Image: Nueva Sociedad. All Rights Reserved. <\/i><\/p>\n
Five months after his overwhelming
\nvictory at the presidential elections, the "fourth transformation"
\nannounced by Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (AMLO) is underway now that
\nthe leader from Tabasco has received the presidential sash in a
\nceremony carefully designed to reflect that historical moment. <\/p>\n
He presented a discourse full of moralizing and anti-neoliberal declarations in
\nthe parliamentary premises, an indigenous purification ritual and the handing over
\nof the baton of command and, finally, a harangue before the crowd gathered at Mexico
\nCity\u2019s Z\u00f3calo, in which he listed, one after the other, his 100 government
\ncommitments.<\/p>\n
As was evident on his inauguration day,
\nAMLO embodies change in the political climate of a country overcome with a
\nsocial crisis generated by three decades of sustained neoliberal policies, which
\nthe last 12 years of unrestrained criminal and political violence has only made
\nworse. <\/p>\n
In this context, AMLO\u2019s leadership generates hope, expectations and even
\na certain mystique among significant sectors of the subordinate classes. <\/p>\n
He won
\n30 million votes not only because he pragmatically moved towards the center or
\nbecause of the weaknesses of his political adversaries (the Institutional
\nRevolutionary Party, the National Action Party and the Democratic Revolution
\nParty), but also because he achieved representation through national-popular
\nidentification, and not through commendation or technocratic delegation, as was
\nusual in neoliberal democracy.<\/p>\n
In effect, \u201ccommon\u201d, \u201cordinary\u201d people recognize and trust AMLO because he is honest and austere, because he speaks in plain colloquial language, because he despises the glitter of power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In effect, \u201ccommon\u201d, \u201cordinary\u201d people
\nrecognize and trust AMLO because he is honest and austere, because he speaks in
\nplain colloquial language, because he despises the glitter of power. Precisely
\nbecause of this and because of his humble origins, he is despised by the
\nclassist and racist oligarchy. <\/p>\n
It is to these people that a series of gestures
\nof great symbolism and political impact are dedicated, such as turning the
\npresidential residence of Los Pinos into a public museum, putting the
\npresidential plane on sale, giving up General Staff protection, and the cutting
\nof salaries and perks for the President and high public officials. <\/p>\n
Many of the promises made in the Plaza de la
\nConstituci\u00f3n point in the same direction: the crusade against corruption, putting
\nan end to neoliberalism, recovering energy and food sovereignty, extending
\nscholarships and subsidies, raising lower salaries, increasing education and
\nwork opportunities, respecting the environment.<\/p>\n
"The poor come first, for the good
\nof us all", reads the motto that has accompanied AMLO since 2006. He
\ninsisted on this in his inauguration speech. <\/p>\n
Between the poor and us all, the boundaries
\nof the "fourth transformation" are marked by the developmental
\ntradition, the reestablishment of State intervention and its redistributive
\nrole, within a scheme in which the initiative is still fundamentally in private
\nhands and driven by foreign investment.<\/p>\n
Guarantees have been given to these guardians
\nof capitalist dynamics that changes will be made ensuring
\nfull continuity and even increasing profits, as sanctioned both in the small
\nprint of the electoral program and in the composition of the government alliance,
\nas well as in the statements by the new president and his main ministers and
\ncollaborators.<\/p>\n
In the case of Mexico, to a greater
\nextent than with other Latin American progressive experiments, the obstacles to
\npassing to a post-neoliberal stage are obvious since, aside from the avowed intentions,
\nthe timing for such a move is rather late, coinciding with a juncture which, as
\nAMLO himself admits, is quite unfavorable given "the country is
\nbankrupt".<\/p>\n
To this we should add the political context in the region,
\nwhere North and South wind blows from the right. The process also comes late to
\nthe extent that AMLO\u2019s access to power does not correspond to a cycle of
\nanti-neoliberal mobilizations, as in the first half of the decade of 2000, but simply
\nto a widespread rejection of the ruling party elites which only give rise on
\noccasion to protest and social organization dynamics.<\/p>\n
This is why, and not only for electoral
\ncalculation purposes, the composition of the National Regeneration Movement
\n(Morena) and even more so the coalition that supported AMLO's candidacy and
\nthat makes up his government, is moderate and quite conservative.<\/p>\n
As far as Morena is concerned, it was emptied of its leftist character by its electoral program; it is a party that responds to a vertical logic which is consistent with a\u00a0caudillista<\/em>-presidentialist culture.<\/p>\n As far as Morena At the same time, pragmatism and moderation presided over the formation Even in these circumstances, it can be At the An evidence of this likely overflow of Apart from these particular requests, In both areas, the measures announced by AMLO are committed, On the other hand, the fight against organized crime depends on A militarized National Guard will be created, to replace the Army and the Navy which Some other sensitive issues that have cropped It is by no means certain, moreover, This is why AMLO is taking advantage of This can be described It is by no means certain that the sectors of the dominant classes which are currently giving AMLO the benefit of the doubt will not decide to withdraw this sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n Indeed, each of the three historical transformations which AMLO refers to as Conservative realignment, particularly In Mexico, the reforms including those This was the case in the In this sense, apart from the issue of the tension between <\/em>It is the popular developmentalist reform that links In conclusion, in the midst of This article is published in the framework of our collaboration with Nueva Sociedad. A previous verison in Spanish and can be read\u00a0here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Image: Nueva Sociedad. All Rights Reserved. Five months after his overwhelming victory at the presidential elections, the "fourth transformation" announced by Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (AMLO) is underway now that the leader from Tabasco has received the presidential sash in a ceremony carefully designed to reflect that historical moment. He presented a discourse full of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nis concerned, it was emptied of its leftist character by its electoral program. It is a party that responds to a vertical logic which is consistent
\nwith a caudillista<\/em>-presidentialist culture
\nand is structured as an electoral machine, which was built around AMLO\u2019s
\ncandidacy in 2012 and which has now been geared to filling in posts in public
\ninstitutions. <\/p>\n
\nof the government, through the allocation of quotas among the allies, political
\ngroups and figures who represent or simply offer guarantees to business sectors
\nand other powers that be.<\/p>\n
\nargued that, much as what happened in other countries in the region, it is
\nrelatively easy for the new government\u2019s performance to be a distinct
\nimprovement from the previous "oligarchic-neoliberal-corrupt"
\ngovernments, on the appalling shortcomings of which AMLO has insisted, implicitly
\ncomparing them to his own personal track record since the late 1980s. <\/p>\n
\nsame time, his bombastic rhetoric about the historical scope of the
\n"fourth transformation" and the promises he has made are placing
\npopular expectations at such a high level that they can hardly be contained within
\nthe framework of a simple comparison. <\/p>\n
\nhope are the 27.500 requests received at AMLO\u2019s Campaign House in the five months
\nfollowing the elections.<\/p>\n
\nthe vote of confidence for AMLO was not so much a vote against neoliberalism
\nbut a vote based on the hope that he will address the crossover problems of
\ncorruption and insecurity, which have become identified with the previous
\ngoverning parties. <\/p>\n
\nbut their reach is quite uncertain. The scope of fight against corruption will
\nnot be retroactive and, thus it is based on the simple threat of future legal
\nsanctions. <\/p>\n
\nprevention, in other words social policies, while a repressive scheme similar to
\nthe current one is to be maintained, even though it is relatively inefficient.\n<\/p>\n
\nare currently carrying out the task. <\/p>\n
\nup in this five-month transition should be added, for they define the immediate
\nagenda: the Mexico City airport and the Mayan Train project and the
\ncorresponding popular consultations, the initiative to limit excessive bank
\ncharges, the repeal of the educational reform, and trade union democratization.<\/p>\n
\nthat the sectors of the dominant classes which are currently giving AMLO the
\nbenefit of the doubt will not decide to withdraw this sooner rather than later,
\nand that the other sectors, as well as the PRI, the PAN and the PRD and the
\nlegal and illegal interests they represent will keep quiet for long.<\/p>\n
\nthe favorable moment to push his hegemonic plan through the construction of inter-class
\nconsensus, both in relation to his allies and opponents. <\/p>\n
\nas a balance between transformation and evolution, a balance that recalls previous
\nhistorical experiences and the old, traditional PRI political culture, which kept
\non expanding and reproducing itself in the opposition, left and right, surrounding
\nit.<\/p>\n
\nthe basis of the one he intends to promote – independence, reform, and
\nrevolution – had its own dose of evolution. <\/p>\n
\nfocused, as Antonio Gramsci pointed out, on draining the leading groups of the
\nsubordinate classes in order to integrate them in the State apparatus as a
\nprior step to their absorption in the conservative camp as operators of the
\nnecessary and strictly sufficient reforms to guarantee the substantial
\ncontinuity of the relations of domination and exploitation.<\/p>\n
\nderived from a social revolution, went through the sieve of ambiguous and
\ncontradictory forms of political readjustment that have been called
\nBonapartist, populist and passively revolutionary. <\/p>\n
\nfirst three decades of the twentieth century and in the 1960s and 70s, when the
\npush from below and was felt in a much sharper way than in the current
\nconjuncture. <\/p>\n
\nauthoritarianism and democracy – which deserves a specific treatment and is an
\nissue straining the discourse and practice of obradorismo. <\/em><\/p>\n
\nthe National Revolutionary Party (PNR) of the 1930s, to the left of the PRI
\nthat extended from the late 1950s to the 1970s, PRD of the decade of 1990 and
\nto the Morena of our days. <\/p>\n
\nrecurrences and historical ambitions, the dynamics of this new government led by
\nAMLO appears to be creating a precarious balance between progressive and
\nregressive tendencies, between transformation and transformationism.<\/p>\n