Javier Bustamante Enriquez
Social Psychologist
“Long live Mexico!” is the final exclamation uttered by many public figures every year on September 15th, from town councillors in local squares, all the way to el Zocalo (the main square) in Mexico City. This is also true of Dolores Hidalgo City in the middle of the country, where the armed independence uprising began in 1810.
“Long live Mexico” is preceded by a number of “Long live…..”s, which are accompanied by the names of the main leaders of independence, starting with “Long live the heroes who gave us our nation and our freedom”. The ritual ceremony is accompanied by bells, in memory of the bells that tolled in the time of priest Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. The flag is raised by the president or regional head of government and is met by cheers given by the gathered public.
This year independence celebrations took on a special meaning as this is the 200 year anniversary. In reality independence was not achieved until 1821, which is exactly 300 years after the conquest of Mexico in 1521 under the leadership of Hernán Cortés.
The issue of independentism stirs up many thoughts. Many, often opposing, revisions of Mexican history, society, demography, culture and art are being made. This leads to the conclusion that the independent movement is still very much alive, as suggested by the exclamation “long live….”, which was initiated in 1810 and is still echoing around today.
Many communities around the world, if not all, have conquered or been conquered by other communities. Civilian independent or revolutionary movements have arisen in opposition to internal regimes and they continue to do so today. Borders are moved, new walls are built, old ones knocked down. Another feature of this global panorama is the human traffic that creates ever-increasing inter-cultural mix within these countries. Far from making frontiers more permeable, these migratory movements make these borders hard and watertight. No one person is responsible and yet it is everyone’s problem. The world is changing very fast and social, judicial and cultural structures quickly become outdated, broken and incapable of responding to the realities they were created for.
A look back at the past can help us plant our feet firmly in the present. The celebration of a heroic act such as the Independence of Mexico is a beautiful and dignified thing. It makes us Mexicans feel grateful to all those who gave their lives and went hungry and cold, lost everything they had- if they had anything to lose, to dream and wish for a better present and future. Basic mistakes were surely made along the way. Clearly not everyone had good intentions. Some things could definitely have been done better… but are better things being done now?
We look into the mirror of the past. An obsidian mirror. A golden mirror. A glass mirror. A mirror made of water. A mirror made of flesh and blood. We can see that the past is the past and it happened the way it happened. And as a result of it happening, we are now here today. We are here passing through, and so we try to do the best we can for our present. We take a look at what we are doing, how we are doing it, what we want for ourselves and for our children, those who constitute Mexico right now. Despite all the problems that plague our society and our country- that the national and international press report, albeit in an often distorted way- in spite of all this, Mexico is alive.
Now more than ever the majority of Mexicans want peace. Peace in our towns and villages, so we can move about peacefully, so we know that our children live in a safe environment, so that we can work and invest in a prosperous life. Peace in our minds and our relationships. Peace and trust in people who make and control decisions.
Peace in society can easily be destroyed, and it only takes a matter of seconds. It takes a long time to build peace however and it is a daily job that cannot be neglected for one moment. Let us hope that a celebration such as the bicentenary of Independence moves our spirits to value the peace that we have, in all its strength and fragility and leads us to search for new paths and structures that will help create more solid foundations for this invaluable good.
jueves, 28 de octubre de 2010
Bright fabric
Leticia Soberón.
Doctor in Social Sciences.
Celebrations held to mark the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution have once again revealed historical events, some laden with glory and others terrible cruelty, which led to our existence. We must know our past in order to better define our identity. And it is clear that a whole host of different parties, not just national heroes, fought to defend their concept of justice and freedom, the highest social ideal or to protect their privileges.
We stand face to face with history. What use is it to us now? Do we not find ourselves confronted with challenges of equal or greater measure to those of the past? Strictly speaking it is impossible to change the past. History and its events have already taken place and no one can modify them. Time tunnels pertaining to science fiction novels are yet to be invented, and one of the keys to being healthy is accepting all the events that led to our existence in the understanding that we are a product of many events, some light, some grey and some which are frankly dark, and, had these events been at all different we would not have existed. The first step to being able to act in the present without resentments and therefore improve our lives is to reconcile ourselves with history.
However, paradoxically, there is, to some extent, a way to transform events that remain unchangeable because they belong to the past. How can this be done? By choosing which historical processes we allow to continue. Let us look at how. Almost unintentionally we choose a way of being, living. We adhere to a way of thinking- sometimes without realising we are doing it, choose a style of living within society and a way of creating the present. Thus we breathe new life into actions that took place and would otherwise remain dead and gone. If we reread things that were done by others, we will discover how our own actions belong to a school of life, albeit with ones own particular, original style. Some will surely be more or less creative but in some way all people bring certain processes into the present that would otherwise be committed to museums and archaeology. In this way the fabric of history is woven with all sorts of threads, some colourful, some dark and some very bright.
Let us give some examples. In our everyday lives we can support war, conflict, the battle for power, domination, inequality. If we choose to- although as I already said, many do this as a result of a lack of awareness, or inertia- we can take on and promote social, economic and cultural differences. This serves to keep the unending cycle of violence that is perpetuated by history alive. And yet, this doesn’t happen because it is our destiny, it happens because in each generation a group of accomplices help to carry on this history marked by blood and tears.
Perhaps the majority of people wish to follow a more conventional path, an undisrupted serene working life where the main focus is stability. But in every day life it is impossible to remain neutral: the way in which an individual weaves life, interacts, or fails to interact with neighbours, thinks or doesn’t think, joins in with or ignores the people around them or educates their children will perpetuate social, economic or interpersonal processes that can support development and justice or inertia, indifference and detachment. Without being extraordinary or especially gifted people can also support artistic, creative, leisure or craft activities, thus sustaining them and stopping them from becoming antiquated. In this we are able to project local history into a peaceful future, a fertile and diverse kind of peace that overflows with celebration and manifests in towns, neighbourhoods, cities or countries.
Furthermore, it is both beautiful and possible to transform the past into the present and the future, hence perpetuating these “bright threads” that traverse human history, these excellent processes that provide support and sense to millions of people. We can benefit from witnessing constructive and fruitful ways of living and we can give our energy to help these prosper. We can take on and modernize the great objectives that were upheld by so many national heroes, but now in the context of non-violence, the quest for peace, the defence of human rights and personal and public dignity; the history of democracy, freedom of expression, the defence of marginalised people and promotion of people’s autonomy and development. All this bring together the efforts of the great men and women of history, who weaved their days and hours with threads made of light.
What distinguishes these threads from other threads configuring the nation’s future? They are initiated and continued by people who are prepared to die for their cause, but prevent others from dying, people who carry out their job as a sacrifice so that others may live, so that their friends do not have to die. There are so many examples of this!
The bicentenary is an opportunity to keep weaving Mexico’s history with bright threads. Without violence, but with decisiveness and flare. With passionate generosity. It is a way of transforming not just the present, but also the past: it ceases to be archaic, it becomes current and is thrown into the future.
Doctor in Social Sciences.
Celebrations held to mark the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution have once again revealed historical events, some laden with glory and others terrible cruelty, which led to our existence. We must know our past in order to better define our identity. And it is clear that a whole host of different parties, not just national heroes, fought to defend their concept of justice and freedom, the highest social ideal or to protect their privileges.
We stand face to face with history. What use is it to us now? Do we not find ourselves confronted with challenges of equal or greater measure to those of the past? Strictly speaking it is impossible to change the past. History and its events have already taken place and no one can modify them. Time tunnels pertaining to science fiction novels are yet to be invented, and one of the keys to being healthy is accepting all the events that led to our existence in the understanding that we are a product of many events, some light, some grey and some which are frankly dark, and, had these events been at all different we would not have existed. The first step to being able to act in the present without resentments and therefore improve our lives is to reconcile ourselves with history.
However, paradoxically, there is, to some extent, a way to transform events that remain unchangeable because they belong to the past. How can this be done? By choosing which historical processes we allow to continue. Let us look at how. Almost unintentionally we choose a way of being, living. We adhere to a way of thinking- sometimes without realising we are doing it, choose a style of living within society and a way of creating the present. Thus we breathe new life into actions that took place and would otherwise remain dead and gone. If we reread things that were done by others, we will discover how our own actions belong to a school of life, albeit with ones own particular, original style. Some will surely be more or less creative but in some way all people bring certain processes into the present that would otherwise be committed to museums and archaeology. In this way the fabric of history is woven with all sorts of threads, some colourful, some dark and some very bright.
Let us give some examples. In our everyday lives we can support war, conflict, the battle for power, domination, inequality. If we choose to- although as I already said, many do this as a result of a lack of awareness, or inertia- we can take on and promote social, economic and cultural differences. This serves to keep the unending cycle of violence that is perpetuated by history alive. And yet, this doesn’t happen because it is our destiny, it happens because in each generation a group of accomplices help to carry on this history marked by blood and tears.
Perhaps the majority of people wish to follow a more conventional path, an undisrupted serene working life where the main focus is stability. But in every day life it is impossible to remain neutral: the way in which an individual weaves life, interacts, or fails to interact with neighbours, thinks or doesn’t think, joins in with or ignores the people around them or educates their children will perpetuate social, economic or interpersonal processes that can support development and justice or inertia, indifference and detachment. Without being extraordinary or especially gifted people can also support artistic, creative, leisure or craft activities, thus sustaining them and stopping them from becoming antiquated. In this we are able to project local history into a peaceful future, a fertile and diverse kind of peace that overflows with celebration and manifests in towns, neighbourhoods, cities or countries.
Furthermore, it is both beautiful and possible to transform the past into the present and the future, hence perpetuating these “bright threads” that traverse human history, these excellent processes that provide support and sense to millions of people. We can benefit from witnessing constructive and fruitful ways of living and we can give our energy to help these prosper. We can take on and modernize the great objectives that were upheld by so many national heroes, but now in the context of non-violence, the quest for peace, the defence of human rights and personal and public dignity; the history of democracy, freedom of expression, the defence of marginalised people and promotion of people’s autonomy and development. All this bring together the efforts of the great men and women of history, who weaved their days and hours with threads made of light.
What distinguishes these threads from other threads configuring the nation’s future? They are initiated and continued by people who are prepared to die for their cause, but prevent others from dying, people who carry out their job as a sacrifice so that others may live, so that their friends do not have to die. There are so many examples of this!
The bicentenary is an opportunity to keep weaving Mexico’s history with bright threads. Without violence, but with decisiveness and flare. With passionate generosity. It is a way of transforming not just the present, but also the past: it ceases to be archaic, it becomes current and is thrown into the future.
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