English Translation of "La Jornada" Editorial As Published in "Borderland Beat"

At What Moment Did Our Country Become What It Is Today?

Saturday, November 30, 2013 |  Borderland Beat Reporter dd

Borderland Beat 

 La Jornada: By Simón Vargas Aguilar

At what moment did our country become what it is today? Why has organized crime acquired such power and influence, factors that have permitted it to become the law and the authority in some regions? Why has violence increased exponentially over the last years, reaching levels of sadism and cruelty never before seen? 

Why has this savagery succeeded in robbing us of public places, changing our lives, and taking our loved ones from us? When exactly did the youth decide to follow the path of organized crime to live the fast life and die early? Why is our society eroding so rapidly?

Siddharta Guatama said: “If you want to know the past, look to the present, which is its result. If you want to know the future, look to the present, which is its cause.”

Our present country is the summation of a great number of errors and poor decisions made over the course of our history. This history has almost always been—and likely, will continue to be—determined by the interests of certain developed countries, international organizations, and those who unlawfully hold extensive resources. 

And although between the aforementioned forces some exceptions exist, promoting alternative agendas, the hegemony and the power of the majority is such that the development and well-being of our society has rarely been their priority.

Today, our outlook is dominated by poverty, inequality, social exclusion, lack of opportunity, corruption, impunity, weak institutions, and meager economic growth. Thanks to these variables, the violence associated with organized crime and drug trafficking found favorable footholds to flourish and obtain million-dollar earnings at the cost of the destruction of forward-looking perspectives and the development of the entire country. 

The family ceased to be the cornerstone of society, social ties became increasingly fragile, and our values—which once distinguished us in the world—were replaced by anti-values such as hatred, intolerance, and individualism.

In this sense, violence in all its forms has become part of our lives: the drug-trafficking cartels fight bloody battles amongst themselves to control territories. A report from Stratfor [security analysis firm in the U.S.] published last October predicted that during the last trimester of the year violence would increase due to this phenomenon. Radical groups have emerged and selected violence and confrontation to express their dissatisfaction, and have already communicated that their force will grow with increasingly aggressive groups.

Our children practice bullying in school, which has already taken several lives. Orphans of drug trafficking harbor a deep resentment towards those hitmen who, following orders on threat of death themselves, ended the lives of their families. Many of this second generation, motivated by vengeance and a lack of other opportunities, themselves become assassins, which feeds the vicious circle of violence.

At the same time, we have also seen how demonstrations and protests have increased, and how some demonstrators have discharged their ire and frustration against police who safeguard a partial, selective, and deliberate “state of law.” This status quo permits those who have misappropriated political, economic, social, and religious power to continue to make decisions that directly affect the people, who then form their own police forces.

The Polish philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Brauman states in his bookCollateral Damage: Social Inequalities in a Global Age:

“When an electric circuit is overloaded the first part to burn is the fuse… The effectiveness and the duration of the entire circuit—and as a consequence, the electricity that it is capable of absorbing and the work that it is capable of performing—cannot be greater than the resistance of the fuse. Once the fuse blows, the entire circuit fails.”

Today Mexicans—grandmothers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sons—all those who strive to stoically continue the daily fight to make a living and satisfy needs through sacrifice, are facing corruption, manipulation, repression, and violence. We citizens, who seek a better future for coming generations but find neither understanding nor support from the majority of our government, are that fuse which is at the overloaded point of failure