Much of the preamble has been sourced from Michael Roberts’ recent analysis of Mexico.
Claudia Sheinbaum, part of the left-wing and populist Morena party to which AMLO also belongs, is now the first woman to ascend to the Mexican presidency. She is also a climate/energy scientist and was previously mayor of Mexico City. Results indicate that she has won with approximately 60% of the vote, which would be the highest vote percentage in Mexican history.
AMLO’s presidency has been generally successful. He campaigned on reducing violence inside Mexico, and while this has technically occurred if measured from 2018, homicides are still considerably higher than in 2010. This is largely due to warring drug cartels, which are more reflective of the United States and its rise in drug addiction and thus imports from Mexico. He also campaigned on reducing corruption, which he also kinda has, and also on reducing income inequality, which he also kinda has. The overall figures don’t show massive budges in income inequality, but the minimum wage has risen by 82% and manufacturing wage have risen 27%, and this plus other social programs has lifted 9 million Mexicans out of extreme poverty - a good achievement - but not much further than that, with poverty rates still above the Latin American average. Unemployment is officially at record lows, but much of this job growth has been in the informal sector.
The Mexican economy suffered greatly during the pandemic, and while growth since then has been pretty decent, the economy is still below where it was in 2018. As Mexican capitalists do not pay much in taxes, AMLO’s programs have required large budget deficits and borrowing. These capitalists are, of course, not doing many productive investments and thus there is not much productivity growth; productivity has been more-or-less stagnant for two decades. The reason why Mexican capitalists are not investing is because of the major decline in profitability since the 1990s - there is no reason to invest if your money is at major risk of not making a profit. Therefore, they have followed the trend of other national capitalists of investing in real estate and speculation, particularly in American companies.
Since NAFTA/USMCA, Mexico has become increasingly dependent on the United States for a location for its exports, while the US has exploited cheap labour in Mexico. Additionally, with the anti-Chinese sanctions increasingly put in place by the US, Mexico has become one of several conduits for China to redirect its goods so that they can still reach American markets. This has allowed Mexico to have an essentially balanced trade account and keep the peso relatively strong against the dollar.
Mexico’s limited fortunes will likely decline from here as the US economy continues to slow. If Trump is elected, he may decree protectionist policies which will hit a US-reliant Mexico quite hard. Additionally, industrial production has recently declined and retail spending is also down. AMLO’s presidency was genuinely beneficial for the poorest 50%, but the policies he created failed to really change the fundamentals of the economy. He relied on the private sector rather than the public sector. This is not entirely his fault - if he had tried to do anything terribly transformative, Mexico would have probably been hit hard with consequences by the US and simultaneously faced a domestic revolt by Mexican capitalists. There were and are already threats of outright invasion in response to the limited things AMLO has already done.
In an increasingly multipolar future in which America becomes weaker and weaker, it’s very possible that Mexico’s reliance on the US will decrease, allowing parties to be more radical without facing the possibility of facing crippling sanctions like Venezuela. However, Mexico’s sheer proximity to the US means that they might be among the last countries to break free of American influence, as the US will continue to bitterly resist any attempt to break down the Monroe Doctrine long after it loses Asia, Europe, and Africa. So, it seems likely that Sheinbaum may soon find herself in a situation where she is forced by capitalists to implement fiscal austerity regardless of her intentions, which is equivalent to a declaration of war on the working class. What happens then is anybody’s guess.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you’ve wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don’t worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Mexico! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
As of 13:50 IST (+05:30), these are the official results from the ECI (Election Commission of India):
View table
Party | Won | Leading | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Bharatiya Janata Party - BJP | 2 | 236 | 238 |
Indian National Congress - INC | 0 | 99 | 99 |
Samajwadi Party - SP | 0 | 37 | 37 |
All India Trinamool Congress - AITC | 0 | 31 | 31 |
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - DMK | 0 | 21 | 21 |
Telugu Desam - TDP | 0 | 16 | 16 |
Janata Dal (United) - JD(U) | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) - SHSUBT | 0 | 11 | 11 |
Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar - NCPSP | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas) - LJPRV | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Shiv Sena - SHS | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party - YSRCP | 0 | 4 | 4 |
Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
Rashtriya Janata Dal - RJD | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Indian Union Muslim League - IUML | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Aam Aadmi Party - AAAP | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha - JMM | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Janasena Party - JnP | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) - CPI(ML)(L) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Janata Dal (Secular) - JD(S) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi - VCK | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Communist Party of India - CPI | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference - JKN | 0 | 2 | 2 |
United People’s Party, Liberal - UPPL | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Asom Gana Parishad - AGP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) - HAMS | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Kerala Congress - KEC | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Revolutionary Socialist Party - RSP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Nationalist Congress Party - NCP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Voice of the People Party - VOTPP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Zoram People’s Movement - ZPM | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Biju Janata Dal - BJD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Shiromani Akali Dal - SAD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party - RLTP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Bharat Adivasi Party - BHRTADVSIP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha - SKM | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Pattali Makkal Katchi - PMK | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - MDMK | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) - ASPKR | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Rashtriya Lok Dal - RLD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Apna Dal (Soneylal) - ADAL | 0 | 1 | 1 |
AJSU Party - AJSUP | 0 | 1 | 1 |
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen - AIMIM | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Independent - IND | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Total | 2 | 541 | 543 |
The oppositions have really performed well, and I am actually surprised. This makes me a little satisfied with the current political-scenario, but I’m really not that happy with the result. However, this time, we’ve got a larger opposition, with a socialist/communist bias. Congress getting less share of vote within the alliance is always better, because now they don’t have any means to dictate terms and bully other smaller parties in the alliance.
The BJP kept bragging about अबकी बार, चार-सौ पार (this time, beyond four hundred), and what is happening to them is so embarrassing. With that being said, what surprised me about the results was how the AAP lost entirely in Delhi (perhaps this is because Arvind Kejriwal was accused in the liquor scam), INC gained seats in Gujarat after decades of BJP rule (which makes no sense), and the CPIM losing all their seats in Kerala to INC (Pinarayi Vijayan was an incompetent chief minister who mismanaged state funds, and perhaps, that has made the locals hate on the communists).
What’s even funny is that Shiv-Sena (Uddhav Thackrey faction), a centre-right ally of the Congress is on par with BJP, meanwhile the Shiv-Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) is far behind. Shinde is that dog, who bites his owner’s hand, and lo, his ass is being handed to him. I suppose that the Uddhav-Thackrey faction has swung left, most probably because of his son Aditya Thackrey. Normally, Himachal Pradesh swings between INC and the BJP, but this time, the BJP stayed. And ironically, Uttar Pradesh is getting rid of BJP (wow, what a surprising development). But sadly, in Karnataka, the BJP seems to be taking a lead, which is a dangerous precedent, as Karnataka is said to be the first and last bastion of BJP in the South.
Well they fucked up by attacking minorities during the election which led other minorities to get riled up against the fash party. Plus constant hate mongering doesn’t last forever and people have their material realities to handle instead of dreaming about the rule of God. I’m also sure that Modi proclaiming himself as a divine being didn’t help.
As of now, the counting is not yet confirmed. Of the total 543, only 26 seats have been confirmed, while there’s still fight left for 517 seats. And I surely hope that there’s no manipulation like last time. The INC is trying to woe JD(S) and TDP, two centre-right parties, who are a part of the NDA coalition. Nitish Kumar, leader of the JD(U) is being consider as the deputy prime-minister of India.
Nitish Kumar is a opportunistic piece of shit. He’ll swap coalitions like three times in the next 5 years.