Requiem for a Vote

[Warning: some links contain images of strong graphic content]

I've intended to write this post for quite a while now; I tried during this time to find a way to encapsulate my thoughts in an elegant and intelligible manner, that would do justice to the subject at hand. Alas, I must accept my limitations, and just write what's on my head.

This next Sunday —July the 5th— Mexico will celebrate the elections to select the members of Congress, as well as the members of the states' local congress and the municipal presidents.

Usually, these sort of elections don't bring too much attention —not like the presidential elections, anyway. But now things have changed: a new interesting development has surfaced that has spawned quite a bit of controversy.

This new development is a call to annul the vote. And it was quickly disseminated and promoted thanks to the most powerful political instrument the world has ever known: the Internet.

Several blogs and Youtube videos quickly appeared and were sent to e-mail accounts, calling the citizens to either leave their ballots empty, to strike the entire ballot with a big cross, or to write the name of a fictional candidate —someone like Withered Hope, for example (more on that later).

Soon enough, the newspapers and the TV networks began to talk about this new movement. Who were these people calling for a boycott of the electoral process? What did they want? What party or secret organization was supporting it under the table and to what end?

The answer was both simple and startling: the 'annulist', as they were now being called, were no one but simple good-natured citizens that were tired and fed-up with the way the political class conducted their business. They were angry to see that the politicians were completely incapable of reaching agreements with other parties, except when it involved calling for a raise in their salaries and economic benefits. They were annoyed of the constant bombardment of stupid political ads attacking from every front —the streets, newspapers, radio & TV— that cost millions of dollars (yes, DOLLARS) and yet say nothing but empty promises and silly jingles. They were disappointed that, after 9 years of the so-called "new Democracy" in which the country was now living, nothing fundamental had really changed; from the old days when we were governed by the "Revolutionary family" (the PRI) and the government functioned under the premise of an absolutist Presidentialism, to the new savage multi-party olligarchy, the only palpable change was that there were more hands eager to grab a slice of the pie... nothing more.

Not surprisingly, the representatives of the parties began to decry and ridicule the call to annul the votes. They launched attacks and counter attacks: the parties from the left denounced the ruling party from the right of being behind the movement, and the right-side parties accused the left of the same thing; they warned the citizens that a blank or annulled vote didn't carry any particular weight in the election's outcome, according to the current laws; that the message they intended to send would not be clear enough; and lastly, that a vote annulled would be like giving a blank check to the old PRI, that would surely used their old dirty tricks to buy enough votes to reclaim the power they —seemingly— lost after they lost the Presidency in 2000.

Even the Catholic church began to condemn the movement! So you see, when you have ALL the members of the top hyerarchy scared, then you know you must be on the right track...

On Friday June 5th —exactly one month before the day of the election— a letter I wrote was published on the Reforma newspaper, and included on the special section of the first pages. To my disappointment though, it was heavily edited; so here I'm including the translation of the uncensored version of my letter (the text in bold marks the edited paragraphs):

A Second PRI?

Several political & social actors are raising their voice against those citizen movements promoting the annulled or blank vote.

Some of them are warning us that an annulled vote is automatically translated into a vote supporting the PRI, which still relies on its old methods of the "hard" or corporative vote.

Recently our First Lady, Doña Margarita Zavala, invited us all to vote for the PAN so it could achieve a majority in Congress, which would enable it —they say— to finally unblock the political, fiscal & energetic reforms that our nation so desperately needs .

So, the ruling party (PAN) acknowledges that the only way to overcome the lack of consensus and the poor disposition to reach agreements in the echelons of power, is through an absolute control that overshadows any attempt to block the decisions made by the Executive branch.

But then again; doesn't this sound exactly like the way the PRI used to operate before the power switch of 2000?

Is it just that the only way to finally defeat the PRI is... with A SECOND PRI?

Sorry, but I just don't buy it anymore. And since I am sick & tired of the multi-party olligarchy making us believe that they are the undisputable owners of the game board —since they are the ones that have ruled illegal the candidacy of independent citizens— and therefore we have no choice but to play by THEIR rules, I join those who say "No", and for the moment my candidate in the next elections will be Withered Hope.

It is very likely that annulling our vote next July will be nothing more than a symbolic act. But in the history of the world, all great changes always begin in such a manner; and it is always the people —not the rulers— the ones who infuse POWER to symbols.

Miguel Romero

...Yes, I admit it: I was in a Fawkes-like state of mind at the time ;-)

That very same day I read an awesome editorial written by Jacobo Zabludowsky —Zabludowsky is arguably the most important Mexican newsman of the last decades; if we were to compare him with someone, think Walter Cronkite, and this is NOT and exxageration— supporting the annullist movement. Here's a brief excerpt from that article:

Let it be observed that [the annulled vote] is not the same as an abstention. It is a form, a legal way —because it's not forbidden— to cast a vote. It is a vote that express a will to inffluence in order to change. They [the government] will declare it null. That's the point. This declaration will become the birth certificate of a manifestation that, no matter how small, no one will be able to ignore. It will be registered in the acts. We are voting. We are the ones of the annulled vote. We have no shepherd for we are not sheep. We are the neighbors of September 19th, 1985

Not only that, but the next weekend my sister informed me that she had heard the radio program of Don Jacobo that last Friday, and he mentioned and praised my printed letter! Ho cool is that?? :-D

You guys might be wondering, what's with that date Sept 19 1985? Well, it happens to be a very important date in the modern history of Mexico; for that is the date when we suffered the big one: a 8.1 monster earthquake that toppled dozens of buildings, and decimated the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. And the relevance of that date is not because of the natural catastrophe, but because of what the catastrophe provoked: while the government was still confused and still trying to find their dicks inside their pants, it was the citizens that got organized and conducted most of the rescue operations; volunteers that bravely donated their time and even risked their lives in the desperate effort to liberate the few survivors trapped among the rubble, that toiled fr hours without rest, sweating, crying and laughing when they worked the miracle of giving a fellow human a second birth from the bowels of the earth.

It is my opinion that two events determined the social transition that ensued the arrival of Democracy in Mexico: 1 was the massacre at Tlatelolco in 1968, because it showed just how far the ruling class was willing to go in order to preserve their grip on the nation. The other was the earthquake on 1985, because it showed us that we can show solidarity and accomplish great things without the supervision of the government —it showed us just how useless they really are.

It is my hope and belief that a third event is coming. And it will begin next Sunday, when a small but significant portion of the citizens cast their vote as a sign of protest and a demand for true change.

We do not kid ourselves; we know that this is but the first of many steps, but to let things as they are is to concede defeat. We know that we desserve better.

I cannot end this post without mentioning a very interesting link between Art & the real world in this story. I'm talking about a book written by the Nobel laureate José Saramago in 2004, Ensaio sobre a Lucidez (Essay about Lucidity); a novel that deals with a nameless city in which most of the citizens cast a blank vote in the elections, provoking the fear & indignation in the highest spheres of the government, unable to comprehend the nature of such an unexpected behavior.

Are the events developing in the real world (Mexico) somehow influenced by this work of fiction? Is it possible that this next election can be used as an experiment in human consciousness?

Perhaps what I wrote turns out to be accurate, and the symbol of the blank vote will be infused with enough power to provoke a much needed social change, somehow bringing a world that only lives as an idea into our normal reality. If that is the case... are we not talking about a magical ritual?

This IS a ritual. We are killing our vote, offering it as sacrifice, so that out nation can have a brighter future. Better than to use the old methods of spilling blood, if you ask me...

I wish I could tell you how the book ends, but I'm afraid I haven't finished it yet. I also do not know what will happen in 4 days. I guess we'll have to wait and see :)