“Lauren Carlsen’s interview with Democracy Now!: “It’s completely unacceptable to ask a society to accept higher levels of violence as a sign that we are winning the drug war.” She’s right. We will never “win” the “drug war.” The body count is growing. More prisons are being built. People of color are the primary victims.” – (always have been – can’t have a war on drugs, drugs are inanimate, they don’t win or lose…people do, don’t be fooled – it is a war on people – call it what it is)-

“recent events… are social protests that have been radicalized when pushed off the agenda in favor of a militaristic solution”

“Over time, I’m becoming convinced that the only wars which can succeed are wars of revolution and rebellion, overthrowing the control and hegemony of others.”

“…so now instead of a lot of calls and talk for humane law and human rights, we’re hearing more police/weaponry/troop/secure border talk.”
“there are serious injustices and imbalances in play and they wont go anywhere, they wont go away,”

thanks for letting me speak…jeje:)

peace, one love, and pass it on people.

i’m betting any social protests will be quickly and willingly obscured by military/police action or mired or surrounded by them until it is obscure. as you say, part of this whole thing is to mask and divert attention away from the social upheaving that was happening, has been happening before FeCal even started this stuff. that’s how i feel too about all the stuff obama is doing and talking about here. all the immigration crisis is now being wrapped into this “Drug Violence Spilling Over” so now instead of a lot of calls and talk for humane law and human rights, we’re hearing more police/weaponry/troop/secure border talk.

the powers that be can shift and squirm all they want. there are serious injustices and imbalances in play and they wont go anywhere, they wont go away, no matter how many guns and kevlar helmets you bring out. they will only keep manifesting in more drastic means until everything ruptures. unless you make room and make way and get fair about shit first.

On the one hand, we’re told the government is “winning” the war, but on the other, we’re given the impression that the “war” is widening. Both can’t be simultanously true. Mexican citizens and resident aliens alike notice that the Administration is in no hurry to take the Army off the streets, even if it was necessary in the short run (something I’m not convinced was ever true), but seems satisfied to maintain the “exceptional” state of affairs.

Its hard to tell whether recent events outside the supposedly “narco-zone” (which comes down in the end to five municipios out of the 300 or so in the Republic)are related to the anti-cartel “war” or are social protests that have been radicalized when pushed off the agenda in favor of a militaristic solution that sees all violence and upheaval as related to the U.S. appitite for narcotics.

I’m not sure the Morelia grenade attacks last week were, as foreigners and most of the Mexican media assumes, related to narcos, and not to a dissident teachers’ movement that has gotten more serious as it is ignored by the “powers that be” (the “official” union being an ally of the Administration).

And, as the gangsters turn towards other “alternative revenue streams” (as we see in the breakup of a oil theft ring), how much of the gangserism was ever centered on narcotics itself, and how much just on U.S. willingness to buy cheap Mexican resources, is questionable.