Is another Egypt brewing in Mexico?

Zócalo Square

The overwhelming majority of U.S. media coverage of Mexico is on the brutal drug violence there. That violence is real.

The struggle on both sides of the border over booty from the enormously lucrative drug industry has without a doubt resulted in horrific violence. More than 35,000 Mexicans have died in the last four years alone as a result of the drug industry.

But that is not the whole story.

The news on drug violence is a diversion orchestrated by the U.S. and Mexican ruling classes to take attention away from the real story: a deepening, vibrant and diverse mass struggle in Mexico that is so profound and so dynamic that it is slowly but steadily challenging the status quo in unprecedented and historic ways.

Massive unemployment, unbearable social conditions, a lack of basic bourgeois democratic rights and brutal repression for the masses are also creating an untenable situation for the U.S. and Mexican ruling classes.

Sooner or later, the conditions in Mexico will lead to an upsurge like that in Egypt. Momentous history will be made once again on the U.S. border. Sooner than later, the revolutionary tide for change that is sweeping the Americas will reach the border with U.S. imperialism. It may even be accurate to say that not too long from now dual power will exist in Mexico.

Mexicans are organizing like never before.

On Jan. 31, for example, a major demonstration of more than 200,000 people was held in Mexico City at the Zócalo plaza, Mexico’s Tahrir Square. It was held in response to attacks on unions and rising prices. It brought together a concentration of forces from many sectors of the working class, the unions, farmers and progressive movements. The event was called by a new umbrella coalition, the National Movement for Sovereignty, Workers and Civil Rights, and is an example of the growing unity in the workers’ movement.

This huge rally is just one of a thousand examples of the growing struggle in Mexico.

It is important for the progressive and workers’ movement in the U.S. and around the world to take note of the struggle in Mexico. It should get ready to organize massive solidarity with the Mexican people. As in Egypt, where U.S. imperialism desperately depends on a puppet government to subjugate the Middle East, Washington counts on a puppet government in Mexico to do its bidding. Global solidarity and condemnation of U.S. intervention in Mexico will be decisive if the Mexican masses are to be victorious in their quest for change.

A revolutionary development on U.S. imperialism’s doorstep would change the course of class history. The U.S. will stop at nothing to prevent that.

This is why the drug industry is so successful in Mexico and why the drug violence has led to an astonishing and entrenched climate of impunity on both sides of the border.

Behind the drug war

In 2006 U.S. intervention in Mexico stepped up after a tumultuous presidential election. For all intents and purposes, current President Felipe Calderón stole the election from the popular candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly called AMLO by his supporters.

Millions of Mexicans demonstrated not just once but several times at the Zócalo square and in cities across the nation to demand AMLO’s rightful place in Los Piños, Mexico’s White House. Felipe Calderón nonetheless took power, with the support of the U.S. The situation was so tense that the Mexican military had to escort him into Los Piños. He was not even able to hold a public address, his security was so precarious.

To deal with this tumultuous period, Felipe Calderón and the U.S. powers-that-be intensified the so-called “war on drugs,” not only as a diversion from the stolen election but to quell resistance.

Like in Colombia, the U.S. is fighting drugs with special military forces, SWAT teams and Pentagon arms. Instead of opening drug rehab centers or raising wages, U.S. imperialism further militarized Mexico. Its aim is to stop the resistance to imperialist domination and instill fear and terror.

The death and destruction in Mexico today is a direct by-product of the U.S. war on drugs and of the drug industry.

Part 2: The Merida Initiative