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March 13, 2024/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

Solidarity Crosses Borders — and Oceans!

Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn endorses the Mexico Solidarity Project's Media website

Mexico and the United Kingdom are over 5,000 miles apart and separated by the Atlantic Ocean. While the British Navy had no problem traversing vast distances to set up colonies around the globe, it never made it to Mexico. And Mexican migrants swim the Rio Grande, but not the Atlantic! So why are the English interested in Mexico? 

The truth is, they aren’t so much. 

That lack of connection could be a plus; the attitude of the British public toward Mexico, unlike in much of the US, is friendly. Francisco Dominguez and his colleagues aim to expand that positive attitude by informing them about Mexico’s left turn since AMLO won the presidency in 2018 and to enlist the UK in the defense of the progressive Morena government. 

Francisco learned long ago the critical importance of cross border solidarity to counter the international right. In his native Chile, the US colluded with right-wing forces to overthrow the democratically elected leftist government of Salvador Allende. Human rights organizations with ties across the globe saved Francisco, getting him out of Chile and away from the brutal Pinochet regime. 

The UK proved to be a pretty good place for a socialist to land. The working class there has a strong class identity, big unions, and its own political party, which gives them the possibility of leading the national government — as a UK MP and socialist Jeremy Corbyn did at one time.

Francisco is a founder of the new UK Mexico Solidarity Forum, and the MSP is thrilled to work in tandem with them. Together, we can grow a global movement to stand up to imperialist efforts to bring down successful governments — like Mexico’s — that govern for the working class.

The Mexico Solidarity Media Project is proud to announce its first Mexico Solidarity Webinar. It will take place on March 18, 1 pm (Pacific) and 8 pm (London). Please join us!

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Building Solidarity with Mexico in the UK

What brought you to the UK? Were you already a political activist?

I was active in President Salvador Allende’s government in Chile as a trade unionist in the national health service. After the CIA-supported coup and Allende’s death in 1973, I managed to survive for six years but then had to flee. The organizations helping people like me said, “If we can get you a visa to anywhere, that’s where you’ll go!” Britain wasn’t my first choice, but they came up with a visa first. 

There was a lot to get used to. Vinegar on French fries?! But I even grew to like it — the vinegar — and also what I could do here. I hadn’t gone to college in Chile, but Britain offered me a scholarship, and I got a political science degree. In 1984 I gave my first lecture at Middlesex University in London; I’ve been here ever since. 

Of course, I never stopped being a political activist, a socialist. The UK has a good tradition of international solidarity campaigns, and I joined them all.

How are solidarity campaigns organized?

We found it more effective to have only one campaign per country: one for Cuba, one for Nicaragua, and so on. In contrast, the US might have 50 Cuba solidarity groups.

We have a single party on the left (and we do have a political party!), the Labor Party. The left that influences national politics does so from within this party of the working class. Post-war, the unions and the Labor Party supported the former British colonies, and they learned to discard arrogance. Instead of saying, “You should do X or Y,” they determined they should do what the people of those countries wanted. 

You’ve been on the organizing committee for the annual Latin America solidarity conferences. Why has Mexico mostly been ignored?

This initiative began in 2005, when the “Pink Tide” of progressive governments was elected in several countries. We wanted to put our solidarity campaigns for specific nations like Cuba and Venezuela under a bigger umbrella, a single totality that is “Latin America.” They themselves have attempted to build their own economic bloc — Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Latin American Bank — which pushes back against US and OAS neoliberal policies.

Why not much discussion about Mexico at these conferences? Mexico hasn’t had a big crisis; when a Latin American government is attacked, then we jump to defend it. Few solidarity efforts exist for stable, successful governments! 

But we need one now for Mexico because its progressive character poses a threat to US interests.

At the January 2024 Latin America conference, you had a panel on Mexico. How did that go?

In the UK, we don’t need to counter false information or defend AMLO as much as you do in the US. We don’t share a border. Our imperial projects were not in Mexico. The problem is simply that people don’t know what’s happening. Any information they get is a plus.

We need to tell them about the positive changes happening in Mexico under Morena’s 4th Transformation and how, at some point, the US and its accomplices will lash back. UK progressives must be prepared to defend Mexico’s sovereignty.

Labor MP Jeremy Corbyn and Cuban Ambassador to the UK Barbara Montalvo speak at the conference plenary

On the panel, we prepared people for Mexico’s upcoming presidential election. We explained how their right wing uses popular language to win people over, how the opposition parties actually hate each other(!), and what constitutional reforms AMLO is proposing in advance of the election — to make permanent the democratic and economic reforms initiated by his government.

Recently, David Raby, with you and other colleagues, started the Mexico Solidarity Forum (MSF). What is its purpose?

Why should people in the UK be concerned about Mexico’s sovereignty and the future of the 4T?

Mexico aids our defense of Cuba. AMLO said, “Cuba should be given the Nobel Prize for resistance.” Mexico can demonstrate that Cuba’s problems are due to sanctions and not to socialism. It can also counter criticisms of Latin American countries leveled by the Western left. AMLO admonishes them to be humble. “Once you have your own socialism, then you can criticize.” 

Mexico also helps our own struggle against neoliberal agendas. If Mexico succeeds in legitimizing a model that prioritizes the common people, we can apply those lessons at home. 

Not only the UK should be interested in Mexico’s success. The MSP and MSF can broaden left internationalism with information and analyses for the English-speaking world — Canada, Caribbean, Africa! Currently, Latin American countries are pivoting toward Africa, a region growing in importance. I’m excited at the possibilities of expanding solidarity with Mexico across the globe.

Sheinbaum: Mexico’s First Woman President?

For Anglo-American audiences used to the induced apathy of major-party politics, it may be difficult to picture what it’s like when Morena sweeps into town. Hours before the scheduled event time, Mexico City’s historic city center begins to morph into a block party, with marchers descending upon the Zócalo from all sides. On the street corners, bands play and people dance.

Unlike opposition rallies, which are older and whiter, Morena gatherings reflect the ethnic and geographic diversity of the 80% mestizo and Indigenous nation. I was approached by Honorato from the Sierra Otomí Tepehua region of Hidalgo, who had traveled six hours to see Sheinbaum. ”They say ours is a marginalized region,” he said. “But they were the ones who marginalized it, all of the ex-presidents!” 

Another participant, Susana, said a Sheinbaum government represents an opportunity to continue along the path against privatization, “unlike the opposition, which is firm in propping the door open for nationals and foreigners to continue to plunder the country.” A woman named Margarita expressed a hope that was more intimate but no less political: for her, Sheinbaum might better understand the plight of women dealing with disappeared children or having to care for family members with illnesses.

The turnout suggests popular enthusiasm for what Morena has accomplished so far. Beyond the war of sneer-and-smear coming out of Anglophone media, the party, in existence for barely a decade, has netted the presidency, the Congress, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures. And if the polls are any indication, it is headed for a landslide that could match or even beat its 2018 performance.

(Ed: Kurt goes on to note that the very success of Morena sets it up for attacks from old-guard rightists in the US and Mexico; they hope to discredit the election before it even happens in order to destabilize a Sheinbaum government. We must be on the alert!)

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, In Mexico, Morena Looks Poised to Win the Presidency Again Jacobin.  Beyond the war of sneer-and-smear coming out of Anglophone media, the party in barely a decade has created a structure that has netted it the presidency, the Congress, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures — and is headed for a landslide that could match or even beat its 2018 performance.

Alejandro Páez Varela y Álvaro Delgado Gómez, "No se trata de guerras" Sin Embargo. El Ministro en retiro Arturo Zaldívar comentó a “Los Periodistas” que la estrategia de seguridad que plantea llevar a cabo Xóchitl Gálvez en caso de ganar la Presidencia “es puro populismo de derecha calderonista”.

Gerardo Otero, After 30 Years of NAFTA, the Working Classes Are Still Losing The Nation. Even if many of the Mexican technocrats who championed the treaty expected the working classes to gain bargaining power against capital, the truth is that the opposite happened: the final outcome of the treaty was that Mexico lost both its food sovereignty and its labor sovereignty.

Washington indagó durante décadas los nexos entre el Gobierno de México y los narcos Sin Embargo. Cabe destacar que el actual Gobierno del Presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador no forma parte de esos años de indagatoria contra García Luna, sino los expresidentes Fox, Calderon y Enrique Peña Nieto.

Miguel A. Romero, Claudia Sheinbaum kicks off presidential campaign in Mexico City Peoples Dispatch. Sheinbaum highlighted that the neoliberal model was left behind to give way to the emergence of Mexican Humanism, with which during the more than five years of the presidency under AMLO, “many myths” were demolished. “It was said that the state should subordinate itself to the market and that if the minimum wage increased there would be inflation and there would be no investment,” the presidential candidate recalled.

Zedryk Raziel, Sebastián Ramírez, jefe de campaña de Clara Brugada: “Solo una minoría en Ciudad de México es de derecha, clasista y racista El País. El dirigente local de Morena sostiene que en la capital hay una fuerte tradición demócrata y de izquierda, por eso confían en que el oficialismo retenga la Jefatura de Gobierno en la elección.

Anne Vigna, Claudia Sheinbaum launches her presidential campaign, intertwining themes of environmental stewardship, feminism, and the perpetuation of AMLO's transformative legacy Le Monde. On Friday, March 1, the Mexican Left occupied not only Latin America's biggest square, Mexico City's Zocalo, but also all the adjacent streets. The occasion: the launch of Claudia Sheinbaum's campaign for the June 2 presidential election

Alex Covarrubias V., El mundo del trabajo en el proyecto de Claudia Sheinbaum El Economista.Lo notable es que advierte que se aprovechará para crear polos de desarrollo pero que no se desea empresas que vengan a pagar salarios bajos. Esto es una vuelta de timón que revela una visión estratégica de la industria y el mundo del trabajo contemporáneo.

Adriana Barrera and Cassandra Garrison, Mexico waiting on US proof that GM corn safe for its people, deputy agriculture minister says Reuters. Suarez said the onus is now on the United States to show GM corn is not harming Mexico's population, which consumes a higher amount of corn than many countries through daily diet staples like nixtamalized dough and tortilla.

Pedro Iniesta, La intervención de la DEA en México De Raíz. Tras reportajes internacionales sin pruebas sobre financiamiento del narcotráfico en sus campañas, el presidente AMLO acusa a la DEA de intervenir en elecciones con "calumnias".

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings 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, Susan Weiss.  To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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