Mexican public debate on social policy is hindered by a stubborn provincial outlook where all that is not familiar is often quickly cast aside as either ridiculous or dangerous. In this text we will discuss three key social policies of the fourth transformation through the lens of a comparison with other (Latin) countries. As I…
Nothing is more important in life than self-control. Matter of fact, one could philosophically argue that the ability to not do things is human life itself. This essay will explore self-control in a more practical way by looking at the role restraint plays in dealing with many of today’s challenges, ranging from water scarcity to…
In this essay I will explain why we should be good Marxists and stop fighting capitalism, and instead attempt to refocus our energy towards more productive efforts. This text is specifically aimed at young people with revolutionary, communist, or socialist sympathies, and everyone who more generally is critical of capitalism. And desert chefs interested in…
While having advantages in terms of funding and elite support, neoliberal politicians are rarely good at actually mobilizing people. This is evident in the amateurish attempts of Mexico’s right wing opposition to organize popular resistance against the president. I will claim this is connected to the failure of national elites in understanding a) how to…
They say children learn by example. I don’t know where my father got his honesty from, but I certainly got it from him. Unbelievable as it may sound, I have not once caught him lie. For this and other reasons, I take particular offence in one of the fastest emerging challenges of the twenty first…
Given the popularity of the gender topic, in this essay I risk losing half of my newly acquired audience. That is because instead of repeating progressive slogans, I will offer an alternative analysis of the relation between gender/queer identity politics and general leftist politics. Using my concept of ‘alternative value hierarchies’, I will highlight certain…
One sore spot of our modern world system is that it was never able to satisfyingly deal with mass migration and the uneasiness this ancient human phenomenon poses to nation states. The solution is not in sight, at least not in mine. What I do offer, is the insight that for a country like Mexico…
The prison system is easily the most problematic institution in Mexico. While other institutions, public or private, simply fail to deliver on their assigned objectives, prisons achieve the structural reversal of their goals: they make society less secure. As incubators of both crime and criminals, the deteriorated situation of jails and prisons in Mexico is…
The core twin evils of capitalism are exploitation on the one hand, and exclusion on the other. We are either integrated into the labor market where we are compensated less than we produce in order to enrich others – the Marxist meaning of exploitation. Or, we are excluded from the production process altogether. One response…
One of the annoyances of driving in a metropolitan Mexican city are the platoons of street vendors, ‘acrobats’, and car cleaners that ambush you at streetlights. I hate these hard-sale ‘services’, not only because they make my car dirty, but because of what they symbolize. I have love, understanding and spare change for beggars, whom…
