Sergio Aguayo: Citizen Participation Is the Best Way to Resolve Mexico’s Problems Sergio Aguayo - Reforma
go to original July 6, 2017

Invited by a citizen council and a group of hotel managers, I gave a seminar in Puerto Vallarta entitled: “Unbridled Mexico and Organized Society”. Some aspects of it are of general interest. I provided evidence that in Central America and Mexico greater social organization (civil society organizations, independent media, sports clubs, etc.) leads to fewer crimes and vice versa. During the Q&A, one of the skeptics among the audience made this cutting statement: “There is no solution for the ills of Mexico”. I do not share such despair.

Our biggest problem is that we have more awareness than organization. We know our rights but we do not successfully achieve their being respected due to the tenuous and unequal nature of our social fabric. Let's take one of the simplest forms of participation, the signing of a petition to the authorities. In Mexico in 1984, 9% signed petitions, and in 2010, 18%. The difference with Sweden is enormous: there, the percentage went from 53% to 68% (World Values Survey).

The divide appears everywhere. Some readers have already shared their problems and worries with me. Despite the great variety of issues, they share three common features: 1) a deep sense of unease with the current political system; 2) a clear desire as to what they want and wish to propose; and 3) frustration in not finding an authority that serves them or reacts to their wishes. It alerts us to the desire for change in the society-authority relationship. But how do we achieve this?

We have two ways of participating in public life. The first is electorally, which is the method that is most frequently used. Right now, there are already glimpses on the horizon of the hordes of candidates for the 3,447 posts in public office that will be up for grabs in 2018. Over the next year, we will be flooded by commercials promising us a time share in paradise, they will overwhelm us with contradictory surveys, they will invite us to meet with the candidates or sign petitions of disapproval or support.

... Despite the mediocrity of electoral democracy, we will have to decide whether we are voting, and if so, for whom, while bearing in mind that the ballot box is no longer the lever it once was for great changes. It is possible that Andrés Manuel López Obrador [leader of Morena, the Movement for National Regeneration] could emerge triumphant, but will occupy a deeply weakened Presidency.

The second option is participatory democracy, getting constantly involved in public affairs in order to increase the thickness of social cohesion in Mexico. It seems to be a more promising vein because the evidence proves that to the degree that our society organizes itself around specific proposals, it is possible to hold off dissimulators and corrupt politicians and forge alliances with civil servants and committed politicians. I have dedicated years to understanding criminal violence and promoting a culture of peace and I can confirm that convergence on specific issues between State and society is indeed possible.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Mexico Politics: The Shame of the PRD Being Brought to Its Knees (Mexico Voices)

Translated by Carl Eadie

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

Photo: Radio La Nueva República

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