VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

 

Las Palabras: Fusiles y Nenes - rifles and babies; Corridos - common folk songs honoring heroes; Ejido - land owned communally; Los Extranjeros - the foreigners; La Anima de Mexico - the spirit/soul of Mexico; Delegado - delegate to the state government at Tuito

November 17, marks Mexico's revolution from a dictatorial government and the beginning of its great Republc.  Yelapa celebrates in fine style with our children parading as little revolutionary men and women carrying fusiles and nenes while marching toward freedom from tyranny.  Like all countries, Mexico has had its share of good, bad and ugly Presidents and elected officials.  Currently, we are served by President Felipe Calderon, who is following the progressive path set upon by the more recent ascendency of U.S. University graduates to the high office of president as Mexico advances to a new level of industrialization and development in a new century. (Revolution Day used to be Nov. 20, my anniversary in Yelapa but demand for a 3-4 day weekend....wonder where they got that idea?) 

Revolution Day, however, reminds us through corridos written about their heroics, of leaders rising from among the poor pueblos.  Indigenous leaders such as Benito Juarez and Emiliano Zapata, fought the revolution for agrarian reform - the right to a portion of the lands previously only held by the wealthy and the extranjeros.  The Ejido system - community held land - was born and is stll in existence although many, by vote, are opting to end their collectivity and to have individual title to their land.  Yelapa, indigenous land granted by the Royal Charter of King Phillip, is a comunidad but there is the possibility that someday they too will vote for individual title.

We often say that Yelapa is a microcosm of the rest of the world and changes are as profound here as anywhere else where technology seems not only to be wondrous and even magical but also problematic in its impact on our more earthly, organic existence.  I always loved Ishi's observation that anglos were clever children - they constantly amazed him, the last Yahi Indian, with their technology and inventiveness but they had little talent for managing their fantastic creations.  How will Yelapa and greater Mexico manage the waste byproducts of their recent classification as a newly industrialized nation?  Ojala they will see and learn from the rest of the world the consequences of rapid development. 

Global entities, who, like roving bands of warlords constantly seeking investment opportunities, are encouraging Mexico to go/grow faster but there has always been and probably always will be the revolutionary anima of the Mexican populace, including little Yelapa, which helps to strike a balance on the road to industrialization.  Mexicans will march for a thousand miles, camping out in the Capitol, to register their protests which most often include hundreds of thousands of demonstrators.  They will form a union at the drop of a hat to get better wages and working conditions. I recently learned that some of our students from the telesecondaria school marched to the office of our delegado to protest the waste management project being placed near their school.  I suppose they want some assurance that the plant will be safe and not pollute.....Wouldn't we all like that throughout all the world?  And when we have our roving band of developers in Yelapa, don't we always ask - where will they get their water, how big will their septic tank be?

I hope Mexico will always have a revolutionary attitude and spirit, will always be willing to enter political debate and in that way will provide the necessary balance to those who would dictate!

Viva la revolucion!  Viva Mexico!  Viva Yelapa!

from an old cultural revolutionary, Maria