Mexico – Anarres Project for Alternative Futures

Lynching Was About Race, But Also About Land and Power

By Teka Lark (October 1, 2019)

They lynched Mexicans.

“They” being white people. Texas has always been home to nightmares. It is where my half my family who didn’t go to LA from Louisiana ended up. It is where my great-great aunt was burned alive. I read in Manitowoc, Wisconsin this weekend. I love Manitowoc, but somehow I ended up watching PBS and this show about the Porvenir massacre came on. The state (the US) under the guise of outlaws under the guise of Texas Rangers killed Latinx people for their land; they killled women, children, men.

But I want to stress they killed people who owned land. Why do I stress this? Because really there is nothing white nationalism hates more than empowered people of color who don’t need their help. This PBS show made it seemed like it was a battle and sort of implied they did stuff too and I said to Charles’ parents, “That is bullshit they killed them for their land, they are thieves! This show is bullshit I am from California. I have friends whose families were here before the white people stole it!”

The story of lynching is that it is just about race. It is, but it is also about land and power. The people who they lynched Black and Chicano owned land, had businesses. White nationalism is not random in its viciousness.

No Bogus Compromises About the Dreamers!

By Chuck Morse (September 7, 2017)

This is what we’re looking at:

Trump: We’re going to deport the Dreamers in six months!
Democrats: Don’t do that!
Trump: Ok, I won’t deport them, but you have to support my plans to further militarize the border.
Democrats: Ok, sure. No problem.

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We can’t allow this to happen. The militarization of borders breeds pure misery. We have to fight bogus compromises. No human being is illegal. The right to migrate is a human right!

Why is the Left Silent on the War Ripping Mexico Apart?

By Chuck Morse (August 31, 2017)

I am mostly optimistic when I think about the American left these days. While Trump’s election signals the right’s ascendancy, it also indicates a broader crisis in the system and the intensification of a fight that we have to have—an inescapable, unavoidable battle that we might lose, but might win! When he singled out anarchists during his rally last week, it said something about the protagonists in this battle and affirmed that we are a threat to the established order on some level. I heart that.

However, I am disturbed by our relative silence on the war ripping apart Mexico right now. The entire country seems to be turning into a mass grave as bodies pile up relentlessly along the border in Tijuana and elsewhere. The brutality and devastation and anguish is overwhelming.

I understand that it is a another country and that there is a language barrier for many. And it is also true that, to make sense of this conflict, we need to break out of the state-centric perspective that has shaped political thought for so long (because of the importance of non-state actors like the cartels, etc). I get all this, and I don’t have any particularly insightful solutions or strategies to offer, but it feels so urgent and terrifying. I hate the thought of passively watching this process unfold.

The Global War At Our Doorstep

By Joseph Orosco (May 10, 2017)

A new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies claims that Mexico is the second largest conflict zone behind Syria in 2016. Some 50,000 people died in the Syrian conflict in 2016. In Mexico, some 23,000 people were killed in one year as a result of drug cartel violence (that’s more than the conflicts deaths recorded in both Iraq and Afghanistan combined) Its estimated that between 2007 and 2014, some 167,000 people died as a result of the Mexican drug wars.

Of course, the cartel violence is a transnational problem since most of the drug consumption happens in the United States. The estimates are that almost half of all federally incarcerated prisoners are there as a result of the US war on drugs–that would be about 1.5 million people. You can see the skyrocketing rates of incarceration since the US began target drugs in the 1970s:

It’s clear that when you look at the war on drugs from a transnational perspective, we are looking at a staggering waste of human life and potential.

Why US Americans Ought to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month

By Joseph Orosco

We are currently halfway into National Hispanic Heritage Month (NHHM). I asked my students in two classes if they knew anything about it and most had no notion of when it started or when it ended in the calendar. They got the general idea that it was about honoring the contribution of Latin@s to US American life, but nothing specifically about it, or indeed, of any celebrations of it in their communities. Continue reading “Why US Americans Ought to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month”

Blood Avocados, Drug Cartels, and the Crisis of Democracy in Mexico

The majority of avocados in the US come from one single state in Mexico: Michoacan. In recent years, drug cartels have started to terrorize the avocado producers there, murdering them, stealing farms, and exacting protection money from the ones that remain. Many farmers have now formed armed vigilante groups, called autodefensas, that have begun to fight back against the cartels. Last month, the Mexican government sent in the military to avoid an all out civil war.

Professor Joseph Orosco reviews the history and evolution of the current situation followed by Professor Victor Vargas, professor of international relations, and vice president of Academic Affairs, at the Universidad Latin de America in Morelia, Michoacan. Vargas discusses what this situation means for democracy in Mexico and the impact that it has on the US, including American consumers and the legacy of the “War on Drugs”.

Continue reading “Blood Avocados, Drug Cartels, and the Crisis of Democracy in Mexico”

Blood Avocados, Drug Cartels, and the Crisis of Democracy in Mexico

On February 25th, Joseph Orosco will lead us through the development of our current situation. We will then be joined by Professor Victor Vargas, a professor of international relations, and vice president of Academic Affairs, at the Universidad Latin de America in Morelia, Michoacan. He will discuss, via Skype, what this situation means for democracy in Mexico and the impact that it has on the US, including American consumers and the legacy of the “War on Drugs”. There will be time for questions and dialogue.