Mexico after the Electoral Tribunal’s decision to confirm Calderon as president

The only answer now is to prepare to build workers’ power The decision of the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) to recognize PAN candidate Felipe Calderon is just the icing on the cake in the ruling class’ campaign against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in an effort to smash the aspirations of millions of Mexican workers. […]

  • Militante Mexico -- www.militante.org
  • Thu, Sep 7, 2006
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The only answer now is to prepare to build workers’ power

The decision of the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) to recognize PAN candidate Felipe Calderon is just the icing on the cake in the ruling class’ campaign against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in an effort to smash the aspirations of millions of Mexican workers. It is further proof that the institutions of government in fact only serve a very privileged layer of Mexican society, which decides about the destiny of millions of people in this country regardless of the laws. This campaign was orchestrated by U.S. imperialism and the most powerful capitalists in Mexico. The fear of an AMLO government that could unleash a revolutionary process as in the case of Venezuela – in which the working class could push the government to take measures favouring the workers – is the main motivation for the electoral fraud perpetrated by the ruling class.

The hysterical campaign of the Mexican oligarchy reveals their disdain for the workers and youth of the entire country. When they call AMLO “violent”, “intransigent”, etc., they are in fact attacking the millions of us who struggle day and night so that our families can eat. The decision of the Electoral Tribunal means that we workers have no other alternative but to fight against this government which has caused us so much misery and desperation. This means a fight against Fox, Calderon, and the system which nourishes this handful of corrupt parasites: capitalism.

In this sense, the struggle headed by AMLO is also our struggle, the struggle of all the oppressed; it is impossible to hope for a better life under this “democracy of the rich”. Millions of workers and youth have reached this conclusion. This is why AMLO’s calls to struggle for a new government, for new institutions, to end poverty, to reject the privatisation of the most valuable natural resources of our country, as well as for the right to information have become the fundamental demands of our movement.

By putting the demands of the most exploited layers at the forefront, this struggle has taken a step forward. But we must also link this with other vital demands: in particular, the struggle of the Oaxacan people, which has the same goals as the struggle on a national level: an end to finish misery, exploitation, and repression. The struggle of Oaxaca is intimately linked to the struggle of all of the exploited people of Mexico: we must unite in a single struggle.

AMLO’s call for a National Democratic Convention (CND) to be held on 16 September is extremely important. Faced with the discredited, corrupt, and far-from-impartial government that is currently in power, there is a fundamental need for a new organ of power and new institutions of government. The CND must take on the role of a workers’ government; but for this to happen, firm measures must be taken. The creation of committees in every workplace, neighbourhood, and school is of fundamental importance. These committees must be linked up and represented through assemblies of democratically elected and recallable local, state, and national representatives. These committees must increasingly take on more and more of the most important tasks in their regions. In other words, they must take over the tasks of government.

At the same time as the cohesion of the existing state must be broken down, the mass media, the system of laws, the military, etc. need to be disarticulated. In order to do this, our forces must be oriented towards the preparation of a general strike. This method of struggle would contribute towards the breaking down of the institutions of the bourgeois state, and would also lay the foundations for strengthening the organization of the working class (future institutions of power).

In addition to building towards a general strike, the calls to the military need to be redoubled. The appeals made to the army by AMLO have been important, but what is needed are flyering and information aimed at the ranks of the army at every military base, explaining that they cannot repress the people. We must explain to the rank and file soldiers that the vast majority of them have family members participating in the struggle; that the vast majority of their families suffer the same conditions of exploitation; and we must add to this demands affecting the rank and file, such as the need for the democratic election of officers, etc.

Only through these measures can we strengthen and consolidate a workers’ government. But the CND must also be very clear on the following point: that all of this struggle, all this effort, will only result in improved conditions of life for the exploited of the country if we carry through a radical change in the economy: a call for the nationalization of the large multinational industries and banks must be made if there is to be a genuine redistribution of wealth. These factories and banks would have to be put under the control of the new state, under the direction and administration of the workers themselves.

We cannot allow this struggle to reduce itself to yet another parliament – this would simply be more of the same; that is to say, a space dominated by the nefarious PRI/PAN alliance which only approves the laws that benefit them. This struggle must be converted into a decisive struggle against capitalism – the struggle for a better society, for socialism.

Long live the National Democratic Convention!

Forward in every neighbourhood, factory, and school towards the building of a new power!

Not a single step backwards in the struggle to transform society!

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