Wherein We Stumble into Mass Politics
18 March, 2023
Big fat raindrops impact the windshield of the car with which we made our escape. But even the driver realized the futility of trying to get us all the way back to the hotel and let us out early.
The plan was Centro, with its many museums and monuments. My partner was concerned about the crowds on the weekend, but I insisted we press on and try it out.
Boy howdy were they right. But as it turns out, it was because there were a great quantity of Politics happening.
The signs came early. First the subway was very crowded. Sure, okay, that can happen.
But then almost everyone left on the next stop. The few of us that remained were treated to the train reversing course and moving *backwards* to the previous stop. No announcement or explanation.
When we finally emerged, we started hoofing it to Centro and the crowds just kept getting thicker
Look closer at that picture and you can see that there is a screen set up, showing the Centro area with a massive crowd that resembles a political rally - because it is!
A lot of empty busses from other cities were lining the streets - only obvious to us later as a means of bringing in more supporters. Many groups walking toward the square were wearing the same t-shirts and holding flags with a variety of political parties; whatever this was, it at least had an air of unity or some coalition - no counter protesters or anything like that.
We eventually turned back, and it was a wise decision, because this was not our party. It was an anniversary of telling American business interests to go fuck themselves.
In 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–40) sided with oil workers striking against foreign-owned oil companies for an increase in pay and social services.
In other times and places, this might have resulted in devastating sanctions, attempts to destabilize/overthrow the government, or even direct military intervention. But despite the long and loud bitching of US owners, the government of the United States led by FDR had a “good neighbor” policy in place that sought to limit such intervention - presumably because there were substantially more pressing international (and domestic!) concerns.
PEMEX was one of the first nationalized oil and gas entities - predating Saudi ARAMCO and Norway’s whatever it’s called. It was considered the model to be followed in many ways; American business interests anticipated being invited back in for their skills and expertise but, as it turned out, Mexico was able to develop these locally and did not require them.
As the anniversary of the nationalization, the current President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO) gave the most VEEP-ass speech I have ever seen: it was literally named “Continuity with Change is Assured”
Anyway, Mexico nationalizing its oil industry was good and cool. Making the US investors eat shit is absolutely fine. All worth celebrating. The only better and cooler thing they could do right now is leave it in the fucking ground and rich counties should absolutely pay them to do that.
