Cursos Individuales o para Grupos

ÉTICA GLOBAL

Este curso tiene como objetivo preparar al estudiante con una visión Ética que trascienda pero que incluya lo relacionado a las expectativas de comportamiento social de su comunidad para lograr analizar y poner en practica el concepto de Ética de manera mas global. El curso es útil para profesionistas que tengan contacto con clientes y o colegas multi-nacionales. También es de utilidad para aquellos que no necesariamente tengan este tipo de contactos, pero que a su vez buscan ampliar los alcances de su conocimiento y su aplicación practica en su propia vida.

1) Definir el concepto de Ética en contraposición con la moral y la política: Qué relación hay entre ellos, y que tanto de nuestra Ética actual esta gobernada por conceptos moralistas o seculares.

2) La Ética a través de los tiempos pre-modernos: Antigua Grecia – Roma - China – India - Sociedades Pre-Colombinas - La relación de la Ética con la filosofía antigua.

3) La Ética Judeo-Cristiana: Un análisis de la base Ética del Cristianismo, el Islam y el Judaísmo.

4) La Ética Oriental y el desarrollo de las potencias de Oriente: Estudio de las religiones y movimientos histórico-sociales mas sobresalientes: Budismo - Confucionismo - Hinduismo - Análisis contemporáneo de la manera en que los orientales trabajan, hacen familia y construyen sus sociedades.

5) La Ética Moderna: Como cambio la visión del mundo a partir del Renacimiento Europeo - Ética Capitalista - Ética Industrial - El Liberalismo y la Ética individualista.

6) La Ética en la Modernidad Avanzada y la Postmodernidad: ¿Como cambio el capitalismo financiero al mundo? - La globalización - La era de la información - El relativismo moral - La secularización de las sociedades - La tecnología y los cambios culturales - El fundamentalismo - Nuevos movimientos sociales.

7) Re-contextualizando la Ética Profesional: Este modulo integrara los conocimientos de los puntos anteriores para buscar lograr consolidar una visión mas incluyente de la Ética - Este modulo también revisa la Ética profesional y la de negocios - ¿Como debe de ser la Ética en relación al sistema político del cual somos participes en calidad de ciudadanos? - ¿Como debe relacionarse el profesionista con la sociedad con la cual convive?

POLITICA INTERNACIONAL

Este curso ofrece una visión general pero actual de la política internacional tomando como unidades de análisis a los países, las organizaciones no gubernamentales, los sistemas políticos y los agentes sociales, todos estos como actores que determinan las relaciones de poder en el mundo contemporáneo. La motivación de este programa es la de ofrecer una gama de conceptos, y su respectivo análisis, todo con la intención de que le sean útiles al profesionista para que logre desarrollar un método de interpretación mas eficaz en relación a mundo que le rodea y del cual participa. El análisis es de corte socio-político.

1) Definiendo el sistema internacional: ¿Existe la política mundial? – El contexto multi-nacional - Los actores políticos y sociales mas relevantes del mundo – Sistemas legales internacionales – Globalización.

2) Naciones y Nacionalismos: ¿Dónde se encuentra la identificación en un mundo interconectado? - ¿Qué representa la soberanía en un planeta globalizado? - Los Estados fallidos y la soberanía económica.

3) Poderes fácticos mundiales: Medios de comunicación con alcance global – Corporaciones trans-nacionales – Organizaciones con alcance mundial – Uní lateralismo vs. multi-lateralismo en política – El sistema financiero interplanetario y la crisis mundial.

4) Análisis regional de los sucesos políticos y sociales mas relevantes: América del Norte y la doctrina capitalista – América del Sur y el giro hacia de izquierda y el surgimiento de nuevas potencias latinas – La Unión Europea y la expansión de su influencia – África y su estancamiento - Asia Pacifico y el gigantismo político, social y económico – Medio Oriente y el perpetuo conflicto.

5) Organizaciones no gubernamentales económicas y políticas: Análisis de la relevancia de las Naciones Unidas –– Organización Mundial del Comercio – Fondo Monetario Internacional - Banco Mundial.

6) El individuo y su influencia en la política: Asociaciones civiles – Nuevos movimientos sociales – Soberanía ciudadana – Opinión publica y nuevos medios informativos – Democracia.

7) Análisis de sistemas, ideologías y discursos políticos: Democracia Liberal y el declive de occidente - Capitalismo autoritario y el surgimiento Chino – ¿El fin del Socialismo o su regreso triunfal? – Capitalismo en crisis – Calentamiento global y sustentabilidad ecológica.

PSICO-SOCIOLOGIA DEL MEXICANO

Este curso tiene como motivación el de profundizar en la comprensión de la mexicaneidad como categoría humana, cultural, social y política, con el objetivo de proporcionar maneras eficaces para lograr interpretar los fenómenos que vivimos y que hacen lo que somos. El programa busca que el alumno aplique teorías y técnicas practicas para que el mismo entienda lo que representa el ser mexicano en el mundo y que desde esa base pueda mejor entender que impresión se tiene de nosotros como cultura para las demás nacionalidades. El programa tiene una influencia sustancial de la psicología-social, esto con la intención de que comprendamos que cualquier identidad cultural esta sujeta al cambio y que esto puede a veces traer cosas positivas o mejoras en nuestra persona y en los sistemas sociales y políticos que gestamos a partir de nuestra idea de Nación y patria.

1) Como se implanta la identidad del mexicano: Explicación de contextos de la identidad desde puntos de vista sociológicos, políticos, psicológicos y psicoanalíticos.

2) Actores que participan en la identidad del mexicano: La familia- La historia como discurso - Las instituciones del Estado y el civismo – Los grupos, las ideas y los símbolos de México.

3) La interpretación de la mexicaneidad: Como llevamos a cabo lo aprendido - La socialización y la aculturación del mexicano - Nación, economía y sociedad Mexicana – Como influyó la colonia en nosotros.

4) Construcción simbólica del mexicano: ¿Que es lo que se nos implanta como identidad y que representa? – El psicoanálisis de la identidad – Análisis contextual de los valores del mexicano.

5) La sociología del Mexicano: ¿Que somos y que nos distingue de los demás? – ¿Como influyen nuestros valores en nuestra cultura? – La televisión y el mexicano – Imaginario cultural del mexicano

6) El mexicano y su política: Nuestro sistema político – La historia y nuestros rezagos - La corrupción: ¿Un mal soportable? – El futuro de México.

7) México y el mundo: ¿Como se ve México en el mundo? – ¿Como nos diferenciamos de los demás? – ¿Que tal califica nuestra cultura contra otras? – México: Entre el progreso y el sub-desarrollo.

DILEMAS SOCIALES CONTEMPORANEOS

Curso interdisciplinario que profundiza en los paradigmas que rigen  nuestro mundo  contemporáneo y el porque están en crisis. Los módulos están basados en un profundo análisis sociológico de las coyunturas y debates mas apremiantes a nivel internacional. El temario toma también lo más relevante de distintos sucesos y fenómenos actuales, pero siempre con el objetivo de buscar lograr un entendimiento profundo y contextual entre disciplinas y visiones, que se han estructurado a través de los tiempos.

Modulo 1.  Introducción a la materia.  Determinando el contexto global humano.

Modulo 2.  ¿Vivimos en la modernidad o en la postmodernidad?  Entendiendo los

limites de una visión progresiva y lineal de la vida humana.

Modulo 3.  ¿En donde fracaso el concepto de nación y de soberanía popular?

Modulo 4. La crisis financiera y el fin del dominio de occidente sobre la economía política internacional.

Modulo 5. Las migraciones globales y el multiculturalismo.

Modulo 6.  Análisis a fondo de las principales ideas que han determinado lo que es nuestra libertad y progreso.

Modulo 7. Análisis de la Corporación - Desde la legión romana hasta la corporación financiera, pasando por las ordenes medievales y las compañías de las Indias Orientales.

Modulo 8.  El Neo-liberalismo y el fundamentalismo de mercado - análisis a fondo del principal dogma que mueve al mundo corporativo en el  hoy.

Modulo 9. El capitalismo industrial y la crisis de los recursos naturales.  La globalización de la corporación, la privatización de lo público, y la religión del consumismo como formas de vida.

Modulo 10. Crisis ideológica y de paradigmas en occidente. El surgimiento de  Oriente y el mundo multi-polar.

Modulo 11.  Los nuevos fascismos  y la sociedad cautiva.

Modulo 12.  La protesta generalizada y el nuevo orden mundial. Nuevos paradigmas en elaboración.

CULTURA DEL CONSUMO

Este curso analiza el desarrollo histórico de las practicas contemporáneas de consumo las cuales forman la base de nuestra interacción humana en un mundo globalizado. Los conceptos clave a entender serán: la sociedad de masas, la producción industrial, la influencia de los medios de comunicación y de la era informativa, los intermediarios culturales y la Corporación. Este contexto será necesario para comprender a la moda y como esta reviste a las personas de significados los cuales emanan de distintas formas de vivir en el presente.

1. Análisis histórico-social de los grupos humanos y el poder: Cual ha sido la relación entre jerarquías humanas. ¿Quien consumía que?

2. Comprendiendo la movilidad social: ¿Cual es la motivación para buscar ascender de clase?

3. ¿Cuales son las libertades con las que estamos familiarizados? Libertades individuales, negativas y positivas.

4. La Modernidad, El Capitalismo y La Industrialización: Cambio de paradigmas.

5. La producción en masa y el nuevo orden social: Nuevas formas de entender a la sociedad.

6. Orden, Estabilidad y Progreso: El consumo material como la base de la economía.

7. La aparición de la tecnología y el consumo de fantasía: Relatos culturales y narrativas de consumo televisadas.

8. Los Intermediarios Culturales y su creatividad que incentiva el consumo: Intelectuales ‘Light’ y la pequeña nueva clase media.

9. La posmodernidad y el consumo: ¿Que ha hecho el consumo para nosotros?

10. Arropando las necesidades: La psicología detrás del uso de la ropa para definir la identidad, el sentido de pertenencia, y el carácter de las personas.

11. El closet de los recuerdos: Un vistazo histórico-social y trans-cultural a las usanzas de la ropa.

12. Revistiendo las diferencias: La moda como símbolo de competencia entre géneros humanos y de selectividad entre grupos étnicos, sociales, y culturales. Un análisis socio-cultural.

13. Imprimiendo las expectativas: La sociología de las marcas, como estas se posicionan simbólicamente, y como definen por si mismas los relatos culturales contemporáneos.

14. Alimentando el consumo: El marketing de la “industria de la moda”,  la Corporación, los intermediarios culturales, y la cultura del consumo. Una mirada socio-política.

TEORIA POLITICA

Este curso tiene como objetivo el de repasar y analizar la teoría política histórica y contemporánea de mayor influencia que nos pueda servir para interpretar de manera mas eficaz los fenómenos político-sociales mas relevantes de nuestros días.

1) Pensadores Greco-Romanos: Sócrates y el Sofismo - Aristóteles y la Polis - Platón y la Republica Virtuosa – Los Cínicos y Los Epicúreos - Los Estoicos: Séneca y Cicerón. Polibio y la Teoría Cíclica de Gobierno.

2) El rol del Cristianismo en la Edad Media: San Agustín, El fin del Imperio Romano y la Ciudad de Dios – Santo Tomas de Aquino y la Escolástica – Marsillo de Padua y el Defensor de la Paz.

3) El desarrollo del Estado Moderno: Nicolás Maquiavelo y el Príncipe – Martín Lutero y el reforzamiento de la Nación – Hugo Grotius y La Ley Natural – Thomas Hobbes y el Leviatán- Tomas Moro y su Utopía.

4) Revolución y Contra-Revolución Francesa: Rousseau y la Comunidad - Edmund Burke y la Convención. David Hume y el Empirismo - Hegel y el Estado Ideal.

5) El Liberalismo y el Utilitarismo: Adam Smith y el fin del Proteccionismo - John Locke y la Propiedad Privada – Montesquieu y el Espíritu de las Leyes – Jeremy Bentham y John Stuart Mill y las criticas al Liberalismo.

6) Socialismo, Comunismo, Anarquía, Nacionalismo, Fascismo y Social Democracia: Un revisión de pensadores desde Saint Simón, Fourier, Marx, Lenin y Bakunin hasta Von Herder, Berstein y Hitler.

7) Teoría Política Contemporánea: La Elección Racional (Rational Choice) – El Estructuralismo/Funcional en Política - Explicación evolutiva para los cambios políticos - Comportamiento y presiones grupales para la toma de decisiones – Institucionalismos varios – Ideología y Discurso – La retórica y el enunciado político.

SOCIOLOGIA

Curso introductorio a la teoría y práctica de la sociología como ciencia social.

1) Contextualizando la Sociología: Sus orígenes históricos - Explicación de las estructuras e instituciones sociales que influyen y describen el comportamiento colectivo e individual: La Familia, La Educación, La Política, La Religión, La Economía, El Trabajo y las Clases Sociales.

2) Revisión de las teorías y pensadores clásicos de la disciplina: Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, George Herbert Mead, Alfred Schutz, Talcott Parsons.

3) Metodología de la Investigación: Encuestas y Entrevistas - Historias de Vida - Observación Participante y Análisis de Datos Cualitativos.

4) Estructuras abstractas y su influencia sobre la conducta: El Lenguaje - La Interacción Simbólica - Ideas e Ideologías - Reglas, Normas y Leyes - Valores y Creencias.

5) La Cultura como objeto de estudio Sociológico.

6) Revisión de las teorías y pensadores contemporáneos de la disciplina: Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Peter Berger, Jeffrey Alexander, Anthony Giddens, Jurgen Habermas, Manuel Castells, Ulrick Beck.

7) Análisis práctico de los dilemas sociológicos contemporáneos: La Sociedad del Riesgo, La Era de la Información, La Cultura del Consumo, La Sociedad Cautiva, El Multiculturalismo, La Globalización, El Posmodernismo y la Sociedad Post-industrial.

SOCIOLOGIA DE LA RELIGION

Curso interdisciplinario que explica y profundiza en la variedad de formas, rituales, y practicas de la creencia como practica social en contexto histórico y contemporáneo. Analizaremos la religión como idea colectiva y a la espiritualidad como categoría distinta, la cual se puede comprender en si misma como fenómeno místico y de desarrollo personal. El curso abarca un estudio con un rango temporal de aproximadamente 10 mil años, dentro de los cuales han surgido los cultos con que muchos de nosotros estamos familiarizados. Mayor énfasis se pondrá en las cinco principales religiones del mundo.

1) Contextualizando la creencia: Los primeros mitos creacionales - La elaboración simbólica de lo divino – Los primeras deidades y la agricultura – El poder político y los lideres religiosos.

2) Formas antiguas de pleitesía divina: El Animismo – El Politeísmo - El Panteón GrecoRomano y El Paganismo pre-Cristiano – El Hinduismo Clásico – Cultos Mesoamericanos.

3) La Era Axial: Lao Tzu - Platón - Sócrates - Zoroastro – Gauthama Siddharta - Confucio .

4) La estructura Judeo-Cristiana: El Judaísmo y el mito divino – El Cristianismo y la salvación eterna – El Islam y la organización social.

5) Religiones Orientales en perspectiva: El Hinduismo y sus variantes vernaculares - El Budismo Theravada, Mahayana y Vajrayana y Zen - Sikhismo.

6) El misticismo como práctica: El Sufismo Islámico - Cristianismo Místico - Advaita Vedanta – Taoismo – Meditación.

7) Revisión de conceptos clave para entender a las religiones: Ritual y Liturgia – Karma – Reencarnación y Renacimiento – Sistema de Chacras – Tantra – Yoga - Maya - Ortodoxia Cristiana - Protestantismo.

8) Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos:   Sectas  –  Cultos  –  El New Age  –  El Neo Paganismo – El Fundamentalismo Religioso.

Empires: Perennial Trends - Coincidental Outcomes?

The Roman Empire at its apex resorted to specific measures which eventually created the conditions that brought about its demise. On the economic front, the state consumed much more than it produced, and, as a result, people were led into prolonged exploitation, generating great discontent. Populism was exercised at a massive scale. Hand-outs and the promotion of entertainment became well engrained state policies. A lengthened trade deficit and currency debasement undermined the imperial foundations. This uncertainty gave rise to popular mobilization against the government, which in turn became even more authoritarian and despotic. Civil liberties were stifled, the tax burden became unbearable, and more acute social regimentation was enforced. Democracy was thwarted and power succession was besmirched by corrupt dynastic affairs. To foster its expansion, the state promoted fundamental moral and religious values that galvanized the people against a perceived foreign threat which had to be subdued at any cost. Large armies with superior weapons and discipline were deployed in order to complete this task. Military intervention became ubiquitous and over-extended throughout the empire and it led the state into hypertrophy. This overwhelmed the helm of the roman domain. The most evident result was the loss of administrative control over institutions, territories and legions. The empire was unreasonably colossal and it proved and immense challenge to buttress. Total collapse became imminent.

According to ancient myth, Rome was founded in the year 753 B.C. This new city-state flourished under a monarchy, but by 509 B.C., the foundations of a republican political organization had been laid into place. The Roman Republic relied on the finest advances from Greek tradition (which was the predominant culture of the period) to set up its own bureaucratic structure. i.e., democratic institutions, language, architecture, military discipline, and administration. The Hellenic civilization was then gobbled-up by this dynamic and expansionist power. It was incorporated as a mere province of the republic.

The Senate (SPQR) was a respected institution throughout the Roman Republic. This body was in charge of stability and in the creation and execution of laws. As the republic reached new and demanding heights, the Senate became less effective in adapting itself to changing circumstances. The most influential generals of the time joined forces to challenge the Senate in order to control political succession within the republic. The First Triumvirate was formed by Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, and it proved effective as a temporary check to senatorial power, but it did not distribute authority equally among the three generals, so it was neglected by Pompey. The Great Roman Civil War started as a power struggle between the Senate, which now had Pompey within their ranks, and Julius Caesar. The aftermath of the war proved disastrous for the republic. Julius Caesar emerged victorious, and he now epitomized one-man rule. The Senate became subservient to this new dictatorial figure, and this signaled a turning point for the republic. Julius Caesar was subsequently assassinated but his legacy of totalitarian power was espoused by succeeding rulers. Octavian was the first politician who was crowned as Emperor, in allegiance to Julius Caesar (circa 27 B.C.). This event marked the inauguration of a new era in history, that of the Roman Empire.

Even though this new power-structure would prove successful in grappling with social upheaval, it did not measure up to the sheer scale of barbarian intimidation. Militarization was a swift response to foreign threats, but it came with a hefty cost. The line that divided Rome between its barbarian enemies was blurred up to the point that both forces ended up coalescing into one brutal killing machine. Rome ended up sacrificing precisely the ideals that it fought for. It followed procedures that were supposed to further its interests abroad but these eventually backfired. The Roman Empire, which was believed itself to be eternal, ended up as one of the most tyrannical regimes the world has known.


Even though we don’t refer to powerful modern day nation-states as empires, it is inevitable that many of them end up adopting similar characteristics, traits and behavioral patterns. The most contemporary example is the United States of America and its global hegemony status. Analyzing the present situation of the US, we could observe (to a certain extent) that it is repeating and reinforcing some of the trends that I have pointed out to describe imperial Rome. The US has caused much resentment around the world and within its own territory acting unilaterally (in most recent times), imposing its point of view and spreading of its culture worldwide. The government has relied on strict moral and religious values in tandem with nationalism to justify specific actions in several foreign regions. Messy politics and gerrymandering have permeated recent developments in the nation’s affairs of state. Civil liberties have been curtailed and some degree of social regimentation has been instituted in the process.


One of the most tangible characteristics of contemporary US policy has been the concentration on developing military prowess. This has been notorious since the Cold-War era and even more today where no other power counterbalances its influence. The last two decades of military expansion have been justified by foreign threats like the Soviet Union, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now terrorism. The US Army has been ubiquitous and it has certainly over-extended itself on some occasions.

We can relate more trends of the US with those of the Roman Empire. First, the pervasive use of English language symbolizes how significantly this nation influences world scenarios. It permeates international relations, business, television, the internet, finance and social issues worldwide. It is used almost as a universal language throughout the western world and it is being adopted by hopeful developing countries to increase their chances of joining the developed world in terms of economic and social parity. These circumstances greatly resemble those which took place in roman times with the all-encompassing use of Latin. Next, the US is composed of various and sometimes alien social groups which were brought together by administrative organizations. The encouragement of mass migration was part of a government program to conform a homogeneous, tolerant and inclusive society and in this democratic facet it differs from Rome, which relied on force. In both cases we see the need for conciliation and assimilation of peoples by promoting universal and national values to achieve social cohesion. Finally, the US government justifies its actions by relying on the nobility and the universal character of its cause. This happens inside the country in the handling of the people and in foreign relations with specific regions. In this sense we can see a big failure in readjusting institutions to the nature and scale of changing national and international realities. This was a tendency which persisted throughout imperial Rome.

This essay in no way tries to predict an ominous outcome for the United States of America. Its main motive is to identify recurrent tendencies in imperial behavior using the Roman Empire analogy. Its ultimate goal is try to generate some degree of consciousness of contemporary events in order to avert a pessimistic outcome. It would be very valuable if powerful nation-states were humble enough to immerse themselves into history books and evaluate the words that they contain in order to learn from past mistakes to be able to understand that certain causes will always have their corresponding effects.

Otra Vez Mas...

Otro año nuevo, y con ello el devenir de grandes expectativas. “!Este año dejare de fumar!”, “!Este año bajare de peso! En fin, todo se reduce a lograr cambios significativos en nuestro estilo de vida.

Sin tratar de generalizar a gran escala la realidad, los propósitos de año nuevo fracasan básicamente por dos motivos:

El primero es la excesiva aplicación de una dimensión temporal a nuestra vida, hecho que metafóricamente acaba convirtiéndose en un gendarme autoritario, el cual limita nuestra voluntad de hacer las cosas. En este sentido, el no seguir el programa estructurado temporalmente resulta en grandes frustraciones si los objetivos no se cumplen de acuerdo al plan trazado inicialmente. Esto no quiere decir que no existan los eventos que sigan una secuencia lógica. Lo único que resalta es la excesiva dependencia que tenemos en el tiempo para organizar nuestras vidas. Un ejemplo de esto se ve cuando estamos en octubre o noviembre, finales de año –como generalmente contemplamos a estos meses –, y no hemos hecho nada por ese “cambio de vida” que nos habíamos propuesto. En este caso pues ya mejor lo dejamos “pal año que entra” para ahora sí “comenzar bien el año”. Más ejemplos como éste abundan. Los podemos encontrar desde lapsos de tiempo cortos, como la vida frenética de fin de semana para “desquitar la semana pasada” y “empezar bien la otra”, hasta largos, donde encontramos los típicos viajes de fin de año que hacemos para “cerrar y empezar bien el año”.

El segundo motivo por el que fallan nuestros propósitos es porque nos hace falta efectuar un análisis más profundo y honesto de las motivaciones de cualquier cambio que deseamos. ¿Realmente quiero cambiar algo de mi vida? Y si es así, ¿Para qué? ¿a dónde me llevará este cambio? Este proceso conlleva el identificar hasta qué punto nuestro plan de cambio pudiese ser solamente la costumbre de hacerlo, o por qué no, ser sólo parte de la práctica de una manada de personas que se someten a las mismas ideas, y que también por costumbre las aplican en fechas idénticas y de manera simultánea. Para estos últimos el fracaso de lo propuesto no importa si el grupo en general también no cumplió con los objetivos. “¡No importa que no haya dejado de beber, si como quiera todos seguimos haciéndolo por igual!”.

En el papel, ambas problemáticas, la excesiva aplicación de la dimensión temporal y la falta de claridad en nuestros motivos, parecen fáciles de corregir. La verdad es que la primera se convierte en la más difícil de superar por el hecho de que para coordinar los esfuerzos humanos colectivos es necesaria la aplicación de alguna variable que logre ordenar la vida, siendo la mejor el tiempo. El principal problema es que el mundo moderno se centra más en lo que hacemos en conjunto, que en el interés y el respeto de nuestro “tiempo personal”, por así decirlo. Ejemplo de esto son las mismas fechas “especiales” que utilizamos para conmemorar eventos significativos de nuestras vidas como el Día de las Madres y Halloween, hasta la misma Navidad y Año Nuevo. Estas celebraciones por lo general se han desviado de su verdadero sentido para terminar siendo fechas que marcan los ciclos de consumo que estructuran nuestras vidas socio-económicas, al grado que hemos convertido parte de nuestra cultura en un fetiche comercial. El caso óptimo es la absurda celebración del 14 de febrero como Día de el Amor y la Amistad, mismas virtudes que deben de ser comprobadas como mínimo con el obsequio de alguna tarjeta rosa, o por qué no, algún diamante con forma de corazón. Tanto consumismo nos hace cementar lo repetitiva y cíclica que parece la vida.

Caminos alternos existen y no necesariamente los más radicales. En este sentido, no se trata de acabar con el árbol de navidad para cambiar las esferas, si no que se trata de que cada esfera brille y gire sobre su propio eje, y por ende logre que en suma el árbol luzca más hermoso. Esto quiere decir que no nos sometemos completamente a las rutinas que marca la sociedad, pero tampoco nos sumergimos en el aislamiento y el olvido. Paradójicamente, lo que nos rescata de todo esto sigue siendo la rutina, pero lo que hacemos es sincronizarla a nuestros propios tiempos naturales y expectativas de lo que creemos prioritario, y no nos dejamos llevar por esa vorágine de prácticas sociales que ahogan al individuo más bien intencionado, pero que no es lo suficientemente hábil para prestarse a bailar sólo unos cuantas piezas de ese confuso son.

Droga Endemoniada

“…las autoridades se comportan no como si quisieran erradicar un vicio dañino, sino como quien trata de erradicar una disidencia. Como es una forma de disidencia que va extendiéndose más y más, la prohibición asume el carácter de una campaña contra un contagio espiritual, contra una opinión. Lo que despliegan las autoridades es celo ideológico: están castigando una herejía, no un crimen.”

- Octavio Paz -

Bajo circunstancias normales, las palabras de este famoso escritor mexicano pudiesen tener mas relevancia en el sentido de la definición de las posiciones en el debate sobre la legalización de algunas drogas. Pero dada la situación que vive actualmente el país, las facciones del PRI, y las del mismo PAN, deberían de buscar el consenso apoyando al PRD en su posición a favor de la legalización de la marihuana.

Sin tratar de decir que los partidos debiesen de transformar su posición ideológica en cuestiones como la droga, si se dice que es imperativo el buscar el pragmatismo político dada la coyuntura en cuestiones de ingobernabilidad que se ha venido dando por los cambios estructurales que la inseguridad ha generado en la nación. Con eso en mente, seria menester incluir el hecho de que la decisión de implementar la reforma de ley seria funcional en el sentido de que se estaría sirviendo a fines específicos de corte político, económico, y socio-culturales de corto, mediano y largo alcance.

Por el lado político

No se busca el dejar de ser completamente paternalistas con respecto a lo permisible en la sociedad. No se propone el consumo sin control. Todo lo contrario. Es mejor que el gobierno asuma la responsabilidad de un problema, que aunque el no propicio, es ya una realidad que lo rebasa. Eso quiere decir que el tomar las riendas del negocio es mandar una señal clara sobre el desorden social imperante, resultado de el crecimiento en influencia y de los ataques permanentes del crimen organizado. Esto incluye el demostrar de manera clara e importante, aunque probablemente no fulminante, de la disposición del gobierno en infiltrar una de las áreas de operación de los narcotraficantes para retomar su credibilidad.

También es fundamental el comunicar a la ciudadanía el hecho de que el gobierno se muestra con voluntad política para erradicar la corrupción que ha permeado a muchos legisladores en relación a la participación de dinero ilícito en varias esferas de gobierno. En este sentido, se es paternalista, pero no nada mas en el papel. Se asume el rol completo. Lo que se busca políticamente son señales clara de gobernabilidad.

Por el lado económico

En el vicio participan ambos, consumidores y vendedores. Aunque es posible que la disponibilidad de la droga incentive el consumo, eso no quiere decir que mucho del consumo en verdad este incentivado por la oferta. Esto incluye el hecho de que el problema real de esta droga no se encuentra tanto en el valor económico de su consumo, si no en el valor del intercambio ilegitimo de la misma, donde los costos trascienden lo únicamente económico para ser también de corte social. Al gobierno le cuesta muchísimo mas dinero la ilegalidad de la marihuana porque como quiera tiene que intervenir para paliar los efectos que van mas allá de la salud publica. Siguiendo esta línea, el dejar que las fuerzas del mercado arreglen un problema con costes sociales tan altos es insostenible. Ejemplo de esto es el resultado de la crisis financiera mundial, que aunque diferente en sus motivos, demuestran lo que sucede cuando los gobiernos no intervienen y regulan actividades económicas de relevancia social. Esto fue recientemente aceptado por Felipe Calderón en la Cumbre Iberoamericana en El Salvador. El otro argumento, mas simplista en naturaleza, es que el legalizarla traería, como consecuencia, mas entrada de dinero al erario publico por tratarse de un negocio licito.

Por el lado socio-cultural

Tomar las riendas del negocio al legitimarlo no necesariamente seria causa para incentivar el consumo. Por un lado, la continuación de una conducta pudorosa y de miedo a enfrentar el problema si incentivaría mas violencia relacionada al narco. Por otro lado, si la prohibición se mantiene por cuestiones relacionadas a la salud publica, el gobierno estaría mostrando su cara mas hipócrita al mantener la legalidad de substancias científicamente probadas como mas dañinas como el alcohol y el tabaco.

Mas aun, si confiamos en Octavio Paz sobre la disidencia que los gobiernos tratan de erradicar al mantener la ilegalidad de ciertas practicas culturales, el resultado de seguir así seria una cada vez mas estrecho distanciamiento entre el mundo publico y el privado. Nuestros gobernantes estarán cada vez mas lejos del contacto con la realidad cotidiana que sus ciudadanos viven mas allá de las estructuras políticas de la nación. En este sentido, el gobierno no nada mas se aleja de la posibilidad de ajustar políticas publicas que sintonizan con la ciudadanía, si no que se aleja de la posibilidad de influenciar la vida privada de los mismos, haciendo de la representación política una tarea cada vez mas compleja. Podemos tomar como ejemplo de esto la prohibición del alcohol de los años 20s en Estados Unidos.

Retomando la salud publica de la nación, es muy fácil contrastar los perjuicios causados por el consumo contra los perjuicios causados por la violencia, ansiedad y descontrol que genera el narcotráfico en el país. En este sentido, el legalizarla y subsecuentemente, el organizar su producción y distribución, lograría como resultado un control mas efectivo sobre los efectos negativos que esta pudiese tener sobre sectores específicos bien localizados dentro de la sociedad. En vez de destinar recursos para luchar contra un enemigo casi invencible, se podrían destinar para curar a los individuos que hayan sido afectados en su vida como resultado del uso excesivo de dicha sustancia.

En conclusión

No se esta diciendo que las razones ético-morales y de salud intrínsecas en el debate sobre el consumo de la marihuana dejen de ser relevantes. Lo que debe de hacerse es poner esas mismas razones sobre la balanza para ver la pertinencia que tienen en un contexto social estructuralmente distinto, para poder valorar efectivamente los costos que este tipo de posiciones han tenido sobre la vida colectiva mexicana. Esta decisión política podrá verse reflejada, también, en beneficios socio-políticos funcionales inmediatos y futuros. No se debe de buscar únicamente tratar de resolver el problema mas imperante de la inseguridad, si no de establecer de una vez por todas una mejor relación entre el gobierno y la ciudadanía.

Humanity and Nature: Organic Solidarity as a New Planetary Commitment

Once upon a time, man roamed freely without considering much besides the fact that he had to instrument the most effective means of assuring his own subsistence. But it did not take him long to figure out that the same environment in which he resided was not only the source of his survival, but also the source of his biggest fear and resulting suffering, the mortally encroaching effects of death. It was here, then, when man grasped the whole essence of life. To elaborate strategies that would enable him to tame death, or at least to prolong the forced confrontation with it.

Man’s organic link to Nature, besides living inside an organic body, can be naturally represented by the digestive system and its relation to the external circumstances that make it function. Both food and excretion are exogenous to the body and only the digestive system is found within it, but the system is useless in itself; its utility depends on a dual but exogenous process of input and output. Food comes from outside and excretion ejects residues out and back into the environment.

Eating could be seen as the initiation of a life sustaining process in itself. The consumption of food is not only an act that preserves individual life, but when socially and publicly portrayed it symbolizes the collective demonstration and celebration of how, at least temporarily, fears of extinction have been transcended. The social commemoration of eating practices establishes not only these facts, but additionally develops into a kind of identification with that group’s particular way of eating, a distinctive culture.

Defecation, on the other hand, represents the culmination of the same life-sustaining process that starts with the ingestion of food, and it is perfectly natural to assume that ancient humans would have related this fact to the process of eating. But it must have been the most unpleasant of realizations, because it in itself could be interpreted as the last stop in a series of pursuits undertaken for survival’s sake. If food perished and if fellow humans perished too, then it would have been very easy to link both, and to establish a conscious and unconscious symbolism between defecation and death. These facts must have altered in a significant way the real world as we experienced it; hence, our own individual finitude became an existential reality. If defecation meant the end of a pleasurable process of eating and being satisfied by it, it could have been decidedly imperative to eliminate, or at least to repress defecation from our plethora of customary public and social activities. Eating, on the other hand, would become per se a social and public activity, which would be put in place in the collective realm in order to represent survival, and only much later, "well-being". Defecation was rendered  a lonesome and private activity.

It is easy to infer that both defecation and death would have been confined to the most obscure and hidden of human individual and collective receptacles. But by relegating both these realities and dispositions, man initiated on of the most excruciating processes, and one which we continue to recreate and reproduce up to this day: the dissociation of humanity from Nature, and the subsequent “social and cultural inoculation” to prevent the "diseases" which can be borne from some of Nature’s most "frightening" and "harming" features.

This "sterilization" of the public space of representation came to be colonized by the advent of Religion, an institutional practice that operated as a continuation and as an incredibly substantial facet of that repression. Religion, originally bonded a few leaders to a profusion of deities, which in a sense, where responsible for the provision of aliments, and following that same logic, these deities (originally related to fertility cults) could serve as screens where we projected our most pressing predicaments derived from our insatiability. Both organized Religion and Politics originated around the same socio-historical period, where agricultural societies (empires) which revolved around a semi-civilized urban life where the norm. Pharaohs and kings both legitimized their rule by calling upon the divine in order to satisfy their subject populations’ feeding demands. This new social framework -civilized culture-, where institutions reigned supreme, would had been a place where theoretically everyone had by then, transcended both these overwhelming predicaments (defecating and death). Civilization became a space that permitted an equilibrium between personal frustration and collective synergies. But the city stemmed intimate aspects of our lives (that which was repressed for the sake of the collective) in order to conform to some kind of operational order.

Every institution of today carries that inexorable fact within its structure; they not only serve to meet the demands of any social order – but they carry the seeds, leaves and branches of years of cumulative projection of fear upon them. Much of the power that institutions wield comes from that certainty. Our most intimate fears would now be projected and transferred upon creations that could be separate from us (divine leaders who claimed direct ascendancy to some God), and deities themselves, which “inhabited” some place very far away indeed. Institutions embody a part of each and every one of its followers and subjects by serving as a repository for their fears.

Thus, Religion was a very efficient apparatus which aided in metabolizing and administrating ingestive processes, but it also served, on one hand, in harnessing personal and collective wants towards the goal of establishing a social order that gradually kept fears in check by giving them a proper means for chanelling their negativity. On the other hand, it also helped man to believe that it was not only possible to survive, but that it was necessary to do so, in a kind of obligation that tied him more to an idea of shared or collective "destiny". But in order to fulfil its human goals, Religion had to give something back in return, as a trade-off with humanity. As a result, humans where given the primordial position in the hierarchy of being (at least for the Judeo-Christian Religions). This meant that Nature, including animals, plants and other species, would definitely occupy the lower rungs of existence where they would act as mere servants to humanity.

The more otherworldly Religions became, the more they kept fears under control but their power augmented in an inversely proportional way. The further away Religions moved away (more abstract and hard to pin down) from the people, the planet and Nature, the more control they gained, but did so at the layman’s expense, and by never relinquishing on fear as the basis of formal control. Organized Religion was originally devised to be a repository of our fear of death but in order to fulfil its social potential it had to harness that fear into a form of control.

With the rise of modernity, Science eventually took over the public space by sidelining Religion and its "metaphysics". But nonetheless it left in place its most important motivation, the need to find a way of delaying death, by substituting it with rational certainty. The other main task, which a scientific approach needed to accomplish to legitimate itself versus a religious one, was to eliminate residues of fear which Religion generated as side effects, and to substitute them with some kind of idea of progress. To do this, science kept in place the idea of time progression and it also maintained, but transformed, the idea of Christian eschatology. Salvation would give way to Utopian communities based on scientific and technical progress, a secular form of salvation. Ultimately, Science also kept man at the top of the hierarchy of being, a process that was initiated by Religion.

During the past 300 years we can observe how to a point both a lingering Religion and Science have been responsible of orchestrating our transition towards an ideal scenario which in order to "appreciate", we first have to alienate and estrange ourselves from Nature and our relation to it. But it was the scientism paradigm that definitely spearheaded the operation in terms of what a modern society should stand for. One of the first assignments of that “new order” was to cleanse the public arena of unwanted vestiges of traditional societies to more efficiently put in place the foundations for material progress. Out of that idea came the Industrial Age came and the consumer society, both which in tandem basically multiplied the amount of generated consumption and waste. But for some curious anthropological reason, man relegated and ignored the effects of the productive and consumption processes altogether. He only paid attention when the impact that production had over life, either affected economic logic, or if it drastically altered the social order. It would not make political sense to change course because a whole new paradigm was comfortably ensconced by then.

It is almost impossible to try to establish an empirical link between the ancient repression of defecation and death to the modern ignorance of waste and its substitution with everlasting progress and material prosperity. But it is philosophically plausible to posit. So if this assumption were real, it would mean that we intentionally conceal the side effects of consumption, just like we do the effects of eating. Furthermore, it would signify that the idea of death has been mostly substituted with a philosophy of acquisition, one in which society is successful enough to either repress or at least delay civilization’s extinction. People die but ideas and societies persist. Annihilation could be perfectly substituted for some fantastic and Utopian world where eternal consumption and progress would be the norm.

Following on the same idea, it would be logical to understand that progress and perennial consumption are based of the fact that it is achievable to hold on to the product of our satisfaction and our survival. Hence, two pairs of categories can de derived from the former position: Food equals consumption of goods and defecation is tantamount to side effects, unwanted results and unnecessary outcomes. This would inevitably lead us to reflect on the feasibility that much of what the consumption of goods really represents unconsciously, and to a certain point consciously, is our “buying our way into collective certainty and away from fear”, an activity that has progress and prosperity as its dominant emblems. Institutions here have taken the lead role in reproducing a systematic form of evasion (fear of death/defecation) and substitution (progress/consumption) to control individual’s fears in order to make them feel safe and pliable and to make them consume without much thought of consequences, most of them which definitely go way beyond the requirement of having to frequently empty rubbish bins. In short, acquisition for this world-view is untrammelled by contradictions and it stands for the basis of liberty and survival. Today, it is more than evident that the progressive-consumerist paradigm has run its course. Unwanted consequences have sprung up and many have raised their voices against this inter-generational tyranny. The formal institutional response has been flagrantly and blatantly irresponsible.

History has come full stop to a turning point in humanity’s existence. By collectively taking into account that we have repressed the most natural of human activities, we acknowledge the consequences that our modern collective consumption has wrought among the planet. It is time to implement Organic Solidarity as a human project and a lifestyle choice. This venture must cover the various dimensions that life in this planet entails.

First, Organic Solidarity at the individual and personal level means that man must relate with himself in a way that attempts a harmonious balance between what is consumed and what is discarded. This means that man has to take responsibility for his own actions regardless of any context (geographical, ideological, etc) he may find himself in.

Second, Organic Solidarity at the Social/Collective level relates to human intercourse and community relations anywhere. Because we are organic beings we realize that we can devise common solutions to common problems. Besides respecting others, we must instil in them a few simple values that bind men together in simple ways where social mobility (class stratification) and competition for progress and prosperity can be decoupled from the struggling necessity to deplete the earth of its finite resources. Example of this is the non-coincidental fact that the fattest people on earth inhabit places where the most savage competition and consumption takes place. These people appear to be the most fearful because they have been subdued by financial slavery and creditworthiness. These biggest of consumers have been made prey by their fear of death and have subsequently devoured the bait that ties acquisition to progress and happiness. These hypertrophied societies have lost their balance and are very responsible of putting everyone else of their balance to. It is at this level where politics and institutions must function, not just for the solidarity of its members, but also for establishing a social framework that enhances the respect for organic links between citizens. In this sense, politics must not stand basically for individual repression and limits on liberty for the sake of the collective, but must operate as a talking forum pertaining to personal and collective needs, and as a natural representative of those needs. Politics must also implement a civil and legal code, punishable by law, which enforces organic relations between civilians. But it must not act in a judicious manner. People must be educated in order for them to understand the problems that the planet faces, in a fully participatory fashion. So, any application of law should be managed in democratic circumstances where an educated populace takes decisions for itself with full consent of the legal consequences of their actions. But ultimately consciousness at this stage need be primarily social (human) and secondarily civic (legal) in the sense of collectively shared actions and responsibilities towards Nature.

Finally, the most important part of the project or Planetary Commitment is the establishing of Organic Solidarity between Humanity and Nature, including all of its creations. This stage is mostly social, no real application of law is required, because there is no use to law if humanity does not comprehend and accept the implications of an ignored environment and Nature. Without a natural base - society, politics, economics, culture and law cannot exist. Therefore, it is time to come out into the open, in a metaphoric way, to understand who we really are. This means that we must realize that that which we repress is what most hinders our freedom and our liberty because by not accepting temporal (defecation) and permanent (death) finitude we go on destroying the platform that sustains life in this world, Nature and the planet. Coming out into the open just means bearing these realities in mind, not materializing them! This new Organic Solidarity will help to mend the broken link between Humanity and Nature by letting the former to take karmic responsibility of the obvious fact that extreme and conspicuous consumption has a toll over the whole planetary system that is controlled by Nature.

This “toilet” we have made of the planet is overburdened with the unwanted consequences of our consumer habits. We can keep on acting as we have been up until now, circumventing reality as it is by inventing ways of repressing our material and organic relations to life sustaining systems, for example, by an intent on eating in even more “refined” ways, like the implementation of cutlery, an invention which separated us from the organic act of eating. Or we can enclose ourselves further more by making our toilets into even more private cocoons that increment the fantastic aspects of an ordinary activity. Or why not, we could also stomp and crush every single living cockroach on the face of the earth - beings which have accompanied us through the journey of life and that certainly were witnesses to the moment in which we subjugated our most intimate humanity - and that carry with them that secret deep inside their collective psyche. Or we could also persist in “externalizing” our dirty processes of industrial production in society by perennially sending them over our backyard or across the planet in search of empty spaces. We could go on in this futile attempt to remove from our sights the image presented upon us of the “defecation” that manufacturing processes have to endure in order to give us the fresh and novel products which we crave for.

Humanity has been playing a dubious game of brinkmanship versus Nature for too long now. We must realize ultimately, that we first have to perish in order to be able to reinvent ourselves, ever again…. But we must keep that at the mental and rational level. We do not need extinction to materialize as a real human option in order for us to act.

Thread Breakers

(continuation to Thread-makers)

So needles we are and threads we consume...

and each thread around the world has its own consistency, colour, length and composition. So as needles we imagine that our bottoms are really sharp and pointed ends which if we could just use to cut ourselves loose from our needle's eye, we could definitely break free from our particular thread.

But fear we experience...

when we imagine that our pin-pointed tips could intrude permanently into our needle's eye possibly annihilating us, so imobile we stay.

But plastic we can be...

and we as gymnasts bend like agile wasps and bring our powerful bottoms atop our heads to be able to finely cut ourselves loose from the thread we by now have indentified very clearly.

So free-fall we do...

and it is not long before we encounter another thread in our paths that eventually reveals its receptive piece of pointed fiber that could function as a respite and safehaven for weary pin travellers.

And fearful we are by now...

so hence we comfortably agree to cooperate in the weaving of a new symbolic order that could potentially pacify and ameliorate any travel anxieties.

So acquiesce we do...

and realize that this novel thread does not provide instructions of how to operate within and without and around it.

So understand we must...

that this thread like any other is just different with varying dispositions that could be inviting or uninviting depending on any needle's will, participation and complacency.

So cut he does again...

and assimilates that there is no way out of this thread-bare existence, thus sees no other way out besides balancing once more into an ultimate gymnastic act of self-extinction of bent and circular incomprehension.

So observer he becomes...

and finally reaizes conscious that all pins, needles, filaments and other pin-pointed anatomies could turn themselves into acrobats, contortionists and stunts, and promptly act to sever themselves from every thread out there, and in the ensuing mayhem and chaos, could boldy and rigtheously avoid immediate reconection.

So ultimately...

all characters free-fall and concur around a comfortable meadow whose fertile ground suffices for everyone. And here they apprehend that a well-founded basis of common understanding is a much better and safer place to reside in than a loosely and diffuse set of suspended mid-air threads.

Thread Makers

Our minds are really voids resembling needle's eyes. So needles we are in this world and numerous threads trespass our heads to both keep us in line and at a distance from each other. Every piece of thread looks the same from beggining to end and each one is bound together by the same elementary particles throughout. What binds it also invests it with qualities of connectivity in terms of the transfer and continuum of essence and identity. Just like neural synapses inside the brain, threads are made up of various nodes of connection, so information can hence travel from one point to another via a well-trodden and unequivocal path.

How then could we transpose this metaphor in order to understand social and cultural behaviour which could be moulded by the constricting limits of the structures that "threads" impose upon us? It can be said that each and everyone of us has a needle's eye which at a certain stage in our lives is infiltrated by a particular type of thread that the context which we reside in has preparated for us. But if this preparation is overtly and blatantly tailor-made for us it is very difficult to ascertain. Because even though it is clear that the State and other countervailing institutions tacitly and sometimes openly collude in working hegemonically as thread-makers, it is also plausible to say that we ourselves practice the art of weaving those strands of simbolic meanings, values, norms and regulations that bind us together for the safety of our empty and solitude minds and existences.

Regardless of the way in which we are thrown in into a woven fabric of secure and comfortable composition, it is fundamental to comprehend how by participating in this, we not only enjoy the taken for granted lifestyles which are theoretically free of drifting in incomprehension and existential indifference. We also miss out on the best that a human existence really has to offer - a life of comprehension, tolerance and acceptance of the other and his and her subtle differences.

El Eterno Jardinero

Se arrecia la lluvia política debido a las próximas elecciones de este julio 2009. El momento de los manguerazos toma su máximo auge, ya que nos enfrentamos al regateo intensificado de spots mediáticos que encharcan y enlodan nuestras carreteras de intención y voluntad intelectual. Ya que por muchísimo mas que simple ósmosis, esta cascada de símbolos esquizofrénicos permean, penetran, infiltran y escurren nuestras mentes hasta el consentimiento.

Este jardinero no se cansa ni se cansará nunca de mojarnos con sus turbias aguas, ya que ningún otro camino le queda a este dueño del jardín - y del agua que lo moja - así como también dueño de las mismas mangueras que de sus firmes brazos se extienden plásticamente como protuberancias que no muestran el principio de su envergadura, pero si el oblicuo final de donde emanan sus acaudalados torrentes.

El estado nos obliga a convertirnos en recipientes de sus expresiones y de sus vanos e inútiles intentos de elaborar y articular un mensaje coherente y lo suficiente eficaz que nos haga creer en algo que ni siquiera el cree, o que mucho menos quiere poner en práctica por su propio bien como fin en si mismo. En esta banqueta todos nos mojamos por igual y lo peculiar de todo esto es que nos damos cuenta que estamos mojados. Pero lo peor de todo es que sabemos perfectamente quien nos mojó, y que el desear permanecer perfectamente secos es perfectamente fútil.

El estado mexicano, y su amante conspicua – los medios de comunicación - nos enjabonan y bañan y nos hacen cómplices de un juego que tenemos que jugar nos guste o no. El objetivo es empaparnos y el hacerlo de manera generalizada, para no nada mas hacernos reflexionar indefinidamente sobre ello, si no para que colectivamente se intensifique la humedad social, y que esas mismas aguas ahoguen nuestra profundidad de pensamiento como cuando se llena una noria. La bastardización de información que estamos viviendo nos cae encima como un tsunami y el tratar de escapar esta de sobra. Este líquido vital se convierte en un asesino por su voluminosidad y masificación, y nuestro vaso medio vacío se llena hasta el hastío, trasformando nuestro mundo y panorama simbólico en humor acuoso.

La democracia, ahogada y relavada como victima de este proceso, flota por nuestros alrededores como un pequeño bote a la deriva; su vela habiéndose desgarrado muchas millas náuticas atrás. De todo este horizonte, lo único que podemos hacer como náufragos de este sistema lagunero en permanente reproducción es juntar todas nuestras manos para que con nuestros múltiples dedos intentemos bloquear cada poro por donde ocurren sus filtraciones.

Death Camp Re-Visited: Auschwitz and Birkenau

Straight lines, logical parallels, sequenced buildings, counted pieces, clearly identified sectors, criss-crossing railway lines, perimetral electrified barbed wire fences, plethorical watch towers, precise human body count.

The Nazi's application of scientifist reason to commit one of history's most inhumane atrocities still leaves many perplexed. For it is not only the decimation and annihilation of populations that most frightens, but the motivation behind it all and the ensuing methodology which was followed, in order to achieve the desired goals.

The obsession with numbers was astronomical but the human element was relegated and encapsulated within a lunatic straight jacket of bizarre ideas pertaining to the hierarchical.

Mathematical formulas overtake personal narrative, projecting the former into a profusion of meticulously calculated scenarios of paradisiacal qualities. A capitalist solution was at hand so a cost-benefit analysis of war is king, whilst human casualty, predicament and collective fear are miscounted as mere obstacles and shortcomings, that which if promptly eliminated and quickly removed would surely legitimize the cause.

This calculation of glory surpassed the unimaginable. Personal goods were confiscated and scrutinized for the use value they could represent for the Third Reich. Like exchange mechanisms with market significance, clothes, spectacles, suitcases were confiscated and even hair was promptly torn down, eviscerating and emasculating the many individuals who resulted as victims of this most banal and monstrous of ideologies.

Law and order was imposed to the minute detail - but both embodied a monochromatic vision of hierarchical justice that favored death over liberty and community. Science was dismembered as a word and concept - letter by letter. Genetic and biological theory would surely perturb the most respectable members of the scientific clique worldwide. Because if some fertilizer could be tampered with in order to transform it (Zyclon-B) into the most efficient way of gassing people to death, then something had to be terribly wrong. And if architecture could cooperate with such an ignoble proposition by delineating and reinforcing the methods of destruction, then a revision of the order of things was more than a necessary priority. No wonder the Post-Modern cry for an urgent if not violent revision and paradigm change for something radically novel, or in some cases, simply different.

Auschwitz is a live museum that reveals how capable we are of self-extinction. The biggest stupidity in history is a lesson which was lived but one that has sadly been significantly ignored. Any visitor to the place could not even fathom the suffering that thousands went through. Trying to feel what was felt is impossible. But observing what was practiced in this most infamous of locations can teach anybody that the "final solution" was something very real and tangible. And as frightening as that could be, it is also reminiscent of a solution that has definitely not vanished from our world.

Mayan Prophecies, Mexican Revelations

It is my intention to describe in a succinct way the main events that have shaken Mexican society in recent years. The motivation behind this lies in striving to comprehend how these people that have throughout generations endured the most severe of hardships, nevertheless tend to rebuild themselves after countless bouts of consistent oppression. As an exile that fled during the accumulation of tumultuous events that led to systemic meltdown, it is emotionally pressing to be referring to a once semi-functional idea of a nation. Whatever the circumstances which led to the elaboration of this account, my only hope remains with the people, and to a lesser extent, with the rulers, that have over-night resulted as accidental caretakers of this novel but confused array of socio-cultural puzzles.

2009 was an awful year for the neo-liberal policy that had been espoused by the centre-right coalition (formed by the PRI and the PAN during the late eighties) for at least three decades. The global financial crisis dealt the ‘coup de grace’ to the bulk of the Mexican standard of living. Unemployment hit alarming heights due to the fall of available credit for business.  Industrial production came to a halt as the USA’s economy stagnated for the whole economic year.

Moreover, international business confidence fell dramatically as the Mexican state grappled with crippling insecurity mainly derived from the infamous narco wars. Tourism froze as a consequence, and fear prevailed due to the infighting. Foreign exchange remittances dwindled as receptor countries disposed of migrants in an effort to create jobs for local workforces. The military budget was greatly enlarged during the year, but to no avail, as the war against narco-trafickers proved inefficient, and this phenomenon punctured a big hole in the State’s legitimacy.

2010 was the year that the domestic crisis was no longer possible to be referred to a global scenario - thanks to the fact that economic stability was achieved in Asia and Europe - signalling the end of that nefarious psycho-financial event that rocked the foundations of capitalism. It was also the year that Mexico’s State machinery was no longer free to manoeuvre because of the drying up of public money. Tax collection was further diminished in 2010 as a result of the previous year of unproductive economic activity. Nevertheless, the State increased spending, and it did so where it most benefited for the short-term: it boosted the military and favoured big business by subsidizing inefficient companies. It also hurled tax money back to the people as a populist measure in order to fend of criticism.

But the worst was yet to come. The PAN’s extreme right wing policies of social control were not only proven unsuccessful, but were mostly uncovered by civil society in its effort to keep a perpetually corrupt and inept government in check. The Swine Flu Epidemic, better known as Influenza, no longer convinced the populace of its veracity, and it was revealed (with the help of foreign media) that its main purpose was to directly influence the capability of social mobilization in case of generalized discontent. This and other cases of increased limitation of civil liberties, encouraged and subsequently made into law by this same government, also came under fire.

Furthermore, the State’s ambiguous stance towards illegal drug use infuriated public opinion and civil society. On the one hand, drug distribution schemes were not really halted, because of the tangible need of maintaining a way to keep people entertained, stupefied and out of politics. And on the other hand, it was evident that the Army was really out there to stifle any public display of resentment against the State in times of financial meltdown and pronounced economic crisis. Ultimately, taxes were raised and international loans were furthered in order to save an economy that had hit rock bottom. As a result, popular dissatisfaction with this state of affairs spiralled out of control. The political alliance between the PRI and the PAN was finally broken, as the former espoused the much needed centre-left polices that where once followed by the left leaning PRD, who had by now (they merely kept Mexico City) extinguished to political dust. The PAN was politically isolated and the PRI was prompt in pinpointing it as the sole culprit of this systemic predicament.

But none of the governmental manoeuvres conformed to popular expectations, and what was enormously feared by the Elite became a gruelling reality. The popular movements of resistance in the indigenous south gained momentum and in no time extrapolated to neighbouring states. Ideologically led by Chiapas and Oaxaca and then followed by Guerrero and Yucatan, the whole Mexican south was thrown into chaos. Quintana Roo and Campeche had no other choice but to join a revolutionary movement that at least had some relevance to huge tracts of their indigenous peoples.

The post-colonial centres of power were thrown into a tailspin and the main cultural centres of economic supremacy were reluctant to give in into a kind of fighting that was thought of as forgotten for the republic. In trying to avoid a bloody confrontation, the central government attempted to concede to some of the main requests of the insurgents. But this was taken by others as an opportunity to make allegations of their own. It was by now evident that centuries of accumulated social and political grievances were under the table and were markedly affecting specific claims.

The northeastern city of Monterrey was blunt about the unfairness of an imbalanced tax burden that had been festering for decades. The northwestern cities of Hermosillo and Tijuana complained of a federal bureaucracy that was insensitive to local issues of migration and its relation to the United States, and of favouring the interests of only the three biggest cities in demographic and economic terms. The western city of Guadalajara did not come up with any demands, but remained expectant following a “wait and see” approach to the unfolding events.

The human casualties fell between the few hundreds and probably into the thousands, but mostly occurred in the southern region, as not much blood tainted the topography of the central, western, and northern parts of the nation. Probably a few hundred deaths ensued in revolts centred on Veracruz, Durango, and Nayarit. Taking advantage of the inflamed situation in the south, it is said that the aforementioned northern cities of Hermosillo and Monterrey conspired to act simultaneously in a most unexpected of ways. If 2010 marked the centenary of the Mexican Revolution, it also signalled 200 years of independence from Spanish colonial rule. Power struggles between the Executives of these northern states and the Presidency had been brewing for ages. Hence, rumour has it that a decision was made to declare dual independence from central rule embracing a discourse of separatism, event which would signal the end of the Mexican Federation and republic, as it has hitherto been known. According to them, this move meant “devolution” of power, and its justification was clearly shown by the irresponsible management of the country by the Federal District and its accompanying ensemble of bureaucrats.

The National Army was by then exhausted and overstretched because of the fighting against the rebel south, so it was impractical and logistically impossible to open two new fronts against the separatist north. Hence, a groundbreaking decision was taken in terms of capitulation, and the real reason was not only political but also economic. The national State had plundered its own resources in trying to put out the flames in the south, and the north’s unwillingness to cooperate  in tax terms complicated things even further. The culmination of the 2010 conflicts (which came about in the latter months of 2011) saw the creation of four new socio-political arrangements that can be described as follows:

1- The states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California (North and South), Chihuahua, Nayarit, Zacatecas and Durango formed a new country, with its capital in Hermosillo (which prevailed over Tijuana due to its centrally convenient position). This union was easy to materialize between states that shared a common cultural heritage, the “Ranchero” tradition. But two important hurdles had to be overcome in the process. This referred to the states of Zacatecas and Nayarit, who would have to be literally bribed in order to join the confederation. Hermosillo annexed them in order to function as buffer states, acting as bulwarks between this and the three other remaining nations. This new regional economy was decidedly pro-American, and both Tijuana and Hermosillo would be in charge of supplying the northern neighbour with the cheap labour it would require in the future. Moreover, tourism was greatly developed in the Baja Peninsula and Sinaloa, and cattle exports to Asia were encouraged.

2- The states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and half of Veracruz, formed a second “Industrial” merger, with its capital in Monterrey. It was negotiated to split the coastal state of Veracruz in half due to economic and cultural terms. The north was more related to Tamaulipas than to any other southern state. It was nevertheless a laborious task to extricate this land from the D.F.’s sphere of influence, as the latter was in vital need of a port in order to have access to the sea and its trade routes. On the other hand, this sole reason was very influential in San Luis Potosi’s decision to join this alliance, as its industrial goods where in need of overseas export, and the infrastructure of Tamaulipas ports was deemed unsuitable for them. The main economic activities of this semi-desert topographic area would be run by Monterrey, whose industrial policies would take precedence over the rest. Tourism became inexistent, and petroleum conveniently located in the easternmost portion of this new land would be directed towards bolstering economic growth by fuelling industry.

3- The states of Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo formed an “Agricultural” synthesis that came most naturally as a result of the popular revolt, and even though the white portions of Michoacan’s population where mostly against joining this union, they eventually decided to take advantage of a huge tract of land that had an immense potential. Moreover, Morelia was offered the country’s capital for its move closer. The other choice would have been to form part of a bureaucratic and socialist blend of the D.F. and its satellite and subservient landlocked states. As of Yucatan, it really had no other logical choice. The economic activity of this region would be primarily based on agriculture and farming, whose exports (now freed from the termination of NAFTA) would be directed towards Central and South America.

4- The states of Guanajuato, Puebla, Hidalgo, Morelos, Tlaxcala, Aguascalientes, Queretaro, Colima and Estado de Mexico did not really have a say. Their economies and societies where definitely bound to the central Distrito Federal. The appropriation of the southern half of Veracruz came as a relief, as negotiations with Jalisco where by then stalled due to its indecisiveness. So in order to lure Jalisco and its hub of Guadalajara into the constellation, a two-fold strategy was followed. First, it was offered the seat of the legislative power of the nation, leaving both the Executive and Judicial powers in the realm of D.F. The other strategy was more practical. Jalisco needed an Atlantic port for its exports destined to Europe, so Veracruz meant an unbeatable alternative. Jalisco absorbed Colima, and this tiny neighbour disappeared as an independent entity.

The economic orientation of this coalition became an eclectic combination of professional, financial and bureaucratic services, all supported by both a semi-intensive agriculture and industry that would be managed by the central bastion of the PRD, same which had been running local affairs for many years. Nevertheless, a power sharing agreement came into place with the PRI, who became responsible of conducting the affairs of the periphery. The outlook of this socialist economy would take advantage of its experienced human capital in the task of forging new alliances throughout the world.

2012 has been a year of world peace and stability but its seeds have yet to be sown in the multi-state region once known as Mexico. The newborn countries known as Ultra Sonoro, Magna Leon, Indoamerica and Multicopolis have yet to sit on the negotiating table in order to formulate some kind of agreement that could establish diplomatic and economic relations between them. In practice this has not been necessary, as every new country is taking advantage of its competitive geographical location. One thing is sure, policymakers as well as the peoples themselves have definitely dismissed conflict as an option.

A long time ago the Mayas, an autochthonous civilization from Mexico’s southeast, predicted that the end of the world would come. It is now plain to see that their calculations where misinterpreted. They were plausibly describing the known world to them, and this could have meant their Mesoamerican seat of power. Whatever the case, it seems that Mexico has fulfilled its life cycle, and it has in the process, led the way to a new socio-political organization that has been demarcated along more naturally economic and cultural lines.

As for me, I am more than bent on returning to the land of the Aztec and the Maya in order to reclaim some kind of citizenship that could substitute my Mexican nationality, one that has by now certainly expired.

-juan carlos guerra-

Moscow, Russian Federation

December 31st, 2012