The world is spiraling out of control and, unlike in Mexico, Americans don't do anything about it. Yes to electing a Democratic majority in November (and doing everything we can to doing that), and YES to doing everything we can in fighting the whole system that keeps the world going down its demise, whether under Republicans or Democrats.
I came back from Mexico a couple weeks in a study abroad program where I learned a TON about Mexican democracy, Mexican social movements, globalization, corruption there, and the current Mexican elections. I gained important insight about America that I wish to share with you.
One of the things that I've been thinking recently is how wrong it is to say that "America is the world's greatest Democracy." Our democracy is a far cry from what a Democracy should look like. We saw in 2000 and 2004 Bush committed fraud and got away with it, and Americans, being their apathetic selves, did nothing about it. In Mexico, Lopez Obrador, victim of a major fraud that happened before (Fox illegally campaigning for Calderon), during (votes for Calderon being deliberately countred before votes for Lopez Obrador, to name one example), and after the elections (the illegal opening of the electoral packets containing votes by the PAN-supporting electoral board), has not minced words about what happened, and has called for marches and demonstrations to protest the fraud and the resulting certification of Calderon by PAN-supporting institutions (their federal election commission, Fox, etc.) People are marching in the streets. Mexico might be a very weak democracy, with all the corruption and wholehearted support for destructive neoliberal policies by all the parties, but at least people fight for fairness.
In the United States, we let Kerry concede the morning after November 2, despite the fact that not all votes were counted, and that Blackwell was running Bush's campaign in Ohio AND the elections there. Totally undemocratic. Long lines in the most democratic and racially diverse communities due to few numbers of polling booths. Intimidation. Unreliable voting machines. Thousands of votes not being counted. The list goes on. And Americans, led by our so-called resurgent Democratic Party, bit their frustration and re-annointed Bush as their president, conceding defeat. That, even after it was clear that Americans were tired of it from the 2000 election.
In the United States and Mexico, lobbyists, big business, and transnational interests dominate politics. That's why, in Mexico, we see the center left, led by Lopez Obrador, advocating for a highway from Mexico City to the north that will run right through hundreds of indigenous communities and would benefit transcapital (poor people wouldn't use it). In the United States, we see both parties give an attentive ear to AIPAC in condemning Hezbollah and NOT israel for the devastation going on there. Both parties want to "crack down" on illegal immigration rather than end neoliberal trade agreements that keep them coming back over the border. We are a government not of/by the people, but of/by the corporations, and all too often compromise is what's settled for.
Thankfully, in Mexico, there's a major movement going on, it's called the Other Campaign. It was started by the Zapatistas, the group responsible for reclaiming indigenous land in southeastern Mexico. The Other Campaign is a national (and later, international) campaign that seeks to unite all the oppressed people of Mexico, which includes women, sex workers, indigenous persons, workers, farmers, GLBTs, students, youth, elderly, disabled persons, teachers, and many others, and coordinate all their campaigns together, so that they can speak as a unified leftist voice, against the political establishment. They take an anti-capitalist position, but are not necessarily advocating for communism, socialism, libertarianism, anarchism, etc. They are merely trying to give these people, long neglected by the government and by politics, an arena to voice their concerns and be listened to. With the Other Campaign, the Zapatistas, led by Subcomandante Marcos, travel from town to village to community throughout Mexico, the poorest of the poor, and they enter an arena full of people, and they sit down, get their pens and paper ready, peopel in the audience come up and speak in the microphones, stories about hardships with a boss, or a downsizing company, or their hardships they've suffered since such a move, and the Zapatistas listen and take notes. Then, after a long day of listening and taking notes (sometimes in excess of 17 hours), Marcos speaks and asks these people to act as organizers and leaders in their community, so that organizers in other communities can link their forces with these organizers and coordinate national struggles, so that their voices are more numerous against the corporate class. Now, the Other Campaigning is creating an "Other Geography" that links towns up fighting similar struggles that are close to each other, but not necessarily in the same Mexican states. Many times Mexican States are so large that towns are so far away from the capital, that it makes no sense to coordinate their efforts with a place so far away. With this Other Geography, towns closeby but not necessarily in the same state will be put together in regions, so to better coordinate their struggles. The ultimate goal of the Other Campaign is not yet known, but it is a slow deliberate process that is seeking to create goals based on what the people say. The Other Campaign seeks to create that space for these goals to be enunciated. Most likely, the ultimate goal is to topple the Mexican government and create a Mexico full of autonomous communities that are fully democratic, and not run by any personalistic ruler. But this conclusion is uncertain.
Nothing of the sort exists in the United States, despite the fact that American policy effects the world in so many ways. We see it with the Israeli Lobby's incredible influence in giving Israel a blank check to destroy Lebanon and, subsequently, Israelis, when Hezbollah gets powerful enough from pissed off Lebanese that they'll be a wrecking ball. We obviously see it in Iraq where Halliburton and oil interests continuously support such regime changes to have privileged access to markets. In Africa, the powerful drug lobby checks America from using its influence to weakening poverty and diseases, a continent where misery and death are dominant. Everywhere you look, America causes misery, due to the major corporate interests holding the keys to power, yet Americans are silent about all this. They need to wake up and take the fight to the streets in protests that call for major changes.
How long can this crap go on for? Global Warming is increasingly a menace threatening the existence of the world. Poverty is becoming so extreme in some parts that the bottom is resorting to violence, creating a major class war in the future. Neoliberalism is forcing the poorest out of their jobs they've had for so long and is ruining their social fabric. Women are routinely degraded. We need to make major changes from outside the system, because the Democratic party only listens to the left side of the current terms of debate, which is, currently, very narrow.
I am not saying we should work against the Democratic Party, or what we should do (heck, we need Democrats obviously more than ever, i recognize the differences on a hole variety of issues). What I am saying is, remember that for all the good that the Democratic Party can be, it also sells out time and again. While in the short term keepng an eye on the electoral system is important, always keep an eye to the outside, looking for ways to make fundamental changes that are outside of politics and is working to change the system. Cause if we put all our eggs in one basket, we will find ourselves disappointed, and shocked that the Democrats didn't do anything to stop it.