Schettino on the Congress

This was published before the PRD's National Congress was completed, but outcome was in some ways not very much in doubt:

At a meeting of the left I commented that the Mexican left has the problem of originating in two deeply anti-democratic traditions: Marxism and Cardenasism. The two traditions, both with serious problems in offering something acceptable in this 21st century. The subject of their affection, the laborer, is no longer a fundamental character, neither in Mexico nor in any other part of the world. Today, it's not easy to obtain concrete proposals for the big groups of the population with these may of seeing the world, now anachronistic. Maybe that's why the PRD maintains a discourse centered on the phantasms they created by themselves: neoliberalism. Salinas, the ultra-rightist, the PRIAN. Non-existent specters that are barely enough for a speech at a protest, not a political proposal. They didn't invite me to another meeting, it's worth mentioning.

The capacity to propose concrete ideas to make Mexico a competitive country is missing in Mexico, as is the assumption of ideas that in other countries are wholly of the left, such as a solid revenue stream that allows for the redistribution of wealth, or universal systems of public health or social security, or mechanisms of basic income. Not small aid programs financed by cuts in investment, as has been done in DF.

It's so hard for the left to define itself because its cardenista history is, at the end of the day, the same as the PRI, in such a way that all of the proposals that originate will always be absorbed by the other party, with much more political weight. And those that originate from its other tradition, that of Marxism, stopped making sense a good while ago.

What the Mexican left needs, if it wants to one day come to power, is to put forth a political offer attractive to Mexicans in the 21st century and that is different from what the PRI can offer. That is what is marginalizing them, not the internal dispute or the delirium of their caudillo.

Renouncing revolutionary nationalism as well as simplistic Marxism would be a great step forward for the PRD in this national congress. But they won't do it. They will adjust their rules, measure their strength, and continue in the slide that is leading them to be just another of the small parties; no more than witnesses, though privileged ones, to the advance toward a bipartisan Mexico.

The big thing is the inability to put forth concrete solutions. In its most visible iteration, the Mexican left doesn't offer much of anything beyond anger. Which is good for appealing to the irredeemably angry, but what of the need to extend beyond them?