Summary
The dispossession continues to this day, perpetuated by what the author calls "internal colonization," aided and abetted by U.S. designs on Mexico. [Gibier] argues that "colonial authority in New Spain laid the foundations for several pillars of contemporary Mexican politics: centralized power, monopoly, capitaUsm, corruption and cronyism, caciquismo [the domination and influence of a local political boss, or cacique], racism, class stratification, and labor exploitation." He then sets out to delineate Mexico's rich history of revolt, the uprisings by which Mexicans-particularly indigenous peoples - have responded to centuries of exploitation.
"The whole culture now is that people grow up and go to the United States: their parents, their uncles, their brothers and sisters, everyone goes," López tells Gibier. "The kids who are strong and smart, they all go . . . they come back and spend their dollars on American products. It's a nice, round business. Everyone here depends on the United States. If this isn't a colony, then how do you define colony?"No book on contemporary Mexico would be complete without a mention of the ongoing war on drugs and the heavy toU it exacts on multiple levels of Mexican and American society, but [Gibler]'s approach is to discuss the conflict in the context of rule of law. Drug trafficking is Mexico's No. 1 source of revenue, ranked above oil and immigrant remittance both. Mexican police and government officials have been involved in the drug trade for decades, but since the 1990s they've gone from turning a blind eye to direct participation. Gibier wonders whether it makes any sense to speak of corruption and violence as an aberration of the system: "...arbitrary detention, systematic use of torture by all levels of poUce and the armed forces, and total impunity for officials. Can such widespread and enduring practices be considered irregularities of the system? No. They are the system."See the full content of this document
Extract
Still Standing
Still Standing Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt By John Gibier City Lights 356 pages, $16.95
Part journalistic travelogue, part political manifesto, Mexico Unconquered recounts some of the more bewildering revolts and upheavals that have roiled Southern Mexico from the turn of the 20th century through contemporary times. In the author's view, the conquest of Mexico never en...See the full content of this document
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