October 1st. 2015
I am so happy to be here in this panel sharing with you my experience on the pacifist revolution that is being engineered and happening in Mexico.
Mexico shares with Canada the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in which there are plenty interests in diverse areas among them: economic development, and without any doubt, a migratory policy, this, and especially lately, the increase of Mexicans in Canada is mostly a product of a their own country plagued with impunity, corruption, poverty and violence.
I offer few relevant insights about the Mexican actual context
Mexico has been recognized the fifth (5th) richest country of the world measured according to their natural resources (mining, lakes, petroleum, natural environment, and its strategic geographic position in Latin America).
Nevertheless, we have 63% of poverty, measured according to the world standards, it is the fourteen economy of the world with one hundred and twenty millions of inhabitants, and very importantly, its inequality according to the GINI coefficient is extremely high as we have few world millionaires cohabiting with a large amount of poor people.
The system of justice, processes only (.01) point zero one percent of the delinquency acts in a country that justice and injustice can be bought with money.
What is the anthropological and sociological history of our nation? Mexico evolves in the magic of its culture, a land of shamans, where the Aztec and Mayan cultures have left us an incredible legacy not only to Mexico but to the world, but at the same time, slavery occurred within the history of colonialism.
The arrival of Quetzalcoatl, as an Aztec prophecy (it predicted the arrival of a saviour with a very different ethnic characteristics, like a god and so, this is the reason that the Spanish took control of Mexico, because the Indians thought they were the Quetzalcoatl), it finished with our Empire, later we had an unfinished independence and a stolen revolution.
In Mexico, Mexicans are NOT the owners of their natural resources such as the petroleum, the beaches. Through corruption, and a good amount of traitors, all has been sold.
In the revolution, revolutionaries were assassinated, the monarchy and the European dictatorships, were substituted by an oligarchy in the hands of 88 families. All the legal system is based on fraud, and protects sectarian interests and the legal culture is just incipient.
The television and educational monopolies sustain a society of lords and slaves where the hope of social mobility is non real. The minimum wage of 4 dollars a day, only secures an ongoing ignorance, hunger and continued social stratification.
Tourism can see only Disneyland in Mexico, but cannot see the reality of the struggles that Mexicans face every day.
Twelve thousand killings per year, five thousand forced disappearances and a corruption that position Mexico in the top five.
We are not a democracy, nor a republic. We do not choose our leaders, all the system is a well fabricated façade (FASAD) by the corrupted, unresponsive, unaccountable political parties and their members.
The political parties have accorded to distribute among them one billion dollars every year, two hundred posts are distributed every six years: 40% as deputies and 50% as senators without Mexicans taking any decision on these enactments.
That is why this fight is equal to that of Spartacus, to abolish the Mexican neo“slavery”.
BUT…
Today a revolution is being engineered all over the country.
Inspired in a pacifist movement like that of Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Lech Walesa, we have begun this process five years ago.
In our revolution, our slogan is
” Alone we are just a drop, united we are a Tsunami” Article thirty nine (39) of the constitution and basis for our independence is that “we the people are the power, we are the principal, the boss, the chief”
This is a quantum jump in citizenship participation. From being apathetical and servants of the politicians (in a highly clientelistic system) to become today the politicians’ bosses and regain our agency to instigate the changes we want to see.
The benchmark of austerity, expenditure, debt acquisition, are non-sense in an ocean that we have to cross now.
The financial lords and conspirators of the new world order, are part of the structure, but our reality is that those who steal from Mexicans, are not connected with them. In Mexico, politicians have acquired a legal permit to steal from us. We have two types of crime, the illegal and the legal (criminals attracted by a spoiled system from its design and its operation)
In the case of Mexico, the government steals from its citizens, and therefore, citizens have to run for themselves. This is a vicious cycle that we have to break. Informal market is an act of self-defence, and unfortunately, justice is being taken more and more in the hands of a citizenship that feels unprotected by the system.
Learning experience:
- Alternating powers have not bring about a change in Mexico, there is a façade (FASAD) called “democracy” because elections occur and alternating parties take power but, citizenship has not yet clearly increased their civil and political rights in an inclusionary fashion. Exclusion is the everyday bread. Poverty is produced and reproduced by the system to continue its maintenance.
- The creation of more political parties have represented more expenditure and waste. This has been a strategy to divide people and maintain the status quo.
- Now we have more laws and rules to the citizens that not necessarily translate in wellbeing and progress.
What are we doing? Where do we want to go?
We are focusing on organizing the citizen, the voter. We are the principal agents, we are focusing on the sovereignty of the organized people to build a real democracy and a genuine republic.
How?
- Bring all over Mexico the case of Cheran, Michoacan. A community that regained their self-determination, retained their autonomy and decided to vote openly for their representatives and get rid of the corrupt politicians and their political parties. In this place where twenty eight thousand people live, they attained zero criminality, zero corruption, high efficiency, accountability, responsibility and community building through assuming their role as chiefs and not as clients. A good analogy of what is happening in Cheran is life in a condominium, where the owners of the appartments are the chiefs and they put an employee to administer it. The president of a country is an employee not the owner of a country.
- Build a strong base of citizenship able to exercise their power, to conceive themselves as principals as chiefs of their community outcomes, and able to freely and strongly exercise the check and balances of their public servants (we are changing the language to talk about then, we began to call our politicians, employees). Build a virtuous cycle where the people is organized, connected and their civil and political rights are extended towards all inclusively.
Where are we?
- In just five years we have three thousand and nine citizens cells, with one point three million of registered participants all connected with each other.
- Some examples of the cells’ contribution: They have exercised their will and their role as chiefs and have get rid of unnecessary tax increases, have made penal accusations to deputies and corrupt politicians, support laws towards the acceptance of independent candidates to run for public posts, citizen congress in Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Baja California, Colima among others have influence law making and function as observers and evaluate politicians outcomes. Now as a national project, we are all over Mexico, collecting signatures to legally exercise an accusation against the president of Mexico for money laundry, corruption and crimes against humanity among others.
- We have used judicial system for legitimation and also social pressure of the social movement to push forward our goals.
- We have no ideologies, just common sense. In this movement we look for the power of self-determination and sovereignty and not to be part of the already corrupt system of parties and politicians.
How do we operate?
Horizontal structure with a critical base of values and principles.
We operate through Social Networks and invite others to unite the movement. Every year we double the amount of people joining the movement.
State coordinators, City Coordinators, and cell coordinators
Weekly meetings to decide what do we have to do now
Every citizens of the movement devotes around three hours a week to exercise their responsibility with power and agency.
National meetings every six months to get national accords and projects.
National Citizens Congress is growing every day and soon we will see that a new citizenship is emerging to forge a better present and promising future for Mexico
Our vision is to get to a point in which we do not need politicians anymore, as they only reproduce the status quo. You might think this is anarchy, but NO, in education we want educators, in construction we want engineers and technicians, in health, we need doctors and nurses and not politicians. We think in a new paradigm of legislators, we need common people that do not live out of politics. Also, members of the board in every municipality that are volunteer citizens and no politicians.
We believe that in the next three years, National Citizen Congress will be a big stakeholder all over Mexico. Stronger than political parties, stronger than government itself as it will represent the majority, because we are the POWER, they are the FORCE.
You have two decisions, whether leaving this actual Mexican revolution to the next generation or should we take the charge, become responsible, get rid of the fear and take this as our destiny, exercising our power as the owners of Mexico.
Thank you very much. All questions are welcome.