CHE GUEVARA IS A HERO not only to many Cubanos, but to all people who understand and fight for autonomy from oppressive forces and human rights for all.

Why do I write of this now? Recently a question was posed as to if he deserved his place as a Chicano icon and legend; after all, went the argument, why should we revere this Argentinian who fought for Cuba’s independence? After all, it went on, he did nothing for México. He never once uttered the word “Chicano.”

But posing this division—that Cuban icons (or Argentinians) ought not be embraced by Mexicanos, or Mexican Americans—is not only ignorant of Che’s legacy, but at heart yet another symptom of the colonized mind. And I should make clear that my reply here—and any hints of ire you may pick up in putting down my thoughts—are not directed to the online friend who inspired this post. I think it was a good set of questions. And I’m glad I have the chance to answer it. Any intensity I employ here is aimed at the matrix of obfuscation and lies that demonize gente in our ancestral lands and attempt to keep us mental and physical captives of a corrupt system. If I wanted to play snarky, I’d simply reply that much-revered Chican@ (and Mexican@) icon Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe certainly never uttered the word “Chicano,” either. But I think the question deserves some thought, not a cheap semantics volley. Which is why I brought it here.

What is it that Latin America has in common? Why would México understand revolution? What unites the movements in Latin America—from México to Venezuela—so often? What oppression is it that has spread throughout all of Latin America and does to this day? What shadow covers one and all, despite their other struggles? It is the same shadow that has fallen on Haiti, on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on India, and on México. It is greed and white supremacy. It is non-concern for human rights. It is a loathing of the poor. It is a yearning to be of the elites at the expense of all else. It is the audacity of hypocrisy—such as President Obama’s criticizing China’s Hu Jintao on human rights while the USA maintains torture sites on foreign soil, the right to assassinate US citizens without due process, and drone attacks that slaughter countless innocents in illegal and undeclared wars abroad.

This shadow that unites Latin America specifically is cast by the imperialist exploitive forces of Europe and North America who time and time again install occupational forces throughout so much of the world, steal resources, undermine populist efforts, and then, propagandize the media with tales of Latin America’s deviance; their criminality; their weakness. Do we, as Chican@s, suffer here in the USA from the echoes of this propaganda? You better believe it.

This is why the politically involved Chicano understands Che’s fight. Che ought only be a Cuban icon? Perhaps. Many Cubanos do not embrace Che for where some of Fidel Castro’s choices, or for the same reasons as posed at the link above. Che was not Cuban, but an Argentinian whose family lived in Mexico while he fought in Cuba. He was a doctor in el D.F! But what took him away from his familia? Corazón did. Concern for imbalance and human suffering. Che Guevara was horrified by poverty and by peoples’ inability to be treated for sickness. He was not someone who wrote in a blog every day thinking that was somehow going to attain this goal. He was a man of action. Is that something a Chican@ ought to get behind? Yes, he was extreme, and willing to bring violence behind such goals. Only unlike powerful nations in that they bring violence to continue an unfair imbalance of wealth and hegemony in the name of fossil fuels. Just as Batista’s military brought violence on his own citizens, torturing adults and executing even children attempting to squeeze them for information on the rebel forces in Cuba. Che’s violence was meted out in the name of human rights. Much as the mythical character Robin Hood. But instead of wearing tights, he brought a rifle and machete. Che’s vision was for global revolution to attain justice. Not just for Cuba. After Cuba, he wanted to take his fight first to the rest of Latin America. Which is why he died in captivity in Bolivia, after all.

Why did so many campesinos in Cuba accept him, ultimately, and support the revolution? Why did he win the support of not only the poor but the middle classes eventually? Do not the divisions that cause this question about whether us Xican@s should celebrate his life and efforts exist, too, between all Latin Americans? They do. And as you know, there is no common and all enduring bond between “Latin@s” within the US. The USA holds a microcosm of those divisions. Cubanos, Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, Chileans, Argentinians, Venezuelans, and so on—you don’t need me to tell you that we struggle within the hierarchies and divisions sown between our peoples by the government that rules this very nation. Despite our being lumped together as Hispanics, or Latin@s—or Spics. These divisions, even while we all live here, are a product of colonization themselves and too often, prove stronger than the bonds that ought unite us.

Why was Che able to bridge the differences in ideology and methods that created various rebel factions in Cuba when he brought Fidel’s war to Santa Clara, closer and closer to Havana, and united them under his command? Why did Che speak (in the UN, no less) about blacks and Latinos and other minorities in the US living in “invisible cages”? What did he mean, referencing a sleep that we would (and should) wake from? He was reminding us, in public, in the full glare of cameras and history, standing in the belly of the beast that these cages—oppressive containers created by corrupt systems we cannot see—determine so much of our fate. And they keep us fighting amongst each other. They pose divisions between peoples who ought to band together to fight the real oppression. He warned us not to buy into the “Self Made Man” myth.

The amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Rockefeller, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude entails, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible to make the people in general see this.”

- Che Guevara

Che’s philosophies and speeches and diaries reflect ideas much larger than an effort to oust Batista from Cuba. When he talked of love in the revolutionary’s heart; a love that enables her to fight for justice, her family, and her puebla, he talks of ideas that unite all people. (Or should.) When he speaks of the Imperialist US forces that divide and suck blood from Latin America, he speaks of ideas that affect not just Latin America, but you and me—we “Chicanos.” Us, the hybrid results of that colonization meeting the indigenous with a sprinkle of distance and comfortable living thrown in the mix.

Some of us, far too many of us, who are descended from Latin America (often with family there even now), fight to defend those very divisions and that exploitation, because we benefit from it or because we have been brainwashed by the ocean of propaganda that informs the mainstream of literature and film and television, all intended to continue the influence and inertia of anti-populist reign. Imperialist nations punish severely any of their intended subjects for remembering the truth, for having heart, or worse—throwing off the chains that bind. Haiti, Cuba, and México are all nations that pay this toll to various extents. It was the USA that sent weapons into Bolivia and trained their soldiers, aiding and abetting in the capture and murder of Che Guevara. Just as it is the USA today who sends weapons into México to aid the corrupt and installed Felipe Calderón as he slaughters the citizens of México. You see what the USA’s vision of human rights and health care is. It certainly isn’t to treat all and any whenever they suffer. It certainly isn’t to educate any and all, despite what nation they came from. Look to Arizona.

Where ought the Xican@ stand in this continuum?

Here the US government is occupying Guantánamo as we speak! The USA’s military forces reside on Cuban land and have constructed a torture and prison facility that the government stocks with individuals from Afghanistan in a perverse retaliation for an attack on Wall Street that was (ostensibly) perpetrated by Saudi Arabians. And all the while, we well-to-do, well-educated, well-fed offspring of both the oppressor and the oppressed who ought to be using all our power to help our disempowered brethren in Latin America are instead, arguing against a liberator and rebel worthy of lionizing, if any ever were.

Those who criticize youth for wearing Che's image would much rather you be too embarrassed to continue than actually inform yourself.

When Che was able to recruit so many peasants and townspeople to his cause, his ability and methods echo the dynamics that allowed the people in México to defeat the imperialist French at the Battle of Puebla, using ordinary objects. Rakes, sticks, stones, stampeding cattle. Like the mythologized early American patriots who attacked the Imperialist British scattershot and hiding out in the woods; like the Han warriors in China who defended against Cao Cao’s superior forces in the Battle of Chibi (Red Cliffs), Che fought off larger numbers and more powerful weapons, and eventually gave his life, for the Peoples’ right to be free from tyranny. How involved in la lucha today are you to believe that changing avatars on a social media application is resistance to government oppression?How revolutionary is it to sit in a well-cooled theater, chewing red licorice and cheering for the rebel alliance to defeat George Lucas’ imagined Empire, but then return to the bosom of the actual Empire and condemn true rebel forces?

Does Che deserve to be an icon for Xicanos, Xicanas, Latinas, Latinos? Only if we remember where the struggle lies and what it is about, at heart. Only if we believe that truth and autonomy and human rights are worth dying for. Only if we truly believe that those with the truth, and the welfare of the People, on their agenda are in the moral right, despite how many guns, tanks, or hypocritical speeches about Democracy and Justice are on the other side.

SOME POSTS begin as a reaction. A reaction to ugly events involving hate crime, or discrimination, or persecutory legislation, or some other spur that launches anger, protectiveness, or an instinct to fight. These are necessary when they arise organically. And so is outrage in the social body.

I remember as a child being so amazed that so many (everyone, insisted my immature mind) took everything in stride. I mention this now and then: the sensation I had that the world was upside down and burning and everyone in the world (i.e., school, stores, etc) was happy go lucky and not talking about it. (I am sure this had something to do with the conversations and teachings in my early home and community.)

So, I grew to feel out of touch with society’s reactions and evaluations of life as presented in larger settings, TV, newspapers, general social dialogue. And I suppose that is part of the age. These are normal conflicts we have to evaluate at a certain age.

In too many cases we simply have to accept untruths or mechanisms that confuse the mind. We read the real thinkers in college, and then we pretend it was just for a course. We accept that when X is really going on, the TV will frame it as Y. We accept that advertisements, essentially, lie. We learn to restrain, perform, operate in society. We are taught not to be ourselves, as it does not pay. We are sent on job interviews to offer a well-groomed doppelganger which may have little basis on truth, but have more  to do with how you can appear a valuable commodity to a corporate mechanism. The media helps sell wars that feed the fatally wealthy, and focuses on celebrity nose jobs while the public is robbed blind on the backside by the bankers.

You know how this goes, top to bottom. Same as it ever was.

But did it jam at you in your adolescence? Did the first sweeping vista of disappointment make you weep? Did that initial understanding of how little we expected of ourselves make you angry? Did it nearly topple your mind to gaze out at the wasteland of hypocrisy? Did the wrongness matter? Did it touch your inspired soul, your feeling soul, your uncallused soul and provoke a reaction?

There was too much pretend-truth and too much noise and too many lies in the world, and too much apathy. When I was young, it chewed at me. It would not let me be. I could not imagine why there were not armies of citizens banding together to fix every ailment facing the People.

I was a little naive.

But to me, this is adolescence in US society as I’ve seen it, in more than a couple cities and states. Children, those vast stores of human possibility, reach the end of the playground grass. They must grapple with letting the reality of our sickened culture overwhelm the childheart with one, long, coal-tinged static-studded sigh.

We at least make a decision about how we as people fit in and engage when truth is a disrespected and nearly non-existent entity in a thriving system, when greed and fear are leveraged and fed, when misdirection and manipulation drives the media in most cases.

And with this body and mind…with this amazing system meant to rebel against untruth and to wade toward joy, we must force non-sense and illogic and ignorance into our own tubes. You are required to Get Over It and Learn How to Manage. It makes us ill.

Get on a few stomach drugs, some head drugs, have the doc say its cool, grind out the salary. Protest virtually. Do what you can and have time for which is mostly go mad or be distracted.

The American Dream?

Too cynical?

As I grew up, those times when someone was inflamed about injustice and saying “HELL NO, THIS IS NOT RIGHT AND WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!” I felt my spirit respond in kind. The scales, as they say, fall off of my eyes. I could feel that truth ringing sharply right behind my breastbone, a massive silver bullhorn calling to me. And I loved them for that. For taking that on. I thanked the universe for whatever it was that compelled that person to speak, at that very moment, from a place that was truthful and outraged at whatever entity or action was trying to establish itself in our world.

That voice belongs to nobody, it belongs to all of us. We access it when it is time, when the moment calls for it. There will always be that moment in this very flawed world!

There is another voice, too. One that rises in the absence of reaction, maybe. One that needs a bit of stillness to emerge. One that listens, and hears those things being said, and lets them melt into the moment. And finds where they don’t quite nourish. Finds where they fail to adhere to a true shape. And seeks not to batter, deflect, crush, or challenge…but only to question. Only to probe and discover what may be overlooked.

If you listen to the dialogue on immigration, you hear so many voices rising up from fear. From fear of being diluted, to fear of being killed. You hear fears given voice every decade or less or more. You hear so much about—and from “both” “sides”—Securing the Border. Building the Danged Fence. Securing Our Borders. The Insecure Border. Lasers Every 500 Feet and Surveillance on The Border. More Troops to the Border. Nothing Can Happen Until We First Secure the Border.

We might rebut with the rational. With statistics about how crime generally (and now) goes down as immigration goes up. Or how there is no increase of violence that Leaps Over the Border. Take El Paso, Texas for one obvious example. El Paso, across the border from the very violent Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. El Paso is immediately accessible to non-supervised entry. El Paso is known as one of the safest cities in the USA.

Or I may sketch less specific and talk about how until we take on Mexico’s problems as our own; until we be fair to their economy and their chances of opportunity and stop acting like some rich cat on the Upper East Side calling the cops on a lone hungry figure in the street; until we see our economies intertwined, amassing violence and troops on the border is a super-destructive non-effective stopgap to the cold wind rushing into so many fearful minds.

But in the general, when I hear this shaming, persecutory, prison-preaching talk, what occurs to me underneath those thoughts or before them, is that these people talking about immigration in the public lens are very insecure. And that they may need to secure their own borders. To feel out their own perimeters, find where the air gets thin, and the feet scramble for purchase. Peer into their shadows to dispel the figures they imagine.

And I think until that happens, we can and will have no real progress.

After all, how can  you approach an issue that is so important and affecting so many people, and involves so many areas (Economics, Environment, Migration, Culture, Race, History and so on) if you have not yet first secured your mind? And your heart? If you do not do those things, you cannot honestly evaluate these dynamics.

To one of these politicians obsessed with force and armies and walls…I ask you: How will it feel (in you, personally, in your body and belly and throat and mind) to imagine millions of workers in today’s workforce being celebrated for helping to run this mighty engine? To see millions of unauthorized workers simply swept into the bosom of our workforce and economy? Legitimized?

Does your lip curl?

I’m not talking about reparations, just a shift in lens and consequent behavior, regard, and legislation.

I’m not talking about some abstract past workforce, or one that creates goods the rest of us never actually handle or purchase or use. I’m talking about the workforce out there right now. Many today, this moment. Many more will report tomorrow, on Monday. Those ones, those humans who are working. (Yes, for a moment I’m simply going to talk about workers.) The ones who accept not being paid when the boss feels like sticking them. The humans with no benefits, and who work long hours and for substandard pay. The ones who are on edge lately and ready to drop everything and run if ICE shows up.  Those ones. I ask you how would it feel, Mr. Politician, Mrs. Politician, for you to ponder their being given protections that insure they work a happy and safe workday and enjoy a fair paycheck? And instead of being vilified were suddenly welcomed and celebrated as part of the large, always changing, colorful, and strong American community? No shame, no criminal record, no more pummeling around people trying to hang on with one hand. Can you even possibly house that imagination in your body without any serious instinctive gag reflex?

Or do you feel a need—before connecting empathetically to another human who may be in slightly different circumstances for the moment—to first punish and shame them for not signing in at the door? Do watch them slink to the magical Back of the magical Line? To admit complicity. And error. And wrongness? All while ignoring the rest of the chain of consequence, which of course leads back to our own nation and government and even our own home.

Does this punitive projection soothe you?

With this litany of demands that unauthorized/undocumented immigrants admit wrong, be charged with a crime, pay thousands, take a walk of shame, and so on, it does occur to me that some people are certainly trying to secure something. But it’s not a border.

And I ask you, the People: Can those politicians evaluate what might be an honest and fair approach to these fluctuations in our population and workforce if they harbor gross ideas about Mexicans? Or if they see borders as a way to legitimately express socially-unacceptable race-based or white nationalist-related ideas? Obviously not.

If we want to pretend life is very simple, we might point only to the GOP. But many on the “Left” are certainly chomping at the bit to punish immigrants (aka Mexicans.) If you’ve read the concept paper drawn up for the possible forthcoming immigration bill, it involves much more ICE, much more money for them, more surveillance technology, body armor, and so on and so on and so on. Fact is, the forces that desire a police state are using the public’s general apathy toward immigrants and Mexicans to institute measures that would never, ever fly coast to coast, were the perceived target to be Regular Americans. That’s on top of scapegoating Mexicans, which is always in American Style.

Would that these mentally and spiritually and emotionally lacking political and punditry players would disqualify themselves from the dialogue, but that’s not how things work. However, if your mind is self-deceiving in this way, you cannot hope to fairly render an opinion about issues so large concerning so many. Period.

Political gamers, humanity is in dire shape.

This challenge comes to us in many forms right now. Wars over petroleum. Poisoned oceans with petroleum. Police state pre-pubescent and gangly. Class divisions becoming untenable. Economy severely unstable. Political dialogue false. Media turning to sheer propaganda stations. Banks taken over our economy. Corporations taken over the courts and both wreaking massive havoc on our national security.

It is an age old reaction to blame the powerless when we panic. We are better than this. California already apologized in the 1930s for panicking and shipping Mexicans to Mexico—many who had never been there in their lives! The focus now on Mexicans does not feel so different to me.

Our society is, in the next few decades, going to undergo some drastic changes. We must secure our own hearts and minds and be ready to deal with these changes in a way that is reasoned, loving, progressive, broadminded, flexible, and kind. We must first secure our own consciousness in a grounded, positive place before we can pretend to represent millions of human beings.

WALKING on a morning after the rain falls for hours, I find worms strewn everywhere. Or I used to.

I’m thinking of Syracuse, New York. Neversink, New York. Gaithersburg, Maryland. And a few other places on the East Coast. I cast my mind back to the other places I grew up: New Mexico, Miami Beach, Massachusetts, San Diego…I don’t remember the worms. I don’t see them do this in Oregon…though that may be simply because the rain either falls all day and night, or the sun shines hotly for weeks at a time.

But maybe the call and response is the worm’s nature everywhere. Mother nature’s musical tears charming the earth-bound snake. Perhaps the conga-taps and pebble-bone raps of la lluvia that dance atop the woolen roof of their mud-sky dome home call them to the light. Is it a song that seduces? Is it a hammer that challenges? Is the sound of the rain—like the machines drilling down into Zion and getting nearer by the moment—a threat that demands they rise? Or is it a murmuring bass-laden call that undulates their five hearts into a loam-cresting shape? Do they respond but all the while attempt to escape?

There is another call and response that brings us far worse than worms. Worms, after all, churn the soil with their passage and their ingesting and filtering of the earth. They are useful and productive creatures. I speak now of a vile force in our culture today often benignly titled “those opposed to immigration.” Not “those concerned with the growing amount of poverty on the continent,” and not “those who fear losing their insurance.” I’m not talking about “people who wonder if all that stuff FOX says is true,” nor am I referencing “people who miss the way their town was before all the immigrants came.”

Because being aware of the culture changing and having feelings over it is not offensive. It is human. And normal. And all and any of us might feel that way. Change challenges the human creature, who seeks stasis often, even though s/he is an example of flux moving matter into motion until it melts away into dust…dust that never stands still but soon rises with the next breath of wind, and is breathed in again by the living. Perhaps it is because we are but an ever-fluctuating body of rivers and masses; drinking in, giving back the earth; aging, changing, growing, shrinking, spreading; our very molecules leaping out and trading places with those of the objects and people we surround ourselves with—that we seek some containers limiting the flex and flow of our lives. The preference of one type of culture is evidence, too, of that desire. The unwillingness of the aging to see that their world cannot last, and is everyday being reshaped by the younger…this is understandable. And a piece of that. The conservative mindset, too, is one you can reason out. It appeals to many because it soothes us in that sense. It is a lie, at heart. But oh, all the energy that is expended in creating the illusion that it does what it means to: contain, conform, civilize and stand as a bulwark against dawn drum-circle dances of expansiveness and transformation.

But the clan I speak of is not one of these people concerned with change. That would make them rational to a degree. These I mention are…no longer rational. If they ever were. These ones stepped away from that land at some point, now paddling manically over the stagnant swamp of hate. The group(s) to which I refer will overlook a story if it does not mention their chosen targets, but become sudden activists if the same story brings in those they choose to hate. And then they will appear, and advocate such things as watching people die in front of them; or suffer from lack of medical attention or lack of food, because they are Other. Because “they shouldn’t BE here” or because “it’s their own fault.” And so on. And so on. And so on. Visit any article online that discusses immigration, immigrants, or familes identified with a Spanish last name!

Because you can call these ones forth in a flock by the simple framing or titling of your post. It’s like a turkey call…if turkeys frothed blood and lived on handfuls of mescaline corn, that is.

Unlike worms, when any topic online touches on IMMIGRANTS or the USE OF SPANISH or (heaven forbid) BOTH….a horde of loathing, greed, fear, and inhumanity will flock to the article as if horseflies sniffing out an open wound. And there they will alight, and seethe, and with gangrenous lungs, heave. And they don’t just live online, unfortunately.

Nor does it matter what their pseudonyms, URLS, or station call letters proclaim. Like the NeoCons of late, these types employ language not to express the essence of their intentions, but to disguise them.

Yet, we know who these people are. We have all met them in our lives…haven’t we?  If you are black, if you are white, if you are golden, brown, red or some shade in between all these, you have met them. No matter. Because we all were once young. And if you were ever young, weak, or alone on the wrong street, you’ve met them. If you’re a woman, you’ve met them. But it is true, there are some, perhaps, who have been very lucky, and never actually had the opportunity to be there, in the middle of their circle. At the foot of their leer. On the end of their chain. They are the group with sticky fingers who use bright stickers to disguise the meat locker. They are the sullen faces that sag with the sensual anticipation of your pain. They are the hands that lift you up out of your own shoes and bind you, and beat you. They are the enemies of the vulnerable child. They are the plunderers in the home of the host. They are hateful to all mankind, because they can turn equally on anything and anyone; they channel an energy that needs no real reason to destroy, but drools at the opportunity. They wear crosses. Or bent crosses. Or crossed pikes. Or stiff collars.

Their arguments fall hollow. Their logic gapes with holes. They are not there to understand, reason, enjoin, connect, uplift, receive, exchange, or otherwise communicate or make progress. They are there to exterminate.

They find the presence of (A, B, or C, and here it is the Spanish Language and the people they perceive as MEXICAN) objectionable for whatever reason, and all they say and do is done and said in the name of removing that presence, in denigrating it, in casting it as an infectious or deviant light, in extirpating and erasing this OTHER element they find so very repulsive.

And they move with great mobility. Because those who harbor this energy do worm their way into our politics, and our culture, our courts, and our laws…. And they are aided by a culture of celebrity-priority, reaction and momentary concentration…and yup, racism.

When a virulent anti-immigrant (which is seen largely as Anti-Mexican and thus draws as much as a yawn in the larger culture) is allowed to flourish; when so much talk of ENGLISH ONLY and ENGLISH FIRST and OFFICIAL LANGUAGE is hammered forth by everyone in politics including the President of the United States of America; when ICE is allowed to do its dirty work without a massive media rejection and inspection…an ugly force moves through our nation.

And its’ tendrils reach out and choke people. This is not an abstract notion. This force materializes in myriad forms on our plane. For a moment, I’m speaking of online comments, and then in the next breath I talk of sheriffs and schools and banks that target the Brown™. Just as the ugly entity I describe can suddenly inhale and then breathe itself out into the shape of human beings where it can further its ugly ends.

–

TODAY’S STORY BEGINS at Devonshire Elementary, a school attended by 500 students. A little over 200 of those children are Hispanic. As you can see by the screenshot [below] taken of the website, the school boasts of its “various academic programs that are in place to reach students from a variety of cultural backgrounds,” including the “bilingual Girl Scouts.”

In 2006, a woman named Ana Ligia Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for the east Charlotte school. This is useful, obviously, so that she can serve as a liaison for the part of the community that speaks Spanish more comfortably.

But wait—do I need to break this down? To that non-reasoning group I mentioned, it won’t matter, even if I do. If I were now to introduce a story where, for example, the secretary was critiqued by staff for speaking Spanish, the Vile Group would strongly side with the opposition. It wouldn’t matter what she was legally hired for and it wouldn’t matter why she chose to speak Spanish. This anti-Spanish clan will bellow forth, starchy shorts tweaking their vocal chords, fuming about Official Languages—as if this is all an ego game, or some war of lingual conquest. We might remind them that many American citizens speak Spanish more comfortably and that there are no standing laws against doing so, and that especially in an emergency, people can revert to the language that comes easier. So you would definitely want a Spanish speaking person as secretary in such a population.

To the Vile Group—again, if they had interest in meeting your mind (or their own morality) to begin with—you might paint an example. For instance, if you were vacationing in Mexico (as many US immigrants, or, I mean “Expats”) and you were not so great with language and you witnessed a violent crime (because rememeber, that’s what happens in Mexico!!!!), you might find yourself babbling in English to the neighbors, or to the police. Trying to get help. You might not even have the words to speak in time, to save a life, or right a great wrong.

Thought exercise: If people in the US read of an Ex-Pat living in Mexico…who tried to report a crime in English…and was publicly criticized and lost their job in Mexico for speaking English as they reported that crime…and the criminal got away, but the Ex-Pat had no job anymore…what would readers say about that? I imagine they would be incensed. It sounds surreal, doesn’t it. We can’t imagine it happening in Mexico.

No, that is the sort of thing that happens here in the US, though.

At Devonshire Elementary, two years after Ana Ligia Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary, a new woman, Suzanne Gimenez, took over as principal. Note: Gimenez is not Latino/Hispanic; her name is, through marriage. And sadly, just as in the case of Lou Dobbs and his Mexican Wife, it seems the intra-cultural marriage has resulted in the non-Latino member of the couple becoming active in an anti-immigrant or anti-Spanish language/anti-Latino culture agenda. It’s sad, it’s wrong, and it’s just nasty to watch.

Like Gimenez’ sudden dictum that no Spanish was to be spoken by the bilingual secretary anymore.

Unless dealing with a situation where using a language other than English would endanger people, or harm the business, this is simply a ridiculous thing to require. But if another language used in a given moment would prevent harm to individuals or companies…what then? Would the Vile Group still protest its use?

Yup.

We see the English-Only rule instituted more and more, but not so much for the professed (and the only legal) reasons, though they provide cover for individuals feel they are reinforced finally for their own nasty preferences. These types feel reinforced by gauging the people and media around them. And when killers commit hate crimes against the Spanish-speaking/Latino community, especially when the guilty parties are let go or exonerated…it sends a message. When the victims of hate crimes are violently abused and violated and harmed…yet the case is not ruled a Hate crime…and they live but kill themselves later…the shadow over gente grows.

This hostile spirit that lives in many people is allowed to bloom when the individual believes the ground is fertile. And the rampant anti-immigrant:mexican:latino:hispanic:spanish-speaking energy is given voice and presence in many ways.

But I was telling a story about a bilingual secretary, sorry! I don’t mean to get off track.

So, two years after Ana Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for a school that celebrates cultural diversity on its website homepage with groups like the Bilingual Girl Scouts, a new principal is hired. And she demands no more Spanish be spoken.

When Mateo continued to aid parents by translating English or speaking Spanish to them when necessary, she was repeatedly told to stop by Gimenez, and forced out finally, before Gimenez’ first year with the new school had lapsed.

There’s that force, working to crush, squeeze out, eradicate my people’s culture. And not just mine. Boriqueños cultura, too. People from Spain, in fact, who aren’t even Latino. Many of us are connected to the Spanish language. And a smaller group keeps trying to make us feel vile…when it is they. They are the Vile Group.

Oh, I forgot one detail. The event that precipitated Mateo leaving the school.

One day in September, a parent came to Mateo, crying. “Distraught.” Understandably distraught. She was telling the school secretary that one of her sons’ classmates had been sodomized with a stick by another child at the school. She was trying to report a sexual crime against her son. Of course, she couldn’t speak English.

(Mateo) asked Ms. Gimenez if she could translate for the parent. Ms. Gimenez refused and told the parent her seven-year-old son could translate. The parent continued to cry and eventually left without having her issue resolved because she could not understand Ms. Gimenez’s responses.”

The suit says after an encounter with another distraught parent who could not communicate, Gimenez “screamed at (Mateo) that she could not speak Spanish to any parents.”

Mateo was sent to a conference room, the suit says, where Assistant Principal Kimberly Vaught told Mateo she knew Mateo could empathize with the parents because she “crossed the border just like them.” Mateo, who is described in the suit as a U.S. citizen who is “Hispanic/Nicaraguan,” said that was not true.

—Worker: School Banned Spanish

Even when they are trying to be reasonable, certain types of people let many categories blur together: Hispanic, Nicaraguan, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Immigrant, Spanish, Border-hopper, Criminal, Bad, bad, bad. And for people who have no issue collapsing the boundaries that stand, logically, between all these areas, the same kinds inevitably insist on so many impassable barriers in our culture and on our land.

I don’t know about Assistant Principal Kimberly Vaught, but the kind I spoke of above do not employ logic, but a type of racial or cultural psychosis. And they are not just pointedly harmful to the presence, peace of mind of Latinos…were the rest of the People a bit more focused and thoughtful about it, they’d see that these types are the enemies of all good People. To use your position of power to silence a victimized child and all in the name of lingual hegemony?

The principal and assistant principal of Devonshire Elementary are not fit to hold office or wield power. They will be removed or heavily disciplined, I imagine. Most people, I do believe, will see this type of authority as a danger to the growth of our society, a society these types would sooner see stunted or rife with harm, than take a shape other than what they prefer.

_________

See and do more at Change.Org: Here, and to watch the Vile Group flock, see same issue but in “Immigration” category.

Proclama a los Pueblos de México
para organizar la revocación de mandato a Felipe Calderón

De nueva cuenta nuestra nación se debate en una crisis que sólo es comparable a las que dieron paso a la Revolución de Independencia, las Guerras de Reforma y a la Revolución Mexicana. Hoy como ayer, la crisis es total y de larga duración, abarca la economía, la política y la cultura.

La crisis pone en cuestión el futuro de los pueblos y la Nación mexicana. En el esquema de la clase política y de los grandes capitalistas, nacionales y extranjeros, carecemos de esperanza: los mexicanos no tenemos ya lugar en el mundo de la globalización neoliberal salvo como parias y mano de obra desechable.

En tales circunstancias, para enfrentar la crisis profunda de nuestra patria y los problemas de los pueblos de México se precisa de una transformación patriótica y democrática de la política, la economía y la cultura que desplace a la oligarquía burguesa y a su clase política de la conducción del Estado y acabe con el dominio imperialista sobre México. Se necesita la construcción de una nueva mayoría que incluya a todas las fuerzas patrióticas e instaure un nuevo gobierno y un nuevo Estado, capaces de recuperar el control y la propiedad de la planta productiva de la nación, de sus recursos estratégicos y de garantizar el desarrollo sustentable, la justicia social, la soberanía nacional, las autonomías de los pueblos indios y el ejercicio de la democracia popular.

El primer paso en la dirección de darle una salida nacional, popular y democrática a la crisis actual tiene que ver con la restauración del orden constitucional; con la lucha en contra de la usurpación del gobierno de la república por parte del grupo de políticos, empresarios, magistrados y militares del que forma parte Felipe Calderón. En las circunstancias actuales la recuperación de la dignidad nacional y solución a la miseria, el desempleo y la inseguridad pasan por la lucha para revocar el mandato presidencial que los golpistas confirieron a Felipe Calderón.

El jefe del ejecutivo federal de facto es la principal referencia de un régimen político corrompido y antinacional, el instrumento de los grandes empresarios y las trasnacionales para avanzar en la completa depredación y saqueo de nuestra capacidad de trabajo, de la propiedad pública y social y de nuestros recursos naturales. Calderón es la figura visible de la mafia que pretende consumar la instalación de un Estado obsecuente a Estados Unidos y de carácter delincuencial, de un régimen policíaco-militar al estilo colombiano. La lucha contra el usurpador y el grupo dominante, que incluye la defensa de nuestros derechos sociales y libertades políticas y civiles, prepara la ruta para remover del gobierno a los neoliberales que traicionaron al pueblo y a la patria.

Motivos legales y humanos para revocarle el mandato a Felipe Calderón sobran, la situación del país, o lo que queda de él, no puede ser más grave. En menos de tres años el número de mexicanos pobres aumentó en 10 millones; hoy más de 70 millones de pobladores viven en la pobreza; 24 o 25 millones de ese total son pobres extremos que padecen la miseria más degradante e inhumana. Según las cuentas oficiales, el “presidente del empleo” tiene en su haber el despido de casi millón y medio de trabajadores.

Calderón, que supuestamente encabeza la guerra contra la inseguridad y la delincuencia, ha convertido a México en el país más inseguro y violento del mundo en tiempos de paz. Fruto de su guerra contra el narcotráfico o contra uno de sus bandos, se han producido más de 15 mil asesinatos y más de siete mil desaparecidos. Sin embargo, ni la violencia, ni los secuestros tienen para cuando disminuir y mucho menos cesar. Mientras tanto, entre 25 mil y 40 mil millones de dólares se blanquean en bancos y empresas de la respetable iniciativa privada, con el beneplácito de los gobiernos de Calderón y Obama.

Mientras tanto, la impunida d reina, los responsables del crimen industrial de Pasta de Conchos siguen libres, al igual que Ulises Ruiz, Mario Marín, Javier Lozano y los verdaderos culpables del caso de la Guardería ABC; qué decir de las muertas de Juárez o de las violaciones a los derechos humanos en San Salvador Atenco, Acteal y tantos más. Mientras tanto, los magistrados de la Suprema Corte de Justicia siguen ganando más de 340 mil pesos al mes; mientras que Ignacio del Valle y sus compañeros —entre muchos otros luchadores sociales y personas inocentes— siguen secuestrados en las ilegales cárceles de máxima o baja seguridad.

El presidente de facto ha desplegado a las fuerzas armadas por todo el territorio nacional en misiones de seguridad pública que violentan el artículo 129 de la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y, en consecuencia, ha degradado a la institución armada, transformando al elemento castrense en un Ejército de ocupación y contrainsurgencia al servicio de los oligarcas. En su papel de comandante supremo ha subordinado a las fuerzas armadas a las estrategias militares y policiacas del gobierno de Estados Unidos, a través de la Alianza para la Seguridad y Prosperidad de América del Norte y la Iniciativa Mérida, entre otros acuerdos y acciones pactadas a espaldas del pueblo mexicano que afectan gravemente la soberanía nacional y que, en su esencia, constituyen actos de traición a la Patria.

Con base en atribuciones que no le corresponden, ha llevado a la economía nacional al colapso, a la recesión, a la contracción del mercado interno, al crecimiento astronómico de la ilegal deuda interna y externa, a la destrucción de la planta productiva, a una mayor dependencia técnica y científica, a la devastación del campo y al fin de la autosuficiencia alimentaria, provocando mayor migración de trabajadores y afectando el nivel de vida de toda la población. Además ha entregado ilegalmente el territorio a empresas mineras, petroleras, agrícolas y hoteleras, solapando los daños ambientales y las afectaciones criminales en contra de pueblos y comunidades enteras, que son ya irreparables en términos humanos, ambientales y económicos.

Violando el artículo 123 de la Constitución y siguiendo la política antilaboral de sus antecesores, recientemente transgredió la autonomía del Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), con el solo propósito de dar un paso más en la destrucción de nuestra soberanía energética y la privatización de la energía eléctrica y los servicios derivados del uso de la fibra óptica, lanzando a la calle a más de 44 mil de trabajadores que de forma permanente se habían caracterizado por su oposición a los planes gubernamentales.

Ante este sombrío proyecto en desarrollo las preguntas centrales son: ¿estamos dispuestos los ciudadanos que no votamos por Calderón, los que nos abstuvimos, o incluso quienes se han arrepentido de su voto por el PAN a soportar otros tres largos años de penurias, autoritarismo, desnacionalizaciones y entreguismo? ¿Sobrevivirá la nación mexicana como ente soberano ante el acoso sistemático privatizador de los apátridas que gobiernan para beneficio exclusivo de las corporaciones capitalistas? ¿Es necesario pagar un altísimo precio en vidas humanas, daños ambientales, sufrimientos y esfuerzos inútiles por aguantar a un gobierno que ya resulta intolerable para millones de mexicanos? ¿Existe alguna duda razonable sobre la naturaleza reaccionaria y regresiva del actual grupo gobernante, que pudiera dar lugar a la esperanza de una posible corrección del rumbo por parte del usurpador y de su gente?

En vísperas de la conmemoración del Bicentenario de la Independencia y del Centenario de la Revolución Mexicana y ante el agravamiento extraordinario de la crisis social y nacional, que nos ha colocado en la pendiente de salidas represivas y de la catástrofe económica y socioambiental más grave en toda la historia del país, es preciso dar un paso al frente y autoconvocarnos como en los tiempos de Hidalgo, Morelos, Juárez, Magón, Villa, Zapata y Cárdenas a la disputa por la nación, a la pelea por revocarle el mandato al presidente de facto Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa.

Para discutir las formas y los cómos, estamos organizando una primera reunión para el 5 de diciembre en Dr. Lucio 29, col. Doctores, DF (Sindicato de Tranviarios) a la que todos los mexicanos dispuestos a emprender está batalla están invitados en calidad de organizadores. En particular, hacemos un llamado al Movimiento en Defensa de la Economía Popular, el Petróleo y la Soberanía, al Movimiento por la Soberanía Alimentaria y Energética, los Derechos de los trabajadores y las Libertades Democráticas, a la Asamblea Nacional de la Resistencia Popular, a la Otra Campaña, a la Conferencia Nacional Unitaria de las Izquierdas a participar de las discusiones y acuerdos para que de una vez por todas, Calderón y su gobierno se vayan.

Respetuosamente.

Firman:

Personalidades y organizaciones:

Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Dr. Andrés Barreda Marín, Dr. Armando Rendón Corona, Dr. Enrique González Ruíz, Dra. Patricia de Oteyza, Antrop. Miguel Ángel Adame Cerón (ENAH-INAH), Dip. Hortensia Figueroa Peralta (Morelos), Ignacio Suárez Huape, Dr. Gerardo De La Fuente Lora, Dip. Alejandro López Villanueva (DF), Pietro Ameglio, Cecilia González Arenas y Víctor Ariel Bárcenas Delgado, Adriana Mujica, David Barkin (Profesor UAM), Carlos Aparicio (Drector de Radio Bemba y Representante de la Asociación mundial de Radios comunitarias de México), José Luis Mariño López, José David Vega Becerra, Silverio de la Mora, Juan Ignacio López Espinoza, Raúl Barba Arciniega, Rosalio Morales Vargas, Gloria Teresa Parada Arvayo, Martín Rodríguez, Celso Hernández, Guadalupe Sandoval, Antonio Mendoza, Enrique Zapata, Claudia Valadez, Isaías Martínez, Rodolfo Pérez Peralta (STUNAM), Juan Pablo Jardón (MNCNS), Irene Patricia Bautista Berriozabal (FNADEZ), Alfonso Jesús García Pérez (Barzón Industrial, AC), Antonio González Abundio y Joaquim H. Vela González (UDENA-Plan de Ayala), Ismael Cano Moreno (Organización de la Sociedad Civil Tlaliyapatl), René Torres Bejarano, María Fernanda Campa, Mara Rosas Baños (IPN), Marjory González Vivanco, Alberto Moreno Gaytán, Eulalia Eligio González, Adriana Chávez Tejeda, Horacio Castillo, Esteban Escudero, Mauricio Ortiz (Expresión Ciudadana), Cirilo Padilla García (Comité Democrático Ciudadano), José Antonio Espinosa Vázquez (Ciudadanos Libres de Azcapotzalco), Sergio Ávila Rojas (Movimiento Ciudadano del Sur), Marco Antonio Padrón Martínez (Sol Naciente de Iztapalapa), Cuauhtémoc Garduño (Poder Ciudadano Nacional), Marza Antonieta Farfa (Frente Amplio de Izquierda Queretana-FAIQ-MNCNS), Javier Pineda (metrópolis Poder Ciudadano), José Arturo Tapia Flores (MNCNS), Sergio García Ayala (Movimiento Entre Ciudadanos), Miguel Ángel Flores Trueba (Partido Comunista Mexicano), Fernando Sánchez Barreda, Alejandro Martínez Mondragón (Tequio Ciudadano A.B. D.F.), Frente de Asambleas Vecinales Heberto Castillo (FAVHECA DF), Alianza de Bases Ciudadanas, (ABC), Frente de Asambleas Municipales Heberto Castillo de Tlaxcala, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Puebla y Chiapas, Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina de Tlaxcala (UFIC Tlaxcala); Benito Baena Lome y Gustavo Ortega (Alianza de Tranviarios de México); Benito Mirón Lince, Alfredo Percastegui, Federico Abarca Reyes, Marcelo Herrera Herbert, Ismael Hernández Rojas, Juan Gutiérrez Calva, Daniel Carlos García, José Jiménez, David Villarruel Velazco (Movimiento Nacional Organizado “Aquí Estamos”); Paul Hersch Martínez, Arturo Figueroa Saucedo, Rafaél Trujano Fermoso, Jorge Martínez Soto, Antonio García Morales, Porfirio Barrera Jiménez, Dora Treviño, Juan Emilio González Espinosa Garrido, Elis Martínez, Nayar López Castellanos, Marjory González Vivanco,

Organizaciones nacionales:

Sección XVIII SNTE-CNTE Michoacán, Sección III SNTE-CNTE Baja California, Partido Popular Socialista de México, Frente Popular Francisco Villa, Coordinadora Metropolitana, Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina, Red Izquierda Revolucionaria, Partido Comunista de México-Marxista Leninista, Frente Popular Revolucionario, Rumbo Proletario, Movimiento Socialismo Nuevo, Central Campesina Cardenista, UNTyPP, UNTCIP, Coordinadora Nacional de Municipios y Pueblos Originarios de México A.C., Nueva Fuerza Democrática Mexicana A.C., Alianza de Bases Ciudadanas (ABC); Sindicato de la Unión de Trabajadores del Instituto de Educación Media Superior del Distrito Federal (SUTIEMS), Organización Nacional del Poder Popular-PRP (Sociedad Cooperativa Emancipación del Pueblo, CUT-Coyoacán, A.C., Forjadores del mañana, A.C., UCISV-El Ejido, A.C., Movimiento de Pobladores, A.C., UCISV-1o. de mayo, A.C., UPTYL 10 De abril, MOPOPROVI 1O de junio, Colectivo Cultura y Democracia, Centro Cultural Comunitario Carlos Marx, Col. Pro-Revolución, Ecatepec, Comunidad Ecológica El Jobo, Catemaco, Ver., Agricultura Urbana Cinturón Verde El Molino),

Organizaciones estatales:

Baja California: MLN; Chihuahua: MLN; Chiapas: OCEZ-MLN, OPEZ-MLN, Sindicato de Salud Sección 50 (Adrián Vázquez Rodríguez y Víctor Hugo Zavaleta), OCD AC (Moguel Santiago), Frente Campesino Popular de Chiapas, Unión Campesino Totikez Anek (Ruly de Jesús Coello Gómez); Distrito Federal: Ediciones del Poder Popular, Pregón, Calpulli Tlatoani, Grupo Democracia Revolucionaria, Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria Nueva Aztlan, Promotora de la CND, Frente de Asambleas Vecinales Heberto Castillo (FAVHECA); Durango: Comité de Defensa Ciudadana de la Región Lagunera, Consejo Coordinador Obrero Popular; Estado de México: Prof. Pedro Ramírez y Prof. José Figueroa González (Magisterio Democrático del Valle de México-Sección 36 SNTE-CNTE), Comité de Defensa de las Colonias (Tultitlan), UVVAC (Municipio Romero Rubio); Guerrero: MLN, Unión Estatal de Transportistas, AC (Presidente: Apolinar Segueda Dorantes), Dr. Pablo; Jalisco: Bases Democráticas Magisteriales de Jalisco (Francisco Montero), Consejo de Defensa de la Salud de Jalisco (Dr. Alberto Reyes), Coordinadora Estatal del Movimiento Urbano Popular de Jalisco (Mario Brown y Arq. Antonio Orozco); Morelos: Prof. José Basurto F., Saúl Roque M. (Comunidad de Xoxocotla), Guadalupe Zayago (Comunidad de Alpuyeca), Pregón; Nayarit: MLN, Organización Popular Teocalli de Aztlan (Martín Ulloa Benítez), José Manuel Ulloa Benítez, Martín Pérez Castañeda, Leopoldo Mora Iglesias, Partido Socialista Mexicano de Nayarit (Cutberto Ortiz Mariscal), Federación de Estudiantes de Nayarit (Presidente: Jorge Armando Ortiz), Unión de Colonias Independientes de Nayarit (Martha Isela Tirado González); Oaxaca: OOCEZ-MLN; Puebla: UPVA 28 de octubre; Jorge Amaya, Norberto Amaya, Humberto Sotelo, y Filomeno Gutiérrez (UNyR, Coordinación estatal Puebla), Gloria Hernández (Unión de Colonias Populares Democráticas de Puebla); Comisión política del Colectivo Ciudadano Carrillo Puerto (San Pedro Cholula), San Luis Potosí: Miguel Ángel Guzmán (FPFV), Martín Garay (Frente de Productores Potosino), Sebastián de la Cruz (Gobernador tradicional Xi-Iuy), Maximino Hernández (Gobernador tradicional Tenek); Sinaloa: Oscar Loza Ochoa (Regidor de Culiacán y defensor de Derechos Humanos); Sonora: Jorge Rountree Cons (Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores del STAUS), Rosa Ma. Oleary Franco, Javier Valenzuela, Mónica Soto Elizaga (Ciudadanos por el Cambio Democrático), Salvador Hernández Hernández, Dorotea Razcón Gámez (Secretaria General, STEUS), Cuauhtémoc Nieblas Cota (Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, STEUS), Antonio García Morales, Jesús Martínez Soto, Arturo Figueroa Saucedo, Fco. Rafael Trujano Fermoso, Salvador Hernández Hernández, Ramón Valdéz, Catalina Soto Cota, (Ombusman de la Universidad de Sonora); Tlaxcala: Grupo Ecologista de Tlaxcala, Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua Puebla-Tlaxcala (Región Malinche), Eco Global Arte A.C. (Sede Tlaxcala/Organización Internacional); Veracruz: Antonio Santos, José Antonio León Mendívil, José Juan Ríos, Carlos Morales, José Luis Morales, Luis Miguel López-Mena, (periodista), Hipólito Flores Alonso (despedidos de la ex CIVSA), Marisa Fernández Pérez (Xalapa), Alicia Castillo Díaz (Zoncuantla-Coatepec), Álvaro Brizuela Absalón (Xalapa); Zacatecas: Frente Social por la Soberanía Popular (FSSP), Coordinación Ejecutiva: Mirna E. Puch Ceballos, Efraín Arteaga Domínguez, Gregorio Sandoval Flores, José Luis Figueroa Rangel, José Santos Cervantes. Organizaciones que integran el FSSP: Federación de Sindicatos de Trabajadores al Servicio del Estado (FSTSE); Sección 46 del Sindicato de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana (STRM); Sección 34 del SNTE-CNTE; Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la UTEZ (SUTUTEZ); Sindicato Único de Trabajadores Académicos de CONALEP (SUTACZ); Sindicato Único de Personal Docente y Administrativo de COBAEZ (SUPDACOBAEZ); Sindicato de Trabajadores de la UAZ (STUAZ); Coordinadora del Magisterio Democrático de Zacatecas, Secc. 58; Sindicato de Trabajadores de CECyTEZ (STCECyTEZyEMSAD); Sindicato de Trabajadores de Confianza de CECyTEZ (SITCOCECyTEZ); Secciones 95, 201 y 166 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros; Metalúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana (SNTMMySRM); Sección 59 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la SEMARNAT (SNTSEMARNAT); Sección 29 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Seguro Social (SNTSS); Asociación Nacional de Empresas Comercializadoras de Productores del Campo (ANEC); Movimiento del Sindicalismo Revolucionario (MSR); Frente Nacional de Organizaciones Braceroproa, A.C.; Asociación Civil “5 de Mayo de Guadalupe y Zacatecas; Solidaridad Cívica Zacatecana, A. C.; Agrupación Política Nacional (APN) “Nueva Democracia”; Promotora por la Unidad Nacional Contra el Neoliberalismo (PUNCN); Colectivos y trabajadores de la Otra Cultura; Federación de Organizaciones Sociales del Estado de Zacatecas-Movimiento Avance por la Democracia (FOSEZ); Barzón Zacatecas; Frente Popular de Lucha de Zacatecas-Coordinadora Nacional Plan de Ayala (FPLZ-CNPA); Jóvenes por el Socialismo (JPS); Alianza Ciudadana de Comunidades Urbanas y Rurales, A. C. (ACCUR, A.C.); Integradora Estatal de Productores de Frijol; Comercializadora “Alfonso Medina” SPR de RI; E.I.S.A.; Enlace al Campo SPR de RI; Los Ejidos SPR de RI; Vaqueros de La Cocinera SPR de RI; Tianguis La Campesina; Sección 32 del Sindicato nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación para Adultos (SNTEA).

Firmas solidarias:

Manuel Talens, escritor (España), MEPLA: Luis Acevedo Fals, Cineasta, Beatriz Muñoz Chan, Historia del Arte, Vivian Tabares Hechevarria, Secretaria, Daylet Acevedo Pérez, Editora, Ledys Pérez Corvea, Fotógrafa (Cuba), Percy Francisco Alvarado Godoy (Escritor guatemalteco) Correo: revocacionmandato@gmail.com

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Call to the Peoples of México to Organize the Revocation of the Presidency of Felipe Calderón

On the Eve of the 2010 Bicentennial of Mexican Independence, an Organizing Campaign Begins

Our nation is debating a crisis on par with that which gave birth to the Revolution of Independence, The Reformation wars and the Mexican Revolution. Just as was the case then, this is a long overarching crisis in our economy, politics and culture.

This crisis brings into question the future of the Mexican Nation and it’s people. In this political scheme by the grand capitalists, domestic and foreign, we lack hope. The Mexican people do not have a place in this world of neoliberal globalization except as pariahs and a disposable labor force.

Given these circumstances, we need a patriotic transformation and a democratization of the political system, the economy and the culture that can confront this deep crisis of our country and the problems of the Mexican people. We need a transformation that will push out the bourgeois oligarchy and the political class that governs the state and the imperialist domain of Mexico. There is a need to construct a new majority that includes all of the patriotic forces that will install a new government and a new state. A new majority that is capable of taking back control and the property of the productive forces and strategic resources of the nation, and also able to guarantee sustainable development, social justice, national sovereignty, the autonomy of the indigenous pueblos and the practice of popular democracy.

The first step towards a national exit strategy, popular and democratic is the actual crisis. We have to see a restoration of constitutional order through struggle against the usurpation of the government of the Republic by the group of politicians, business magnates, judges, and military officials that are behind Felipe Calderón. In order to recuperate our national dignity and find a solution to misery, unemployment and insecurity, there must be a battle waged to revoke the presidential mandate that the coup leaders conferred upon Felipe Calderon.

The de facto chief of the federal executive is the primary evidence of a political regime that is corrupted and anti-nation, an instrument of large businesses and transnational corporations that advance the complete depredation and plunder of our work force, public property and our social and national resources. Calderón is the most visible figure of the mafia that pretends to consume the installation of the State obedient to the United States and the delinquent characters of a Police State, a la the Colombian Military. This struggle against this usurper and the dominant group includes the defense of our basic rights including, social and political and civil freedoms, and also laying the groundwork to remove this neoliberal government who have betrayed the people and the motherland.

The grave situation our country finds itself in creates the legal and human motives to revoke the mandate of Felipe Calderón. In less than three years the number of poor Mexicans has increased by 10 million. Today, more that 70 million people live in poverty; 24 or 25 million of these live in extreme poverty suffering a degrading, inhuman misery. Calderón may be known as “The President of Employment” yet he has caused almost a million and half workers to lose their jobs.

Calderon who is supposedly in charge of the “War against insecurity and delinquency” has converted Mexico into the least secure and most violent country in the world in a time of peace. His war against narco-trafficking has left more that 15,000 people assassinated and more than 7000 disappeared. Neither the violence nor the kidnappings seemed to be diminishing and much less are ceasing to exist. Meanwhile between 25 and 40 billion dollars are in the banks and the companies of this respectable private initiative with the approval of the government of Calderón and Obama. Meanwhile impunity reigns, and those responsible for the industrial crimes in the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster remain free along with Ulises Ruiz, Mario Marín, Javier Lozano and the real culprits of the case of the ABC daycare center. Not to mention the deaths in Juarez, or the violations of human rights in San Salvador Atenco, Acteal and many more.

Meanwhile the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice continue making more than 340,000 pesos per month, while Ignacio del Valle and his compañeros along with many other social justice fighters and innocent people continue to be held in illegal jails of maximum and low security. The president has deployed the armed forces throughout national territory in his mission of public security, in violation of article 129 of the Mexican Political constitution. He has consequently degraded the Armed Forces by transforming a military into an occupation army and a counter-insurgency force in service of the oligarchies. As his role of Supreme commander he has subordinated the Armed Forces and the police of the government of the United States, behind the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and The Merida Initiative. These agreements gravely affect national sovereignty, which in essence are acts of treason against the motherland.

With a base of attribution that does not correspond, they have brought the national economy to collapse, the recession and the contraction of the internal market, the astronomical growth of the illegal internal and external debt and the destruction off industrial productivity as well as a major technical and scientific dependence on the devastation of farmland and the end of self sufficient farming. This has led to a major migration of workers, affecting the quality of life for all sectors of the population. Moreover Calderón has illegally given territory to the mining, oil, agricultural and hotel owning interests leading to environmental degradation and criminal affliction against people and entire communities that have already been irreparably damaged in human, environmental and economic terms.

In violation of article 123 of the Constitution and according to the anti-labor politics of his predecessors, recently the transgression of autonomy of the Mexican Union of Electricians “Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas” (SME) whose only purpose was to take a step forward to destroy our energy sovereignty as well as to impose the privatization of electric energy and the services derived from the use of fiber optics, and the firing of more that 44,000 workers who have been characterized for their opposition to governmental plans.

Before the shady development project the central questions are: “are we stripped of our citizenship because we didn’t vote for Calderón? Or because we abstained, including those who have repented for voting for the PAN party and supporting three long years of shortages, authoritarianism, anti-nation and betrayal. Will the Mexican nation survive as a sovereign entity between the systematic privatized harassment of the anti-patriots who govern for the exclusive benefit of the capitalist corporations? Is it necessary to pay the highest price for human life, environmental damage, suffering and useless force to endure a government that has already yielded intolerable results for millions of Mexicans? Does there exist any reasonable doubt about the regressive and reactionary nature of the current governing group that could give anyone hope toward redirecting the course of the country on part of the usurper and his people?

In the days leading up to the commemoration of the Bicentennial of Mexican Revolution we are confronted with this extraordinary escalation of social and national crisis leading us on a downward slope of repressive measures and an economic socio-environmental catastrophe graver than any in the history of the country. It is necessary for us to take a step forward and convene ourselves just as Hidalgo, Morelos, Juárez, Magón, Villa, Zapata y Cárdenas did and fight to revoke the mandate of the de facto president Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa.

To discuss the ways and means we are organizing a first meeting for December 5 at the Railworkers Union hall at Calle Dr. Lucio #29, Colonia Doctores, Mexico City, two which all Mexican citizens ready to wage this battle are invited in the quality of organizers. In particular, we call upon the Movement in Defense of Popular Economy, Oil and Sovereignty, the Movement for Food and Energy Sovereignty, Workers’ Rights and Democratic Freedoms, upon the National Resistance Popular Assembly, upon the Other Campaign and upon the National Unity Conference of the Left to participate in the discussions and agreements so that once and for all Calderón and his government will be gone.

Respectfully.

Signed:

Personalities and organizations:
Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Andrés Barreda Marin, Dr. Armando Rendón Corona, Enrique González Ruiz, Dr. Patricia de Oteyza, Antrop. Miguel Angel Adame Cerón (ENAH-INAH), Dip. Hortensia Figueroa Peralta (Morelos), Ignacio Suarez Huape, Dr. Gerardo De La Fuente Lora, Dep. Alejandro López Villanueva (DF), Pietro Ameglio, Cecilia Gonzalez Barcenas Ariel Sands and Victor Delgado, Adriana Mujica, David Barkin (Professor UAM), Carlos Aparicio (Radio Bemba Drector and Representative of the World Association of Community Radio in Mexico), Jose Luis Mariño López, José David Vega Becerra, Silverio de la Mora, Juan Ignacio Lopez Espinoza, Raul Barba Arciniega, Rosalio Morales Vargas, Gloria Teresa Parada Arvay, Martin Rodriguez, Celso Hernandez, Guadalupe Sandoval, Antonio Mendoza, Enrique Zapata, Claudia Valadez, Isaias Martinez, Rodolfo Perez Peralta (STUNAM), John Paul Jardon (MNCNS), Irene Patricia Bautista Berriozabal (FNADEZ), Jesus Alfonso García Pérez (Barzon Industrial AC), Antonio Gonzalez Abundio and Joaquim H. Vela González (UDENA-Plan de Ayala), Ismael Moreno Cano (Civil Society Organization Tlaliyapatl), René Torres Bejarano, Maria Fernanda Campa, Mara Rosas Baths (IPN), Marjory Gonzalez Vivanco, Alberto Moreno Gaytan, Eulalia Eligio Gonzalez, Adriana Chavez Tejeda, Horacio Castillo, Esteban Escudero, Mauricio Ortiz (Expresión Ciudadana), Cirilo Padilla Garcia (Democratic Committee Citizen), Jose Antonio Espinosa Vázquez (Free Citizens Azcapotzalco), Sergio Avila Rojas (South Citizens Movement), Marco Antonio Padrón Martínez (Rising Sun of Iztapalapa), Cuauhtemoc Garduño (National Citizen Power), March Antoinette Farfa (Frente Amplio de Izquierda Queretana-Fa’iq-MNCNS), Javier Pineda (metropolitan Poder Ciudadano), Jose Arturo Tapia Flores (MNCNS), Sergio García Ayala ( Movement Between Citizens), Miguel Angel Flores Trueba (Mexican Communist Party), Fernando Barreda Sanchez, Alejandro Martínez Mondragón (Tequio Citizen ABDF) Neighborhood Assemblies Front Heberto Castillo (FAVHECA DF), Civic Alliance Base (ABC), Front Heberto Castillo Municipal Assemblies of Tlaxcala, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Puebla and Chiapas Force Unit Indigenous and Peasant Tlaxcala (Tlaxcala UFIC) Lome and Gustavo Baena Benito Ortega (Tram Alliance for Mexico), Benito Miron Lince, Alfredo Percastegui, Federico Reyes Abarca, Marcelo Herrera Herbert, Ismael Hernández Rojas, Juan Gutiérrez Calva, Daniel Carlos Garcia, Jose Jimenez, David Villarruel Velazco (National Movement organized “Here we are”), Paul Hersch Martínez, Arturo Figueroa Saucedo, Rafael Trujano Fermoso, Jorge Martinez Soto, Antonio Garcia Morales, Porfirio Jimenez Barrera, Dora Trevino, Juan Emilio González Espinosa Garrido, Elisa Martínez, Nayar López Castellanos, Marjory Gonzalez Vivanco

National organizations:
Section XVIII SNTE-CNTE Michoacan, Section III SNTE-CNTE Baja California, Mexico Socialist People’s Party, Frente Popular Francisco Villa, Coordinating Unit, Metropolitan Force Indigenous and Peasant Red Revolutionary Left, Mexico’s Communist Party-Marxist Leninist Front Popular Revolutionary Proletarian Rumbo, new social movements, Central Campesina Cardenista, UNTyPP, UNTCIP, National Coordinator of Municipalities and Native Peoples of Mexico AC, New Democratic Force Mexicana AC, Citizens Alliance Base (ABC); Union Workers Union Media Institute of Higher Education of the Federal District (SUTIEMS), National Organization of People’s Power-PRP (People’s Empowerment Cooperative Society, CUT-Coyoacan, AC, Builders of Tomorrow, AC, UCISV-El Ejido, AC, settler movement, AC , UCISV-1o. May, AC, UPTYL April 10, MOPOPROVI June 1O, Collective Culture and Democracy, Community Cultural Center Carlos Marx, Col. Pro-Revolution, Ecatepec, Ecological Community El Jobo, Catemaco, Veracruz, Agriculture Urban Green Belt El Molino),

State organizations:
Baja California: MLN; Chihuahua MLN Chiapas OCEZ-MLN-MLN OPEZ, Union of Health Section 50 (Adrián Vázquez Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Zavaleta), OCD AC (Moguel Santiago), Frente Popular de Chiapas Peasants, Farmers Union Totikez Anek (Ruly of Jesus Coello Gomez) Ontario: Ediciones del Poder Popular, Proclamation, Calpulli Tlatoani, Democracy Group Revolutionary New Revolutionary Left Movement Aztlan, Promoter of the CND, Neighborhood Assemblies Front Heberto Castillo (FAVHECA), Durango: Citizen Defense Committee of the Region Lagunera, Obrero Popular Coordinating Council, State of Mexico: Prof. Prof. Pedro Ramirez and Jose Figueroa Gonzalez (Democratic Teachers Valley-Section 36 SNTE-CNTE Mexico), Committee for the Defense of the Colonies ( Tultitlan) UVVAC (County Romero Rubio), Guerrero: MLN, State Transportation Union, AC (Chairman: Segueda Apolinar Dorantes), Dr. Paul, Jalisco: Jalisco Magisterial Democratic Bases (Francisco Montero), Council of Health Advocacy Jalisco (Dr. Alberto Reyes), State Coordinator of Urban Popular Movement of Jalisco (Mario Brown and architect Antonio Orozco); Morelos: Prof. Jose Basurto F., Saul M. Roque (Community of Xoxocotla), Guadeloupe Zayago (Community Alpuyeca), Proclamation, Nayarit: MLN, Aztlan Teocalli People’s Organization (Martin Ulloa Benitez), José Manuel Ulloa Bonilla, Martin Perez Castaneda Leopoldo Mora Iglesias, Nayarit Mexican Socialist Party ( Cuthbert Ortiz Mariscal), Nayarit Students Federation (Chairman: Jorge Armando Ortiz), Union of Independent Colonies Nayarit (Martha Isela Gonzalez Tirado), Oaxaca: OOCEZ-MLN Puebla UPVA Oct. 28; Jorge Amaya, Norberto Amaya, Humberto Sotelo, and Filomeno Gutierrez (UNyR, Puebla State Coordination), Gloria Hernandez (Popular Democratic Union Colony of Puebla); Commission Policy Watch Collective Carrillo Puerto (San Pedro Cholula), San Luis Potosi: Miguel Angel Guzman (FPFV) Martin Garay (Front Potosino Producers), Sebastian de la Cruz (traditional Governor Xi-iuy), Maximino Hernandez (traditional Governor Tenek); Sinaloa: Oscar Loza Ochoa (Ruler of Culiacan and human rights defender), Sonora: Jorge Rountree Cons (Secretary of Foreign Affairs of staus), Rosa Maria Oleary Franco, Javier Valenzuela, Monica Soto Elizaga (Citizens for Democratic Change), Salvador Hernández Hernández, Dorothea Razcón Gamez (Secretary General, STEUS), Cuauhtemoc Mists Cota (Secretary of Foreign Foreign STEUS), Antonio Garcia Morales, Jesús Martínez Soto, Arturo Figueroa Saucedo, Rafael Trujano Fco Fermoso, Salvador Hernandez Hernandez, Ramon Valdez, Catalina Soto Cota, (Ombudsmen at the University of Sonora); Tlaxcala Tlaxcala environmental group, People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water Puebla-Tlaxcala (Region Malinche), Global Eco Art AC (See Tlaxcala / International), Veracruz: Antonio Santos, Jose Antonio Leon Mendivil, José Juan Ríos, Carlos Morales, Jose Luis Morales, Luis Miguel Lopez-Mena, (journalist), Hipolito Flores Alonso (dismissed from the former ICVF) Marisa Fernández Pérez (Xalapa), Alicia Castillo Diaz (Zoncuantla-Coatepec), Alvaro Brizuela Absalom (Xalapa); Zacatecas Social Front for Popular Sovereignty (FSSP), Executive Coordination: Mirna E. Puch Ceballos, Efrain Arteaga Domínguez, Gregorio Sandoval Flores, Jose Luis Figueroa Rangel, José Santos Cervantes. FSSP member organizations: Federation of Unions of Workers in State Service (FSTSE), Section 46 of the Telephone Workers Union of the Mexican Republic (STRM), Section 34 of SNTE-CNTE; Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores de la UTEZ (SUTUTEZ) ; Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores Academic CONALEP (SUTACZ) Single Union of Teachers and Administrative COBAEZ (SUPDACOBAEZ) Workers of the UAZ (STUAZ) Democratic Teachers Coordinator of Zacatecas, Sec. 58 Workers Union CECyTEZ (STCECyTEZyEMSAD) Workers CECyTEZ Confidence (SITCOCECyTEZ) Sections 95, 201 and 166 of the National Union of Miners, Metallurgical and Similar Mexico (SNTMMySRM), Section 59 of the Union National Workers SEMARNAT (SNTSEMARNAT), Section 29 of the National Union of Social Security (SNTSS) National Association of Manufacturers Traders del Campo (ANEC) Revolutionary Labor Movement (MSR), Frente Nacional de Organizaciones Braceroproa AC, Asociación Civil “May 5, Guadalupe and Zacatecas Civic Solidarity Zacatecana, A. C.; Association National Policy Congress (NPC) New Democracy; Promoter for National Unity Against Neoliberalism (PUNCN) Collective and workers of the other culture; Federation of Social Organizations of the State of Zacatecas Forward Movement for Democracy (FOSEZ ); Barzon Zacatecas Popular Front for the Struggle of Zacatecas-Plan de Ayala National Coordinating Committee (FPLZ-CNPA), Youth for Socialism (JPS) Citizens Alliance for Urban and Rural Communities, A. C. (ACCURA, AC); Integrative Bean Growers State; Comercializadora “Alfonso Medina” SPR RI; EISA; Link to Camp RI SPR; The SPR Ejidos RI; Cowboys SPR The Cook RI; Tianguis La Campesina; Section 32 of the National Union of Workers in Adult Education (SNTE).
Signatures solidarity: Manuel Talens, writer (Spain), MEPLA: Luis Acevedo Fals, Film, Beatriz Muñoz Chan, Art History, Vivian Tabares Hechevarria, Secretary, Daylet Acevedo Perez, Editor, Ledys Corvea Perez, Photographer (Cuba), Percy Francisco Alvarado Godoy (Guatemalan writer)
Email: [revocacionmandato][@][gmail][.][com]

From Narco News

—

IN THIS WEEK’S News With Nezua, I touch on Mexican president Felipe Calderón’s latest move of cutting off half a million peoples’ power (and thus their wells and water) due to the municipality being delinquent on bills. This story winds down deep into the fabric of Mexican politics and power struggles.

Pobre México is fighting to stay solvent, as the economic downturn of course, has a passport, and crosses the border all day, both ways. And with FeCal at the helm, well. His idea of change was an onslaught of failed drug war (an estimated 16,500 corpses stacked up at FeCal’s door now) that the USA is still helping to fund via the Mérida Initiative that Bush brokered. Ugh.

Pobre México. Tan lejos de dios, y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos.

—Porfirio Díaz

Here is, at first glance, a fleeting fragment of news from October, wherein FeCal opted not to close Luz y Fuerza, México’s second-largest power utility.

• Mexico Ministry Rules Out Creating New State Power Company

“Mexico decided it won’t create a new state power company to replace Luz y Fuerza del Centro, the Energy Ministry said. … President Felipe Calderon ordered on Oct. 11 the liquidation of Luz y Fuerza, the nation’s second-largest power supplier, firing more than 40,000 electricity workers. The decree was because the company’s finances were “unsustainable” amid mounting losses, he said.”

The thing is, in the US when we read news in English language on typical US news sites (like above) we almost always get FeCal’s desired spin, or I should say the government’s point of view only. And FeCal and his crew are not El Voz de la Gente, bleeve that.

Note that in this article, it claims FeCal was going to close Luz y Fuerza for rather dry reasons. “Unsustainable” and all that. Sure. Just fire FORTY THOUSAND WORKERS, another day in the life, move along. There’s more to this story, have no doubt.

If you have been following Mexican news at all, FeCal (a not so nice name for Felipe Calderón) was—to oversimplify a bit, as I am here overall—their George W. Bush. In fact, Felipe Calderón stole the presidential election with the help of some of the same players who helped Bush. I know all this should have links, but if you go to El Grito (I’m running around this morning, have errands, tiny break in video production schedule) and search for these people and you will find it all. Many hours spent on those stories back then.

Manuel Lopez Obradór was running as (and I do think he is far more of this camp than FeCal) Mister Downtrodden, Mister Para la Gente. Mister Left. While FeCal was and is Mister “Let’s Be Like the USA,” working with the Bush admin. He is Mister “Let’s Do All They Want Us To, Let’s Militarize This Joint, Let’s Wiretap, Let’s Bring on a Drug War.” And of course, that’s why he was given the presidency, and why the US GOP GOV would surely cheer it on. (Although Obama is fully committed to funding Mérida, even past its expiration date which really, really, really angers me with his adminstration.)

It’s unfortunate to me that the US is so very in the dark on all Mexico’s politics…because truth is, we better know this stuff. It’s all affecting us, all the time. And the relationship between the US and MX has so much history. And the media and governments actually use the language barrier and the apathy that dwells north of the Rio Bravo to the advantage of the elites and to the people’s detriment.

Anyway. I hope to help bridge this gap a tiny bit myself, and my plans are to become far more effective at it in time. It will take time, and it will take many of us. For now, I can offer you the bare outline of  some of these shapes, and if you like you can research and find out more.

Mexican Electrical Workers Union members protest the summary firing of 44,000 members. Photo: La Jornada

There’s history and politics, of course, behind what is going on with the power plants in Mexico. And in general, North and South of the border, you and I need to keep an eye on the plight of workers and the unions. That (and the media) is where the people’s power lies. And that’s where oppressive power cracks down hard. (Peep the body count that journalism produces in war zones.)

Things aren’t as cut and dry with the Luz y Fuerza story as bloomberg.com would have you believe. As one could learn in the Narcosphere:

In the middle of the night last Saturday, President Felipe Calderon sent six thousand soldiers and militarized Federal Police to take over state power company Luz y Fuerza installations in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Morelos, and Hidalgo.  Immediately following the takeover, Calderon issued an executive order closing Luz y Fuerza.  Because no law or decree can go into effect until it is published in the federal government’s Official Diary of the Federation, the government published the executive order in a special edition of the Official Diary of the Federation to coincide with the military and police raids that closed Luz y Fuerza.

Federal Police occupy a Luz y Fuerza building. Photo: La Jornada

Mexican legal experts have criticized Calderon’s action as illegal, unconstitutional, and “an excessive and abusive use of power” because he by-passed Congress when he decided to close Luz y Fuerza and deploy the military and police against workers.

The government’s official justification for closing Luz y Fuerza is that the company’s operating expenses exceed those of other state-owned companies.  It claims its use of the military and militarized federal police was a pre-emptive strike: it wanted to prevent workers from striking, taking control of the facilities, and cutting off power in protest of the closing of Luz y Fuerza.  However, a week prior to the police and military takeover, the union specifically stated in a press release that it had no intentions of striking nor cutting off power to electricity customers.

Jose Hernandez, a leader of the Mexican Union of Electricity workers (SME)

As little as I know about Mexican politics and media, once you find one spot of corruption, you will find more. And they all magically seem to connect the more you read. Even these recent events, and the arc of Mexican right wing politics since FeCal stole the office.

…[I]n Mexico, we have an ultra-right national government. Formally its considered Christian democratic, but its lead by the extreme right group, el Yunque. This group is anti-communist and well linked to the right wing groups of the Catholic Church. They’re committed to the privatisation of the energy sector, of electricity and oil and last year they wanted to pass reforms to privatise the oil, but they didn’t achieve it because of a large national mobilisation.”

“These mobilisations were lead by Manuel Obrador, who’s a leader of the PRD (Revolutionary Democratic Party) and from the most nationalist and progressive section of this party. He also ran in the 2006 elections, in which all most all studies say there was fraud. Calderon won by 0.56%. Despite large mobilisations we couldn’t overturn the fraud.”

“So this right wing government aims to deepen what they call the structural reforms, reform the work law to allow for flexibility of the working day, for unstable work, for sub-contracted labour, and the biggest obstacle to be able to pass these reforms is the SME.”

—Jose Hernandez, a leader of the Mexican Union of Electricity workers (SME)

The Mexican Union of Electricity Workers (SME) is almost 100 years old, known for being very independent of the MX government, and democratic in nature. This is a rarity in México, as most unions are corrupt and inextricably linked with the government. SME  won the right to retirement for workers in 1936 through strikes, which was a huge strengthening of the working class. And most importantly, SME works out of Luz y Fuerza. As we can see, like Lopez Obradór, SME is aligned with the People, and not with Big Business or Iron-Fisted Gobierno, and thus is an enemy to the FeCal administration.

And so Felipe Calderón and his forces have been doing all they can to destroy Luz y Fuerza, and take down SME with it. But this predates even FeCal, and is a long running motion recognizable in many nations, when the richest and most powerful suck upon the necks of the  poorest and most vulnerable.

“The government has been trying to destroy the SME for 20 years, they’ve been investing in the CFE, in modernising it, and not in Luces y Fuerzas. So now Luces y Fuerzas seems like an inefficient company and its equipment is ancient and it needs a lot of maintenance to work. The government effectively took away its ability to generate electricity, and now it’s buying 98% of it its electricity from CFE.”

“And the government designed a system of accounting to make it seem like Luces y Fuerzas was going bankrupt.” …

And of course, this isn’t just about electricity, though the power utilities are surely a massive force to control. The government of Mexico is looking ahead. This is yet one more strike against the people—and we are mostly talking the indigenous in México, the poor, because this won’t hurt most of the expats or the ones cashing in—and a strike for the illusion that Mexico can become a “first world country” if it just keeps erecting hotels, strengthening the military, and crushing the poor.

“Another reason why the government wants to privatise Luces y Fuerzas and destroy our union is because of the possibility of further profit. With the new technology the power lines and cables can also be used to transmit images, voice, and information- that is, television, internet and phone. It’s a bigger business than electricity. The union has proposed that Luces y Fuerzas provide those services, without any concessions to private companies, which is what the government wants.”

“It shows the irrationality of capitalism, these things could be provided free to society, but they want to privatise it all to make money.”

So you see, it wasn’t just that the Mexican President decided, oh, that finances weren’t quite working out so they laid off a few people. This isn’t about a steward of the nation making wise decisions about safeguarding the People’s interest, no not at all! This is about greed, corporate and state hunger, and the People’s needs aren’t even in the picture.

Police occupy Luz Y Fuerza. Photo: El Pais

And that’s why it’s so important to keep our eyes on the unions and the strikes and the workers.

“The first thing we did in response was to mobilise; on 16 October there were nearly 500,000 people; unionists from various unions, students, Obrador’s movement, farmers- that is, the people mobilised, and despite the huge media campaign attacking the SME, saying we are corrupt, we’re lazy.”

“And in the legal terrain, we’ve been fighting as well, seeking legal protection before the actions of the government.”

And that’s one thing Mexicanos sure are good at. Standing up for their rights. Let’s hope they prevail, because for such injustices to sweep down and grab la gente by the neck and so close to us and without our help is a failure of activism and people power. If borders did not wall off humanity to sections of our brain, the People would have all the rights and powers that would help the world thrive. I’ll type that one more time because it’s so important.

If we did not use “the border” concept to separate in our imagination who is a friend, who is an enemy, who is “US” who is “THEM,” who is a resource, and who is in need, there would be no state power or army that could continue to make us toil and die for the continued power and wealth of the very few who are on top of this global pyramid.

It begins in the mind. Those who would rail against migration, against natural flow of river and human, who would deprive fellow humans of healing and medicine when they need it, who would insist on fences and walls and guns and prisons for those ousted by economic needs…when it is those very pieces of machinery that we are being penned into suffering with…today’s “immigration restrictionists” are members or affiliates of hate, they are distracted, they are simply tools of the same forces who delight in having us at each others’ necks while we are all exploited and robbed.

Here in the US, we see more and more laws being instituted that penalize the poor, that oust the homeless, that ticket those who feed them. And in México, half a million people in Ecatepec have had their wells shut off.

Where is our real fight? With people of different skin tones? With people who use different word sounds to express their dreams, their pain, their hope, their hunger?

Or with those who move hugely and cloaked over with flag and legal document, drawing blood worldwide and siphoning away oil, monies, and the very water that we need to live?

THIS MAY HAVE BEEN the hardest news I’ve had to sit on for a full week, ever. I’m ecstatic to announce that after a written application that daunted any I’ve filled out yet, a phone interview and a bit of waiting, I’ve won a scholarship to the 2010 Narco News School of Authentic Journalism this coming Febrero, on the Yucatán peninsula.

From Narco News:

They work or hail from 24 countries across the five major continents. They investigate and write news reports, create documentary films and viral videos, and among them are up-and-coming pioneers of Internet journalism. Many of them do that through multiple forms of media. They hush the imposed silences from above and make the voices from below heard. They are aged 18 to 65, from diverse economic, social, political and demographic backgrounds. And each one’s experiences are compelling and unique.

…

Thankfully, none of these talents of conscience need me or anyone else to speak for them. They were chosen because they are already maestros at presenting themselves and the stories they report and care deeply about.

As you read a little about them here, please think about supporting them – as individuals and as a group – so that each can fully realize his and her scholarship and become even better, faster and more coherent than they already are at this work.
Everybody complains about the media, and for good reason. Here are the people who, together with the Narco News Team and our amazing roster of volunteer professors, are doing something about it.

Ladies and gentlemen: It is my distinct honor to present to you… The future.

Al Giordano
President School of Authentic Journalism

and en español:

Ellos y ellas trabajan o provienen de 24 países de América, África, Europa y Asia. Investigan y escriben reportes, crean documentales y videos viral, y entre todos son las promesas del periodismo en Internet. Muchos de ellos lo hacen a través de múltiples medios de comunicación. Desafían el silencio impuesto desde arriba y permiten que las voces de abajo sean escuchadas. Sus edades oscilan entre los 18 y 65 años de edad, y provienen de distintos orígenes económicos, sociales, políticos y demográficos. Y las experiencias de cada uno son absorbentes y únicas.

…

Afortunadamente, ninguno de estos talentos con conciencia me necesitan a mí o a ningún otro para hablar por ellos. Fueron escogidos porque ya son maestros al presentarse a sí mismos y a las historias que reportan y por las que se preocupan profundamente.

Al leer un poco acerca de ellos aquí, por favor considere en apoyarles—como individuos y como grupo—para que cada uno pueda cumplir plenamente su beca y pueda ser mejor, más rápido y más coherente de lo que ya son en su trabajo.

Todo el mundo se queja de los medios de comunicación, y por una buena razón. Aquí están las personas que, junto con el Equipo de Narco News y nuestra asombrosa lista de profesores voluntarios, están haciendo algo al respecto.

Damas y caballeros: Es para mí un claro honor el presentar a ustedes… El futuro.

Al Giordano
Presidente, Escuela de Periodismo Auténtico

Long time readers will, no doubt, understand much about my feelings on winning this without my having to speak too much of it. I guess I’ve competed for and won a few things here and there, been lucky enough to have a couple opportunities. This little trip and bit of education I’ll receive—direct and incidental—interests and excites me more than anything I can remember for a while.

One of the reminders of other lands and people to which I am related that I kept close to my heart when younger (aside from the food my abuela would prepare, and the language that some of my family used) were fotos of the Lacandón people (that my father took), and books he wrote after visiting the Southern reaches and jungles and indigenous peoples of México in his twenties. But that’s all so ethereal. This is air I need to breathe for a little while. Those are skies I need to be under. There is sand, soil, and stone I need to have under my feet. That said, I welcome wherever this path may lead and I don’t expect a lot aside from to see what México wants to show me for herself.

That’s the México part of it. That’s the history and identity and familia part of it. On the journalism angle, this is also wildly exciting. Narco News is one outlet I’ve long respected (and there isn’t a ton of them out there doing what they do) as they report news from México that feels real, and does not pass through the typical grimy lens that US MSM employs almost every time it reports on her. I am looking forward to being part of Narco News in even a minimal way. It is an honor and a challenge I hope to meet well.

You know, I got into this ‘New Media” movement incidentally. Never set out to do it, did not breeze in with some org or company or site looking to capitalize on NEW MEDIA or UNDERSTAND THE NEW TERRAIN OF JOURNALISM or any of that. It has all been extremely organic in my case. I just used the Internet to disseminate my art, once I saw the potential there in 1999 or so. Found LJ and then hopped off to a blog in 2003. And then did that for a while without a specific focus aside from my music. I had three blogs. One private, one political and public, one geared to my music.

And then in 2006 I focused. And that’s when I began writing The Unapologetic Mexican. Here I am now in the midst of this New Media movement, and honestly I also feel honored to find myself where I am. Able to take advantage of opportunities here, be part of this new essence of journalism, and I’ve reached the goal I had when I began: to push back on the racist messaging that was everywhere and to insert my own views on my people and people like me into the stream of media conversation. My purposes have grown since then, and are not entirely vested in my individual welfare or plight quite as much.

Today, I understand I have a responsibility to employ each and every power and privilege and talent and skill with every ounce of mobility and energy I possess in confronting, exposing, and righting the imbalances and injustices in our world. It sounds pretentious, I know. It probably is. Damn arrogant Mexicans. But something like this trip/curriculum makes me happy because as Al G said in his intro to the 31 winners, through the opportunity I can become even more efficient, coherent in my messaging, and more effective in my role. And that brings me a joy deep in my being, where that restlessness and agitation inflamed by the evils of our society and world lives.

It’s very possible I am simply humming like a tuning fork with the moment, as I am wont to do in my artist role. But I see this as a possible pivot point from where I can step up my goals, actions, and reach. Let’s see how it plays out. This trip threatens to be the most photographed and recorded and tweeted one ever, though. I know that!

Another thing I’m used to doing when I am fortunate enough to gain a scholarship or membership to some kind of selected group is looking around at the other winners to gauge what kind of crowd I’m in. And honestly, this is one crazy crowd of talent. I am also humbled to be part of the group…and it takes a lot to make me feel humble (again, as my readers already know . I will definitely be soaking up info and lore and craft from any one of these people I can. I can’t even imagine the levels of creative energy gonna be gathered in this one spot. Wow.

Finally, I’ll be posting the link to my individual scholarship fund now and then until February. I know we are all struggling out here, but if you are in the position to help fund my trip, I’d be grateful of course.

MY FEELINGS ON WAR, like my feelings on fighting and my feelings on armies, nations, violence in general…are complex. So this day, Veterans Day, almost always makes me feel a bit more pensive than some other days.

I would begin by thanking all those who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. That I can stand behind, unequivocally.

There are many reasons to go into the military. Some do it for very hateful reasons. So I cannot in general thank every single soldier or veteran, no. But those who fight or pick up arms to protect others while risking themselves, and not for their own wall of medals or to enact sadism or racism upon others? That I applaud, admire, and thank you for. Uniform or otherwise.

Secondly, I must shout out gratitude and admiration for Beto, Vicente, and Jeno Quintana—familia who acted out of a need to see their own live a better life, and as the Mexican Revolution was gearing up, joined the US Army in order to bring the family (my family) here, through Juarez and then El Paso:

“Be el vocero de la gente, the voice of the people!”

¡Vámonos al norte!

Shouted Roberto to his brothers Geno and Vicente at the age of twelve. Let’s go! If we don’t leave, the revolution will roll right over us! We should roll over it! He said jokingly moving his hands as if rolling tortillas. His pants were ragged and his shirts flapped in the windy alley of El Niño Perdido, the Lost Child, in the center of Mexico City.

The year was 1912 and the Mexican revolution was two years old; people jumped on trains, others rode horseback, many simply carried their satchels on their backs as the city braced itself for gunshots, cannon balls and change. ¡Vámonos! Roberto cried. In el norte, we can join the American Army and with our pay, we can take care of our mother Juanita and two sisters, Lucha and Aurelia, Roberto said, hopping on one leg and kicking his heels. …

Roberto and his two brothers enlisted in the army in Fort Bliss, a few miles from El Paso. The year was 1920. Mama Juanita gathered the children and moved into the poorest section of the city, a brick building on third and Campbell streets in el Segundo Barrio, the Second Ward.

—Roberto Martinez Quintana
1900-1978
By Juan Felipe Herrera

It’s stories like this that got Latinos so angry at Ken Burns, of course. War, military service, and sacrifice are an integral story in many of our lives. But we don’t need Ken Burns! We’ll do the remembering.

The Juanita of that story is my bisabuela, my greatgrandmother. And Lucha was my abuela, my grandmother with whom I lived with for a short time when younger. The full story, in my father’s words, is here.

Here’s to those who give sweat, blood, and tears to look out for others around them.

]]> http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/2009/11/11/veterans-war-and-what-you-are-fighting-for/feed/ 5 http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/2009/11/05/mexico-she-welcomes-the-opportunity/ http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/2009/11/05/mexico-she-welcomes-the-opportunity/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:57:38 +0000 nezua http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/?p=5727

AND OFFERS FULL AMNESTY TO ALL ILLEGAL US IMMIGRANTS! As well as to undocumented immigrants from all nations!

Juan Ignacio Pedroza, Migratory Regulations Official for México says that the government of México wants to have “an open arms policy;” all foreigners who want to contribute should be allowed to and are welcome. México simply wants them documented. No prosecutions, no jail, no problem. This move will offer them a path to citizenship.

According to the video, México has “changed its approach toward immigrants” to simplify the process of becoming a citizen: they are now viewing immigrants through an economic lens. And more people wanting to contribute is good for the economy. This officially makes the government of México in at least one way, ten times smarter than so many pundits and politicians right here in the US.

And it’s so warm! And sunny. Look at those relaxed expats on the benches. Makes you wonder. Will México be the next Florida for those seeking retirement?

This move on México’s part offers an attractive option to some, and also destroys the argument so often slurred out in comment threads by those tiresome racist trolls who implore you DO YOU KNOW WHAT MEXICO DOES TO THEIR ILLEGAL IMMIGRINTZ??? then proceeding to unleash a stream of visions of Victorian era blood tinged barbarism as if the demons in their minds actually live in México.

Ah…México sun…I need me some…

video found here

JUST ONE DAY AFTER breaking the world record for largest public Thriller dance, Mexico takes another world record! The largest mariachi band world record goes to Guadalajara, Jalisco, México! Órale!

(NECN/APTV) – Guadalajara, in the Mexican state of Jalisco, on Sunday entered the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world’s biggest mariachi band.

A total of 549 musicians played for just over ten minutes in the square in front of the Cabanas Cultural Institute in Guadalajara, the birthplace of the distinctive mariachi music style.

They closed with traditional mariachi favorites, “Cielito Lindo” and ” Guadalajara.”

MMM MORNING! Now that we are awake, let’s run laughing through swaying fields of heather! Or….no! That would be horrifically corny!

So, let’s instead sip our sweet café and tear through the towering virtual stacks of news and get a quick hold on what’s going on out there in this wide, wonderful and wicked, wicked world!

1

Manson Supporter and Almost-Presidential-Assassin Squeaky Fromme Set Free From Prison; Framed Native American Spiritual Leader Leonard Peltier Denied Parole

Child protégé and Manson cheerleader Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme walked free last week, straight through the front doors of Fort Worth Federal Prison, into a brilliant Texas sun.

Fromme attempted in 1974 to assassinate then President Gerald R. Ford. She did three decades and four years for her bungled attempt. …

Now, cut to the pending case of Native American spiritual leader Leonard Peltier who has also served almost 35 years behind bars, for a crime that has never been proven. Peltier’s case was rocked by government misconduct, including the extensive falsification and suppression of evidence.

So it would seem to be a no brainer: If you’re going to release Fromme, still a self-proclaimed Manson supporter, it’s time to free this internationally revered indigenous leader who was clearly framed by the government and then ground through the racist prison system.

Indians are a necessary target of this government. Always have been. Even now, in the way Mexicans are treated. After all, what the hell is a “Mexican”? Unless you are talking about the increasing influx of US expats to Mexico who may or may not be tied to the continent’s history by blood—A Mexican is simply an Indian blend. Sometimes puro indigenous, sometimes blended with blacks, sometimes with euros. But what Mexico has always been is a land of many indigenous tribes. And despite the codes—”mexican,” “alien,” “illegal,” spic, “Undocumented”—the Indian remains under the crosshairs of this nation.

Flag of the American Indian Movement

That’s why so many find it totally natural to suggest our economy employ battalions of INDIANS to man our warehouses, fields, and factories—but only until the season is done! After that it is preferred they take the train back downtown. Just like in Irvington, NY, where the help rides in on the morning train—nannies, mows, washes, and cooks—and then at dusk goes back to the Bronx. Guest worker, indentured and socially validated servant/help/slave. Never human, never equal.

Nor are we here at UMX strangers to the awareness that the socially constructed state of Whiteness bestows rationality, authority, credibility, and humanity upon a person—as a rule. Even to felons, apparently. So welcome back to your society, Squeaky. And don’t be surprised that packing heat at Presidential appearances is now in vogue; after all, this is the nation’s first black president.

Finally, Leonard Peltier, your life would be wasted behind bars. But if this be your terrible fate, know that your suffering or at least your incarceration will only inspire those of us out here more; to remember the injustices that keep you there and to fight them until we, too, are either killed, caged, or fade away.

PS: I have faith you will see freedom again.

2

Old White People on Government Health Care Rally To Prevent Black President From Giving Health Care to Brown People

foto ©daisydeadair.blogspot.com

I mean…let’s stop playin’. This is silly. The racial core of this argument is that THEY WANT THEIR COUNTRY BACK because it’s not fair that someone who looks so DARK could give health care to OTHER DARK people! Because it will come from the taxes of….not their retired asses, that’s for sure! And aren’t we supposed to be locking those brown folks up? Not giving them help!!!! And CERTAINLY not electing them into OFFICE!!!! WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!

You hear the naked truth of the racist resistance baring itself more and more, lately. Good. It’s appalling. Let the ugly reality stand in its appalling pool of primordial goo. Strip fakers and fronters of their code phrases. I mean look at this crowd!!! I’m betting THEY ARE ON GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE in large part! And they rally against it because….oh, let me stop. It’s too much! I’m seething again.

But do read Daisy’s post, which includes original reporting of this rally. And probably one of the most striking parts of this is that the area in question has basically segregated itself over the issue.

We attempted to chat, but we mostly just stood there speechless and shaking our heads at each other. “We don’t belong in there,” one said. I agreed with the sentiment. She told me another meeting was happening in Spartanburg, a PRO health care meeting.

Spartanburg. And then, another realization hit me:

Spartanburg is heavily black.

The upstate has re-segregated itself into Greenville (run by whites, although a large black population) and Spartanburg (run by blacks, although a large white population) Counties. Why were there so few blacks at this meeting? They need health care, too, okay? But if I was scared to go in, I assume they would be, too. In fact, no doubt: If I were black, I’d stay far away.

Tell me, is this DEMOCRACY in action, Congressman Inglis? Are you the representative of the white upstate or ALL the upstate?

One of the women pointed back at the entrance to Gateway, and told me authoritatively, “You know, this is all really about integration. That’s really what it is. Always has been.”

Yes, I know.

I understand that Obama needs to NOT look like he is furthering race relations by talking honestly on these things. It’s almost as if the racist right is baiting him. People showing up strapped to rallies. And you know how that Reverse-Racism crowd is. They so fear discussion on race that they turn into podpeople screaming the second you truthfully point it out. But for someone who wants his “portfolio” to include moving forward on race…POTUS seems to be passing up a lot of opportunities at being real.

3

Even With Violent Madman at the Helm, Mexico Saner Than USA

At least in one sense.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.

It’s true that FeCal probably only went along with this to better dress up his REAL war on drugs, the one that has killed over 13,000 people since late December 2006, and even the MX police say the move simply formalizes what is longstanding habit. But the US ought to take a page from this book. Chasing people around and punishing them for how they affect their own consciousness when it happens to not pay off big pharma is astoundingly stupid, hypocritical (considering the plethora of legal cocktails in use every day in every state), and cruel, but its NOT EFFECTIVE and a waste of money and resources.

Then again—if you look at the US’ War on Drugs as another part of the war on non-whites, it’s hugely successful!

4

Within a Five Year Span, Coca Cola Invests 10 Billion In Mexican Markets

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Global soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and its local bottling partners will invest $5 billion inMexico during the next five years, the company’s chief executive, Muhtar Kent, said Thursday.

The investments – part of a long-term plan to develop Coca-Cola’s operations in Mexico - are in addition to $5 billion invested since 2004, Kent said at the inauguration of a factory outside of Mexico City.

Once again it’s clear that our southern “border” (social barrier and construct, like Race) are to keep poor people poor and in their place. Coca cola, WeinerDrink and many other corporations shall not be bound by it, slowed down, nor prevented from exploring new markets to siphon dry.

But keep those ILLEGULS out of our pristine nation! Because they are destroying it.

5

ACLU files lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office

In their press release, Dan Pochoda, Legal Director of the ACLU of Arizona and lead counsel on the case claims that, “Our clients suffered egregious constitutional violations and were terrified when held against their will for three hours by armed MCSO personnel. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies had absolutely no reason to stop these two men and drag them off to a worksite raid. This is yet another example of MCSO sacrificing the rights and well being of workers in the name of immigration enforcement.”

Just the fact that Arpaio is still operating is a clear sign of the racist currents that empower the law in this nation. He is simply one of those old folks at the health care rallies, but in his case he has guns, handcuffs, a jail, deputies, and a lot of pink shorts. He’s no different, fearing an imaginary world slipping out of his gnarled hands and willing to do whatever it takes to stop it.

He will fail.

6

Commentary: Tragic Neglect of Immigration

I grew up on the border and I can honestly say, it pains me to watch us squander billions on a border fence when we’ve yet to see a man-made structure that can stop the forces of nature. What we call “immigration” — in the case of Latinos — is actually a pattern of migration, a natural movement of homo sapiens dying of thirst and hunger, seeking water and nourishment in more fertile grounds.

Comprehensive immigration reform should thus be viewed as an essential measure to protect human rights on our soil and continent. This is a time to think big, not small. This is about more than laws and lines drawn on a map.

It is about the origins of our humanity, not our nationality. Real people are suffering as raids continue, border deaths and hate crimes escalate, and families are destroyed.

Exactly what I’m often writing about. It’s so funny how the US Govt tries to pretend it sees things in a limited way, selling wholesale bullshit to the People. USGOV knows perfectly well why people are migrating here. Our politicians are not so stupid that they don’t have a clear notion of these patterns and social fluctuations, especially when inspired by the US’ own rapacious appetite and reneged treaties. They—the pols—are not the stupid ones; that is the frothing masses opposing full and fair protection, inclusion, and compensation for the laborsof ALL humans, especially those from which we benefit.

They—the politicians—are simply the exploitative ones, hiding what they know to be truth, and acting in the benefit of the corporations.

7

foto ©topics.nytimes.com

Keeping Death Quiet

On any given day, more than 32,000 people who are not American citizens are held in detention in a patchwork of county jails, privately run prisons and federal facilities while the government decides whether to deport them. In the year ending Sept. 30, 2008, more than 407,000 people spent time in custody, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In October 2008, Congress approved $2.4 billion for detention and removal operations as part of $5.9 billion allotted for immigration enforcement through next September — even more than the Bush administration had requested and double the spending four years ago.

Getting details about those who die in custody is a difficult undertaking left to family members, advocacy groups and lawyers.

As the immigration detention system has ballooned to meet demands for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, Congress has listened to complaints about the secrecy and confusion surrounding deaths in custody.

The House passed a bill in January 2008 that would have rewarded states that require jails to report all deaths, but it was stalled in the Senate. At present all legislation has failed and awaits reintroduction in the 2009 Congress.

My emphasis. Because…why on earth would you not pass a law requiring prisons and jails to keep accurate records of who is hurt or who dies?  I can only think of one reason.

Which brings me to our final comment,

8

My Tone.

It’s silly and reductive to claim I am espousing some “Pro-Aztlán” (esp “vs.” Pro-American!) viewpoint. You only make yourself look ridiculous. First of all, I could easily make the case that Pro-American is contra-frontera, porque “America” is the entire continent, sans fence. And in that way of thinking (grammatically correct, if you’re into that kind of thing) both a “Pro-Aztlán” and a “Pro-American” view would, by necessity, be against this “border” idea.

But anyway, aside from a sloppy use of words, let’s be clear what my focus is here!

I do not write about a mythical homeland circled by white Mexican birds or something. This blog is not dedicated to a Spicy Mexican Lion, either. It’s all much simpler than that, though no doubt still just as confrontational to those who would run from the blog due to “tone” or “ugly” graphics or whatever you tell yourself is getting under your skin.

What I talk about here is imperialism, racism, sexism, corrupt law, media messaging, reality over symbol, truth over appearance, people power as opposed to nationalistic propaganda and legislated oppression, and I try to celebrate peoples, cultures, and traditions that the dominant culture does its best to erase or nullify. I also don’t give a shit about my tone because I’m talking about horrors and injustices. And real life, realtime blindness which the much-louder megaphone of MSM messaging perpetuates. So deal with it or don’t. But don’t kid yourself about what’s going on.

And with that, I’m out. Peace, y’all! But not before Justice.