Claudio Lomnitz: You Shall Not Kill, and the Other Nine Commandments Claudio Lomnitz - La Jornada
go to original July 27, 2016

On Tuesday they beheaded a priest in Rouen, France. This homily is in his honor.

You shall love God above all things.
You shall not take the name of God in vain.
You shall honor the holy days.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
You shall not kill.

I close the paper and take stock. The score is zero out of five [of the commandments].

The mayor of Pungarabato is killed. As an aid for the reader, I will explain where Pungarabato is. In another time, Pungarabato could perhaps be called the home of John Doe, or be the name of the kingdom adjoining the Neverland that Peter Pan inhabits. For its ostentatious name, it should belong to the topography of fables, but no. Pungarabato really exists and has 37,000 inhabitants. It is in the Tierra Caliente [Hot Country] of Guerrero, bordering Michoacán, and there they put three hundred bullets into the mayor. The killings today are not as before: in the times of Rosita Alvírez three were enough [heroine in a traditional Mexican ballad, set in 1900].

You shall not kill.

Murdered, also in recent days, city council members in Chamula. Yesterday, a deranged person stabbed 19 handicapped people in an asylum near Tokyo.

His throat slit, the priest Jacques Hamel, died in his church while saying Mass in Rouen, France.

Honor thy father and thy mother ...

Is this no longer taught?

The day before yesterday, Chiapas teachers blocked the airport in Tuxtla [capital of Chiapas] for six hours. In Iguala [Guerrero], the CETEG [State Coordinating Committee of Education Workers of Guerrero] took over a highway toll booth. Children in Oaxaca have spent months taking classes one day, yes, another, no. Meanwhile, we adults threaten one another and blame each other, without thinking about the responsibility of everyone for the state of affairs. There are too many people who insult; who hate or despise their neighbor.

Thou shalt not steal.
You shall not commit impure acts.
You shall not bear false witness or lies.

The score is zero out of eight. That's worse than Mexico against the Chilean soccer team.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices | En Español

Image: NuestraMirada.org

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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