Movement For Peace With Justice And Dignity
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The Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) (Spanish: ''Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad'') is an ongoing
protest movement A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...
that began on 28 March 2011 in response to the
Mexican Drug War The Mexican drug war is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric armed conflict between the Federal government of Mexico, Mexican government and various Drug cartel#Mexico, drug trafficking syndicates. When the ...
, government and corporate corruption, regressive economic policies, and growing economic inequality and
poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
. The protests were called by
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
poet
Javier Sicilia Javier Sicilia (1956, Mexico City) is a Mexican poet, essayist, novelist, peace activist and journalist in Mexico. He contributes to various print media such as the Mexico City daily ''La Jornada'' and '' Proceso'' magazine. He was founder and dir ...
in response to the death of his son in
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
. The protesters have called for an end to the Drug War, the
legalization of drugs Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing, legalizing, or repealing laws that prohibit the production, possession, sale, or use of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include drug legalization, drug releg ...
, and the removal of then-
President of Mexico The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...
Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...
. Protests have occurred in over 40 Mexican cities, including an estimated 50,000 in Cuernavaca and 20,000 in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. The protests continued in Cuernavaca on 5 May, when over 600 marched against the Drug War. The movement headed by Sicilia may have had a role in the rejection in 2011 of a reform to the National Security Act that would have granted more attributions related to public security to the
Mexican Armed Forces The Mexican Armed Forces () are the military forces of the United Mexican States. The Spanish crown established a standing military in colonial Mexico in the eighteenth century. After Mexican independence in 1821, the military played an import ...
.


Events


May 2011 protests

Following
Javier Sicilia Javier Sicilia (1956, Mexico City) is a Mexican poet, essayist, novelist, peace activist and journalist in Mexico. He contributes to various print media such as the Mexico City daily ''La Jornada'' and '' Proceso'' magazine. He was founder and dir ...
's sons death on 28 March, and open letter "To Mexico's Politicians and Criminals" a silent protest took place in
Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...
, Mexico City on 8 May. The protest began in
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
, Morelos where more than 200,000 protesters walked 100 km to Mexico City. Some protesters were covered in blood, while others carried pictures of their dead family members. The slogans in these protests include "Estamos hasta la madre!" ("We've had it!") and "No más sangre" ("No more blood").


5 September 2011

On 5 September 2011, President Felipe Calderon gave the fifth state of the nation address since his contested election in 2006. More than 50,000 people attended a demonstration to the
Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...
main square in Mexico City. More than half the square has been occupied since May 2011.


The 15 October Movement

Demonstrations occurred throughout Mexico as part of the
15 October 2011 global protests The 15 October 2011 global protests were part of a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the Icelandic protests, the Portuguese "Geração à Rasca", the Spanish "Indignants", the Greek protests, and the Occupy movement. The prote ...
. Hundreds of people marched at the
Monument to the Revolution Monument to the Revolution may refer to: * ''Monument to the Revolution'' (Kozara), a 1972 World War II memorial sculpture by Dušan Džamonja * '' Monument to the Revolution of the people of Moslavina'', a 1967 World War II memorial sculpture by ...
at one of the smaller protests of the day. This protest was connected to the world
Occupy Movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...
, which although centres around the world financial imbalance, carries multiple causes. The protest held in Mexico contained signs that read; No blood or STOP the war on drugs.


Meeting with Cabinet

The organizers of the main protests, also known as the ''Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity'' were able to voice their concerns to the Federal Cabinet in June 2011. In response to the protests anti-military concerns Calderon explained "Violence does not occur in a particular place because the Federal Forces are there. The opposite is true: the Federal Forces are there because that is where there is violence. It is the violence of criminals that kill and abduct rather than the state's response to combat them that has caused this situation."


Goals

The main goals of these protests are to 'pull the army off the streets', decrease the death number specifically of innocent bystanders by ensuring the safety of citizens. The protesters are not in favour of President Calderon's drug-cartel dismantling policies, namely his national security strategy creating 'militarization of the war on drugs', where cities became reminiscent of battle grounds between battling cartel and government militia.


Controversies

Despite the many deaths of political figures, the protesters brought to light the heavy civilian death toll, carrying pictures of loved ones who have been killed in the country's drug related violence. The numbers are not concrete due to lack of police records and discrepancy but estimates but the number to the tens of thousands. This discrepancy points to police corruption as authorities are being accused of "under-reporting the number of deaths or deliberately changing the details of those killed to make it appear that the victims are criminals rather than civilians". Additionally, Calderon's National Security Strategy was heavily debated as it sanctions 'warrantless searches, the detention of suspects without charges; the collection of intelligence and counterintelligence "using any method; and electronic surveillance of citizens".


National Pact

A Nation Pact, signed 14 June was a collaborate effort to set out an outline for the civilians demands. These demands follow the outline of the goals of the protests and include ' giving more visibility to the victims of violence and their families, ending the administration's "militarized approach" to combating crime, punishing corruption and impunity, working to address the social and economic causes of organized crime.'Can Mexico's Peace Movement Change Calderon's Strategy?


International impact

The influence and growth of these protests have led to smaller demonstrations held in cities all over the world. Cities with Mexican sub-communities such as Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Montreal, The Hague, and Frankfurt have held their own protests in support of crisis in Mexican cities. Protests were also coordinated in Washington, D.C., as U.S. policy supports and supplies Calderon's policies.


See also

*
Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...
*
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...
*
15 October 2011 global protests The 15 October 2011 global protests were part of a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the Icelandic protests, the Portuguese "Geração à Rasca", the Spanish "Indignants", the Greek protests, and the Occupy movement. The prote ...
*
2011 Spanish protests The anti-austerity movement in Spain, also referred to as the 15-M Movement ( Spanish: ''Movimiento 15-M''), and the Indignados Movement, was a series of protests, demonstrations, and occupations against austerity policies in Spain that began a ...
*
Civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...
*
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
*
Corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...
*
Corporatocracy Corporatocracy or corpocracy is an economic, political and judicial system controlled or influenced by business corporations or corporate Interest group, interests. The concept has been used in explanations of bank bailouts, excessive pay for ...
* Economic inequality *
Grassroots movement A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
*
Oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...
*
Plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...
*
Zapatista Army of National Liberation The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Since 1994, t ...


References

{{Portal bar, Society, Politics, Business and economics, Mexico Protests in Mexico 2011 in Mexico Battles of the Mexican drug war
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...