These are the journal entries I made during the trip. I'm posting them here so that all facets of my journaling of the trip will be available in one spot. Here they are:
2004/05/09 - Streets empty at breakfast; forces impacting Mexico: church and social revolutions (slow), political repitition and corruption, incoming MNCs and the struggle to maintain tradition and culture; Museum restaurant "green juice" ingredients: celery, pi�a, cactus, parsley, xoconoztle, orange, lemon
2004/05/08 - Mexico City -> 60 km across, UNAM with 350,000 students; museum->pre-hispanic Mexico City an island (no details as to reconstruction, but reused in centre); church shifting seismically; poor mothers send kids to beg; flying kits in square, traditional dances, organ grinders->all for money;
2004/05/07 - Im' thinking that the nuifying theme of the pre-trip and the trip itself is frontier theory. From the problem of revitalizing the KW downtown, to the abandon-ment of the Ceceto (sp?) women's centre for lack of an enemy to struggle against, to the happiness of the children and the hope of their struggling parents in the Bronca, to...
2004/05/06 - Nadine's birthday and song much longer, great cake, flowers, gifts;
Don Felix: GO's leader of farmers, had to flee
CED: resourceful, uses new technology to bring affordable water management to people;
Artisan: immigration/migration: moved from poorer state after father died, to make money; is single mom with five kids; works 9 AM through 2/3 AM; persecuted/humiliated on arrival: pays 1000 pesos per year for booth, plus utils, security, etc. (100 pesos/week); most sold to international tourists, but nationals used to buy;
2004/05/05 - Dreamt again (personal). Went to church early this morning with Ian, following the bellringer in. The front people sang, and the back people were silent (and many of them late; some carrying shopping bags.) It's Cinco de Mayo, they day Mexico beat France in Puebla state.
Artisans (Fabina and Mario de la Rosa): 1 million nahwatl (language, has 4 dialects) speakers in Mexico; each painting is a unique representation of ideas, etc.; history of papela: kind used by Aztecs, learned from father (who himself learned from communal elders) around age 12, puts a lot of passion in and forms his own style; family has 6 brothers; Fabian started at age 5, able to do a good job by age 8; 4 hours to water source in his home town, though, so lots of overhead;
Florentino Agular del Frente Zapatista del Liberacion Nacional (FZLN, not to be confused with the Zapatista army, the EZLN): grassroots movement in different areas of the world; all about human rights and feeling the value of human beings; process will inevitably be good for all; looking at other ideas in struggle; some in government feel need to be closer to people, others want to be close to MNCs, businesses, etc.; since 1994, FZLN has tried to be the peaceful counterpart to the EZLN; exchanges ideas with other INGOs/NGOs; notheing new, same struggle; hard to sort out struggle because cultures are all different; they're against MNCs because of pollution, destruction, etc.; only 25 years of water left: desalination is an expensive operation and unnatural; Peruvian-US guy claims to own moon, is selling land (?); (this is what ricos do); breaking borders, FZLN is about a way of looking at people not as foreigners, but as fellow humans; Internet is allowing advances; freedom costs a lot, money is not all; global movement would be better; Ghandian influence; CostCo comes to destroy economy, culture, etc.; protests (peaceful) saw some go to jail;
Parachuting community: created ~27 years ago in response to government land takeover attempt; women's centre started as sowing co-op;
Mercedes: worked here for 20 years; NGO for training and services; many problems and many happinesses; some work from home; baking centre also organized here; helps parents take care of kids; medicare and gym added; open to all communities who need it; charge very little, just enough to survive; all are volunteers; parents donate; subscription to breakfast and lunch is only 50 pesos per week; 3 permanent volunteers and a committee; 15-20 kids base, 70+ after school; allows women to feel comfortable working, knowing kids in good hands; they help with homework; difficult keeping space and paying utilities; no government support besides occassional vaccines; usually tries to appropriate space; looking to get libarry, community centre, but still remain debt free; now that the goverment has added things (paved streets, etc.) community is less united-by-struggle: battle's over, go home; utility bills are high
Christian base communities: Agus and Licha: Licha's a state member in the national assembly; CDD-> pro-choice Catholic organization; Agus said it's good to have us here because we stimulate the economy; Bible-readers-> look, think, act (sounds like Praxis); helped organize lab strikes in 1970's over working conditions; laycos (laypeople's groups) supported by bishop; Licha-> one formed based on the second Vatican doctrine of evangelism; they changed mass from Latin to Spanish around then-> the church allowing it gave the impression of acceptability to participate in church in community; looked for personal instruction in the Bible; helped organize solutions for problems faced; sense created that we're responsible for all going on around us; awareness of 10-20-70 (rich-middle-poor split) affirmed two other steps: evaluate and celebrate; Don Sergio (bishop) worked with Latin America in the 80's; "first" bishop to visit someone in jail, had political involvement; was conscientious and informed; got group participating with obligations to help one another; old style foundations; worried people in power, but gave the poor hope; new bishop rejects this, shuffles priests; now much smaller; less emphasis on bishop now, understanding that Jesus leads and that baptism made them church members; what's done: meetings, reading form Bible, make sure understood through skits, presentations, analysis, reflection, plan to act; visit sick, singing, prayer; newspapers sometimes brought and integrated into discussion; e.g., resurrection as topic->spent a week in a poorer community spreading the Word; preists didn't listen so much to new bishop; they also read documents of Vatican to back up their actions and to stick it to the Vatican; some priests speak out opnely against it, try to prohibit it, close down buildings; once arrived, Catholic scene dominated by threats, etc., which is tough to break from public consciousness; people are tired of work, so some bought new priests' aversion to excuse them from it; work done: nutrition, food distribution, co-op; new political party no better, but woke people up to voting power; they invite othe rchurches to Bible studies/social justice events, but they don't come (protestant churches, etc.); youth not interested in analysis; (can't read my writing) has been on Yugoslavian commission; marriage without courting is (was) common as were many divorces; many issues big; exploring "God's feminine side" (L);
2004/05/04 - Dreamt last night (personal). Still not sure what to take from the trip. Nothing too striking here. Protty comfortable. I _was_ looking forward to the meeting with the mayor (apparently cancelled), why?, possibly because I wanted to say I had. The trip to the poor neightbourhood today should be much more interesting. I still haven't experienced much (besides food and the market paradigm) that I couldn't have from a book just as well. Paul made an interesting point last night that it's unlikely we'll change Mexico if we still can't get along with people around us back home. This is the classic missionary paradox. On the other hand, without some political activism at home, all the ince community bulding we can do will never reach Mexico while those in power are unaffected by us. Also, I'm decidedly pessimistic about spreading our community's connectedness (should we ever obtain it) to the world, given that Mexicans appear to have a leg up, and that if the world was meant to be Paradise, Revelations would be false, which is something I'm finding few evidences to consider a possibility.
Alfredo Dominguez: organizer, university union consultant; some Mexicans in Canada, especially in Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta; only 42 million labourers (1/3 of population); problem: labour force not active; PEA (active, full-time labourers): 20 million; other 22 million: informal, part-time, etc.; poor lack access to federal social services; situation came about in 1950's, hence agreements with US, Canada, etc. to do seasonal work ("braseros"--work with arms)->20 million went to the US and just stayed; agreement over in 1962-> maquila (group of people working for outside owner); filiales (brands of MNCs)->accepted their settling near US border (3200 km long) on Mexican side; Rio Bravo goes from coast to gulf; Zona Franca (free zone): each country has one, 40km-wide; min wage is $5.75/hr is US, $5.00/8 hrs ($0.625/hr) in Mexico; 200 MNCs (strongest) control governments; money doesn't integrate in local/national economy; 1964-2000, 4,500 MNCs settled; 2000-2004 it's getting worse especially with the corruption and Mafia; problem: people who live close don't want to work there because wage is low; most products and resources exported; 1917-2000 dominated by PRI (supposedly revolutionary!); these lead to NAFTA/TLCAN (ALENA in French); few Mexican banks in Mexico (all US, Canadian, Japanese, British, etc.); G7 has to be in (indirectly or directly) Venezuela, Mexico, Iraq, etc. over oil; called Zapatistas "ignorant, shoeless"; Mexico negotiating to do its own oil refining; women have to prove they're not pregnant every 28 days (by medical certificate) or they lose their MNC job, yet they make up 40% of the MNC labour force; technical differences exist between workers' and human rights; Mexican women tolerate it, coming from rural communities, they don't know their rights and accept any payment; maquilas have unions, but they protect owners, not workers; most employees are youth; 365 women dead, raped, abducted, etc. but the UN didn't know for 10 years--police _are_ the criminals; social services only apply to 50 million people; pregnant women have health services, but afterword they're fired and lose rights; corrupt judge at labour tribunal unlikely to restore those rights; government doesn't allow unions for women, citing national security; HR code af conduct signed by Mexico since 1950; tribunals in US tough for poor to get to; ASARCOM, Frisco, Cananea (Pacific Northwest)-> mining companies in hands of US and British: sent marines to kill workers; gringo comes from "green--go!" (uniforms--move in) call from marines; companies don't give safe equipment to use (despite signing internation agreements); to protest, they came to work naked, carrying lunch; company rejected->national court->forced to provide safe tools; protestors in Germany even supporting Mexicans; government on May1 forgets and has no interest; workers afraid if rights are imposed, MNCs will go elsewhere; key to campaign: respect HR; mercado: "kill your idols" T-shirt; lights with tin pan shades; silant-o cactus/livevocartoon.com
Erika and Flor from Alta Vista: comedor (dining room): poor supporting poor; battle addiction, repair destroyed families, etc.-> getting kids off the street into church, or at least to discover values; poor cook for poor (program provides materials)->some activities (running on zero support besides communities giving food), values disappearing; every other Sunday: eat, play, do workshops; discovering dignity; support dysfunctional families and single mothers who have escaped domestic violence; have seen change in kids: they now help with housework, share with other kids, get closer and have more confidence; changing church admins less co-operative; rebuilds families-> parents join Christmas meal; work directly with parents too; government has housing, buti it's pay-for and only if you have a job;
La Baranca: gov't calls 'illegal' to avoid providing services, yet changes taxes; kids want (this is what they drew): flowers, a soccer field, and that sewage was hidden; Mexican flags were flying here.
2004/05/03 - Lalo Castillo: focus on democracy: resolve electoral process; working with farmers as cultural engineer; kids' rights big: focus on nutrition, etc.; they organize workshops and rock concerts focussing on youth and kids' rights, promote sports, exchange between adults and youth, and lack of drugs; 2000 pop stats: 2/3 under 20, 35% of total between 12 and 20; 60% have informal employment (** de Soto point?) street vending, etc.; 50% are professionals in Mexico City (compare Tepotzlan); many are construction workers; 40% are droupouts due to a lack of money, 12% due to marriage; school typically abandoned after high-school because many jobs require a high-school diploma; 68% want to keep studying because they want to get richer and have a higher standard of living; 4 million indigenous youth in 13179 towns: of that, 46% are illiterate and older than 15, 78% don't finish public school, 48% of illiterate are women; yet life expectancy is 69/71; leading causes of death: poor problems (stomach) and heart problems (especially in big cities, obesity); over 50,000 youth immigrate to the US every year; 2/3 of youth (15-24) live with parents; 26% of women are victims of domestic violence; 1/2 don't talk about sex or politics in their families (46% to mom, 57% to dad); fathers more likely to be conservative; thrice yearly vaccination campaigns (for all major diseases, like polio, etc.); 62.6% don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend; 37.5% have one before the age of 15; 95.3% have noviazgo (betrothal) by age 20; only 11% have sex by age 15, 44.4% never had by age 20, both mainly because of fear of STDs and pregnancy; 47.7% don't use contraceptives; tons of misinformation in circulation: learning from older ignorant youth; 74.7% had had only one sexual partner within the last year; 85.5% have had 3 or less partners before marriage; surprized because parents think youth very promiscuous, also link sex with drugs and violence; next surprize: youth not passive/apathetic: 93% have gotten their voting card; 78% do vote; 80% turnout (total) at 2000 federal election, but 2003 municipal election only had 40% turnout/60% abstain; youth prefer envirornmental, human, indigenous, and animal rights issues, but not through government; candidates are government-funded; On religion: 87.5% believe in the Virgin of Guatalupe; 89.1% believe in souls; 82.1% in miracles; 86.2% in sins; these government statistics are questioned just like in Canada (NGOs don't have the resources to conduct surveys, so they take what they can get); government has little money for research--fund raising occurs through food sales and so on; "los domingos": parents give allowance on Sunday; kids have constitiutional rights to school, but some can't afford (50-55 students per teacher) due to different filters: if you don't have a brother or sister in school, you may have to go to one further away, but the busses are public busses (pay per ride); even if you get to school, it's on the magatino/baspertino system, wherein the school system has the physical buildings change hands daily at noon (between elementary and high); many teachers go into other professions because of a lack of jobs and the low wage of 5000 pesos per month; graffiti appeared recently--gangs and delinquents aren't linked to it, though; young people have legal graffiti outlets; current graffiti is about indigenous, environmental, and labour issues; sometimes people feel like prisoners in their own country: lack of money; condoms--which are expensive to get or require a doctor's appointment--are the main contraceptive because women are embarrassed to ask about sexuality (taboo); two health systems: one for public workers and one for everyone else; provida (abortion issue) at play now; some indigenous and nun groups do forced sterilizations; many divorces occur (especially in the first three years of marriage) in the middle class (it's expensive, so some poor people wanting divorces live two married lives because they can't afford to break the old one); also, rising common law rate, but less rights as far as father having to provide, etc.; Daniel (at Poder Joven): part of government, promotes volunteering, is like Big Brothers of America in that it's youth working with youth, it pushes academics and arts and recreation, it works with the marginalized through food drives as well as nutritional workshops, and centres provide free Internet access for youth; they have a free youth art gallery; 88 government-sponsored youth centres exist in Mexico; they need more resources for youths starting their own small businesses and so on; only four paid positions exist at the centre; fundraising occurs through INGOs, NGOs, the UN, and other GO partnerships; by law they aren't allowed to receive money--only supplies, services, etc. directly as gifts-in-kind; they have eight-six volunteers in the three centres in Morelos; users come from all classes, but cluster depending on activity; family violence is common, yet seldom reported, and the centre can only act when something's reported; they have programs for people aged 12-29, but nobody is turned away (most are 15-22);
2004/05/02 - Xochicalco site: pinhole camera (on large scale): could observe stars on cave/tunnel floor without telescope; compare with Tenochtitlan (from Manzanillo trip), which was 500 years later according to museum timeline--very similar in many ways, but lacked The Game (ball game with key-shaped stone mounted 30 metres high);
2004/05/01 - Pool is nice even in the morning. Off to cathedral nearby: 1st in North America (1523, commisioned by Pope). Street marches: "tribunal concia y arbitraje �corruptos!" (the courts are corrupt) and "Ivan Arenas corrupto", chant: I could only make out the recurring "�la gente se preguntas!" (you ask the people!). Crushed glass on walltops at the Jardines (earlier along path up the mountain at Tepotzlan too)--barbed wire replacement or anti-birdpoop measure, we're not sure. Ads in the gardens: "naturmin@hotmail.com" on big banner. Mexicans on US: US is "father of Mexico" in sense that they have to ask permission about anything; Malinche: indigenous woman who got married into Spanish culture as merchandise->nickname for those who prefer American to Mexican culture; similar to Latin America (speaker had friends there); yet more trade with US; indigenous label had negative overtones; missing from our Mexican portrait (when we met with the Mexican youth): soccer, TV, and Coke; some reject indigenous culture; no Spanish link left: they reject Spain's treatment of indigenous, but still do similarly; prejudice against poor (less indigenous per se because each of blood and culture is so mixed); indigenous are 12-13% of 110 million Mexicans, found in 62 communities; Mexico City has international culture communities like Toronto; 10-20-70% rich-mid-poor split; most indigenous are poor; divorce kept secret from abuelos (grandparents/extended family) because of big stigma; pregnant and unmarried at age 28--dad disappointed yet supported in the end out of love; parents pay all (semi-independence) in many cases. Trip to mall: Sears logo black?; Dippin' Dots with English slogan; bus ride: cramped, saw English grafitti (F-word, etc.). Watched f�tbol game at local bar: much like watching hockey in Canada, except for addition of DJ-hype-accompanied strobe lights after goals and even favoured ref calls; English music videos played after game (not even subtitled or translated);
2004/04/30 - Excellent sleep. Breakfast was great. Saw many bugambilia on the bus ride. Mountain climb wasn't bad. Good to get solid exercise. Saw raccoon-like animals at top, and helium heart balloon somebody had released. Site had signs like Colima's. Noted woman making sign of cross when passing church. Arch made of beans/corn/grain tells different historical story each year; this year's: king at top the one who converted natives, others tried to kill him for it. Met with social activist after lunch: fights alongside indigenous people; they consider themselves part (in the way of descendants, etc.) of the indigenous culture (not mixed or outsider) in Tepotzlan; city's greatest movements in 1994/1995: prevented a golf course from going up (it was about greater things--the way it was presented was that indigenous people were ignorant; brochures falsified Tepotzlan: 70% of citizens are professionals or studying, yet golf course would require labourers, not managers; it also didn't consider environment nor culture)--was made of postly young people who learned from experienced older generations on how to resist; was started by se�oras; had strong, party atmosphere, connecting people in a way that small celebrations often spread city-wide; fiesta became the method of communication; movement was successful because it also connected to other cities and countries: two-way communication discovered similar things happening elsewhere in the world (Canada, Hawaii, Phillipines, lattermost with armed conflict and the course went up anyway, to the greater poverty of the region now; Mohawks also had a stand-off), encouraging solidarity; yet, this was the only successful resistence to neoliberal golf courses in Latin America, possibly because of mix: 80% fiesta, 20% politics. On the 10th anniversary (April 10th) of all this, they partied and had a march to another city dressed as revolutionaries (with fake gun belts, etc.), and the police repressed them, phoned death threats, etc., and even students were nervous. Overall, they succeeded by using their rich culture and history to fight. Meals were offered at the town hall, another community outlet; many marches had more women than men; three roles for women now: mother, lover, activist: many divorces, but many marriages too, because outsiders connecting had the same worldview; committee in town hall: 15 men, 5 women, but decisions were made by women outside pressuring the group; still a union, but less now, because there's no common enemy at the moment (taking a break). Tourism is strong here (75% of economy now) compared to other nearby places, but they still want to keep their identity; before the 1980's, wasn't a tourist dest: main economy was agriculture (now a luxury because owning property is so difficult: joke goes, "sure I own property: my nails"; land transfers almost prohibited, hence the flora and fauna still here ("few endangered" said museum)). Governments at local and national level "understand each other"--people would be upset if the government started changing things all over; now that Fox is in charge, there are more rich people (15 instead of 2 (e.g. "Slim") controlling 95% of the wealth); some ignorance in administration; common scene: mayors move up to state government if in cahoots. Tepotzlan prefers the image of being a stubborn, non-"advancing" town. Talked with Paul on bus ride back, found out Waterloo Band is conducted by my old music teacher from my Brantford high school; we said "small world" but not really, tying in with earlier statements about how it's only small for the single-digit percentage of the world's population who can afford to travel freely and often (and how they usually end up at tourist spots.) Dinner today was the same dish we ordered a number of times through room service at Manzanillo, but it had a more interesting texture here and was spicier. After, we hit the Internet caf�, which was very lax, having no timers. Wandering about the city, we walked by some dark alleys (downhill, narrow), but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary. We hit the grocery (local, but bought out by Wal-Mart, as receipt showed), bought some sorbet and chips. Sorbet choices: Yom-Yom (made in Mexico), Nestle (also made in Mexico). Yom-Yom was good, but we should've tried both to compare.
2004/04/29 - No expectations going in here, except for something life-changing in an undefined way. This morning our Air Transit van was only 500 yards away when a car on the side of the road exploded into flame--we could've been next to that! Somehow, though, I was desensitized so much that burning car and pavement barely provoked a twinggge in me to pray. After that, flights were uneventful. I did like the first part of the pre-trip readings, before it got into the history. Interestingly, there was more to be spoken on that by Jorge at the group intro than I expected (very little), and it was also of note that Labour Day for them is more celebrated (not just "get drunk") and is also based on events in Chicago. The city, as we drove through and when we stopped in to a few of the stores, was very similar to Manzanillo, and I recognized a few chains and brand names I had only seen there before. Manzanillo had very little poverty compared to the neighbourhood we ultimately arrived at, though.
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