A reflection on the Cry of Independence in Mexico: 200 years later

Across Mexico authorities are gearing up for the big blow out bicentenary celebration of Mexico’s fight for independence. For the past year town and city plazas have featured the bicentenary clock to count down the days, minutes and seconds for the main event.

The cry refers to the proclamation issued by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 15, 1810 that declared Mexico free of Spanish rule. The tradition is for the Mexican president to appear on the balcony of the national palace to wave the Mexican flag and to call out the names of Mexican heroes who fought for independence and national sovereignty. The current president, Felipe Calderón, has declared that the festivities present an opportunity for the Mexican people to become united and “through responsibility and generosity construct a more secure, democratic, stronger and more egalitarian country.” This is the same president who rigged the elections (so much for democracy!), declared war on drug lords (or some of them that is) creating a spiral of violence that has resulted in 28,000 deaths and still counting (so much for security!), and last year busted one of the most powerful independent unions of electrical workers adding more than 44,000 to the rolls of unemployed that reached close to 800,000 (so much for being more egalitarian!

No expense will be spared for the great extravaganza, the weapon of mass distraction to help the Mexican people forget about their woes. There will of course be celebrations across Mexico but the zócalo or central plaza in Mexico City is where the real action is! There will be aerial dancers, two 60 meter long plumed serpents, forty-five big screens, a sound and light show, gigantic floating balloons (like the Macy’s Parade) and of course lots and lots of fireworks. A show of this magnitude could only be entrusted to the global expert, an Australian named Ric Birch who has lots of experience directing mega fiestas. He is confident that this will be the most spectacular event “ever done in Mexico” and that this will help dispel the stereotype of Mexico as a country “where there are only mariachis and men with large sombreros sleeping in long siestas”. One of the principal Mexican organizers for the event, Monica Raya, considers this huge bicentenary bash as an opportunity for Mexican kids who “can’t get to Disneyland” to see a parade like never before and not for another hundred years!

What about the kids who don’t get to see a school because they are working in the streets?

What about the kids who don’t get to see their parents because they have gone north…not to visit Disneyland but because they can no longer live on the land?

What about the kids who don’t get to see a doctor because the public health system is so inadequate?

Disneyland??? Please!!! The fight for independence and the Mexican Revolution were struggles for land and liberty …not for some fantasy land!!! When there is that kind of a real commitment to protect the livelihood of campesino farmers so they can live on their land instead of allowing big agribusinesses like Cargill to dump corn in the Mexican market below production costs; to guarantee the rights of workers to organize and earn a just wage vs. selling Mexican workers as cheap labor to global capital, to provide quality education and health care rather than cutbacks dictated by foreign interests like the World Bank and IMF …then we will have cause to celebrate the independence and sovereignty of Mexico!!

LAND AND LIBERTY YES!!!…DISNEYLAND NO!!!