Class war in Mexico
MEXICO IS A society of intense class conflict. Partly this is the result of historical factors and partly this is because of the country's vulnerability to the forces of world capitalism. The contradictions in Mexican society are highly visible even to the most casual observer.
Apart from class exploitation and oppression which will be discussed later, Mexico is a country of long established racism, reflecting the consequences of the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century. The ruling class, television personalities, political bosses and anyone who wields any real power is almost by definition white. The great mass of the population of the working class, middle class business people and functionaries are of mixed racial descent and are obvious by their dark skins. At the very bottom of society are the indigenous people, mainly peasants, who generally speaking are living at just about subsistence level. The descendants of the Aztecs, Mayas, Zapotecs etc. are paying the enduring price of their historic defeat.
Sexual oppression in all its forms is rife and manifests itself in countless ways. Mexican machismo is not funny. At an everyday street-level it means wolf-whistles, the interference with women's social space and exclusion from bars. More seriously it is expressed in terms of widespread sexual assault and rape.
Crime, often very violent, is an everyday part of Mexican life. Robberies of all sorts are endemic, especially in Mexico City and all banks are guarded by sub-machine gun toting security guards. Undoubtedly, the very high crime rate is caused by widespread and often desperate poverty combined with a sense of hopelessness and despair.
Though formally a democracy, like all liberal democracies, the system of hustings, elections, party bickering and individual posturings is actually a process of social control. The dominant political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, though less obviously corrupt than in the past still uses its power to maintain control over the system. They have swallowed Thatcherite-style economics and have embarked upon a programme of privatisation of state industries.President Zedillo's policies are compounded by a $67 billion bailout of private banks that many see as benefiting bankers with government ties at the expense of the poor. In August, a huge workers demonstration marched upon Mexico City's main square, with contingents from all parts of the country their opposition to an obvious attack on their living standards. Although the demonstration was peaceful, the fact that several hundred thousands of workers were out on the streets signalled a determined effort to fight.
Paralysed
Mexico's largest university has been paralysed for months by a student strike against the imposition of tuition fees. Unlike in Britain where there was no effective opposition to the abolition of student maintenance grants and the introduction of fees, Mexican students acted swiftly, militantly and with imagination. The students have their own radio station and use electronic mail and mass propaganda to get their message across. The strike has achieved its main objective, the removal of fees ,but the students want more. Being strongly influenced by anarchists (known as "ultras" in Mexico) the students' actions became the dominant issue in Mexican political life. Incidentally class struggle anarchism seems to be very influential in a society with a long anarchist tradition. Teachers, electrical workers and university workers have come out on strike and supported the student actions.
The oppression of the indigenous groups in Mexico has previously been mentioned. The most well known militant response, that of the Zapatistas in Chiapas has brought about considerable state repression. The lesser known and less effective revolt in Oaxaca has lead to the disappearance and probable murder of scores of militants.
Meanwhile in Chiapas where the Zapatistas have mass support which the government cannot destroy by standard counter-insurgency measures, the state has embarked upon a long-term strategy of low intensity operations combined with military occupation. The military is going to build a road cutting the state of Chiapas in two in order to be able to launch attacks upon the local peasants who support and provide personnel to the Zapatista revolutionary army.
The level of class war in Mexico is probably unparalleled anywhere else in the world. There are many revolutionary and pseudo-revolutionary organisations in the country and an as yet unbroken labour movement. However, the revolutionary groups are not united and there is no national organisation which commands support across the divergent ethnic and regional populations.
Against this there is an obvious tension within Mexican society and it is a potential powder keg. Perhaps all that is needed is a spark and a wholesale popular uprising is definitely not an impossibility.
The above was written by an AF member who recently visited Mexico, travelling down to Chiapas and Oaxaca and participating in a demonstration in Mexico city in which thousands of anarchists waving red and black flags took part.