Aguacates y Revoluciones

comment by victorio:

"Totally agree that the officials should put a stop to these illegal activities. Why do the teachers feel they have the right to commit all these offenses with impunity? They have caused the death of people. They have committed all sorts of crimes against innocent people. They have caued hundreds of thousands of pesos in property damage, and they continue to do so with total disrespect for every citizen here as well as the law. Enough."

As far as the officials putting a stop to all the illegal activities we are all too familiar with not only in this situation, but for a very long time, this is a bad seemingly never-ending "tradition" here in México.
IMO: COWARDS, both the teachers (aka delinquents) and the MX gobierno.

By now, the teachers know that they can do whatever they want, wherever, whenever, however, etc., y "NO PASA NADA" to the delinquents, Nor do they get their grievances resolved.
I think one of the reasons may be the "strength in numbers" philosophy.
I always wondered, why could they not hire a team of abogados to go up-to-bat for their cause, and negotiate, and in the meantime, continue doing the work they were hired to do?

As far as the government, I think that one reason for the lack of intervention is the fear of increasing the number of fatalities.
Imagine what the reaction would be if a Federal police killed a "teacher", trying to establish order and protects themselves.
Another reason, IMO is an apparent lack of training on how to effectively manage these situations.
Perhaps, there should be one of those "summits" where México could get some counseling on how to deal more effectively, and either prevent them from occurring in the first place, and handle them adequately, when they do present.

As far as the cowardly behavior goes, even on a local level for relatively basic problems, they just don't intervene-- "chickens" as we say.
Activities that are quite obviously not permitted in the "Bando de Policia y Buen Gobierno" are done in flagrancy, and, as usual..."NO PASA NADA."
This is the "freedom" enjoyed in México.

I distinguish freedom in the sense that you use it from the vacuum of authority and resulting lawlessness that is increasingly perceived in most parts of Mexico during the past couple of decades.

It's a lot more complicated legally, politically, sociologically and psychologically. You have to understand Tlatelolco and the Guerra Sucia to understand why tolerance of protesters on the part of the government and its institutions seems to be so extreme. It's not cowardice. In the case at hand I believe it's a tactical political strategy that is essentially allowing the dissident teachers to hang themselves with their own rope so that they lose public support. And it's a philosophy that has also allowed Mexico to be a recognized leader in brokering hemispheric peace negotiations. These protests are fueled in no small part by lopezobradorcistas for political gain. It's not just teachers, which was why in Nochixtlán not one teacher was among the dead in spite of sensationalist claims by lots of folks that there was a "teacher massacre" and "repression" by the federal government.

You must remember that for several years Mexico has been restructuring its police forces and we aren't done yet, thus there remains a huge vacuum in public security until all the states sign on and implement the Mando Único. Of course it would help greatly if we weren't also fighting the USA's proxy war on drugs. Both former Presidente Calderón Hinojosa and Presidente Enrique Peña Nieto have toed the line of the USA's government on this matter for too long. Just like they have with NAFTA and now the TPP.

The teachers are wearing out their arguments and their support. I hear them shout out bald-faced lies to motivate themselves in their marches along with political slogans. They try to blame the president for the actions of the Congreso where the reform was passed. They were marching to block the reform before the reform had ever been crystallized and long before it was negotiated and voted on in the Congreso. Not once have I ever heard them elaborate on any specific fact-based grievance with the reform, and not once has any supporter of the dissident teachers explained why they chose to harm the public instead of having negotiations with their union, the other teachers (both from other unions and non-union, most of whom support the reform), their legislative representatives and officials from the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). It's always Peña this and Peña that as if they were still lopezobradorcistas blocking Avenida La Reforma after AMLO lost his second presidential bid (and he's going for strike three).

One thing that has unfortunately characterized what should be the major leftist party in Mexico, the PRD, has been their intolerance of differing points of view. This was magnified under the influence of Andrés Manuel López Obrador when he became their moral leader, insulting presidents and institutions and voters except when it was in his favor not to, and he has carried this same demagoguery and intolerance into his new Morena party where it manifests itself in one of the most intolerant and undemocratic political parties Mexico has ever seen. Though the PRD and Morena self-proclaim themselves as leftist, there is practically nothing "liberal" about them. They don't represent most of my points of view, and Mexico seriously needs a true leftist liberal and progressive party. There are actually times when the traditionally conservative PAN seems much more liberal and leftist than the PRD. In contrast, the traditional success of the PRI has been its ability over the years to fill multiple roles with a strong paternalism, but that's another discussion entirely.

Saludos.