Guerrero-Emiliano
Zapata)
May 2019-
José Lucio Bartolo Faustino, Modesto Verales Sebastián, Bartolo
Hilario Morales, and Isaías Xanteco Ahuejote of the Nahua people
organized as the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero –
Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG – EZ).
Other assasinations
Samir
Flores Soberanes of the Nahua people of Amilcingo,
Morelos.
Julián
Cortés Flores, of the Mephaa people of the Casa de Justicia in San
Luis Acatlán, Guerrero.
Ignacio
Pérez Girón, of the Tzotzil people of the municipality of Aldama,
Chiapas.
Juan
Monroy and José Luis Rosales, of the Nahua people Ayotitlán,
Jalisco.
Feliciano
Corona Cirino, of the Nahua people of Santa María Ostula,
Michoacán.
Josué
Bernardo Marcial Campo, also known as TíoBad, of the Populuca
people of Veracruz.
Political prisoners
Fidencio
Aldama Pérez (detained October 27, 2016) Loma de
Bacuum
Prison
organizing in Chiapas- Hunger strike of over 130 days in
2019
State of the anarchist movement in Mexico
- Primary
organizational efforts
-
Anarcha-feminism, women's movement
-
Relation with Indigenous and campesino struggles
Building international networks of solidarity, both anarchist and
otherwise, with Mexico
Las
jornadas en defensa del territorio y la madre tierra "Samir Somos
Todas y Todos" February 20-22, 2020
. … . ..
Music for this episode by:
U.N.E. -
Explosion Humana
