Statement on Mexican Election from Group in Veracruz

[Introduction by Dan La Botz: As tens of thousands throughout the country protest the results of Mexico’s presidential elections, a group in the State of Veracruz has issued a statement calling upon Mexicans to both refuse to recognize the results of the election and to engage in a campaign of civil disobedience to make it impossible for the new government to rule. The statement was issued by the Network United for Human Rights of the Huasteca-Totonaca region in the State of Veracruz, a region with a high percentage of Totonaca peoples, one of Mexico’s many indigenous peoples.

The Network received some notoriety a couple of years ago because of its advocacy of withdrawing from the national capitalist economy and creating an alternative market place and currency. In September 2010 when they first began to circulate a new and unofficial currency called the túmin, from the Totonacan word for money, the Banco de Mexico, Mexico’s central bank, brought charges through the Attorney General’s office against the creators of the túmin.

The group’s statement on the election combines criticism of the recent election with a general denunciation of Mexico’s political parties and the state and the advocacy of a turn to a communal economy and local self-governance.

The English translation is followed by the Spanish original.]

DECLARATION OF THE NETWORK UNITED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
WE WILL NOT LET THEM GOVERN
WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO AS PRESIDENT

1. While our movement and our Network United for Human Rights (RUDH) in the Huasteca-Totonacapan is non-partisan and doesn’t participate as an organization in the electoral process because we don’t believe in the state institutions or in the political party system, at the same time we refuse to recognize Enrique Peña Nieto as the winner of the republic’s national elections on July 1, 2012.
2. We express our rejection of the manipulation of the media and of the polling organizations in the electoral process, and we reject the lack of democratic commitment on the part of the institutions and the functionaries of the government, in particular of [President] Felipe Calderón, whom we have also refused to recognize as president since the fraud of 2006.
3. We reject in the name of democracy that we are having imposed upon us another president who has been repudiated throughout the country, for whom only a minority of people voted, people who were brought to the polls to vote under pressure, were tricked, or were corrupted with money and other gifts. We reject all forms of fraud, including the computer fraud that has been tolerated by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). The IFE is an organization which completely lacks credibility because it has not guaranteed the validity of the elections. It is an instrument of social domination, with the exception of a good number of citizens of good faith who participated as precinct officials, who were also duped.
4. We invite conscious citizens to defend their vote, and once they have become fed up with the institutional avenues [of protest], to join us in putting aside the institutions of the state and together look for new forms of political activity, based on cooperation, equity, freedom and a real sense of democracy where the people give the orders and the government obeys. Don’t participate any more in the elections called by the IFE which only serve to elevate the political class and to legitimize the perversion of the government.
5. We invited our fellow citizens to begin a stage of civil disobedience, disobeying the government in every way possible. This is about a peaceful revolution. If you can, don’t let them count you, don’t tell them anything, don’t pay fines, don’t pay sales taxes, don’t pay other taxes. Our taxes can be seen in the insulating salaries of the political class, in the pensions of the ex-presidents, the traitors to our country, in the financing of electoral fraud, in the rescue of the bankers and the businessmen who have taken over the firms that once belonged to all Mexicans. They themselves don’t pay taxes enriching themselves at the expense of the nation.
6. If you are a teacher, teach the students about what is happening in our Mexico: tell them who the traitors, thieves, and murders are, those who deceive and kill the people. Create with the children the missing pages in the textbooks and change what isn’t true. Create a new generation of citizens conscious and courageous, human beings concerned about their country and about humanity.
7. Don’t let them govern. Let’s think collectively about what we can do to stop obeying. If it is possible, don’t pay your credit cards. Liberate yourself from that slavery which has shackled us. Feel proud to have bad credit. Feel ashamed to be docile and to do everything they tell you to. If possible, don’t buy in the big supermarkets or in the transnational chains or in the shopping centers, and least of all in Soriana. Buy in the small Mexican stores. Buy natural products. Buy in the informal economy.
8. When it is possible, buy pirate goods; don’t consume luxury products. Give things away. Freely offer a product or a service. Don’t accept anything from the government, whether it’s cheap or given away free. Don’t ask the government for anything. Don’t demand. Don’t protest. Ignore it. See with your heart and trust people. If it is possible, go with your neighbors and change your street name, at least on your block. If possible, put up a sign outside your house declaring “Autonomous Home.”
9. If it is possible, don’t pay the light bill, cut it off. If it is possible, don’t respect daylight savings time. Don’t buy patent medicines, go to a natural healer. If it is possible, produce in your own home, let’s create family gardens and offer alternative products. Let’s make every home an informal store. Lower your prices. Exchange products. Accept alternative currency. When it is possible and only if it is absolutely necessary, name an alternative authority who will lead by obeying, but not as part of the government.
10. If it is possible for you, conspire, because all of this is not enough, and the government is conspiring against you all of the time. This is a revolution of consciousness, and that’s the beginning.

From the Huasteca-Totonacapan, México
July 7, 2012

“Sow justice and the fruit will be peace.”
Network United for Human Rights

Translation by Dan La Botz

Spanish original:

PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LA RUDH
NO NOS DEJAREMOS GOBERNAR
DESCONOCEMOS A ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO COMO PRESIDENTE

1. Si bien nuestro movimiento y nuestra Red Unidos por los Derechos Humanos (RUDH), en la región Huasteca-Totonacapan, se declaran apartidistas y no participan como organización en el proceso electoral por no creer en las instituciones del estado ni en el sistema de partidos políticos, desconocemos a Enrique Peña Nieto como triunfador en las elecciones a la presidencia de la república el pasado 1 de julio de 2012.
2. Expresamos nuestro rechazo a la manipulación de los medios de comunicación y de las llamadas casas encuestadoras en los procesos electorales, y rechazamos la falta de vocación democrática de las instituciones y funcionarios de gobierno, en especial de Felipe Calderón, a quien también desconocemos como presidente desde el fraude electoral de 2006.
3. Rechazamos que a nombre de la democracia se nos imponga otro presidente que ha sido repudiado en todo el territorio nacional, para el cual sólo votó una minoría de gente acarreada, presionada, engañada, denigrada con dinero y otras dádivas. Rechazamos todas las formas de fraude, incluido el fraude cibernético, tolerados por el Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), el cual carece de toda credibilidad al no garantizar la certidumbre de los comicios y al ser un instrumento de dominación social –con excepción de un buen número de ciudadanos que de buena fe participaron como funcionarios de casillas, los cuales también fueron engañados.
4. Invitamos a la ciudadanía consciente a que defienda su voto y, una vez agotadas las vías institucionales, hagamos a un lado las instituciones del estado y juntos busquemos nuevas formas de hacer política, basadas en la cooperación, en la equidad, en la libertad y en una verdadera democracia donde el pueblo manda y el gobernante obedece. No se acuda más a los comicios convocados por el IFE, pues sólo sirven para encumbrar a la clase política y legitimar la perversión del gobierno.
5. Invitamos a la ciudadanía a que comience una etapa de desobediencia civil, a que desobedezca al gobierno en todo lo que pueda. Se trata de una revolución pacífica. Si le es posible, no se deje censar, no informe, no pague multas, no facture, no pague impuestos. Los impuestos sólo se reflejan en los insultantes sueldos de la clase política, en las pensiones de los ex presidentes, traidores a la patria; en el financiamiento del fraude electoral; en el rescate a los banqueros y a los empresarios que se han apropiado de las empresas que eran de todos los mexicanos y que, además, no pagan impuestos, enriqueciéndose a costillas de la nación.
6. Si es usted un buen maestro, enseñe a los estudiantes lo que pasa en nuestro México: quiénes son los traidores, los ladrones, los asesinos, los que engañan y matan al pueblo. Construya con los niños las páginas que faltan en los libros de texto, cambie lo que no es cierto. Construya un nuevo ciudadano consciente y valiente, un ser preocupado por su patria y por la humanidad.
7. No se deje gobernar. Pensemos colectivamente en lo que podemos dejar de obedecer. Si le es posible, no pague sus tarjetas de crédito, libérese de esa esclavitud a la que nos han orillado; siéntase orgulloso de estar en el buró de crédito, sienta vergüenza de ser dócil y cumplir todo lo que le imponen. Si le es posible, no compre en los grandes supermercados ni en tiendas transnacionales ni en centros comerciales, mucho menos en Soriana; compre en pequeñas tiendas mexicanas; compre productos naturales; compre en el comercio informal.
8. Cuando sea posible, compre productos piratas; no consuma productos de lujo. Regale, ofrezca gratuitamente un producto, un servicio. No acepte nada del gobierno, ni barato ni regalado; no le pida nada, no le exija, no proteste, ignórelo. Vea usted con el corazón y confíe en la gente. Si le es posible, cambie con los vecinos el nombre de su calle, por lo menos el de su cuadra. Si le es posible, ponga un letrero afuera de su casa y declárese “Hogar Autónomo”.
9. Si le es posible, no pague la luz, cuélguese. Si le es posible, no respete el horario de verano. No compre medicinas de patente, acuda a la medicina naturista. Si le es posible, produzca en casa, tengamos huertos familiares y ofrezca productos alternativos; hagamos de cada casa una tienda informal. Baje sus precios, intercambie, acepte monedas alternativas. Cuando sea posible, si y sólo si en verdad es necesario, nombren una autoridad alternativa que mande obedeciendo, pero no un representante ante el gobierno.
10. Si le es posible, conspire, porque todo esto no basta, y el gobierno todo el tiempo conspira contra usted. Ésta es una revolución de conciencias, para empezar.

Desde la Huasteca-Totonacapan, México
7 de julio de 2012

“Sembremos justicia y el fruto será la paz”
Red Unidos por los Derechos Humanos

Dan La Botz is a Cincinnati-based teacher, writer and activist. He is the editor of Mexican Labor News & Analysis.