The weekly newsletter of the México Solidarity Project

December 15, 2021/ This week's issue/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

This Holiday Season, No Room at the Inn

In the US and México this time of year, scenes that depict the birth of history’s most influential paragon of peace seem everywhere. We gaze on the little baby Jesus, born in a barn to a mom who had doors shut in her face at her time of greatest need. We remember his revolutionary vision that has inspired so many for so long, a vision of a peaceful world where “the last shall be first,” a world that honors the needs of the most downtrodden.

But that birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem, has now become one of the least peaceful places on Earth. Palestinians have lived in Bethlehem since before Jesus. They had an agreement with Israel that Bethlehem would be a part of Palestine. But Israel has not kept its promise and has used its military might instead to ram Israeli settlements into the area, shrinking the land available for Palestinians. For them, as for Mary, “no room” in Bethlehem.

In the Mexican and Central American holiday tradition known as Las Posadas, “The Inns,” people re-enact the story of Mary and Joseph walking through the streets looking for lodging. At the house of the posada hosts, some people stay inside pretending to be the innkeepers. Others wait outside, pilgrims seeking a place to stay. A Mexican posada ends with the innkeepers opening their doors to the outsiders and providing them with food, drink, and gifts.

In our interview this week, we speak with Aracely Cortés-Galán, an activist organizing to bring into Bethlehem and beyond the spirit of Las Posadas. In this holiday season, let’s look anew at the nativity scene and see in it Palestine’s story. Israel, give the Palestinians room. Bring peace to Bethlehem.

Wishing you the holiday best! After a two-week break, we’ll be back early in the new year.

Last week’s Voices interview on gun violence with John Lindsay-Poland saw some errors introduced in the editing process. Our apologies! The complete correct text now appears online in both English and Spanish.

I became a student activist in 1985 after the government in México gave a horribly inadequate response to a major earthquake. The only silver lining: The government’s poor response sparked all sorts of militant action. From the student movement, I graduated to socialism and internationalism. I worked on solidarity with Cuba, opposition to the Gulf War, and learned that Israel was intervening on the wrong side of struggles in South Africa, Argentina, and many other parts of the world. And that road led me, and many others, to Palestine. CORSOPAL started up in 2000.

In the United States, a powerful pro-Israel lobby has kept US government policy totally in Israel’s corner. Who is supporting Israel in México?

Three kinds of groups. First, those with direct connections to the Israeli Embassy. These include private companies doing business in Israel, but also, for the last 40 years, the previous PRI/PAN governments that bought arms from Israel and received military training and support dealing with narco-trafficking and security issues.

Second, the right-wing media, and third, the ultra-conservative PAN party. In the legislature now, both Morena and PRI deputies are taking a neutral stance. They’re not explicitly pro-Palestine independence, but they’re also not justifying Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

In the US, many Jewish people have joined the Palestinian Solidarity movement, and the Black Lives Matter movement has also shown strong support for Palestinians. Who’s allying with the Palestinians in México?

After World War II, México saw an influx of Jewish refugees. Their grandchildren now generally tend to be conservative. Few tend to be progressives, but the mayor of México City, Claudia Scheinbaum, rates as one of them. She’s issued a strong solidarity statement.

México has only a tiny Moslem population. Because indigenous people have also suffered repression, violence, and the theft of their land, the Coordinadora has supporters in Oaxaca and among the Zapatistas. But our main base of support comes from the big cities and some labor organizations like the electrical workers union.

In October, the Mexican government gave a strong statement before the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlements in Gaza and human rights violations against Palestinians. What more do you want the Mexican government to do?

The AMLO government has given a public condemnation, but the government’s basic relationship with Israel hasn’t changed. We want the government to support an independent Palestinian state and stop buying arms and getting military training from Israel. And we want Mexican companies like Cemex — the multinational Cemento de México that expresses tacit support for the settlements — out of the occupied territories.

How are you demonstrating solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle?

To get people to pay attention to international issues requires information and education. We host educational events at universities like UNAM and in other community venues. We wage media campaigns in the newspapers and through social media. We demonstrate. We support the international BDS — Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions — movement.

At bottom, we see this as a moral issue, an ongoing battle between the power of money and the power of the people.

Howling at the Moon: The Payaso at the Summit Circus

Rather than invite the elected leadership of Venezuela, the Yanquis invited Juan Guaido, the buffoon who claims to be the “real president” of Venezuela. And the forum also welcomed that paragon of democracy and anti-authoritarianism Jair Bolsanaro, the gun-slinging president of Brazil who’s unleashed state and vigilante violence against the pobres who live in in that nation’s favelas.

The Summit for Democracy’s guests included just about every nation from Latin America except, no surprise, the governments of Bolivia, Venezuela, and Cuba. The USA, the self-anointed arbiter of who rates as democratic, instead gave its stamp of approval to Venezuela’s Guaido!

What motivated this Summit for Democracy? My sense: At least part of the motivation comes from US fears about the growing “Pink Tide” that seems to be sweeping through Latinoamerica, a tide that now encompasses not just Cuba and Venezuela, but Bolivia, México, Peru, Honduras, and soon likely Brazil and possibly even Colombia. This tide clearly represents a real danger to Yanqui regional hegemony, a true Democracy Summit.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-México border

Estos 6 multimillonarios mexicanos se hicieron más ricos con la pandemia, Polemón. En 2020, con la pandemia de Covid-19, los hogares mexicanos perdieron 5.8% de sus ingresos, mientras que las seis personas más ricas de México aumentaron su fortuna hasta en un 60%.

Kevin Sieff and Arelis Hernández, ‘Remain in Mexico’ program begins in El Paso amid skepticism from advocates, Washington Post. Border-crossing migrants from the Western Hemisphere can now begin the legal process for asylum in the US but must return to Mexico while they await the adjudication of their claims, a process that can take months.

María Verza, As US brings back ‘Remain in México’ policy, México makes changes at its own southern border, Texas Standard. The new policy gives migrants humanitarian visas that let them move all around Mexico and work for a year.

Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, Neither Truth Nor Reconciliation: Mexico’s President Betrays Commitment to Transitional Justice, Just Security. AMLO has broken his own pledge to take state accountability for rampant historic and current human rights abuses.

Jon Martín Cullell, El salario mínimo en México subirá un 22% en 2022, El País. En la frontera norte, el nuevo nivel cubrirá el 112% de la Línea de Bienestar Familiar.

AMLO open to dialogue on reforms, draws the line on lithium, Bnamericas. México’s President López Obrador says lithium nationalization not up for compromise in the debate over reforms to the electric power sector.

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice who see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of México as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and México’s national sovereignty. 

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Bill Gallegos, Sam Pizzigati, Courtney Childs. We welcome your feedback. Interested in getting involved? Drop us an email!

Web page and application support for the México Solidarity Project from NOVA Web Development, a democratically run, worker-owned and operated cooperative focused on developing free software tools for progressive organizations.