Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The premise of my commentary is that the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), touting a leftist identity, has ceased to be what it claims to be. To discuss this abandonment, we must examine its history and the reasons behind it.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) exists in name only, but when an army lays down its arms, it ceases to be what it claims to be. The guerrilla parties in Oaxaca that propose taking power by force are instead engaged in fighting among themselves for leadership of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (CNTE).
The Marxist parties, whether communist, Maoist, or Trotskyist, that inhabit the university universe contribute ideas scattered in a desert without debate or consequence.
That leaves Morena, the Labor Party (PT), and what remains of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) on the leftist stage. The PT has a dual origin: Maoism and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). That origin is enough to create a Frankenstein monster that has become a machine for forging the electoral alliances necessary to maintain its registration, while praising the greatness of North Korea.
Morena is, today, the symbol that the left is entrenched in power. The entire world recognizes Morena’s government as leftist. Morena does everything necessary to perpetuate itself in power, which is precisely what one would expect from a party that rejects the “bourgeois” regime of free elections, accountability, and freedom of expression.
The left, represented by Morena, has created a military power that, in a few years, the ruling party itself will be unable to control. The Armed Forces control crucial sectors of the economy and politics. During the recent legislative session, Morena transferred control of domestic espionage and intelligence gathering throughout the country to the Army. The notion of a civilian police force has been erased. All security, public and national, is in the hands of the military. García Harfuch risks falling into irrelevance.
The civil left has already disappeared in Mexico, while the PT and Morena, ignorant of history, are paving the way for a future of military control over any government in Mexico, when the military realizes that it does not need the frivolities and inefficiencies of the false left to govern.
All the talk about social rights will be discarded by this same extravagant, inefficient, and notoriously corrupt left to stay in power, alongside the disgruntled military, in alliance with organized crime.
The bad habit of abusing power appeared in the historic PRD when it merged, without safeguards, the PRI-Corriente Democrática with the Mexican Socialist Party (PMS), the Mexican Workers’ Party (PMT), and various other currents into a party based more on leadership than on its program. Instead, the program was the leader.
Is it possible to correct this historical error of birth, to give rise to a left rooted in leftist principles and programs? A great deal of self-criticism is needed, followed by more political and intellectual work. A program is required in which the left says no to the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as a basis for articulating its rejection of authoritarianism and populism, not with words, but with deeds.
A left that totally rejects the militarization being promoted in Mexico, separating public security functions from civilian control and national security from the armed forces. It must also regain civilian control of ports, airports, railways, customs, and public works. This implies establishing a regime of accountability and transparency, as well as reviving autonomous bodies. Electoral democracy must also be in the hands of autonomous and independent bodies with their own budget.
A country with rights for all is one where the rule of law is firmly established and respected by all, starting with the authorities. Absolute and real independence between the three branches of government is essential for the credibility of the democratic system. If there is a perception that the branches are subordinate to the executive, as is the case today with Morena, then there is no leftist vision, but rather an amorphous and undefined ideology of state authoritarianism.
In the face of adversity, it is possible to rebuild a civil, social, democratic, and efficient project in Mexico. It is just a matter of getting down to work.
riardopascoe@hotmail.com
@rpascoep
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