Much of the preamble has been sourced from Michael Roberts’ recent analysis of Mexico.
Claudia Sheinbaum, part of the left-wing and populist Morena party to which AMLO also belongs, is now the first woman to ascend to the Mexican presidency. She is also a climate/energy scientist and was previously mayor of Mexico City. Results indicate that she has won with approximately 60% of the vote, which would be the highest vote percentage in Mexican history.
AMLO’s presidency has been generally successful. He campaigned on reducing violence inside Mexico, and while this has technically occurred if measured from 2018, homicides are still considerably higher than in 2010. This is largely due to warring drug cartels, which are more reflective of the United States and its rise in drug addiction and thus imports from Mexico. He also campaigned on reducing corruption, which he also kinda has, and also on reducing income inequality, which he also kinda has. The overall figures don’t show massive budges in income inequality, but the minimum wage has risen by 82% and manufacturing wage have risen 27%, and this plus other social programs has lifted 9 million Mexicans out of extreme poverty - a good achievement - but not much further than that, with poverty rates still above the Latin American average. Unemployment is officially at record lows, but much of this job growth has been in the informal sector.
The Mexican economy suffered greatly during the pandemic, and while growth since then has been pretty decent, the economy is still below where it was in 2018. As Mexican capitalists do not pay much in taxes, AMLO’s programs have required large budget deficits and borrowing. These capitalists are, of course, not doing many productive investments and thus there is not much productivity growth; productivity has been more-or-less stagnant for two decades. The reason why Mexican capitalists are not investing is because of the major decline in profitability since the 1990s - there is no reason to invest if your money is at major risk of not making a profit. Therefore, they have followed the trend of other national capitalists of investing in real estate and speculation, particularly in American companies.
Since NAFTA/USMCA, Mexico has become increasingly dependent on the United States for a location for its exports, while the US has exploited cheap labour in Mexico. Additionally, with the anti-Chinese sanctions increasingly put in place by the US, Mexico has become one of several conduits for China to redirect its goods so that they can still reach American markets. This has allowed Mexico to have an essentially balanced trade account and keep the peso relatively strong against the dollar.
Mexico’s limited fortunes will likely decline from here as the US economy continues to slow. If Trump is elected, he may decree protectionist policies which will hit a US-reliant Mexico quite hard. Additionally, industrial production has recently declined and retail spending is also down. AMLO’s presidency was genuinely beneficial for the poorest 50%, but the policies he created failed to really change the fundamentals of the economy. He relied on the private sector rather than the public sector. This is not entirely his fault - if he had tried to do anything terribly transformative, Mexico would have probably been hit hard with consequences by the US and simultaneously faced a domestic revolt by Mexican capitalists. There were and are already threats of outright invasion in response to the limited things AMLO has already done.
In an increasingly multipolar future in which America becomes weaker and weaker, it’s very possible that Mexico’s reliance on the US will decrease, allowing parties to be more radical without facing the possibility of facing crippling sanctions like Venezuela. However, Mexico’s sheer proximity to the US means that they might be among the last countries to break free of American influence, as the US will continue to bitterly resist any attempt to break down the Monroe Doctrine long after it loses Asia, Europe, and Africa. So, it seems likely that Sheinbaum may soon find herself in a situation where she is forced by capitalists to implement fiscal austerity regardless of her intentions, which is equivalent to a declaration of war on the working class. What happens then is anybody’s guess.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you’ve wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don’t worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Mexico! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
anti-communist “anarchists” drop worst zine since the 70s, asked to leave the revolutionary coalition
Funny how they complain about so called “authoritarian communist groups”, and then afterwards praise Black liberation groups that were openly ML and Maoist. I’ve seen this same kind of shit on Reddit.
Yeah, these people aren’t anarchists. Actual anarchist zines and polemics have a definite vibe, and this shit, which has the same energy as some corporate HR mass email, ain’t it.
When have actually existing anarchists ever give two shits about nuanceTM?
Damn, the CPUSA doesn’t even get its own paragraph because it isn’t prolific enough lmao
Uhhh this exactly normal anarchist behavior ime
A lot of Americans that self-label as anarchist have basically no understanding of what anarchism is. They are just “horizontalism” dogmatists that apply their vibes-based rules of behavior inconsistently and get frustrated when that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t work out. Must be the tankies’ fault!
There are sometimes actual anarchists in the same spaces that will gladly point out how the others aren’t anarchists.
Those people aren’t writing anti -communist zines. The people who do that are dedicated anarchists that read anarchist theory.
god forbid the violent seizure of power during a revolution necessitate discipline and obedience, you wouldn’t want to have too much control over the means of production now would you
planning or doing things is authoritarianism
Ah, the classic “Volunteerism as revolution.”
Nothing wrong with it in spirit, but just as easily splintered and co-opted by the feds.
It doesn’t require the feds at all lol. These groups are so vulnerable to takeover and splits that all it takes is one (1) small liberal student group to blow the whole thing up and/or ruin whatever project they’re working on.
I personally saw a clear-cut example of this during the George Floyd protests where such a group was bullied by a liberal black student group into taking ultimately cop-friendly actions and getting themselves arrested for literally no reason. Many of them were swayed by a speech where someone said, “my dad actually wants there to be more cops”. Easily swayed by a shallow understanding of identity politics.
It all fell apart after that.
For the love of God please learn basic agitprop skills. Nobody is going to download your PDF. Nobody is going to read your wall of text. Nobody wants to look at you shitty drawings. Please have some pride in your work.
Okay genuinely tho what is wrong with these radlibs lately, is it just because PSL and FRSO have been more visible? The artwork is clearly just PSL and PSL is, in my experience, much more common than FRSO and basically every other group mentioned in here is defunct. What’s wrong with these nerds, I’ve had to deal with so many of them in real life (from groups I may add that genuinely do just have people who constantly commit SA but nobody does anything because they feel like they don’t have the “right” to do it).
PSL has been doing Palestine work and supporting the resistance for years. When things popped off, we were the first to show up because we’d laid the groundwork and had the historical and ideological bona fides - and the trust of the Palestinian community - and so we, along with PYM, play leading roles in the American Palestinian movement. It has become a Marxist Leninist movement in many ways. Anarchists have never showed up for Palestine before and came late to this movement, then immediately demanded we leave for being illegitimate and taking advantage of something unrelated to us.
I appreciate your comment as I’ve seen people even here on this site make the argument that PSL is being opportunist and taking advantage of the movement. But most of the actual on the ground demos I’ve seen where I am are a collab between Palestinian groups and PSL, and I don’t see other groups getting involved here.
And, an aside, but I had a previous experience as the previous poster where I mostly-anarchist group I was involved with would be the type to criticize PSL and ML org until the group fell apart for sitting on their asses in handling an internal abuser because they had no organizational structure and nobody wanted to execute authority
Literally the situation for me locally right now, all these people do is show up to take free food without helping at FnB and try to “cancel” members of PSL in public group chats and by posting bizarre posters calling it a cult. It’s mindwrenchingly stupid.
Yes … yes it is. This group bit off more than they could chew. Had good intentions, but no structure. No delegation, no accountability. Then it all fell apart when SA happened with one of the members
Around that time I also joined another group that was actually an ML group, or call themselves one. They were ultras though. Ended up being very chauvinistic and had juvenile takes. Like not believing in settler colonialism, saying the Palestinian and Israeli proletariat should join together, making blanket condemnations of nationalism and even the Black Panther Party, the USSR and China, and other horror stories. I’ve complained about it elsewhere here lol. I’ve had shit luck with groups where I’m at. I wish I had some actual advice, but I can definitely commiserate lol.
I can say PSL’s been okay so far, they’re just like, normal. I’m hesitant to call them the next calling of Jesus or anything but I haven’t had to deal with weird shit like that. Mostly just getting fucked with by people who I’d just like to work with and did before I was publicly PSL
Did you end up joining a branch or becoming at-large?
I’m with a local branch, they’re genuinely great folks
That’s upsetting. The background levels of anti communism is so frustrating and I’m sorry it’s impacting people you used to work with. People can be odd :/ I imagine the anarchist-ish people I’m around would react the same way. Frustrating.
I hope PSL works out for you! I was somewhat involved with them years ago, but life events, moving, etc caused me to… well sorta flake or drop out. I’d like to get involved again but I guess I’m intimidated. I want to make sure I can and will commit. I don’t want to repeat what happened before. So getting in that position’s a goal of mine.
Yeah, as much as it feels stressful because the consequences are so huge, don’t stress. Stressing just kinda keeps you from doing it in my experience, ya know? I spent years not actively doing anything cause I dropped off the face of the earth to transition and I thought everyone would hate me for leaving but instead they were just glad to see me again or moved on lol.
Genuinely though don’t stress, if you want to do socialist stuff it’s not conducive to anything while you’re not actively organizing.
That last group sounds very Trot. But it called itself ML?
Was it some weird leftcom strain or were they all just very confused? Or maybe leadership were Trots trying to be sneaky?
I’m fascinated.
They weren’t Trots, but behaved just like them (there was another group in the city that was a Trot group, and they may as well have been the same). They were pro Stalin, anti-revisionist. And they were pro China before the 60s (interestingly I don’t think their break with China was due to Deng).
I think they just evolved into leftcoms. They didn’t like the Black Panthers, National Liberation movements, etc. because of ‘Nationalism’. They didn’t like that the USSR, China, and AES had money, so they were actually capitalist imperialist states. There is no transition period for them, we’ll just go straight to communism and if a society doesn’t do that then they are capitalists. They phrases everything, EVERYTHING, as a battle between workers and ‘the bosses’. They didn’t really think through any particular contradictions (they were pretty lazy lol). They always talked about how post Apartheid South Africa is in a worse state now because they didn’t push the communism button. Their writings from the 60s gloat about Che being murdered because he deserved it for spreading imperialism (Cuban imperialism anyone?).
Shit tier.
The settler mind is a thing to behold. Thank you for the amusing anecdotes!
PSL isn’t being opportunist on Palestine though it does need to place more emphasis on core competencies in planning and executing actions and working in new coalitions. I’ve seen a lot of unforced errors at PSL-led actions across several cities that simply don’t happen when other local orgs do the exact same actions. Training volunteers on security practices, establishing dispersal points, having a bail plan, monitoring cops’ movements. They’d do a lot better if they just worked more closely with other groups with those competencies.
It’s also very important for maintaining the image of not being opportunist. Opportunist orgs always reveal themselves because they don’t take their stated project seriously enough, which makes sense because the project isn’t earnest, it’s just a means for recruitment. PSL is not this, but it does need to make that very clear because liberals love to punch left and will successfully capitalize on errors like I mentioned before.
Of course PSL is a national org and I’m talking about a few local ones so this may vary.
lmao this reads like it was written by a teenager that did a two-weeks-long research project called “googling criticisms of US Marxist organizations” and then uncritically repeating them.
My favorite part is where their big, serious criticism of FRSO is that they have front groups.
Incidentally these are the exact people that never actually read anything about anarchism, instead insist on a dogmatic horizontalism at all times, and consequently are constantly beaten by every adversary they encounter, whether it’s cops or liberal orgs or management or university administrations or military contractors. They end up paralyzed by making collective decisions about petty matters (a few years back at an occupation they were holding daily 3 hour meetings where they decided shit like which bathrooms to use. They also are so easily beaten and coopted by any small group. Whoever has the microphone and eight friends is the most powerful person in their space and enjoys basically dictatorial power of they know how to bullshit a little. They have never heard the term, “unjust hierarchy” and understood it. Their brains heard, “all hierarchies are unjust”. They allow abusers to remain because telling people to fuck off is “being a cop”.
Anyways lots of anarchists are cool. A lot of people that call themselves anarchists just plain aren’t anarchists. They spend their time on stuff like this, embracing a dismissive stance despite and because of their ignorance.