Table of Contents

• La Esperanza Mexicana
• Neoliberalism and the Destruction of the Public Sphere
  • Neoliberalism: The Privatization & Managerialization Of Everything
• The Neoliberal Era
• The Four Transformations of Mexico
  • The Fourth Transformation (4T) and Why It Matters
  • A Quick Aside About Conspiracy Theories
• Democrocia Autentico or Authentic Democracy
  • Mexico and the Chance for Actual Large-Scale Authentic Democracy in the 21st Century
• Strategies on How to Change Society-wide Norms & Rules
  • A Quick Aside On Norms
• If You Think You Might Like Democracy Please Learn What It Is & Why La Esperanza Mexicana Is the 21st Century’s Best Shot At It

La Esperanza Mexicana

First off, I haven’t done a freakin poll, the title is a rhetorical device to bring your attention to the fact that doomerism (or more accurately defeatism in general) just didn’t take root there like it did in other places. But yeah, there’s certainly doomers there in both senses of how I use it (people who can’t help but see the big picture, and from that group those afflicted with seeing the cascade of awfulness leading to planet death everywhere) – honestly it would be kinda super silly to assume otherwise. 

La Esperanza Mexicana is real, palpable, and very much not of the neoliberal variety

But another thing that Mexico has is Hope. Tons of it. And not the neoliberal kind that never leaves posters to interact with the real world. The kind that so many north of the border choked on a decade and a half ago. No, La Esperanza Mexicana is real, palpable, and very much not of the neoliberal variety. Thank fucking God.

Neoliberalism and the Destruction of the Public Sphere

So, some context [yay context!]: firstly, “neoliberalism” does not mean “new liberalism”. If this is where your mind immediately jumps to, then stop. Don’t do that. Not only is it wrong, it makes you look silly, so just don’t. It is a political and economic ideology and project that began as a reaction against State-run social welfare policies (eg New Deal in the US, democratic socialism in Europe). Neoliberalism is a system based on the “goodness” of corporate greed and rapaciousness. This should sound weird, but no matter how weird it sounds, there is a very high likelihood that you’ve internalized this ideology to an embarrassingly large extent. For example, if *fiscal responsibility* is something that you care about as a principle of governance then your brain has been seriously damaged by neoliberalism. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but honestly how do you expect to heal if you can’t even admit the true nature of your problem?

Neoliberalism: The Privatization & Managerialization Of Everything

Steps towards dystopian hellscapes are not “progress”

Anyway, most of you will be familiar with the neoliberal project through the twin processes of privatization and managerialization. Privatization is easy enough: governments take what belong to the public (that is, to the people) and sell it on the offensively cheap to whatever frequent flyer on the Epstein Express is closest. That or they contract out vital public services to those assholes’ brothers-in-law or nephews. Of course the last couple of decades have seen a lot of women girl-bossing the murder of the commons, too. Neolibs love to tout this as progress – call me a stickler for minimizing cognitive dissonance if you’d like, but from my personal perspective steps towards dystopian hellscapes are not “progress”, no matter how good someone’s pr firm tries to make them look. Sorry again.

Managerialization is an ugly-ass clunky word, but it is for a really ugly process, so it works. You shouldn’t want to say it. You shouldn’t want it to fucking exist tbqh. Anyway, it just describes the process of adding useless middle managers to the still existing public institutions in order to basically destroy them from within. An example: if you are wondering why your kid’s (public) school needs eight vice-deans of butt sniffing or whatever – they don’t. But they have them because the people who run your kid’s school district believe that all public schools should be privatized and that the best way to do that is to turn every public school into a shitty little business that can then fail like shitty little businesses tend to do – ultimately making room for the giant corporations to step in. It’s actually a pretty simple and highly fucking effective strategy that is applicable to a crap-ton of public institutions in neoliberal regimes.

Okay, so the two most important qualities of neoliberal governance is the single-minded and sociopathic push for privatization and corruption. If you are even slightly aghast at the suggestion that corruption is the basis of neoliberalism, or if you think that corruption is something that only entered your society recently (like in the past decade), or that it stems from specific individuals or from one political party or another: stop. This is another “you’re embarrassing yourself” situation. For example, I grew up in a place that had legal and open bribery built into the basic structure of the State. Lobbying, of course I’m talking about lobbying – and if you describe lobbying as anything but open and legal bribery then also please stop and reassess your life choices.

The Neoliberal Era

Anyway, the neoliberal era began in the early 80s. For example, in 1979 in the UK under Margaret Thatcher, in 1981 in the US under Ronnie Reagan, in 1982 in Mexico under Miguel de la Madrid, etc. But while in places like the US and UK (basically the countries you’d consider the imperial core of neoliberalism) neoliberalism killed those societies with deaths by a thousand cuts (until recently anyway, but now that those societies are mostly corpses the open cruelty and brutality are finally obvious enough even for very serious™ americans to notice). On the other hand, in Mexico (and much of Latin America and other such places we might call the “Global South”) it was always done with open brutality and contempt for the masses from the start. Surgery with a chainsaw type of shit.

So, what’s important here – what I really want to draw your attention to is this big difference: Mexican society was utterly destroyed by the end of the twentieth century. NAFTA was the death blow to an already very damaged society. In other places, those were the “good years” for enough of the population – all while neoliberalism was slowly killing them, too, mind you – until the pandemic response assured that neoliberalism would finish the job. And don’t get me wrong – at least the place I lived had been in the animated corpse phase of its life-cycle for well over a decade by that point, it’s just that two very important things happened starting in 2020: (1) it became obvious and irrefutable to everyone, despite the ongoing effort to collectively ignore this undeniable state of affairs; and (2) pretty much every policy decision made at every level of government since the world first heard of covid-19 has made it functionally impossible to deal with any of our existing problems or any new problems that will definitely arise in the future. 

This might seem like hyperbole or exaggeration, but it unfortunately is not. If anything it glosses over the severity of the issues. Honestly, the levels of totally-fucked are permanently stuck in the *BEYOND* setting in any country governed by a neoliberal regime. Sorry for the prognosis – you should be pissed, but not at me. [Haymitch telling Katniss “remember who the real enemy is” – and it ain’t the other people in the arena fighting for their lives. Much like Katniss, lots of folks need to start asking themselves “at whose behest?” concerning a whole lot of the fucked up things in their lives that they just take for granted as “normal”. just sayin.] 

The Four Transformations of Mexico

“Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.”

– N. K. Jemesin

In case you haven’t read it, one of the best sff trilogies so far this century, The Broken Earth by N K Jemesin (if you’re looking for something to read, anything by her is awesome, but this trilogy is especially good and relevant to a world that is broken and still breaking), begins with the lines: “Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.” Well, that’s Mexico, ain’t it? Their society was thoroughly  and systematically fucking destroyed over the last couple decades of the twentieth century and the first couple of decades of the twenty-first. And you know what? Despite all of that (and it is a lot, don’t downplay the tragedy of neoliberal brutality as it has been applied to the darker peoples of this world, both inside and outside the imperial core – the intentional cruelty of neoliberalism is a feature, not a bug), despite their society dying the people did not. And now they are getting on to more  interesting things. Very fucking interesting things actually. I don’t think even most Mexicans realize how beautiful and monumental la cuarta transformación (the 4T) truly is. Oh, they know that it’s monumental and beautiful, certainly – but how truly and radically different it is from the neoliberal world order that way too many people on this planet seem to take as “normal” or “just the way it is” (whether meant as a triumph or a lament, it’s the perceived inevitability of capitalism by so many that is one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our species.)

Ok, quick digression to briefly (probably offensively so, but the alternative is more ramblin and tamblin, and I’m figuring that most people would opt for borderline offensive brevity, so that’s what’s on order) describe the four transformations of modern Mexico. First, Independence from Spain in 1824. Fair enough I don’t think most people would have a problem seeing this as transformative, so moving on to number two. The reforms of the mid nineteenth century especially under Benito Juarez separating church from State – that is, removing the control of public life from the Catholic church. If you are cynical enough to wonder why the change of pretty much every single public institution would be transformative for a society, then just take the fact that so much stuff is named after the guy who did it as proof enough of its significance. Moving on. The third transformation is the Mexican Revolution, which many readers who may equate “independence” and “revolution” (even though they shouldn’t. The land where I grew up had a much touted war for independence but only ever had aborted revolutions despite what endless propaganda might have convinced you of) might be surprised to learn that Mexican Independence was almost a full century before its revolution. And the constitution that came out of it was definitely a huge triumph and step forward for all those citizens of the world who have been struggling for justice, humanity, and Life throughout history. It’s a bummer about counterrevolutions and the existence of international networks of power and wealth and what they do to the beautiful things of this world, but regardless it stood long enough, no matter how abused and misused, to be expanded upon again as one (important, albeit still just one) part of the fourth and present transformation.

The fourth transformation (4T) began in 2018 with the presidency of André Manuel Lopez Obrador (Amlo) – as well as many, many others in many other official capacities at every level of government (this ain’t no great man era, we’ll get to just how much it’s not about any particular individual in a moment, don’t worry) – eg Mexico’s current Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum was the mayor of Mexico City before her present tenure, and again, just one example. Movements don’t really work if they’re tied to a single individual, but anyway…

The Fourth Transformation (4T) and Why It Matters

To help you all get in the right mindset for just how transformative the 4T is, just ask yourselves why the worst people in the world are so against it and why the most corrupt media outlets inside and outside of Mexico want to paint Amlo as a monster? (narco-president anyone?) And before you try to argue that the largest media corporations in the world are corrupt is some type of conspiracy theory bullshit: just stop. You are about to embarrass yourself by telling the world you don’t know how money and/or power works.

So, anyway, the fourth transformation. To begin with, it is a complete and utter refutation of neoliberal ideology [not capitalism per se, but just seeks to domesticate it. Not my favorite part, but honestly probably the best strategy for success in the world as it is now. So swallow all them “yeah buts” here because I also know that a handful of scattered trees don’t make a forest – and it’s the forest as a whole that is in dire need of tending, if you follow me.] That is, it seeks to return public goods and services to the public and the commons to the people. Unprivatize basically. Along with this the institutionalization of transparency in public affairs and the active rooting out of corruption. Honestly, if this were the entirety of the 4T it would be pretty freakin transformative already. But it’s not, these are just the basic organizing principles for setting policy – and every society is far more than just a set of administrative policies. The big change, the revolutionary transformation (or at least this is the active attempt) is a total transformation of public consciousness and the actual ways that people live their actual daily lives. I’m gonna say a lot more about this in a moment, but first the other big important part of the 4T, at least the way I see it. What makes it a qualitative leap forward from the other three transformations is that it is a peaceful revolution. Abrazos no balazos. Hugs not bullets. And yeah, that’s what the guy who the international press want to paint as the “narco-president” actually said. And then did. Who’d a thunk – there is an alternative to governing through greed and cruelty after all.

Democrocia Autentico or Authentic Democracy

Anyway, back to the transformation of consciousness. This is the big one for me, because it is tied to my big passion, what Amlo calls “democracia autentico” or authentic democracy. Over the past half century there have been two major currents in democratic political theory: communicative democracy and participatory democracy. Chances are, most of your assumptions about what democracy is are more based on communicative democracy, but either way, you most likely don’t live in either despite what the advertisers tell you. However, what’s been going on in Mexico, especially what I see from AMLO and la Doctura Presidenta, have strong elements of both currents. But before I go into that I feel a digression coming. Sweet.

Communicative democratic theory is largely academic – that is, it’s carried out by academics. This is not an insult btw. I know that many of us come from societies that only care about knowledge and learning that is “useful” (though they never really talk about who it’s supposed to be useful for…) and denigrate “purely” academic work – as if attempting to better understand our beautiful but complex world is ever useless, and as if the truly amazing insights don’t find a way to filter back into society, even if a little altered. Anyway, participatory democratic theory tends to come from outside academia in large part – though not completely of course. It tends to come from activist circles – which of course includes tons of academics and former academics, not to mention all the aspiring academics, so again, the distinction is dimensional rather than categorical (you’d probably be surprised at how many distinctions you take for granted as categorical are just different aspects of the same thing. My guess is that for most people it’s pretty much all of them. I know that for me personally, whenever I realize I’m making a categorical distinction and then I really analyze it [fine-toothed comb shit] the distinctions tend to break down and stop being points of separation and instead become points of reference in a much richer tapestry.)

you can’t really talk about twenty-first century democratic theory without talking about Mexico

Anyway, participatory democratic theory. And Mexico. Because you can’t really talk about twenty-first century democratic theory without talking about Mexico. The southern state of Chiapas to be more precise. And if you’re still unsure of the reference, it’s the Zapatistas, who, as a group, are as much mothers of the modern Global Social Justice movements as anyone else. Of course there are others, it wouldn’t be much of a democratic movement if there weren’t others, now would it? But there is no denying that the Zapatistas have been one of the guiding forces – politically, culturally, morally – for the Global Left over the past quarter century. And it is the global social justice movements broadly speaking where participatory democratic theory is continuously being forged. (the late anthropologist David Graeber’s work is an excellent introduction to a lot of this – there are quite a few interviews you can find on the youtube where he sums up a lot of these principles and events quite well.) 

Mexico and the Chance for Actual Large-Scale Authentic Democracy in the 21st Century

All that being said, it doesn’t surprise me that Mexico is again leading the way in systematically implementing the best lessons from both communicative and participatory democratic theories. Honestly, it’s so unsurprising that it increases my embarrassment exponentially when thinking about how far my head was up my own ass due to my own society collapsing around me that I didn’t notice that the thing I wanted more than anything else in the world was happening like less than a hundred miles from where I lived. Kinda don’t want to talk about that part, if I’m being totally honest.

So anyway, the 4T’s transformation of consciousness and daily (public) life. How exactly does a “revolution in consciousness” happen? you might ask. How is this anything but an aspirational slogan? Well, like anything else in this world, it’s a process. Okay, fine, but what does it actually mean? Broad strokes: it’s the changing of society-wide norms. Don’t get bogged down on what the scope needs to be, percentage of the population, etc, that makes something a “society-wide” norm. The only real answer to that is always and only “enough”, and in my experience most people are not too cheesed about this answer. And anyway, there’s no actual way to quantify something like “belief in norms” – people say they approve or not of all types of stuff all the time. It’s all rather exhausting really. But if you want to know what society-wide norms actually are, then look at what kinds of behaviors, words, actions, etc are rewarded and punished, encouraged or merely tolerated, defended or criticized – and how and by whom. Not just interpersonal norms, but institutional norms, norms between workers and bosses, students and teachers, landlords and tenants, customers and businesses, citizens and governments, etc, etc, et fucking cetera. Seriously, there are a lot of them. You’re swimming in them even – they shape pretty much every aspect of your consciousness, or how you perceive and understand the world.

Strategies on How to Change Society-wide Norms & Rules

You might be thinking right now: gosh, Nat, this sounds like a rather tall order – and anyway, how do you go about changing all those other unsaid parts of norms if people don’t usually talk about them? Well, the method here is actually quite simple and straightforward – the morning meetings, or mañaneras, daily press conferences Monday through Friday, where the Mexican President addresses the country, brings out experts and administrators to tell the people exactly what the government is doing, who is going to benefit, why they are doing it, how they´re paying for it, etc. Then there’s a question and answer portion where generally independent (ie doesn’t work for an outlet whose parent company gets traded in international stock exchanges) journalists bring concerns from different towns, groups, etc. If you’ve never seen any, you should – they’re on youtube and not hard to find. And honestly, you’d really have to watch a few to really see what I’m saying, which is: Yes, the mañaneras are the means by which to radically change society-wide norms (and thus people’s consciousnesses as well). 

So, when you do watch the mañaneras, don’t think about them as press conferences really, but rather as one possible solution – and the actual solution implemented by former president Amlo and continued by Presidenta Claudia – to the very real problem in democratic theory: how to scale way way way up? how do you ensure that the people’s will is actually carried out? how do you know what the actual will of the people is? How do you make sure that an elite isn’t still governing “in the name of” the people? Important questions that can probably only be answered by experiments in the real world. Like what is happening in Mexico. Right now. While you’re reading this even.

If You Think You Might Like Democracy Please Learn What It Is & Why La Esperanza Mexicana Is the 21st Century’s Best Shot At It

Another important aside: okay, so I realize I’m taking some important points from democratic theory for granted that most people haven’t ever thought about, let alone researched intently over a period of years. my bad.

The ideas of how we might live in such a way that we all actually and finally matter and that we can all be fully human in ways that we cannot even dream of right now belong to all of us.

Seriously, though: if these are things you are interested in then you should look further in to them. As I mentioned earlier, interviews with the late anthropologist David Graeber are a good entry point – but they are only an entry point. There is a rich history of democratic theorizing both in and out of academic institutions – and it belongs to all of us. The ideas of how we might live in such a way that we all actually and finally matter and that we can all be fully human in ways that we cannot even dream of right now belong to all of us.

But we will never ever ever get even close to the good type of future without the kinds of sincere experiments in democracy and public consciousness that are happening in Mexico as we speak. Keep this in mind when you see the mouthpieces for the people who broke the planet talk about how dangerous or barbarous Mexico and Mexicans are (if you can’t come up with a few dozen recent examples off the top of your heads then turn on a cable news channel for a few minutes, I bet you will) – and look for yourselves at what is happening in Mexico.

Honestly, there is nothing that the people who broke the planet hate more than the people who are trying to fix it in whatever way they can. And there is nothing these assholes hate more right now than Mexico. And don’t worry, it’s not a conspiracy theory to make the most obvious conclusions about obvious things – so do that in this case. please.