At exactly 12 p.m. we will know who will be the
next president of Mexico. I am curious as to what is going to
happen if, indeed, Peña Nieto is announced the triumphant victor. What are
the implications of the PRI, a party that ran a "perfect dictatorship"* in Mexico for 71 years, returning?
What I really want to know: is there
enough fuel for a genuine revolution?
In 2006, the loss of Obrador† to President
Felipe Calderón by half a percentage point set off mass protests. And that was
before the country had been torn apart by years of narco violence, before the global economic crisis, before a noticeable change in weather patterns
that continues to cut into harvests that is slowly but surely raising
prices on basics like tortillas, before Peña Nieto said that those Ibero
students who jeered at him where not actually matriculated but
paid impostors, before those students made 131 Youtube videos holding their
Ibero credentials next to their (mostly) bespeckled faces, before everyone else who opposed Peña Nieto and supported meaningful democratization starting identifying themselves as the
132nd.
I am 132 or Yo Soy 132 has blossomed into a mature movement that goes beyond Peña Nieto or Obrador. It is about fostering a real (keyword being real) democracy with transparent elections, freedom of expression and unbiased/accurate media sources. And no, Televisa in its current state does not count. It is the people of Mexico saying they are tired of constructed lies. And they are listening to each other and participating. If you want to be convinced just look at the last election. Totally protest free. Okay. Not exactly‡. But there were definitely not pre-election protests aimed against Calderón or any other candidate for that matter. Actually, I cannot think of a parallel example, in or outside of this country, of such disquiet surrounding a political candidate before he has even been elected or not. Maybe Bush but that was again after, not before, electoral fraud.
As I was typing these words my friend called. "Do you want to join
the revolution? We are going to the polling stations to take pictures of
the results." Taken back by the coincidence I could hardly answer. "Look, just call me
if you do." I could hear her movement and excitement and I get
it. I watched Obama win. It was my first year here. I
still lived in Texcoco. I ran through the cornfields alone and cried and
laughed and hoped as I tried to keep my balance in between the dried out stalks that crinkled to my touch.
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| YoSoy132 protest filling Reforma |
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| YoSoy132 protest in the Zocalo |
The movement has already
flooded the streets of Mexico City three times. And it unabashedly says it will do it again
if there is any sign of electoral fraud. Hence my buddy. The phone call. They
are already mobilizing. She just called again. But this time she was shaken up.
"The PRI was breaking rules and I took photos and then they tried to take my camera
and my bike and me but my friend saved me and we ran and
they chased. I need a favor." She was talking so fast and I could not
understand the names of the streets and the organizations so I had
her say it again and again. "I got it." No one has picked up the
phone. I have filled out two different forms. I asked for help from Yo Soy 132 using social media.
Well. Profound disappointment might be lurking just around the corner. Then again, profound political change might be there too. We all want to change the world.
/////f o o t n o t e s//////
* Said in 1990 by the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa with regards to government under the PRI.
† Obrador is the main contendor in this fight, though he is a softer version of himself, extending a hand to those he shunned the first go round. And he is advocating for a nation of love. AMLO. His initials literally translate to "love it."
‡ The last election was anything but protest free. Obrador held a rally in the Zócalo that has crowd estimates ranging from 500,000 to 3,000,000 supporters. He also set up plantones inside the Zócalo and Reforma, the Champs-Élysées of Mexico City, for 47 days.
