I got a new car in 2014, the same year Morena became a political party in Mexico. It was exciting — for the first time in my life, I got a brand-new vehicle, not "previously owned,” no scratches, no noises, no problems.
Fast forward. OK, some things were my own fault. My old stick shift habits got me in trouble. The new car didn’t automatically stall out if I got out of the car while it was still in gear — so it propelled itself into a ditch. But other things were not in my control. Acts of nature, like mice eating all the wiring. And some problems were tech failures, like a faulty AC system that crashed as soon as the warranty expired.
Morena is a party of a brand-new design, one that has aimed to be democratic, ethical and serve the neediest. Are there design flaws? Sure, such as allowing anyone and everyone to join and even run for office under the Morena banner. That banner has become so popular that opportunists from the old PRI and PAN have grabbed onto it with no intention of adopting Morena politics.
Are some problems beyond Morena’s control? Yes. As always, the US wants a servant, not a neighbor. It threatens not only to undercut Mexico’s economy with tariffs, but it also publicly threatens invasion if Mexico doesn’t magically end drug trafficking.
Problems are inevitable over time. I won’t junk my still overall wonderful 11-year-old car; I’ll keep fixing it. And in Morena, a younger generation of activists, like our interviewee Alejandro Torres, have the technical skills, vision, creativity and fix-it spirit to not only keep the buggy running but to also make it a truly revolutionary vehicle.
Preparing a Next Generation for Leadership
Alejandro Torres became active when he was 15!He’s worked to defend public education and to gain justice for the disappeared Ayotzinapa students. In college at UNAM, hemajored in international affairs and since then has connected with political and social movements throughout Latin America. He’s laser focused on turning Mexico’s disaffected youth into Morena activists. An interview with Alejandro is available on YouTube.
Is the mood of young people different today than when you started as an activist ten years ago?
I got political when I was shocked and outraged by the disappearance of the 43 students at the Ayotzinapa Normal School in 2014; my generation came of age under the repressive government of the PRI.
In support of the parents of the 43 missing young men, normal school students and supporters from Ayotzinapa take over the toll booths at Palo Blanco. Photo: Keith Dannemiller for The Intercept: Ryan Devereaux,
But today is a quite different moment. For young people, the Morena government is now the establishment. If they experience any problems, they blame this government. Many listen to social media that tell them the problem isn’t capitalism, it isn’t neoliberalism — it’s Morena!
Cynicism affects youth today, and many are infected by individualism. Some are convinced that the US system is progressive — their goal in life is to get rich.
Are you still a leader in Morena’s Youth Section? What does it do?
Yes. I’m in my 20s and still qualify as a “youth”! Because this generation is far from understanding our political history, it’s important to have a secure space for their participation.
Instituto Nacional de Formación Política de Morena
In workshops, we start by discussing the accomplishments of the Morena government that they might not be aware of. For example, data shows that Mexico achieved a historic decline in the poverty rate under AMLO’s leadership. But we also acknowledge persistent social problems — too much violence, too many femicides, too great a concentration of wealth at the top and too many environmental disasters. We also explain that not all the solutions must come from the president or the government.
The political protagonist is the people — not individual people, but organized people. We aim to guide them toward contributing to Mexico’s transformation.
Culture, which reflects ideology, plays a huge role in young people’s lives, so it’s an area where Morena can intervene. The government’s Culture Department started a competition this year called “Mexico Sings for Peace and Against Addictions.” It’s similar to the popular US program “The Voice,” where young musicians compete for the opportunity to become professionals. But in “Mexico Canta,” they are also judged on how their performance reflects Mexico.The program uses music to counter drugs and violence. It’s an example of preventing social problems with a “hugs, not bullets” approach, to quote AMLO.
Due to Morena’s popularity, some corrupt former leaders from the conservative PRI and PAN have jumped parties like grasshoppers — chapulines. They give Morena a bad name. Can this be stopped?
Morena needs to keep a delicate balance between principles and pragmatism. In the 2024 election, the party needed to win an overwhelming number of Congressional seats because it requires a Congressional supermajority to pass Constitutional reforms. Those reforms would make AMLO’s social benefit programs permanent and replace the hated judicial system. Some of the chapulines provided needed votes for the reform.
But now, some of them are taking bad positions — like Monreal opposing the 40-hour workweek — and are known to be corrupt. This causes some people — especially youth — to feel that Morena is no different from past parties. Morena must not turn into just a “brand.” Its strength must be its social movements, women leaders and the ethics and commitment of its membership.
Before Morena’s party congress in June, President Sheinbaum stepped in with a message that the party must get back to its social justice principles. She said that we cannot tolerate the message that Morena is the same as the parties of the past.
A grandmother wearing an antichapulines t-shirt arrives at the office where PRI members used to work, Yucatan: Photo courtesy El Principal
Our principles must apply not just to public life but to private life, and unethical behaviors must be sanctioned. She has made good on that promise by investigating and arresting corrupt leaders, even if they are in Morena. No more impunity!
Morena’s party congress responded by creating a campaign to organize “Committees in Defense of the 4th Transformation.” The goal is to consolidate the Morena party-movement at the state and local levels in every one of the thousands of electoral districts. Morena already governs many cities, and the mayors must make local policies congruent with national ones. At every level, we must run better candidates than the chapulines.
We are not only battling for votes but also to win the ideological battle. Our aim is to revolutionize consciousness and to build the capacity of committee participants to lead community struggles. The people must learn to rely on themselves and each other and to take matters into their own hands.
For example, youth are concerned about our land and water; foreign companies control many of our natural resources. It’s a question of human rights versus the interests of capital and the structures of neoliberalism. Just as nationally our presidents have regained sovereignty over the energy sector, locally communities must fight for community control of their own natural resources. When they lead in their own communities, their experience will make them good candidates for government office.
Have you thought about running for office yourself?
Right now, I’m working in government; I’m involved in considering how archeology and modern industry must coexist.
Alejandro protesting last year outside the Ecuadorean embassy after the raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito. Photo courtesy of Jay Watts
But I spend all my time organizing young people! I want to find more ways to communicate with them, to both listen and teach. What’s more important than developing a new generation of activists who can carry on the 4th transformation? Claudia Sheinbaum is building the second floor. Who will build the third floor?
You’ve said that you want to internationalize the fight for transformation. What lessons can you share with US activists?
Protestors from environmental organizations, Earth Day in Mexico City, April 2022: Photo: Edgard Garrido / Alamy: Dialogue Earth
We can start by sharing information and then developing plans based on our common interests. The solution is not single leaders. Some say, “There will never be another AMLO.” But I say we need many AMLOs, many leaders who can follow his example. As a leader in the Youth Section, I want the next generation in both our countries to be the generation of hope.
Alfredo LIBRE Gutierrez; the Real Deal
Activist Vicky Hamlin, a retired tradeswoman, shop steward, and painter, shines the light — in her art and in this column — on the lives of working people and the world they live in.
Alfredo LIBRE Gutierrez is both an artist and an architect, combining traditional techniques with alternate ones to create a body of work where order and chaos are palpable. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, he started his artistic career in street art. Since 2003, he has facilitated community art workshops using creativity as a tool for social change and adaptation, for community cohesion, as well as an educational instrument
Gutierrez welding the skeleton of one of his coyote sculptures:Hyperallergic, Jen Roberts, May 14, 2020: images courtesy Libre Gutierrez
In art-speak, the buzzword ”authenticity” means producing something that feels life-like to the viewer and has a quality of believability. But if the experience is "borrowed," it can strike a false note when reflecting someone else’s reality.
Sometimes if you dig past your first view of an image, you find that an artist has just discovered a new plaything, like someone who has never tagged using graffiti as a theme in their work. The real deal (like Bruce Lee being a real street fighter, not just a trained studio fighter) makes a difference in the quality and feel of the work produced.
Photos courtesy Mosaik Philanthropy and Gutierrez Faceboook, 2015
Alfredo LIBRE Gutierrez has the lived and art experience to carry a message that both informs and engages, a difficult task. His work is raw and dramatic, rough, just like life. He uses his technical skill to paint and draw and build and translates life into useful, vibrant, positive art.
Photo courtesy Alfredo Libre Gutierrez: Hyperallergic, Jen Roberts, 2020
Water bottles being replaced
Maps, water, message boards help migramts near train tracks
Libre rode La Bestia, the train that many Central American migrants ride through Mexico. He placed his sculptures of coyotes in useful locations for migrants on their journey. Here he talks about the Series Transportapueblos, Companion of Migrants.
I wanted to know the experience in order for me not to replicate it, but to have lived it. (Hyperallergic)
The concept of Transpuertapueblos comes from the idea, that you travel with your town, your music, your colors, your food, with everything. I’ve been a migrant also, staying in places for a long time and you have to adapt, and you bring your culture, it’s a beautiful exchange, the knowledge and growth. (Just Seeds)
Gutiérrez’ technical skill is also obvious in the mural Abrazo Mutuo (Mutual Embrace), at Friendship Park in Playas de Tijuana, on the Mexican side of the border wall.
Abrazo Mutuo (Mutual Embrace), Friendship Park in Playas de Tijuana
The mural is painted on the slats of the wall. You can see the desert landscape beyond, the beginning and end of a perilous journey. But the eagle and the condor, uniting Mexican and American people, soar over all.
I had been doing volunteer work for years, at a migrant shelter in Mexico City.
I think it is very important as an artist to do that. I believe that at least here in Mexico, we have a big heritage of art and murals in the history of Mexico, it has always been manifestations of art and sculpture and murals. We have a deep heritage that we should share… (Just Seeds)
Next generation
“La Decisión” oil, aerosol and oil stick on canvas
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Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media, on life and struggles on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Compiled by Jay Watts.
Kurt Hackbarth, Mexican President Sheinbaum’s Triumphant Year OneJacobin. From deftly handling a hostile Donald Trump to securing real economic gains for workers, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum ends her first year in office with a remarkable 80% approval rating. Now the real fight for Mexico’s economic sovereignty begins.
Carlos Acuña, El desalojo de la Noche TristeFábrica de Periodismo. Un violento desalojo más en la Ciudad de México, ahora en el zona de Popotla, dejó a ocho familias en la calle. Policías encapuchados resguardaron a los cargadores y golpeadores armados que ejecutaron el operativo para expulsar ilegalmente de sus casas a personas de la tercera edad.
Nancy Flores, Grupo México se resiste a remediar río Sonora, contaminado con 5 metales pesadosContralínea. El falso argumento que esgrime no sólo ante autoridades federales –sino incluso ante la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores– es que “ha completado debidamente todas las actividades relacionadas con la remediación y compensación” de ese desastre ambiental, sanitario y social.
Ioan Grillo, Luz del Mundo AllegationsCrashOut. Does the Guadalajara mega church operate like a mafia?
Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro rompe relaciones con IsraelLa Izquierda Diario. Este sábado 4 de octubre, la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro emitió un “Posicionamiento ante la crisis humanitaria en Gaza”, dónde indica que procederán a suspender los efectos de convenios de colaboración académica con instituciones y organizaciones de israel.
Mexico Avoids Recession Under Sheinbaum, But Slows Amid US and Pemex PressuresCuba Si. During the first year of Claudia Sheinbaum's presidency, Mexico's economy has slowed notably, although it has dodged the recession forecasts from the start of the year, all under the impact of the tariff war launched by the U.S. and pressures to reduce the fiscal deficit.
Blanche Petrich, Hermetismo de la SRE sobre estado de salud de mexicanos detenidos en IsraelLa Jornada. Lo que los familiares se preguntan sin obtener respuesta de los funcionarios de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, dijo Peña, es si los detenidos están solos o aislados, si son tratados adecuadamente, cuál es su estado de salud y cuándo podrán reunirse con ellos.
The Mexico Solidarity Projectbrings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice. We see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico 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 Mexico’s national sovereignty.
Editorial committee:Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Agatha Hinman, Victoria Hamlin, Courtney Childs, Pedro Gellert. To give feedback or get involved yourself, please emailus!
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