Mexico Alive

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 The world is changing very fast and social, judicial and cultural structures quickly become outdated, broken and incapable of responding to the realities they were created for.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.