MEXICO: Follow the yellow brick road
Mitchel Cohen, Mexico City
The sea of yellow swept through the veins of Mexico City en route to the Zocalo (central square) on July 30, the platelets returning to the heart. Yellow for clean elections; amarillo for democracy, as manifest in the candidacy of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who believes that his populist victory in the presidential election three weeks ago was stolen from him and from the working class and poor of Mexico who voted for him.
Unlike US presidential candidate John Kerry, Obrador — the mayor of Mexico City — did not disappoint the perhaps 2 million people who completely filled the Zocalo and avenues in every direction for block after block. He has presented evidence of fraud at 70,000 polling places to the Supreme Court. And, as his voice echoed from loudspeakers everywhere, he called on his supporters to remain in the Zocalo (after apologising to the thousands of street vendors who would be inconvenienced by the occupation), setting up dozens of large white tents — one for each Mexican state — for the vigil to use to organise itself and expand.
It was impossible to get to the Zocalo until long after the rally had ended and the round-the-clock vigil had commenced with cultural festivities. We found a shady corner a few blocks away and listened to the crowd's cheers as Obrador announced the occupation of the central square.
Earlier, we inched our way down Avenida Juarez, where artists had hung dozens of dramatic paintings and historic quotations about the need for democracy. A few days ago, right-wing vandals slashed a number of the artworks, each around 3-4 metres wide. When the artists returned to repair them, they found that hundreds of people had already shown up to defend the art and people from the neighbourhoods had carefully stitched each tattered canvas back together, rendering them even more dramatic.
While the amarillo waves washed down the streets, many focused not on Obrador himself but on the need for free elections, real democracy and an end to the corruption of all of the institutional political parties. Obrador has become the symbol of that movement, that hope. Not that he will be able to solve the momentous problems Mexico faces, particularly in the face of International Monetary Fund and US economic pressures. But, they feel that at least Obrador is honest and will run a clean house.
It remains to be seen how this movement for democracy will play out. The Zapatistas (EZLN), for instance, were critical of Obrador as a candidate, but many EZLN supporters were evident in the crowd demanding free elections and supporting the movement.
A revolution is brewing in Mexico, one that for now is non-violent, powerful, and visible everywhere. Can the movement be co-opted? Will Obrador betray his base? The Zapatistas understand that the revolution proceeds on many fronts. As of July 30, the revolution has taken a giant step forward. What will happen tomorrow is anyone's guess. But, for now, these are very exciting times, and the hopes of a huge swathe of humanity rides on the ability of the Mexican people to reclaim liberty, not only for themselves but for the rest of us as well.
[Mitchel Cohen is a member of the Brooklyn Greens.]