MexicoBlog Editorial: Hour of the Demagogues

This week in the U.S. has been about the U.S. Congressional and state elections. In Mexico it was the Day of the Dead, both symbolically and in daily reality.

In the aftermath of the victory of the Republi-tea Party, progressive commentators have been busy talking about where we - who are in the minority - go next. In this writer's view, demagoguery continues to win. Fear, and its deliberate manipulation, continues to drive the direction of the country - toward more racism and more militarization.

The new Congress will be deadlocked over immigration. Republicans and "Blue Dog" Democrats will continue to seek to militarize and thereby "secure the border" that is crossed daily by desperate Latin Americans seeking work and drug cartels making obscene profits. The drug war and its military strategy - an issue that did not appear at all in the pre-election debate - will grow, along with its destruction of Mexican lives, rule of law, freedom of the press and security of the people.

Mexican cultural symbolism is full of the meetings of life and death. Day of the Dead is a recognition of their symbiosis, as well as an honoring of and communion with those who have passed on, los antepasados. Crucified Christs are ubiquitous. Another Christ was nearly crucified last week in Ciudad Juarez, "el Infierno" of Mexico. Mexican student Jose Dario Alvarez was shot in the back by Federal Police, the ones who are supposed to be the "good guys" among Mexico's corrupt police forces. Jose survives. Many more Christs are crucified every day: in Ciudad Juarez, in Acapulco, in Tamaulipas, in Tijuana. Central American migrants are robbed, raped and killed as they pass through Mexico on their way to "the Promised Land." The crucifixions go on, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

But the animo of life persists. Jose was shot while participating in a "Walk Against Death". In Mexico City this weekend, international grassroots groups are holding an Alternative World Forum for Peoples  in  Movement. In the U.S., Bill Moyers wrote an essay, "It´s OK If We Face Mission Impossible." And there is the entereza ,grandeza y animo, the dignity, magnanimity and vitality of el pueblo mexicano, the Mexican people. We hope these powers for the good are shared by their camarades y compañeros en el otro lado, (on the other side), en los Estados Unidos.