The Mexican crisis
The regime is in deep, possibly terminal crisis. And yet the political and economic climate in Mexico remains deeply untavourable for the exploited. Resistance is very uneven. But there are encouraging signs.
BENVE NIeS tODOS Eric Toussaint HERMANES DEL MUNDO EN
ESTE PINCON PATRA MEXICANA - CORAZON DIGNO DEL EZLN THIS YEAR SAW THE SECOND LARGE independent mobilisation on May 1st (IV#278). Hundreds of thousands of workers ignored Fidel Velazquez, lider maximo of the regime's labour movement. The May First Inter-Union Coalition played a decisive role in this new, independent regroupment.
Another interesting sign is the series of demonstrations and protests organised by El We welcome our brothers from round the world to this corner of Mexico - the dignified heart of the EZLN [Zapatista Army] Barzon (the yoke), a radical middle class group mainly representing indebted farmers. This is not a proletarian sector, but a promising radicalisation is quite possible, In July, El Barzon even held its national meeting in the Zapatista stronghold of La Realidad, Chiapas
The poorest layers of society are also deeply unhappy. On May 30th, a crowd in San Nicolas de los Garza hijacked a train. The cargo was nothing other than maize. Mexico's basic food. Which is now imported from the USA, since Mexico is no longer self-sufficient. Let there be no confusion: the poor of Mexico hijacked a train so that they could eat. In July, day-labourers in one northern state, mostly Indians from Oaxaca, raided shops. Again, they were driven by hunger.
Last but not least, we have seen impressive popular mobilisations every time the government has threatened to launch a military offensive against the Zapatista rebellion.
Unfortunately, there is still no unitary framework for these protests. Most unions representing factory workers are controlled by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The independent May Ist demonstrations show the deepening crisis of this state control over labour, but the alternative is emerging in a very unbalanced and unequal way. The PRI is certainly in a deep crisis, but it has certainly not run out of ammunition! The death of the regime
This dossier on the Zapatista revolt and its consequences doesn't pretend to make an authoritative prediction about the development of the crisis facing the Mexican regime. But the signs of crisis speak for themselves. The neo-liberal policy adopted in 1982 has failed. The factional struggle inside the ruling party led to the assassination of two leading politicians in 1994, Colosio and Ruiz Massieu. Former President Carlos
Salinas is in exile in Ireland. His brother Raoul is under arrest. The PRI has partially lost control over its mass movements. The government is even obliged to negotiate with an Indian rebel army led by the EZLN. The criminal aspect of the PRI is developing rapidly, particularly through the extension of drugs trafficking. All this adds up to quite a
"This is not a crisis of construction, but a crisis of functioning and reproduction, Rhina Roux argued in Viento del Sur #2, 1994. "It is... a global crisis, affecting all three constituent dimensions of the state. There is a crisis of the structure of the state, a crisis in the relations between the governors and the governed, and a crisis in the functioning of the state and the reproduction of the ruling elite.
In other words, this is not a crisis of government, or a crisis of the ruling clique. The crisis today is a crisis of the form of the state itself." A series of shocks
This crisis goes back to 1988, when Cauahtémoc Cardénas of the [moderate left, populist] Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) won the Presidential election, but was denied victory by massive PRI fraud. The enormous protest shook the regime. The Zapatista revolt of January Ist 1994 was the second shock. The economic crisis which exploded at the end of that year was the third
Each of these shocks has been a catalyst for developments inside the regime. But the various social forces which oppose the regime have not yet begun to move in a way which would enable them to accumulate experience, force, and consciousness. The development of the PRD since 1988 has disoriented and deeply disappointed important sectors of the popular movement. The EZLN has managed to force the regime to negotiate, thanks to its audacity and the enormous solidarity mobilisation which the Indian revolt has provoked. But the Mexican capitalist regime has weapons in reserve.
This regime has the capability to run a low intensity war against the popular peasants' movements. This includes the permanent stationing of troops in several states simultaneously (so far, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Tabasco). Most of the troops in these states are deployed outside their barracks.
The judicial and police apparatus is far from inactive. They are arresting more and more militants, in the hope of frightening people into taking cover. The rest of the repressive work is carried out by the white guards hired by the largest capitalists and landowners (who merge, as a social and political group, with the PRI elite). Assassination has become a common tactic for the Mexican elite. The killers are never
Napoleon said "you can do everything with bayonets, except sit on them." The PRI regime is not stupid enough to think that repression alone will protect their privileged position. It is working hard to maintain control over peasant and industrial workers' organisations. Television stations are under tight control. And the PRI has negotiated an electoral reform law, which the other parliamentary parties (PAN, PRD, PT) approved in July. This cost the PRI a number of concessions. But it will give much greater credibility to the 1997 elections.
The PRI is developing a number of agreements with the conservative opposition PAN. At the same time, it is launching public works, and social aid programmes, through a number of local government institutions. Unless those at the bottom can find a way to unite their various struggles, those on top will continue to control the situation. The Zapatista-sponsored Intercontinental Meeting for Humanity is a step in the right direction. Read our special report on pages 4-10. *
October 1996 #281 3
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Mexico *