When I first travelled to Mexico in the mid-1980s two things
struck me: the contempt of the rich toward the poor; and the lack of
representation of the typical, dark-skinned Mexican in television news shows,
advertisements, and dramas.
It was bizarre. One could walk through Chapultepec Park on a
Sunday surrounded by a sea of relaxed people, the majority being descendants of
Mexico’s indigenous civilizations, with perhaps some Iberian blood mixed in,
and then go home, switch on the TV, and be told that, in effect, Mexico was
populated exclusively by descendants of Europeans. (Apparently, according to
Televisa, it still is).
Then, out to dinner at the then-swanky Zona Rosa, it was common to
see wealthy, light-skinned Mexicans on patios, or standing around having a
smoke, as poverty-stricken children, expert at working their pathos, pled for a
few pesos. Yes, the mothers may have put them up to it, and yes, random charity
may not solve poverty, but it was the profound and casual indifference of these
men that struck me as strange. For them, this was normal. This was simply the
way the world was.
For the advertisers and television producers there was an economic
argument, of sorts, to be made for their approach, though it was pretty weak. Given
Mexico’s history of racism and social injustice, the whiter the skin, the
greater the social advantage, and therefore it would make more sense to target a
consumer with deep pockets.
But of course it only served to internalize racism. It doesn’t
matter how many statues you put up to Benito Juárez, a Zapotec who became president
in the mid-19th century. It doesn’t matter how much ink is spilled
and how many fiestas there are celebrating the “grito”, or call of independence,
made famous by the revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo,
when Mexico fought off the Spanish colonial government. The truth is, Mexico
has deeply internalized the colonial, race- and class-based experience.
That makes the problem a very, very tough nut to crack. One
easy way out is to replace one demon for another, so that the evil Spanish are
now the evil Americans. But, without having to defend the often very bad
behaviour of either foreign power, I think we can agree that the problem clearly
resides within Mexico itself.
Now it is bubbling to the surface. PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto
recently got into hot water for not knowing the price of tortillas or the
minimum wage, and then compounded the blunder by saying he wasn’t the “woman of
the house”. His daughter retweeted a comment disparaging his detractors as “proles”.
(This clueless man is also promising universal healthcare, social security, and
unemployment benefits for all – only a fool would believe him).
And earlier last year, one of his potential PAN presidential
rivals, Ernesto
Cordero, claimed that a monthly income of 6,000 pesos (US$430) could pay
for a family home, a car and private education.
The PRD’s centre-left candidate Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador, who ran for office on "poor first" campaigns
in 2006 and 2012, certainly gets it, but he is running an uphill race against hostile
media.
Whoever navigates his or her way through this minefield will
– perhaps deservedly – take on the mantel of president elect on July 1st,
2012.
The ugly (white)
Mexican
Things have not changed that much over the years.
A video that went viral last
month revealed how ingrained racist attitudes were amongst children of all
backgrounds. It explains why, when they grow up, even the darker-skinned would
rather buy products pushed by light-skinned people.
He and his friends prefer the white doll
Last year also saw the famed “Ladies of Polanco” video,
in which two intoxicated women loudly berated a traffic cop who dared stop them
in Mexico City's upscale Polanco neighbourhood.
And, most recently, a video
was released of security camera footage in which wealthy store owner Miguel
Sacal physically abuses a building attendant for not leaving his post and changing
the tire on Sacal’s Porsche. This isn’t the first time Snr. Sacal has had one
of his outbursts caught on camera, as can be seen from this
incident in 2007.
There is something powerful about all three videos, and that
is the extent to which racism is internalized. In the video with the dolls, even
the brown children perceived the white doll to be “better” – not only better
looking, but of higher character and more trustworthy. This partly explains why
the poorly paid police officer and building attendant didn’t fight back, and why
no-one came to their aid.
The language is also telling. In both the Polanco and
security camera videos the white, wealthy, and privileged individuals rain down
unprintable vulgarities that berate the darker-skinned workers with racial
epithets, as well as belittling comments about their being poorly paid and lazy.
One ripple in the parking attendant attack is that the
abuser, Miguel Sacal, is Jewish. The Central Committee of the Jewish Community
of Mexico has denounced Sacal’s behaviour. In a statement, the Jewish community
declared:
“The Jewish Community of Mexico denounces this type of
attitude and behavior on the part of any person, for being violent, arrogant
and discriminatory, while also manifesting that the behavior of individuals
should not be attributed generally to any one group in society.”
The last part of that quote is telling. It reveals concern that,
in effect, Snr. Sacal could suffer from racism as a result of having been seen
as a racist. Suffice to say, Mexico has a long way to go before it can claim
serious progress on solving social inequality.
If you read the message boards in Mexico, a lot of the comments
are revealing. The Polanco women behaved badly because they were nouveau riche, some argue – one of the
women, Azalia Ojeda, is an actress and alumna of the "Big Brother
Mexico" television show – and the old-school elite would never have behaved
that way.
In that inverted logic, social mobility is itself the
problem. Some commentators have blamed “feminism” which...well, is too stupid
to deserve further comment.
The PAN have had the
wrong approach
In terms of economic inequality, it is clear that the PAN government
of Felipe Calderon has been a failure. During his five years in office the
number of Mexicans living on 2,100 pesos ($150) a month or less jumped from
45.5 million to almost 58 million.
To avoid this ugly reality, in 2008 the PAN altered the
official definition of poverty, magically removing millions from the official
tally.
But even that didn’t work. In fact, in Mexico the number of
poor rose by more than 3 million to 52 million between 2008 and 2010, with the
country’s wealthiest 10% earning 27 times what the bottom tenth makes on
average.
Worse, approximately 47 million of its 112.7 million of
Mexico’s people live in dire poverty, even though the country is home to the
world's richest man, Carlos Slim.
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com
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