I cannot believe that this is my last blog post. I have really enjoyed learning more about Latin America! This has been an incredibly interesting and enjoyable class.
When watching the videos about the surge of left learning governments in Latin America, I couldn’t help but think of the hypocrisy of some leftist movements. Recently, I read an article about Nicolas Maduro appearing on Venezuelan television eating an empanada while the country is starving. How cruel and insensitive. Currently, a left leaning politician by the name of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is pandering to the Mexican working class in order to secure his candidacy for the 2018 Mexican federal election. He named his political party “Morena” which has a special significance in Mexico as they refer to Mary as “Morena”. He will also be registering his candidacy on December 12, the day commemorating the appearance of La Virgen de Guadalupe to Juan Diego. Mexico is a predominantly catholic country, and much of the working class is very religious and so I see this as total pandering to the working class. The worry of some Mexicans, is that he will gain momentum with his appeals to the masses, but once in power will have a different agenda.
It is quite disheartening to read about how the Mexican government funded buildings were completely destroyed after the 1985 earthquake due to bribes avoiding correct building inspections. I was shocked to read about how a week before the earthquake the government declared the Nuevo Leon building in Tlatelolco apartment complex to be one of the safest buildings in the country. A week later, 600 people perished due to the collapse of this building. Without a doubt, corruption contributed to the amount of deaths in the 1985 Mexico earthquake. The Mexican people have learned to take matters into their own hands as exhibited by their behaviour in the 1985 earthquake and the recent September earthquakes. The people have come together, gathered supplies, donated supplies, rescued people, and gone into remote areas to help. Especially in the recent September earthquakes, the Mexican people did not rely on the government.
I enjoyed watching Dawson’s video on migration. I particularly liked his comment on O’reilly’s remarks being hateful and untrue. Honestly, I find it laughable that the rhetoric of migrants “taking American jobs” even exists. As Dawson said, migrants are a positive surplus to the American economy. My question is, has globalization contributed to the working class scapegoating foreigners?
I really enjoyed your blog! I thought the example of the 1985 earthquake was particularly great for illustrating your point. In regards to your question, I think that politics has been using the scapegoating of particular populations for decades as a means to appeal to the masses. It is offers an easy and simple solution that does not require them to look inward and consider the other reasons for the problems. Globalization has just changed who the population being scapegoated is. Before globalization the population being blamed might have racial minorities of the nation or elites or whoever could be within the nation. Globalization just extended this scapegoating towards immigrants, refugees, foreigns, etc. I still that the strategy of scapegoating has remained the same, it has just changed who is the victim of it.
Hey! Great post, I really liked how you included some more recent examples to connect to left leaning groups, specifically how some can be hypocritical. in regards to your question, I think that foreigners defintely do get scapegoated quite often- i.e. “they’re stealing our jobs”- which is unfair/offensive and also draws attention away from the root of problems.