The Ideological Custodians of a Dying Neoliberalism
A serious political movement that wants to transform working class conditions must face up to the obstacles placed in its path.
Mexico’s old judiciary was such an obstacle. Hiding behind a mask of sham impartiality, the judiciary was a conservative stronghold of the old regime. These ideological foes of the Fourth Transformation conspired and collaborated from behind the bench in a desperate effort to slow the old regime’s demise.
On June 1, Mexicans elected a new judiciary. The people voted for the country’s judges, magistrates and Supreme Court justices, making Mexico the first country in the world to elect its entire judicial branch.The neoliberal regime’s defenders have now lost the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
But these conservatives won’t desist. Within Mexico, some segments of civil society have responded predictably, with pundits like Héctor Aguilar Camín, Enrique Krauze and Denise Dresser decrying the so-called death of Mexico’s democracy. Some critics are even adopting language pumped out by academics wedded to outdated notions about exercising democracy in the 21st century. They employ fad terminology such as “competitive authoritarianism,” hoping to give credibility to their discredited worldview.
Meanwhile, in the international arena, the Organization of American States, or OAS, which sent an electoral mission to Mexico for the vote, appears content to continue advocating for conservative interests. The new OAS Secretary General as of May 26, Albert Ramchand Ramdin, expected to move his leadership away from the previous secretary general, Luis Almagro, with his controversies and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of member states at the behest of Washington.
Mexico correctly views that countries have the sovereign right to decide how to reform their own political systems
Ramdin now faces a crucial early test of his leadership, because the Mission’s Preliminary Report cast aspersions on the judicial election. In the “Final Considerations” segment of the report, the Mission clearly supported the views of the conservative opposition and punditry. Tellingly, they went so far as to state that “the Mission does not recommend that this model of selecting judges be replicated for other countries in the region.”
Using diplomatic but firm language, the Mexican government formally protested the OAS’s inappropriate behavior, charging that it “exceeded its mandate and engaged in actions contrary to the principles of the OAS Charter.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum herself went on the record expressing her displeasure at the OAS’s unacceptable interference.
Voices like Argentina’s Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (a victim of lawfare herself) have already pointed to Mexico’s example, saying that the Mission wants to scare other countries from following Mexico’s lead.
Mexico correctly views that countries have the sovereign right to decide how to reform their own political systems, including the selection or election of the judiciary, and that the OAS Mission does not have the “authority to issue value judgments that exceed its powers.”
Figures such as Dresser or organizations such as the OAS are ideological custodians of a dying neoliberalism, desperately striving to deny the people’s sovereign right to decide their own political and economic system. They only reveal their own irrelevance when they insist on a world view being rapidly left behind.
OAS Secretary General Ramdin should use this opportunity to break from his predecessor’s regular flouting of the OAS Charter and place some distance between himself and the Mission’s inappropriate report. In any case, Mexicans will continue dismantling any and all obstacles, barriers, and strongholds standing in the way of its people’s well-being.
Clicks June 16
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including Sheinbaum attends G7, US stranding deportees in southern Mexico, judicial elections, Morena politician in dust-up with US Undersecretary of State, Los Angeles uprising, and continuing issues with Morena’s novel recruitment strategy.
Over 14,000 Mexicans in USA Join IMSS as Independent Workers
In addition to medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical care, self-employed members receive benefits such as workers’ compensation insurance; financial support in the event of disability or death; retirement, old-age, and severance pay; as well as access to childcare and social benefits
House-to-House Healthcare Launches in Tlaxcala
The healthcare brigades will make visits to the people with disabilities and the elderly across the state.