EMPTY BALCONY
(Published in the website www.elcorreo.ca)
By Sergio Granillo
Celebrating “El Grito de Independencia” (Shout of Independence) is more than a holiday for Mexicans, it goes beyond party, traditional music, snacks, costumes and pyrotechnics, it is the dream of a nation aiming for liberty since the XIX century, remaining unfound…
One of the most popular traditions in Mexico didn’t happen this year. Every September 15th, the President of the Republic comes out to the main balcony of the National Palace on the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square. It is a tradition that the President tolls a historical bell, the same one that back in 1810 the Priest Miguel Hidalgo used to call the people in a small town called Dolores, to start the War of Independence (against the Spanish rulers); when doing this, the President yells out the names of the heroes of that war.
2006 will be remembered in History like the year that the Bell of Independence kept silence. A political crisis, diminished by mass media, pushed President Vicente Fox to move out of the national capital city and to not fulfilling the tradition, which was meant to be his very last public celebration in the political calendar.
President Fox yield in favor of the leftist and demagogic leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the politician who run for the Presidency this year and was beaten for a very tight result (under 1%) by the candidate of the ruling party (PAN). López Obrador had installed campsites on the main square and in one of the most important avenues in Mexico City, in order to show the refusal of his lost.
The morning after the Grito, there is a militar parade, part of the celebrations of the Independence Day. Political advisors to the Mexican President foresaw the high risk of turmoil on the main square, due to the presence of thousands of followers of Lopez Obrador, who seems to have on their side a huge amount of the citizens who are disappointed by the government of Vicente Fox.
While the mass media and supporters of the winning candidate have worked hard in deriding the image of López Obrador, this event itself makes evident the political power that the beaten candidate is gaining. He is able to push the federal government to negotiate with him. In a sort of post-electoral war, the first step seems to be the creation of void spaces, to be followed by a take over of important symbols, aiming to get attention from audiences inside and outside of Mexico.
An empty balcony in the National Palace and the silence of the bell in the Mexican Independence Day is a symbol of emptiness in the head of the political structure of the country. It is evidence of the weakness of the State, the illegitimacy of the new government and the lack of interest in the wellbeing of Mexicans.
President Fox was cornered and he had to celebrate this holiday in the historical small town of Dolores, in his home State (Guanajuato). He yelled out the names of the heroes and claimed for respect to the Mexican public institutions.
Ironically, in his path to the Presidency, when he was candidate of an opposition party, he made severe critics to the institutions created by the political party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years. As President, he tried to disappear some of those public institutions, like the Mexican Institute of Health (IMSS, acronym in Spanish), attempted to privatize the public oil monopoly (Pemex), and undermined the rights of the workers by appointing as head of the Ministry of Labor a former leader of businessmen, favoring employers.
Abandoned and forgotten, the Bell of Independence remained in silence this year on an empty balcony, same as the Mexican nation, in the midst of political struggles between the election-winner and the officially looser of the election, and their followers. It is the absence of legitimate political leader, it is the absence of law and justice.
EL BALCON VACIO
Por Sergio Granillo
El festejo del Grito de Independencia representa para los mexicanos más que fiesta, música vernácula, antojitos, trajes tradicionales y pirotecnia, constituye el sueño de una nación que ha venido buscando su liberación desde el siglo XIX, y sigue sin encontrarla.
Una de las tradiciones populares y políticas mas arraigadas en México, este año no tuvo lugar, no ocurrió. Cada 15 de Septiembre, el Presidente de la República acostumbra salir al balcón principal del Palacio de Gobierno en el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México, para tañer la histórica campana que en 1810 hiciera sonar el Cura Hidalgo para dar inicio al movimiento de Independencia; al momento de hacerla sonar, el mandatario grita vivas a los “héroes que nos dieron patria”.
El 2006 pasará a la historia como el año en que la Campana de Dolores enmudeció. La crisis política, que los medios masivos mexicanos se empeñan en opacar, obligó al Presidente Vicente Fox a no dar el grito conmemorativo del 15 de Septiembre en la capital del país, en lo que habría sido el último evento popular de su fallido mandato.
Fox tuvo que ceder ante el movimiento populista y pseudo-izquierdista de Andrés Manuel López Obrador, quien sostuvo por varias semanas un plantón en el Zócalo (plaza central del Distrito Federal) y en el Paseo de la Reforma y que el 16 de septiembre convocó a una “convención popular” nacional, en la que fue “ungido” como presidente.
Mientras los medios y la intensa campaña por Internet se dedican a ridiculizar y minimizar el rol político de López Obrador, este hecho refleja claramente la capacidad que está desarrollando este personaje para presionar al gobierno federal, obligándolo a recular. El primer paso, en esta guerra política post-electoral es crear vacíos de poder, para luego apoderarse de las banderas del “enemigo”.
Un balcón presidencial vacío y una campana sin tañer en el Día del Grito de Independencia es un símbolo de la debilidad gubernamental y del Estado de Derecho, es la ausencia de un poder legítimo que imponga la ley y que vele por los intereses del pueblo.
Fox fue acorralado en su estado natal, en la Ciudad de Dolores Hidalgo, donde dio su grito pidiendo respeto a unas instituciones que él mismo destruyó.
Primero, desde la oposición, para derrocar al Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), luego ocupando la Presidencia, olvidando nombres de los héroes en el primer Grito; pretendiendo desmantelar a instituciones como el IMSS o queriendo deshacerse de PEMEX; poniendo como Secretario del Trabajo al peor enemigo de los trabajadores, al ex - líder del sindicato patronal, y ahora Secretario de Gobernación, Carlos Abascal Carranza.
Abandonada en el olvido, sometida al silencio, la Campana de Dolores no fue tocada. Su silencio, aunado al vacío del balcón presidencial, puso en evidencia el estado que guarda la nación… ausencia de un poder legítimo y grupúsculos de seudo caudillos peleando por su porción de poder.
By Sergio Granillo
Celebrating “El Grito de Independencia” (Shout of Independence) is more than a holiday for Mexicans, it goes beyond party, traditional music, snacks, costumes and pyrotechnics, it is the dream of a nation aiming for liberty since the XIX century, remaining unfound…
One of the most popular traditions in Mexico didn’t happen this year. Every September 15th, the President of the Republic comes out to the main balcony of the National Palace on the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square. It is a tradition that the President tolls a historical bell, the same one that back in 1810 the Priest Miguel Hidalgo used to call the people in a small town called Dolores, to start the War of Independence (against the Spanish rulers); when doing this, the President yells out the names of the heroes of that war.
2006 will be remembered in History like the year that the Bell of Independence kept silence. A political crisis, diminished by mass media, pushed President Vicente Fox to move out of the national capital city and to not fulfilling the tradition, which was meant to be his very last public celebration in the political calendar.
President Fox yield in favor of the leftist and demagogic leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the politician who run for the Presidency this year and was beaten for a very tight result (under 1%) by the candidate of the ruling party (PAN). López Obrador had installed campsites on the main square and in one of the most important avenues in Mexico City, in order to show the refusal of his lost.
The morning after the Grito, there is a militar parade, part of the celebrations of the Independence Day. Political advisors to the Mexican President foresaw the high risk of turmoil on the main square, due to the presence of thousands of followers of Lopez Obrador, who seems to have on their side a huge amount of the citizens who are disappointed by the government of Vicente Fox.
While the mass media and supporters of the winning candidate have worked hard in deriding the image of López Obrador, this event itself makes evident the political power that the beaten candidate is gaining. He is able to push the federal government to negotiate with him. In a sort of post-electoral war, the first step seems to be the creation of void spaces, to be followed by a take over of important symbols, aiming to get attention from audiences inside and outside of Mexico.
An empty balcony in the National Palace and the silence of the bell in the Mexican Independence Day is a symbol of emptiness in the head of the political structure of the country. It is evidence of the weakness of the State, the illegitimacy of the new government and the lack of interest in the wellbeing of Mexicans.
President Fox was cornered and he had to celebrate this holiday in the historical small town of Dolores, in his home State (Guanajuato). He yelled out the names of the heroes and claimed for respect to the Mexican public institutions.
Ironically, in his path to the Presidency, when he was candidate of an opposition party, he made severe critics to the institutions created by the political party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years. As President, he tried to disappear some of those public institutions, like the Mexican Institute of Health (IMSS, acronym in Spanish), attempted to privatize the public oil monopoly (Pemex), and undermined the rights of the workers by appointing as head of the Ministry of Labor a former leader of businessmen, favoring employers.
Abandoned and forgotten, the Bell of Independence remained in silence this year on an empty balcony, same as the Mexican nation, in the midst of political struggles between the election-winner and the officially looser of the election, and their followers. It is the absence of legitimate political leader, it is the absence of law and justice.
EL BALCON VACIO
Por Sergio Granillo
El festejo del Grito de Independencia representa para los mexicanos más que fiesta, música vernácula, antojitos, trajes tradicionales y pirotecnia, constituye el sueño de una nación que ha venido buscando su liberación desde el siglo XIX, y sigue sin encontrarla.
Una de las tradiciones populares y políticas mas arraigadas en México, este año no tuvo lugar, no ocurrió. Cada 15 de Septiembre, el Presidente de la República acostumbra salir al balcón principal del Palacio de Gobierno en el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México, para tañer la histórica campana que en 1810 hiciera sonar el Cura Hidalgo para dar inicio al movimiento de Independencia; al momento de hacerla sonar, el mandatario grita vivas a los “héroes que nos dieron patria”.
El 2006 pasará a la historia como el año en que la Campana de Dolores enmudeció. La crisis política, que los medios masivos mexicanos se empeñan en opacar, obligó al Presidente Vicente Fox a no dar el grito conmemorativo del 15 de Septiembre en la capital del país, en lo que habría sido el último evento popular de su fallido mandato.
Fox tuvo que ceder ante el movimiento populista y pseudo-izquierdista de Andrés Manuel López Obrador, quien sostuvo por varias semanas un plantón en el Zócalo (plaza central del Distrito Federal) y en el Paseo de la Reforma y que el 16 de septiembre convocó a una “convención popular” nacional, en la que fue “ungido” como presidente.
Mientras los medios y la intensa campaña por Internet se dedican a ridiculizar y minimizar el rol político de López Obrador, este hecho refleja claramente la capacidad que está desarrollando este personaje para presionar al gobierno federal, obligándolo a recular. El primer paso, en esta guerra política post-electoral es crear vacíos de poder, para luego apoderarse de las banderas del “enemigo”.
Un balcón presidencial vacío y una campana sin tañer en el Día del Grito de Independencia es un símbolo de la debilidad gubernamental y del Estado de Derecho, es la ausencia de un poder legítimo que imponga la ley y que vele por los intereses del pueblo.
Fox fue acorralado en su estado natal, en la Ciudad de Dolores Hidalgo, donde dio su grito pidiendo respeto a unas instituciones que él mismo destruyó.
Primero, desde la oposición, para derrocar al Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), luego ocupando la Presidencia, olvidando nombres de los héroes en el primer Grito; pretendiendo desmantelar a instituciones como el IMSS o queriendo deshacerse de PEMEX; poniendo como Secretario del Trabajo al peor enemigo de los trabajadores, al ex - líder del sindicato patronal, y ahora Secretario de Gobernación, Carlos Abascal Carranza.
Abandonada en el olvido, sometida al silencio, la Campana de Dolores no fue tocada. Su silencio, aunado al vacío del balcón presidencial, puso en evidencia el estado que guarda la nación… ausencia de un poder legítimo y grupúsculos de seudo caudillos peleando por su porción de poder.
Comments
En fin, triste situación en nuestro país con instituciones prendidas de alfileres.
Un abrazo hasta el gélido Canadá