Monday, June 26, 2006
A Mexican Appeal for Change Versus Divisiveness
By
Antonio Andrade
We Mexicans now find ourselves in the final stage
of the July 2 electoral process, and we have all been direct or indirect participants in the different proposals presented
by the candidates for the presidency of Mexico. We have been able to make ourselves
heard through active appeals to public opinion, which is why today via this medium I allow myself to take a firm stand on
a point that few of us have taken into account, one that the future of our nation depends.
As we have seen in recent weeks, the presidential
candidates and their corresponding parties have drawn us into their disputes and chicanery in order to gain the government
post they hunger for, and thus – maybe consciously maybe not – the candidates have divided the people.
Next Sunday a divided people will cast their ballots,
not so much in favor of a national victory as the vote of a people victimized by the mass media. The same mass media that puts its economic interests ahead of those of the people, without paying attention
to the implicit responsibility to inform. More than turning out to vote in accordance
with their own will, a manipulated and misled people will go to the polls. An
ideologically divided people will vote, and the victory will go to a single candidate and his marketing.
The triumph should not be for a party or a candidate,
the triumph must be for this nation that has agonized for so many years. For
us, for Mexicans, not only do we have the obligation to vote intelligently, we also have an obligation to support whoever
wins the presidency. By winning, the opposition does not defeat us – it
only defeats its competitors. We must be demanding individuals, not beggars;
we must be proactive, not activists; we must be responsible, not judges; we must be a nation, not simply a people; we must
become that citizen base that our country has lacked for so many years.
Regardless of who is responsible for the division
we Mexicans are suffering at this time, they have not taken into account the danger that this represents. We must open our eyes and realize that we have fallen in a game, and that they – the few, the owners
of the game board, those who have interests above our comprehension – are beating us.
We are the living example of that so true a phrase that says “divide and you will conquer.”
Someone has divided us, and it will be the same who
will conquer us.
Thus I invite you to turnoff the television and radio,
close the newspaper, and free yourself from all that trash to which we have been exposed.
For only then will we be able to make this important decision conscientiously.
Enough of deserving a decadent, corrupt and mediocre government; enough of being manipulated by a minority; enough
of being the Mexico we all know.
The victory is within us, not them and their promises.
If we want a better future, not just for our children
but too for us, we must make this demand. And our right to elect is not limited
to July 2, it is more extensive.
Take careful note – over the next six years
we are not the ones who must accommodate the impositions, mistakes, mismanagement and shortages of our president. It is he who must work for the good of the nation.
Antonio Andrade, a MexiData.info guest columnist, is a writer living in Atizapán, State of Mexico. He can be reached via e-mail at fans@chido.com.
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