I'm no longer in Mexico, but talking to migrants in Mexico inspired me to get an internship with Student Action for Farmworkers, here in the U.S.
"Every time we sit at a table at night or in the morning to enjoy the fruits and grain and vegetables from our good earth, remember that they come from the work of men and women and children who have been exploited for generations."
-Cesar Chavez
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, June 22, 2009
Rant about Immigration, the World Bank, Bartolome de las Casas
Just got back from Mexico City, yet another time.
However, I can talk about that soon when I get back.
I´ve really learned a lot here. Some of it I´ve written about in papers for school. I haven´t touched on much of it here. I´ll put aside everything I now know about Spanish-language literature (from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, some from Mexico, etc.) and focus instead on current events.
Even that´s really too much to put in words, which is precisely the problem. Mexico is probably one of the most important countries for people in the U.S. to understand. Out of fear, people in the U.S. would rather ignore it, or if that doesn´t work, build a wall that can be seen from outer-space (the Chinese will still say theirs is prettier as it isn´t made from used airplane parts, but it makes very little difference from outer-space).
To me, the people who shout ¨stop the illegals¨ (as though being ¨legal¨ or ¨illegal¨ was something permanent, or making legal migration simple was out of the question) ignore all the real issues on both sides of the border.
It would be like saying the solution to Child Labor abuses and/or a rise in crimes by minors would be to stop having children. People almost never target the harder-targets: The corporations who hire the ¨illegals.¨ In the case of crime along the border I would also have to include many people on our side who sell guns and buy drugs. There´s a reason why here, farther away from the border things are often more calm.
There´s other things the ¨anti-illegals¨ people I have yet to hear anyone mention Mexico´s debt crisis for instance, mostly because it would hurt the rather childish ¨patriotism,¨ that you hear in these debates. Most Mexicans I´ve talked to know there´s a difference between loving one´s country and loving the country´s government (almost no one I´ve met here likes Mexico´s government).
To paraphrase one on-line poster to a news article I read a week ago, ¨these people live next to one of the most generous countries on earth.¨ Exactly. We, (especially through the World Bank, whose head the United States appoints) lend money to countries, and then they have even more problems paying it back. Anyone wonder why Mexico can´t pay for decent public schools, research, etc.? True, Mexican education is good by Latin American standards, and many people are willing to stay farmers rather than go on to ¨better¨ things.
However, I am not stupid enough to believe that the World Bank loans money to countries so that they can be great economic powers to compete with the U.S. No one in the U.S. really wants that. Look at how we reacted to Japan in the 1980s, and China right now. It´s notable that although the U.S. can take some credit for Japan, China has largely avoided links to U.S.-dominated financial institutions, and has ¨globalized¨ largely on it´s own terms. I am admittedly not an expert on China, and I wouldn´t put it up as an example for other countries to follow. These issues are admittedly complex, and I´ve just brushed the surface.
(A surface largely based on the writings of former world bank president-turned critic Joseph E. Stiglitz, whose work I´ve read in class here at CEMAL. Some might say it´s not worthwhile to read a U.S. author in Mexico, but he uses Mexico as an example many times, and it´s better to see the country he uses as an example for ones´ self before judging what he says. It´s one of the many advantages of doing a U.S. program in Mexico).
Oh, and then there´s the other equally uninformed ¨side¨ of the immigration debate, which does little more than say ¨we are a nation of immigrants¨ as though we were always a nation of migrant workers who due to currency exchange rates found it to our advantage to work in the U.S. and return to our home countries. Are we ready to be a nation of migrants?
Not to mention Mexico´s own issues regarding its southern border, and the U.S. selling arms to Guatemala, the violence in the 1980s which brought many Guatemalans into the U.S. to escape a government that was being funded by the U.S., but far worse than anything we have ever allowed at home. (admittedly I´m rough on the U.S. here. It´s far more patriotic to try to change my country than try to tell some other country how it should act. My role model-here is possibly Bartolome de las Casas who...
You know what? I´ve already touched on way too many subjects to even begin to get into Spanish colonial history. CEMAL is great for learning about these things. I´ll just leave it at that for now. Any questions on the above?
Note: I will write part two of the Complete Idioto´s guide. Do not worry.
However, I can talk about that soon when I get back.
I´ve really learned a lot here. Some of it I´ve written about in papers for school. I haven´t touched on much of it here. I´ll put aside everything I now know about Spanish-language literature (from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, some from Mexico, etc.) and focus instead on current events.
Even that´s really too much to put in words, which is precisely the problem. Mexico is probably one of the most important countries for people in the U.S. to understand. Out of fear, people in the U.S. would rather ignore it, or if that doesn´t work, build a wall that can be seen from outer-space (the Chinese will still say theirs is prettier as it isn´t made from used airplane parts, but it makes very little difference from outer-space).
To me, the people who shout ¨stop the illegals¨ (as though being ¨legal¨ or ¨illegal¨ was something permanent, or making legal migration simple was out of the question) ignore all the real issues on both sides of the border.
It would be like saying the solution to Child Labor abuses and/or a rise in crimes by minors would be to stop having children. People almost never target the harder-targets: The corporations who hire the ¨illegals.¨ In the case of crime along the border I would also have to include many people on our side who sell guns and buy drugs. There´s a reason why here, farther away from the border things are often more calm.
There´s other things the ¨anti-illegals¨ people I have yet to hear anyone mention Mexico´s debt crisis for instance, mostly because it would hurt the rather childish ¨patriotism,¨ that you hear in these debates. Most Mexicans I´ve talked to know there´s a difference between loving one´s country and loving the country´s government (almost no one I´ve met here likes Mexico´s government).
To paraphrase one on-line poster to a news article I read a week ago, ¨these people live next to one of the most generous countries on earth.¨ Exactly. We, (especially through the World Bank, whose head the United States appoints) lend money to countries, and then they have even more problems paying it back. Anyone wonder why Mexico can´t pay for decent public schools, research, etc.? True, Mexican education is good by Latin American standards, and many people are willing to stay farmers rather than go on to ¨better¨ things.
However, I am not stupid enough to believe that the World Bank loans money to countries so that they can be great economic powers to compete with the U.S. No one in the U.S. really wants that. Look at how we reacted to Japan in the 1980s, and China right now. It´s notable that although the U.S. can take some credit for Japan, China has largely avoided links to U.S.-dominated financial institutions, and has ¨globalized¨ largely on it´s own terms. I am admittedly not an expert on China, and I wouldn´t put it up as an example for other countries to follow. These issues are admittedly complex, and I´ve just brushed the surface.
(A surface largely based on the writings of former world bank president-turned critic Joseph E. Stiglitz, whose work I´ve read in class here at CEMAL. Some might say it´s not worthwhile to read a U.S. author in Mexico, but he uses Mexico as an example many times, and it´s better to see the country he uses as an example for ones´ self before judging what he says. It´s one of the many advantages of doing a U.S. program in Mexico).
Oh, and then there´s the other equally uninformed ¨side¨ of the immigration debate, which does little more than say ¨we are a nation of immigrants¨ as though we were always a nation of migrant workers who due to currency exchange rates found it to our advantage to work in the U.S. and return to our home countries. Are we ready to be a nation of migrants?
Not to mention Mexico´s own issues regarding its southern border, and the U.S. selling arms to Guatemala, the violence in the 1980s which brought many Guatemalans into the U.S. to escape a government that was being funded by the U.S., but far worse than anything we have ever allowed at home. (admittedly I´m rough on the U.S. here. It´s far more patriotic to try to change my country than try to tell some other country how it should act. My role model-here is possibly Bartolome de las Casas who...
You know what? I´ve already touched on way too many subjects to even begin to get into Spanish colonial history. CEMAL is great for learning about these things. I´ll just leave it at that for now. Any questions on the above?
Note: I will write part two of the Complete Idioto´s guide. Do not worry.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Cuernavaca, The Complete Idioto´s Guide part 1
Cuernavaca: a city of ravines.¨Upper¨ and ¨lower¨ class is literal. Well, not always, but mostly.
Walk up certain hills, and you´ll see mansions and flowering trees.¨The city of eternal spring¨ is Cuernavaca´s motto, and there is nearly always some kind of flower in bloom.
The people in these fancy houses are often people who left Mexico City for bigger houses and courtyards, some imitating the tiled domes of Spain. Unlike Mexico City, we have enough water for some people to have swimming pools.The modern convent of the Guadalupanas del Cristo el Rey is here at the top as are some language schools.
It´s good ground to avoid earthquakes like the one that ripped Mexico City apart in the 80s. Granted, land at the very top of some of these hills is looser and cheaper judging from what my host mother Alicia told me.
Okay, time to go down to the middle ground where I am now. Here you find small-shopkeepers with painted signs, good for if you need anything.
Walk down a flight of stairs into a ravine. Available space, if it´s there, often gets used for chickens. People come here from the countryside. Many will wind up in the U.S. eventually. The ravines actually look kind of picturesque from a distance because of their greenery and general wildness compared to the rest of the city.
At far bottom you hit the rivers that carved out the ravines. The ravine-bottom is nice and shady, but you´ll get a headache if you stand down there for too long. Black rivers carry sewage that washes down from all the layers above. Usually the rivers flow with suds. Just imagine the combined fecal and garbage smell. I can´t show it. The worst of these ravines don´t even have roads at the bottom, meaning that the people who live there have to climb stairs.
Foreigners (except for me) avoid the ravines with the exception of the San Anton waterfall, which is awesome despite not being clean. It´s a bit different from other ravines in that it´s more or less one of the nicer parts of town.
The city as it stands now grew in a jumbled way out of Cuanahuac the pyramid site of the Tlahuica (meaning ¨They who work the land"). The Tlahuica were among Moctezuma´s loyal taxpayers. They built their temples near Cuernavaca's modern center. Cortez had slaves rip them apart to build a castle for himself. His castle still stands at the city's center.
The Palacio de Cortez as it's called has a mural inside of it by Diego Rivera. The mural shows Cortez invading, destroying Aztec Empire's class system, and installing himself and the Spaniards on top. It's beautiful in spite of showing the divides of wealth and race. Cuernavaca itself is much the same way.
Walk up certain hills, and you´ll see mansions and flowering trees.¨The city of eternal spring¨ is Cuernavaca´s motto, and there is nearly always some kind of flower in bloom.
The people in these fancy houses are often people who left Mexico City for bigger houses and courtyards, some imitating the tiled domes of Spain. Unlike Mexico City, we have enough water for some people to have swimming pools.The modern convent of the Guadalupanas del Cristo el Rey is here at the top as are some language schools.
It´s good ground to avoid earthquakes like the one that ripped Mexico City apart in the 80s. Granted, land at the very top of some of these hills is looser and cheaper judging from what my host mother Alicia told me.
Okay, time to go down to the middle ground where I am now. Here you find small-shopkeepers with painted signs, good for if you need anything.
Walk down a flight of stairs into a ravine. Available space, if it´s there, often gets used for chickens. People come here from the countryside. Many will wind up in the U.S. eventually. The ravines actually look kind of picturesque from a distance because of their greenery and general wildness compared to the rest of the city.
At far bottom you hit the rivers that carved out the ravines. The ravine-bottom is nice and shady, but you´ll get a headache if you stand down there for too long. Black rivers carry sewage that washes down from all the layers above. Usually the rivers flow with suds. Just imagine the combined fecal and garbage smell. I can´t show it. The worst of these ravines don´t even have roads at the bottom, meaning that the people who live there have to climb stairs.
Foreigners (except for me) avoid the ravines with the exception of the San Anton waterfall, which is awesome despite not being clean. It´s a bit different from other ravines in that it´s more or less one of the nicer parts of town.
The city as it stands now grew in a jumbled way out of Cuanahuac the pyramid site of the Tlahuica (meaning ¨They who work the land"). The Tlahuica were among Moctezuma´s loyal taxpayers. They built their temples near Cuernavaca's modern center. Cortez had slaves rip them apart to build a castle for himself. His castle still stands at the city's center.
The Palacio de Cortez as it's called has a mural inside of it by Diego Rivera. The mural shows Cortez invading, destroying Aztec Empire's class system, and installing himself and the Spaniards on top. It's beautiful in spite of showing the divides of wealth and race. Cuernavaca itself is much the same way.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Palm weaving
My relationship with the summer program is a little different from other students.I do go with them sometimes, but only when it´s something that I hadn´t done during the spring program, usually. One of our excursions last week was just down the street to visit some women from an indigenous village who were staying there to sell baskets and other woven goods in Cuernavaca. They taught us how to weave their style of palm baskets as well.
They talked a lot about life in their town and relationships with their husbands. I won´t go into that too much because I know this is a culturally sensitive subject, and I hate to be the white man criticizing the norms of indigenous society. I will say that they thought the location of houses in Cuernavaca next to the cemetery was problematic due to their own belief in ghosts.
For them, their artisan work is very much an art, because it requires time and effort, just as much in their opinion as painting or engraving (which we discussed) particularly with the harvesting of plants.
They talked a lot about life in their town and relationships with their husbands. I won´t go into that too much because I know this is a culturally sensitive subject, and I hate to be the white man criticizing the norms of indigenous society. I will say that they thought the location of houses in Cuernavaca next to the cemetery was problematic due to their own belief in ghosts.
For them, their artisan work is very much an art, because it requires time and effort, just as much in their opinion as painting or engraving (which we discussed) particularly with the harvesting of plants.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Ex-hacienda de Temixco
Okay, so, on a lighter note...
Seriously, I won´t bring up the Burger King club again. It really had very bad music, I was sort of joking last time. All of my other reviews will be honest!
Despite saying earlier that this will not just be a tourist blog, I will sometimes review various tourist attractions in the area here. People may just want more information about these places. Some of them (certain museums for instance) have long histories associated with them, which can be revealing.
Old haciendas in modern Mexico have become any number of things. In central Mexico especially, many had to divide their lands under beloved President Lazaro Cardenas, while being allowed to keep their houses.This particular one is now a water park.
Yeah, you heard me right. A water park. The old walls and the house are now parking lots and a cafeteria (which was not open). The slides and pools are out in what was once the fields. We actually went as a class with the summer group, mostly just to see the style in which Haciendas are built. (This was actually our second class trip with the summer group so far. I´ll get to the first one with Universal in Mexico City later).
I slid down two slides, both fun and both tunnel slides. I coasted in the wave pool and swam in a pool which had some of the old arches still over it. It was a great chance to get to know the new students more too.
Most of the slides weren´t open though. They try to conserve water on week days, which are, for that reason, cheaper to get in. Some travel bloggers would tell you that this conservation is a bad thing. I disagree. Sure, I may have wanted to do more of the slides, but water is a precious resource here in central Mexico. For that reason, I´m not sure how I feel about us having so many water parks nearby.
Seriously, I won´t bring up the Burger King club again. It really had very bad music, I was sort of joking last time. All of my other reviews will be honest!
Despite saying earlier that this will not just be a tourist blog, I will sometimes review various tourist attractions in the area here. People may just want more information about these places. Some of them (certain museums for instance) have long histories associated with them, which can be revealing.
Old haciendas in modern Mexico have become any number of things. In central Mexico especially, many had to divide their lands under beloved President Lazaro Cardenas, while being allowed to keep their houses.This particular one is now a water park.
Yeah, you heard me right. A water park. The old walls and the house are now parking lots and a cafeteria (which was not open). The slides and pools are out in what was once the fields. We actually went as a class with the summer group, mostly just to see the style in which Haciendas are built. (This was actually our second class trip with the summer group so far. I´ll get to the first one with Universal in Mexico City later).
I slid down two slides, both fun and both tunnel slides. I coasted in the wave pool and swam in a pool which had some of the old arches still over it. It was a great chance to get to know the new students more too.
Most of the slides weren´t open though. They try to conserve water on week days, which are, for that reason, cheaper to get in. Some travel bloggers would tell you that this conservation is a bad thing. I disagree. Sure, I may have wanted to do more of the slides, but water is a precious resource here in central Mexico. For that reason, I´m not sure how I feel about us having so many water parks nearby.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Some bad news
Okay, so I left my computer on a taxi. Sure it should have been a learning experience, but it seems like I should have already learned to keep track of my things. All I can do now is except what happened, and deal with using other computers. I think my ipod may have also been with it, but I hope not (ironically I kept it in the same case so as not to lose it).
However, I am planning on writing a novel loosely based on this. Look forward to seeing it. It will be from various points of view, with the computer changing hands various times in Mexico, and a young man´s quest through Mexico to find it. I´d been looking for this inspiration for quite some time. If only it wasn't so expensive!
However, I am planning on writing a novel loosely based on this. Look forward to seeing it. It will be from various points of view, with the computer changing hands various times in Mexico, and a young man´s quest through Mexico to find it. I´d been looking for this inspiration for quite some time. If only it wasn't so expensive!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Summer Spanish Study Starts
Okay, so the summer program's beginning. New people are coming in. It's strange to be the one who actually knows things. I'm staying in Casa Cemal right now instead of Verde. Next week we switch to homestays.
Today we did the CEMAL orientation and went to the Zocalo, where a guy selling henna claimed that my name (Benjamin) meant something about plants. It actually means "favored son," I think, but I didn't care enough to tell him that.
I may wind up following this new program on some of the trips I've already been on. Doesn't hurt to do that, might wind up writing more in detail this time, but...don't count on it. Maybe just more posts like this one.
-Ben
Today we did the CEMAL orientation and went to the Zocalo, where a guy selling henna claimed that my name (Benjamin) meant something about plants. It actually means "favored son," I think, but I didn't care enough to tell him that.
I may wind up following this new program on some of the trips I've already been on. Doesn't hurt to do that, might wind up writing more in detail this time, but...don't count on it. Maybe just more posts like this one.
-Ben
Thursday, May 21, 2009
People at home still worried?
Above: I'm all right, See? I can hug you now, I'm not infected!
Okay, seriously, at this point I can't take swine flu seriously. Except for a few hot dog and tamale vendors, who always wear the masks, no one around me seems worried any more.
There's less cases now than before. Besides which I'm richer than the rest of the population, and thus am less suceptible to complications. In my view, like I've said before,I think the whole class issue gets left out far too often.
I may be the only one here at CEMAL who doesn't have an album on facebook yet of me wearing a "cubrebocas." I wanted to play down the issue. Sure I wore one for a while, but I just felt like a complete asshole wearing one in the Zocalo (main square, I hope to talk more about later) where I stood out as someone who could afford a cubrebocas. The fact is that it's not any more dangerous than normal flu. Just normal handwashing is probably enough.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| The Last 100 Days | ||||
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You know what? I should see what deals they have at the markets in Taxco on Silver bullets!
Even after sending out my first note one the subject on facebook, a friend wanted me to call to say I was all right. He said I looked pale. And I thought I had put up facebook albums to prove I was still all right! Of course I'm pale compared to some other people here, given that I'm Anglo not meztiso? I mean, sure I stand out when I'm wearing a rasta hat and a long blue skirt (below) but isn't that to be expected?
Seriously, Best. Manaquin. Ever. I actually saw this outside a shop once.
Well, I'd better start jogging before it gets dark. I've got lots more to say, about things that have nothing to do with swine flu. And I've wasted too much of the week sleeping and writing blogs, except for one trip to see some pyramids. Man! There's so much to write about. But also so much to do.
Hasta Luego,
Benja "Benito" Libras
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tepotzlan v. Amatlan
One of the great thing about doing so many flashbacks this week is that I can look back at things I haven't covered and try to mix them up in ways that show people the contrasts that exist there.
Tepotzlan is, as I've already said in my facebook album on the subject, a very new-agey town, where hippies and other outsiders have taken over to some extent. It has great mountains though, and some nice ruins. The new-agey thing is kind of fun actually, but...
It was different from my class experience with the indigenous side of Mexico in the same municipality, this time in the city of Amatlan. Visiting the house of Ignacio ("Nacho," a community leader in nearby Amatlan) with him explaining the conquest, the pre-hispanic history, the government's (in his opinion) useless projects and the role of religion, including a trip out to a sacred natural rock arch with pre-Nahua-era petrogliphs was definately one of my favorite experiences connected to classes.
I may have doubts about the fact that the Spanish left them with this land only because they had purchased it back. Like reservations in the U.S., I've since concluded that it is not the best agricultural fields, in spite of its sacredness. Yet somehow at the time I didn't consider such things.
Mexico has a complex relationship with its indigenous past. Often people try to throw it off in order to advance themselves, wanting to be culturally closer to Spain, France, or the U.S., a process hastened by the inquisition and now less violently by migration and globalized trade. Still, it remains among the things I find most appealing (and often hidden to U.S. eyes) about Mexico.
Tepotzlan is, as I've already said in my facebook album on the subject, a very new-agey town, where hippies and other outsiders have taken over to some extent. It has great mountains though, and some nice ruins. The new-agey thing is kind of fun actually, but...
It was different from my class experience with the indigenous side of Mexico in the same municipality, this time in the city of Amatlan. Visiting the house of Ignacio ("Nacho," a community leader in nearby Amatlan) with him explaining the conquest, the pre-hispanic history, the government's (in his opinion) useless projects and the role of religion, including a trip out to a sacred natural rock arch with pre-Nahua-era petrogliphs was definately one of my favorite experiences connected to classes.
I may have doubts about the fact that the Spanish left them with this land only because they had purchased it back. Like reservations in the U.S., I've since concluded that it is not the best agricultural fields, in spite of its sacredness. Yet somehow at the time I didn't consider such things.
Mexico has a complex relationship with its indigenous past. Often people try to throw it off in order to advance themselves, wanting to be culturally closer to Spain, France, or the U.S., a process hastened by the inquisition and now less violently by migration and globalized trade. Still, it remains among the things I find most appealing (and often hidden to U.S. eyes) about Mexico.
Recycling Center
While here, I've seen and worked at San Anton's recycling center. It's almost completely independent of the government (which claims now to be helping) and sells independently to corporations.
The people who run it consider themselves against the private garbage collectors and their landfill (see "Dirty Politics" post for details) their way of resisting is to provide alternatives.
It's probably among the things that have most inspired me here. In spite of the environmental problems I see around me, people are making efforts to deal with them.
And, it's easy to forget that the problem of garbage disposal is coming about as a result of U.S. buisinesses promoting disposable items here. If anything I think that some Mexicans here are at times ahead of us by being "behind" us.
Gathering rainwater is a necessity. Urban agriculture isn't just "gardens" for the concerned rich, it's people raising chickens in their own lawns. You can still get Coke bottles refilled here at many "Abarrotes" and restaurants. Some people even collect water in a bucket during showers to use for their lawns, rather than using sprinklers (a good choice given water shortages). Sidewalks are on both sides of the street. The list goes on and on.
I almost fell into the trap of complaining about every environmental problem we have here, and that list goes on and on too. If I do that, I'll try to be sure to backdate it before this post, or at least link to it. The developing world may at times appear mad "backwards." In reality they are often more "forwards" than the developed world. I'm glad to be studying here.
Soccer on a Baseball field?
This happened a good deal earlier, near the beginning. I'm putting it here so that I will remember. When it happened I'm not in any way sure. In any case it's a fun story.
A few other students and I were looking for a place to play soccer. As it happened, the soccer fields were already taken. The baseball field had only informal practice. So we played there.
The baseball coach and a few baseball-playing kids joined in on our game (as I said the practice was informal). Our teams were both pretty mixed between Mexicans and U.S., not divided along those lines.
What struck me was that here we were as U.S. people playing soccer on a Mexican baseball field. Something about that seemed very ironic.
A few other students and I were looking for a place to play soccer. As it happened, the soccer fields were already taken. The baseball field had only informal practice. So we played there.
The baseball coach and a few baseball-playing kids joined in on our game (as I said the practice was informal). Our teams were both pretty mixed between Mexicans and U.S., not divided along those lines.
What struck me was that here we were as U.S. people playing soccer on a Mexican baseball field. Something about that seemed very ironic.
Taxistas
It's become so commonplace that I rarely ever think about it: taking taxis. During my homestay time I took them to avoid being late (although the bus, if I could find it, was cheaper). Now I take taxis to avoid being stuck in rain.
Riding in a Taxi with friends or homestay family the Taxista ignores us, generally. Yet riding alone, I nearly always wind up chatting.
It's a great way to practice my Spanish, which I've heard from Taxi drivers is pretty good at this point. Starting out, I had problems with the difference between "derecho" (straight) and "derecha" (right) which used to lead to problems. Now I can talk easily.
The Taxi drivers are usually eager to talk and sometimes start the conversations themselves. It's something I hope to come back to. The headlines nearly always portray Mexican-U.S. contacts as violent. The reality is that most Mexicans I've met are eager to chat and eager to please foreigners. Given the dollar-to-peso rate this should surprise no one.
They nearly always want to know where I'm from originally. I'm happy to tell them Tennessee, which is famous here for Elvis (who lived in the one part of the state I've not been to, although I'm happy to share the same birthday).
I often ask if they've been to the U.S. Often they have, although East Tennessee hardly ever. California seems to be the state I hear most often, although once I met a Taxi driver who had been as far north as Idaho.
Once I was asked whether or not I thought Mexican women were pretty. I honestly answered "Yes." I've had similar conversations with other non-Taxi-drivers, some of them finding it strange that I actually prefer brown-eyes to blue ones. I've heard the Spanish conquest imposed a standard of beauty here that only gets reinforced by U.S. media.
Mostly though taxi-drivers just wonder what brings me here. I've learned to focus primarily on telling them that I study Spanish, which is part true. Somehow I've never felt comfortable saying "Migracion y Globalizacion." Then of course there's trying to explain that back in the U.S. I study Creative Writing. My lack of a clear future plan is also a little bit of a problem too for some. I've never heard anyone particularly say that they were confused by my answers but I've sensed it.
I've told some here that I want to teach English in a Spanish-speaking country. For a while that seemed the most promising option. I've met one woman here who does that, while being a writer on the side. The only problem is that I like the U.S. in some ways. As much as I love certain things about Mexico, there's just something wrong about coming into other as a foreigner. I especially don't know if being involved in other countries' politics would even be right for someone like me.
I told all this to one particular Taxi driver, and he said that I should translate books from Spanish to English, or maybe even write the full history of Mexico for U.S. audiences (he sensed my interest in the history of the places we were going through). In the meantime though I could always become the first comercial Nopal (cactus for eating) grower in Tennessee. I've heard they require almost no work.
Riding in a Taxi with friends or homestay family the Taxista ignores us, generally. Yet riding alone, I nearly always wind up chatting.
It's a great way to practice my Spanish, which I've heard from Taxi drivers is pretty good at this point. Starting out, I had problems with the difference between "derecho" (straight) and "derecha" (right) which used to lead to problems. Now I can talk easily.
The Taxi drivers are usually eager to talk and sometimes start the conversations themselves. It's something I hope to come back to. The headlines nearly always portray Mexican-U.S. contacts as violent. The reality is that most Mexicans I've met are eager to chat and eager to please foreigners. Given the dollar-to-peso rate this should surprise no one.
They nearly always want to know where I'm from originally. I'm happy to tell them Tennessee, which is famous here for Elvis (who lived in the one part of the state I've not been to, although I'm happy to share the same birthday).
I often ask if they've been to the U.S. Often they have, although East Tennessee hardly ever. California seems to be the state I hear most often, although once I met a Taxi driver who had been as far north as Idaho.
Once I was asked whether or not I thought Mexican women were pretty. I honestly answered "Yes." I've had similar conversations with other non-Taxi-drivers, some of them finding it strange that I actually prefer brown-eyes to blue ones. I've heard the Spanish conquest imposed a standard of beauty here that only gets reinforced by U.S. media.
Mostly though taxi-drivers just wonder what brings me here. I've learned to focus primarily on telling them that I study Spanish, which is part true. Somehow I've never felt comfortable saying "Migracion y Globalizacion." Then of course there's trying to explain that back in the U.S. I study Creative Writing. My lack of a clear future plan is also a little bit of a problem too for some. I've never heard anyone particularly say that they were confused by my answers but I've sensed it.
I've told some here that I want to teach English in a Spanish-speaking country. For a while that seemed the most promising option. I've met one woman here who does that, while being a writer on the side. The only problem is that I like the U.S. in some ways. As much as I love certain things about Mexico, there's just something wrong about coming into other as a foreigner. I especially don't know if being involved in other countries' politics would even be right for someone like me.
I told all this to one particular Taxi driver, and he said that I should translate books from Spanish to English, or maybe even write the full history of Mexico for U.S. audiences (he sensed my interest in the history of the places we were going through). In the meantime though I could always become the first comercial Nopal (cactus for eating) grower in Tennessee. I've heard they require almost no work.
A lesson
This is a story from back when I was staying at my urban homestay. I'm not going to worry about all that "Update/backdate" labels anymore. The point is that now I understand some things maybe differently than when they happened.
I should have been doing homework. Instead I was lying on my bed, doing nothing. Really nothing special about that. I'd also left the light on, so that I wouldn't feel that I was sleeping, or possibly so that I wouldn't feel like I had to sleep.
Then Alicia came in, and turned off the light.
I wasn't actually sleeping so I got up from the bed and told her that I wasn't sleeping. She said that I shouldn't have the light on if I wasn't sleeping, and that in Mexico, people try not to waste power.
I realized afterwards that I had my values entirely reversed. I was charging my homestay family money just so that I could feel more productive than I actually was. And, to top it all off, I was probably making the air worse too.
I had always considered myself an environmentalist. I have no idea if Alicia considered herself as such. Yet at that moment it scacely mattered what either of us believed that we believed. What mattered was results.
I should have been doing homework. Instead I was lying on my bed, doing nothing. Really nothing special about that. I'd also left the light on, so that I wouldn't feel that I was sleeping, or possibly so that I wouldn't feel like I had to sleep.
Then Alicia came in, and turned off the light.
I wasn't actually sleeping so I got up from the bed and told her that I wasn't sleeping. She said that I shouldn't have the light on if I wasn't sleeping, and that in Mexico, people try not to waste power.
I realized afterwards that I had my values entirely reversed. I was charging my homestay family money just so that I could feel more productive than I actually was. And, to top it all off, I was probably making the air worse too.
I had always considered myself an environmentalist. I have no idea if Alicia considered herself as such. Yet at that moment it scacely mattered what either of us believed that we believed. What mattered was results.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Random Newsflash! Panic!
Yeah, an earthquake struck near Acapulco. Makes me feel happy that I'm among the few U.S. Americans who is somewhere else in Mexico besides Acapulco.
Yes, I write about problems here in Mexico. I'm not Mexico's PR dude, allright? But the news media hasn't done anything but insult Mexico since I've been here. It makes me want to find something good that is newsworthy about Mexico. And by that I don't mean "The dance club on top of Burger King near the Palacio de Cortez is excellent."
(which it is, sort of, at least in terms of lights and atmosphere, despite being on the second floor above a Burger King. although a bit heavy on pop and hip-hop. I prefer Aloha bar's techno music, or Eclipse's live band covering the Red Hot Chili Peppers in English: "I don' believe its b-eeh-d!" Sorry about that tangent anything to lighten the mood here!)
The job of the news media in the U.S. is to get people worried about things in other countries so that they don't worry about things "over here" (which is not where I am right now, hence the quotes). Sort of like the U.S. military.
U.S. people respond by hating their southern neighbors even more. Harder to place blame on U.S. drug purchasers, or U.S. gun trafficers for border violence. Not to mention the connections between NAFTA, peso-to-dollar rates, and undocumented migration to the U.S.
The Mexican media, meanwhile, mostly reports on Mexico, to control the Mexican people, sort of like the Mexican military, and many militaries throughout Latin America. Which is why they blew the whole swine flu thing out into a panicfest, then told us the number of cases was going down and we had nothing to worry about (I'd already quit worrying, but really it just meant "that's so last week's news" as far as they were concerned).
Sorry if this post offends anyone who works for the media, (and yes, we bloggers mostly parrot what the MSM gives us). Sensational news just sells better! That's why the Cristian Science Monitor is now only a weekly paper. I should put a bunch of pictures of me wearing "cubrebocas" just to increase ad revenue.
P.S. Is it just me or do I do my best writing at 2:00 AM after watching clips of Steven Colbert?
Yes, I write about problems here in Mexico. I'm not Mexico's PR dude, allright? But the news media hasn't done anything but insult Mexico since I've been here. It makes me want to find something good that is newsworthy about Mexico. And by that I don't mean "The dance club on top of Burger King near the Palacio de Cortez is excellent."
(which it is, sort of, at least in terms of lights and atmosphere, despite being on the second floor above a Burger King. although a bit heavy on pop and hip-hop. I prefer Aloha bar's techno music, or Eclipse's live band covering the Red Hot Chili Peppers in English: "I don' believe its b-eeh-d!" Sorry about that tangent anything to lighten the mood here!)
The job of the news media in the U.S. is to get people worried about things in other countries so that they don't worry about things "over here" (which is not where I am right now, hence the quotes). Sort of like the U.S. military.
U.S. people respond by hating their southern neighbors even more. Harder to place blame on U.S. drug purchasers, or U.S. gun trafficers for border violence. Not to mention the connections between NAFTA, peso-to-dollar rates, and undocumented migration to the U.S.
The Mexican media, meanwhile, mostly reports on Mexico, to control the Mexican people, sort of like the Mexican military, and many militaries throughout Latin America. Which is why they blew the whole swine flu thing out into a panicfest, then told us the number of cases was going down and we had nothing to worry about (I'd already quit worrying, but really it just meant "that's so last week's news" as far as they were concerned).
Sorry if this post offends anyone who works for the media, (and yes, we bloggers mostly parrot what the MSM gives us). Sensational news just sells better! That's why the Cristian Science Monitor is now only a weekly paper. I should put a bunch of pictures of me wearing "cubrebocas" just to increase ad revenue.
P.S. Is it just me or do I do my best writing at 2:00 AM after watching clips of Steven Colbert?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Jesus H. Street!
It's neither the most scenic nor the most ugly street I have seen. It was all orchards once, even Now, the trees all grow behind courtyard walls. Such walls are often guarded here by shards of glass on top. It's not as though people avoid each other though. With sidewalks on both sides of the street, you're bound to meet people anyways.
Such is the street on which I have all my classes, spread out through three buildings. Jesus H. Preciado in full, but H. Preciado to just about anyone referring to it. It sits somewhere in the middle class, or what I might consider middle class, compared to the mansions a ways above and the shacks a ways below. When I use above and below, the terms are almost literal. H. Preciado is the place I will start this blog-tour of Cuernavaca.
The courtyards can be a whole different world sometimes, gardens resembling jungles.
The road is lined with small shops. "Abarrotes," mostly, "corner stores" as one might say (except that they aren't just on the corners). Others specialize in school supplies, perhaps knowing full well that students attend classes here.
The owners live in apartments above. Signs are often hand-painted, with a fair amount of skill, I might add, but still the use of actual paint on walls threw me off at first.
It was once part of its own town. Despite being so close to the center, it was divided by a deep ravine, until Puente dos mil (the 2000 bridge) was built.
The houses are cheaper down in the ravines than up here on H. Preciado. They are closer to a river containing raw sewage and trash from above. Also, they have no road, just stairs, which one has to climb in order to reach the top.Ravines like this can be seen all around Cuernavaca, a city where nature seems to have decided the zoning laws. Unlike some other travelers, I perfer not to ignore poverty, these barrancas (ravines) remain on my mind.
Many of the people who live there migrated from other parts of Mexico. They may soon find themselves heading to Mexico City, then on to the border, before migrating often to the United States. Such ravine houses are nearly always hidden from view, until you start crossing the bridge. As seen here, trees take over whatever spot the humans don't claim.
Just beyond the bridge is the spot that the orchard town of San Anton once ended.
I wouldn't have recognized it as a significant spot were it not for its almost meaningless marker, the shrine to the Virgin of Guatalupe. In legend, this was a miraculous image of Saint Mary that appeared to an Aztec in Mexico City. Strictly speaking the one here is just a copy, larger than the original, I think.
Some Mexicans call her "Our Mother" or Tonanzin, rather than the more orthodox "God's mother" which explains her psychological appeal. She is sort of analogous to having a mother around to to help you through the tough times. An effective opiate of the people one might even say. She is the symbol that people put in front of towns as protector and welcomer. In the war against spain, Hidalgo, himself a former priest, grabbed the image and improvised by usning it as a flag.
When I came here, I found her to be just another foreign obsession, but now she seems familiar somehow. I can set aside the rather annoying insistance on virginity that for some she embodies. It's probably a sign of how long I've been here.
When I came here, I found her to be just another foreign obsession, but now she seems familiar somehow. I can set aside the rather annoying insistance on virginity that for some she embodies. It's probably a sign of how long I've been here.
How can I not feel inspired?
As a follow-up to that last blog about the neo-Zapatistas being over-romanticized, I realize that I am a hypocrite. Why? Because I find myself admiring and idealizing the people of Atenco, themselves supporters of the neo-Zapatistas. Maybe it was just because I met them. I already wrote about Atenco, but I didn't explain it well, perhaps.
How they stood up, at the signal of fireworks, against the people who wanted to buy parcels of land for the price of a Coke. How the government was willing to stop at nothing to get this land, including the cemetery, before finally changing its mind.
How they went on to help flower vendors in Texcoco defend their space from a coming Wal-Mart. Sure it turned brutal, they had gasoline bombs with them then, I won't lie. Yet these were people defending their space that they used. I can admire their conviction, even if I have doubts about their claims to "non-violence."
How the police (or possibly army dressed as police) took its vengance on the town. All the accusation (not explained in detail at the time, but easy to find on the web) of rape and sexual torture. All to defend a Wal-Mart. How the government placed a toxic waste dump there, out in the Atenco fields, literally.
I saw the land they were fighting for, from up on a hill. It's too bad my camera wasn't working well. Sure it looked like desert, where once it had been the swamps surrounding the lake. Yet that was it for them, the Mexico City people were trying to expand here to take their water. That was the real purpose of the airport in some peoples' view.
Okay, Okay, I need to chill out. I already wrote about Atenco, didn't I? Well, that was a bit too long, and too dry in terms of only presenting information. What struck me in Atenco was the sense of a community rising.
How they stood up, at the signal of fireworks, against the people who wanted to buy parcels of land for the price of a Coke. How the government was willing to stop at nothing to get this land, including the cemetery, before finally changing its mind.
How they went on to help flower vendors in Texcoco defend their space from a coming Wal-Mart. Sure it turned brutal, they had gasoline bombs with them then, I won't lie. Yet these were people defending their space that they used. I can admire their conviction, even if I have doubts about their claims to "non-violence."
How the police (or possibly army dressed as police) took its vengance on the town. All the accusation (not explained in detail at the time, but easy to find on the web) of rape and sexual torture. All to defend a Wal-Mart. How the government placed a toxic waste dump there, out in the Atenco fields, literally.
I saw the land they were fighting for, from up on a hill. It's too bad my camera wasn't working well. Sure it looked like desert, where once it had been the swamps surrounding the lake. Yet that was it for them, the Mexico City people were trying to expand here to take their water. That was the real purpose of the airport in some peoples' view.
Okay, Okay, I need to chill out. I already wrote about Atenco, didn't I? Well, that was a bit too long, and too dry in terms of only presenting information. What struck me in Atenco was the sense of a community rising.
It's a far cry from the U.S. world of web petitions, or of Che Guevarra's "vanguards" coming in and waiting for the people to support them. Or of people back at Warren Wilson College being "in solidarity" with people that they may not have even met.
Anyways, in short, I am a hypocrite who can't help admiring rebels in other countries, even if their cause, I know, is not truely mine. I'll write about something more calm next entry, I promise!
Anyways, in short, I am a hypocrite who can't help admiring rebels in other countries, even if their cause, I know, is not truely mine. I'll write about something more calm next entry, I promise!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Who is this Subcomandante Marcos dude I keep mentioning?
Above: Subcomander Marcos shows that he is not afraid of cancer. courtesy of http://kassandraproject.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/el-subcomandante-marcos/
I am studying Spanish. Yet I write these entries in English so that people back at home can read them. I also spend some time here taking classes about history and current and past issues facing Mexico, along with the rest of the world.* So, when I refer to these things, people may get confused.
I've made at least two references to Subcommander Marcos though, without explaining who he is. For my blog's two official followers, I assume this is not a problem. For everyone else, it might be.
Actually no one really knows who he is. Like all of the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) officials he nearly always appears in ninja-type ski-mask outfits which he regrets making the norm for his appearences given the Mexican heat.
Marcos is not his real name. I've also heard that he decided to change his name to Delegate Zero. He claims the mask isn't just to hide himself but to make more people identify with him by not making himself a specific person.
The Mexican government believes that he is Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente, a former philosophy profesor in Mexico City. He denies this, but it does fit the popular account in which he came into the state of Chiapas trying to tell the local Maya "workers of the world unite!" and that they should grab land from the evil greedy capitalist thieves etc. The Maya "just stared at him."
They told him that the land wasn't property and they didn't consider themselves workers. This is the version that Wikipedia believes in. So, it has to be true. In any case, he claims to have been converted to their way of thinking.
He's a spokesperson for the "Zapatistas" The name comes from Emiliano Zapata, a leader in the 1910 revolution.
One of the ideas behind the EZLN was that the NAFTA trade aggreement and other policies of were favoring big plantations over small farms. There were many other issues of course, but if I had to pick one, that would be it.
I find it telling that, according to my teacher Antonio (himself a gay-rights/AIDS activist), Marcos is on record as saying "transgenic" instead of "transgender" when trying to talk about LGBT rights. It probably means he often can't think about anything besides corn.
They captured control of a series of towns in 1994, and still hold control of some areas.
They claim to be an organization of direct-democracy with Marcos acting only as a spokesperson for the Mayan communities which he represents. I can admire the idea, if it is in fact true. My friend Rudy Rodriguez-Vivero thinks that they are pawns of Europeans who want mineral rights in Chiapas. The EZLN often gets labeled as a foreign group of armed terrorists,especially here in Mexico.
Which is why Subcomandante Marcos and other Zapatistas have, more or less quit trying to expand militarilly in Chiapas and are now doing speaking tours around Mexico, and apparently writing childrens books.
Mexico has, however, moved on. Many leftists now support Lopez-Obrador (whom Marcos hates). I get the feeling that most ordinary Mexicans would rather run across the border than fight the system. After all, they get better results from that usually.
Idealizing foreign rebels is exactly the wrong strategy for people in the U.S. right now. We have "indigenous" people in our own country too!** Supporting rebels in foreign countries (also including his holiness the Dalai Lama) sends the message that we just want to save some random exotic race and not ourselves. The left is just as guilty as the right on this.
If there's anything I've learned here from studying Atenco, or the 13 Pueblos movement,*** or even the "Zapatistas" it's that these movements draw strength from being rooted in Mexican or more often local identity. People in the U.S. should seriously take the hint already.
*Unlike when my sister did this program I am not going to Guatemala on any official visits (people said it was too distracting). However, we have discussed U.S./United Fruit Company interventions in El Salvador and Guatemala, we just haven't been there.
**The term "Nativo Americano" never caught on in Mexico, because literally interpreted it includes nearly all Mexican Citizens.
***A group against the creation of the landfill in Loma de Mejilla.
I'm staying!
So, if it doesn't surprise you, I am staying. Yes! I'll be doing a summer program here, including an internship promoting Center for Global Education programs and more spanish classes. I may also sit in on the art history class offered this summer. I've got a full week before all that starts. Meaning? Hopefully more blogging, especially now that it's rainy season
Saturday, May 16, 2009
How (not) to present NAFTA
What happened last week? Why did people quit hearing from me then? Swine flu? Are you joking? You've got more chance of catching it than I do, like I've said!
No,I had a 10 page paper and presentation to do on a subject that I could present back at home. I chose NAFTA (North American Free Trade) and globalized trade/debt in general as far as it impacts here in the state of Morelos.
The night before it was due I stayed up late in Casa Cemal and the little sleep I got was on the Cemal couch (for any number of reasons. Safer not to be in the streets with a laptop computor at 5:00 AM, desire to put finishing touches on my project in the morning etc.)
I asked for suggestions afterwards from classmates. People said it was too scattered (I was trying to relate it to everything I saw).
They thought it was weird that a writer such as myself would do my presentation as a powerpoint with no prepared script.
They were expecting a series of monologues,like my earlier show about this neighborhood's tap water and sewage disposal history (Yes! One can do a series of monologues about water issues!). Judy Shevilev criticized that earlier presentation for presenting my interview subjects' views but not mine.
I should have just done a rap video like my friend Josiah ("Goose") Guzik did.
I may put up some more on NAFTA and/or water issues later, given the variety show that is this blog (nightclubs and landfills?).
No,I had a 10 page paper and presentation to do on a subject that I could present back at home. I chose NAFTA (North American Free Trade) and globalized trade/debt in general as far as it impacts here in the state of Morelos.
The night before it was due I stayed up late in Casa Cemal and the little sleep I got was on the Cemal couch (for any number of reasons. Safer not to be in the streets with a laptop computor at 5:00 AM, desire to put finishing touches on my project in the morning etc.)
I asked for suggestions afterwards from classmates. People said it was too scattered (I was trying to relate it to everything I saw).
They thought it was weird that a writer such as myself would do my presentation as a powerpoint with no prepared script.
They were expecting a series of monologues,like my earlier show about this neighborhood's tap water and sewage disposal history (Yes! One can do a series of monologues about water issues!). Judy Shevilev criticized that earlier presentation for presenting my interview subjects' views but not mine.
I should have just done a rap video like my friend Josiah ("Goose") Guzik did.
I may put up some more on NAFTA and/or water issues later, given the variety show that is this blog (nightclubs and landfills?).
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Dirty Politics (imported from CGE Blog entry by me).
lunes 20 de abril de 2009
Dirty Politics?
By Ben Pounds
Please note: the version on the CGE blog has pictures, which I'm to lazy to include here. Also because of the more academic nature of this entry, I only dealt briefly with being attacked by bees after getting briefly separated from the group. My arm was swolen for a while after that.
That blog has a strict policy of having to ask permission of people before showing their faces, a rule that I should have followed here.
We were going to see Cuernavaca’s new landfill. We had left the edge of the city and now saw cows grazing. Then we hit what could only be described as a homemade checkpoint. A barb wire fence stretched across the street. After a few residents serving as guards opened the gate and our van passed, I had no clue what to expect.
The farmer who owned the land was happy to show us around. He opened yet another fence and let us walk through.
So, without setting foot in the landfill itself, we saw it. A grey hill above the canyon with trucks coming and going.
The gate had not been meant to stop us from entering government property. It had been built to stop the government or its allies from coming in and coercing the residents out of their land. Really its main purpose, now that I look back was to prevent trucks with garbage from coming in.
I had not intended for this entry to be about politics primarily. Our partners, the bloggers in Thailand, had been writing about human rights and government accountability rather than environmental concerns. Politics here though is tricky as is politics everywhere. It may involve bribery, alliances, networks, and (if I am to believe what some people have told me with regards to the landfill) physical threats. In short it is like politics everywhere else. I would hate for what I write here to be misinterpreted as an insult to Mexican politics particularly. However, one can broadly say that the “perfect dictatorship” described during the years of one-party domination continues in some ways in today’s multi-party Mexico.
The landfill was itself an improvement on the previous open-air dump near an indigenous community. Not everyone has access to the services of the privatized, new garbage collection company, PASA (the privatization of garbage collection was a controversial move on the part of the government in recent years).
The rivers in some ravines, already places for dumping sewage, hold a great deal of garbage put there by the residents whose houses cannot be reached by garbage trucks. In some ways one could say that the landfill is an improvement over that system.
Studies say that the soil is too porous to protect the below-ground aquifers from possible leaching. Thus, the project deprives neighboring communities of the right to clean water as their water is now contaminated. The local government representatives that we met with countered by saying the lands do not contain very much fertile soil. They may not be very fertile although that does not stop people from raising corn, cattle, chickens, and (as I found out the hard way) bees.
Despite the vocal opposition all the political parties are in favor of the landfill, including the “Ecological Green Party” (a party here famous for its support of the death penalty).
When they proposed other sites, government officials said “go research them yourselves.” Perhaps the greatest motivation for the current site is that the contamination that results from the landfill flows into smaller, poorer communities and doesn’t directly affect the city of Cuernavaca.
Some local citizens have found their own solution in setting up recycling centers and small-scale water-treatment plants. Despite, or possibly because of, their general distrust of the city government, these people have received some government support, including the filming of a public service announcement. Yet they remain cynical. When asked about the sewage treatment plants in Cuernavaca created directly by the government, the creator of a small scale plant at a local school was quick to point out that they did not work.
As I watch the local citizens in the Cuernavaca area so actively engaged in their communities, I remain aware of my role here as a foreigner. The last thing I want to be is another invader in this country, so my own involvement has limits. However, in learning about the struggles of this place and of the people here working for a more just world, I am convinced that my involvement back in the U.S. will always be affected and inspired by the activists of Mexico.
Dirty Politics?
By Ben Pounds
Please note: the version on the CGE blog has pictures, which I'm to lazy to include here. Also because of the more academic nature of this entry, I only dealt briefly with being attacked by bees after getting briefly separated from the group. My arm was swolen for a while after that.
That blog has a strict policy of having to ask permission of people before showing their faces, a rule that I should have followed here.
We were going to see Cuernavaca’s new landfill. We had left the edge of the city and now saw cows grazing. Then we hit what could only be described as a homemade checkpoint. A barb wire fence stretched across the street. After a few residents serving as guards opened the gate and our van passed, I had no clue what to expect.
The farmer who owned the land was happy to show us around. He opened yet another fence and let us walk through.
So, without setting foot in the landfill itself, we saw it. A grey hill above the canyon with trucks coming and going.
The gate had not been meant to stop us from entering government property. It had been built to stop the government or its allies from coming in and coercing the residents out of their land. Really its main purpose, now that I look back was to prevent trucks with garbage from coming in.
I had not intended for this entry to be about politics primarily. Our partners, the bloggers in Thailand, had been writing about human rights and government accountability rather than environmental concerns. Politics here though is tricky as is politics everywhere. It may involve bribery, alliances, networks, and (if I am to believe what some people have told me with regards to the landfill) physical threats. In short it is like politics everywhere else. I would hate for what I write here to be misinterpreted as an insult to Mexican politics particularly. However, one can broadly say that the “perfect dictatorship” described during the years of one-party domination continues in some ways in today’s multi-party Mexico.
The landfill was itself an improvement on the previous open-air dump near an indigenous community. Not everyone has access to the services of the privatized, new garbage collection company, PASA (the privatization of garbage collection was a controversial move on the part of the government in recent years).
The rivers in some ravines, already places for dumping sewage, hold a great deal of garbage put there by the residents whose houses cannot be reached by garbage trucks. In some ways one could say that the landfill is an improvement over that system.
Studies say that the soil is too porous to protect the below-ground aquifers from possible leaching. Thus, the project deprives neighboring communities of the right to clean water as their water is now contaminated. The local government representatives that we met with countered by saying the lands do not contain very much fertile soil. They may not be very fertile although that does not stop people from raising corn, cattle, chickens, and (as I found out the hard way) bees.
Despite the vocal opposition all the political parties are in favor of the landfill, including the “Ecological Green Party” (a party here famous for its support of the death penalty).
When they proposed other sites, government officials said “go research them yourselves.” Perhaps the greatest motivation for the current site is that the contamination that results from the landfill flows into smaller, poorer communities and doesn’t directly affect the city of Cuernavaca.
Some local citizens have found their own solution in setting up recycling centers and small-scale water-treatment plants. Despite, or possibly because of, their general distrust of the city government, these people have received some government support, including the filming of a public service announcement. Yet they remain cynical. When asked about the sewage treatment plants in Cuernavaca created directly by the government, the creator of a small scale plant at a local school was quick to point out that they did not work.
As I watch the local citizens in the Cuernavaca area so actively engaged in their communities, I remain aware of my role here as a foreigner. The last thing I want to be is another invader in this country, so my own involvement has limits. However, in learning about the struggles of this place and of the people here working for a more just world, I am convinced that my involvement back in the U.S. will always be affected and inspired by the activists of Mexico.
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