Fake Democracy

-- Work in progress --

Why ?

Because looking at photos of protesters all across Mexico and some other places in the world, the desire to participate and make my voice heard led me to wonder; What can I do that might help the movement ?.

It eventually dawned on me that whenever I saw conflict somewhere else in the world I thought "I cant take a stance based on the information found in the official media". And I end up looking for traces of humanity that might give me insight into the real experience and feelings of those involved.

And that's where i begin making this attempt at making a "chronicle" of the events that surround current presidential election in Mexico.

Now, I wont try to hide the fact that I am a supporter of the candidate AMLO, the why´s for that make quite a long list which I might state in a future post.

The central idea of the posts that will follow with the label "To The World" is to translate the events that are happening here which have relevance to the nation, but somehow, are not being captured and aired trough TV or other media.

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Right now,  a war (of information) is being fought between people that are unhappy with the current situation of our country and those who would have things just as they are.

Those who want things to be different are many, and from diverse backgrounds, however the more vocal, and perhaps the driving force for the "marchas" (which are not parades but a collective protest despite the fact that sometimes they might look creative and pacific enough to be seen as such) are the young.

It turns out, that Facebook / Twitter had more in them that what we thought. Most of the urban young (16 to 30) are hooked up in this service, And trough them it has been possible to achieve social cohesion and information diffusion that would be impossible otherwise. Especially since the mayor mass media networks are deliberately denying that anything might be wrong with the presidential election.

What we are seeing is a very broad collection of students (from low income public college UNAM UAM UVM IPN wich are pretty solid and prestigious all the way to the students of the most "elite" schools like the Ibero necesito mas ejemplos de escuelas de alto perfil que hayan apoyado al moviemiento )

Under the banner of #YoSoy132 the students are trying to build an identity and an agenda, since the movement was so spontaneous that once they hit the news they had to stop and reevaluate what was the part they where going to play.

However this is a very loose organization, you can be a member by solely agreeing upon their current agenda (opposing the candidate imposed by the media, demanding transparency and responsibility within the presidential elections, demanding impartiality from the mass media and reminding them that information and promotion are two different things) and participating in the events proposed by them. It lacks an actual command structure.

This organization along with the present rush of political activity in the youth of the nation might have been triggered because of the critical mass of 18 to 29 years old citizens that are facing lack of educational options as well as lack of jobs even after graduating from college (among other things). With extreme mobility and an unprecedented response time. Enabled by the social networks


But there's also the people who has always been there in older and smaller (if perhaps better organized) groups which have seen the excess and corruption in the leading members of the nation, these organizations seem to thank the wave of public interest in a subject which such concern us all and are riding the wave as much as backing it up.

Civil organizations that promote political conscience and or humanitarian agendas, each of them deserve their own entry, however that is work for a full time historian / journalist, ill just mention some of them (the ones that have been more visible in the later events) (listar organizaciones civiles que han apoyado publicamente las protestas)

Elements affiliated with the PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party) which is the left (center left to be more precise) party in the country, they became independent from the PRI back in 1989, being the left wing of the undisputed "state party".


And then we have those who lack an actual organization, due to age, lack of familiarity with technology, lack of time, and those who believe the system is broken beyond the possibility of repair.

Survivors of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) regime which is famous for the violent and law-oblivious way it led the nation while it held power, it is important to note that the PRI held the presidency of the nation for over 70 years up until the year 2000. ( listado de hechos violentos e impositivos de el PRI )


Those swept away by inhuman dispositions of local (and perhaps Federal) government (información de comunidades asiladas victimas de casiquismo, masacres y abandono)

On the "preserve the status Quo" side we have fewer elements, yet immensely powerful

The State

The Institutions

The Mass Media

The Crime Lords

The Wealthy