Guest Column
Mexico's left sets an agenda
- By Kenneth Emmond
- The Herald Mexico-El Universal
April 2, 2007
The National Democratic Convention met March 23-25 to set its agenda for the coming months.
No, this wasn´t the big hoopla to decide whether Hillary or Obama or somebody else should be the candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. It was a purely Mexican affair, and it already has a "legitimate president" — Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
However, like the American Democrats, it´s squared off against a right-wing conservative president its members detest.
López Obrador was narrowly defeated in last July´s presidential elections but never accepted the fact. Instead he set up a parallel government, and in a voice vote at the first National Democratic Convention Nov. 20 his followers elected him "legitimate president." Rather than challenge the questionable legality of the move — and draw attention to recognized flaws in the election process — the government ignored it.
Most convention delegates were from López Obrador´s Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), the Workers´ Party, and the Convergence Party, which form a loose coalition called the Broad Progressive Front (FAP).
One delegate, Doctor Raquel Sosa, secretary of education, culture and science in López Obrador´s "legitimate cabinet," opined that the left hasn´t had such a radical program since the 19th national congress of the Mexican Communist Party in 1979.
The 700-odd delegates divided themselves into six theme-related workshops to develop strategies for achieving its goals. These were presented as resolutions and ratified by the plenary session.
Few people of any political stripe would oppose the ideals proclaimed in the resolutions and, in the absence of a parliamentary Question Period where opposition members can pressure the government directly, the planned street demonstrations are one of the few ways a political opposition can place issues before the public.
But there was a backward-looking, bitter tone to many of the more than 40 resolutions, and little in the way of concrete policies.
One goal is to rewrite the Constitution. The new document would "guarantee" all Mexicans access to better conditions of life. But anyone who reads the existing Constitution will find most of the delegates´ ideals already in place — on paper, at least.
One would think that after nearly two centuries of rhetoric embedded in countless constitutions replete with elegant phrases, in Mexico and all over Latin America, the delegates would know that fancy words don´t ensure progress.
Good execution of sound policy together with transparency, accountability, an absence of corruption, and a fair-minded judiciary are what´s needed to make good on those constitutional "guarantees;" rewording existing ideals guarantees nothing.
High on the delegates´ backward-looking to-do list is the impeachment and removal of President Felipe Calderón, ostensibly for having won the presidential election fraudulently.
Others include yet another investigation into the bank bailout scandal that took place a decade ago, the highways privatization bailout of the same era, and "Vamos México," the self-serving charitable foundation set up by former First Lady Marta Sahagún several years ago.
There was the standard vow never to privatize Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the national oil monopoly, or anything else that hasn´t already been privatized.
There´s a long list of things the convention is against: allowing genetically modified food into Mexico, the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), which it says must at least be renegotiated, and practices like nepotism, influence peddling, and other forms of corruption.
What piques the curiosity is what the delegates would offer by way of substitute programs. One of the convention´s hallmarks was the widespread agreement on principals; hammering out concrete positive measures would almost certainly trigger divisiveness over how to achieve the agreed-upon goals.
One positive outcome of the three-day meeting was a decision to set up commissions nationwide — one for each of Mexico´s 2,445 municipalities, one for each of the 32 states (counting the Federal District), and a national commission.
If that´s done, it will mean that, like the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the coalition will have a nationwide presence.
There are other positive elements. With a charismatic leader addressing issues that have long smoldered in Mexico´s sizable underclass, the coalition is making important strides toward bringing more people into the political process. At the same time, López Obrador stresses that the changes must be made peacefully, if not necessarily quietly.
Whatever one thinks of the resolutions, the agenda was set democratically by delegates at the workshops. Everyone was free to state their opinion.
Whether the "legitimate government" accomplishes much over the next five years, it´s preparing the ground for a strong presidential run in 2012, creating a constituency of those excluded from the good life enjoyed by the middle and upper classes.
Calderón knows this. In a speech to members of his National Action Party (PAN) the weekend of the Democratic Convention, he said the party must renew itself and be the best political party "not only for political or electoral convenience, but as a true ethical obligation to the people of Mexico."
- With a 58 percent approval rating in a recent opinion poll, Calderón has the inside track. But, if the National Democratic Convention succeeds in spurring him to achieve the reforms on his agenda, it will have performed an important service.
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- Kenneth Emmond is a freelance journalist and economist who has lived in Mexico since 1995. You can reach him at kemmond00@yahoo.com.
- Article at: http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/24023.html
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