Would love to see this transform into qualitative change… unfortunately in the meantime indigenous are still being beat by police and her security secretary helped cover up the death of 43 politically active indigenous teachers. I don’t have much faith in liberalism but nevertheless I always want to see improvement. I worry about celebrating these largely symbolic gestures prematurely, especially considering faux support of indigenous communities while selling their land to companies like blackrock has been quite the theme of her administration.

“Progressive” what do you mean? Mexico has its own racial hierarchy. The reconquista would certainly not be supported by the natives living in the surrounding reservations/populations, as Mexico would to all evidence strip them of the little soverignty they have. Mexico attempting to claim native lands is 100% labensraum.

People need to educate themselves on the unique dynamics of white supremacy in Mexico. Just because a native married a slave owner to survive through a brutal caste system doesn’t mean their decendants are natives. Just because Mexico appropriates and distorts indigenous culture doesn’t mean actual native communities aren’t treated horribly. Replacing a white labensraum with pretendian labensraum isn’t progressive! That goes for Mexican nationalism and its extension of Atzlan which has wormed its way into “ML” orgs

Ah sorry I misread. I understand that Mexico, were it to have a revolution similar to Cuba’s, could maintain its borders while flipping its class system on its head leaving it to be in a good position to challenge US imperialism. I don’t think Sheinbaum’s indicative of this kind of change and I think that’s where my confusion came from, there’d need to be a decolonial socialist military movement as was the case in Cuba for this to happen but it could potentially occur.

I think the issue is in referring to Mexico as ever having it to be stolen in the first place. The land swapped hands from one colonizer to another, in revolution this doesn’t change that the entrapped indigenous would be the driving force of progressive change. There’s certainly something to be said about the expansionism and imperialism of the US even towards another settler colonial state, but the framing here implies that returning the land to the Mexican government would be progressive.

There is room for improvement, and Mexico is not once settler-colonial it is still settler colonial just like the US, with the poorest classes being the decendants of slaves and indigenous people who don’t even have the soverignity the US affords. Last will be first and a revolutionary Mexico would be created by these hyper exploited people so the entrapped nations within so called Mexico can be freed.

It’s hard to have hope that she really wants to dismantle these structures of oppression. I can understand she expresses Mexico’s need for a nationalism away from the dying US state, and I can even believe she wants a Mexico free of US imperialism, but even if settlers will always be a part of the area’s history the solution is going to be in a reassertion of native sovereignty and active decolonization thus eliminating settlers through the removal of their exploitative relationship with the land and its people. The reform she does is in the interest of maintaining the Mexican state which I believe is adverse to these goals and the “mistakes” of police violence are not mere accidents but in the intended design.

I do agree with your assessment that it’s a show that US imperialism is fading and that without it Mexico will be more able to progress beyond its settler colonial past and present. But Sheinbaum’s collaboration with the US isn’t one of using the time to build an alternative non-exploitative economic base (socialism) and building up material strength of the oppressed nationalities within Mexico as China does, but rather one of kinship, shared history and goals towards oppressing the natives as to maintain the settler state.

I do worry however, I’m not sure if she can really be considered qualitatively more progressive in any actionable way. Mexico’s anti-US imperialism has always run hallow ala Turkey and Sheinbaum is still collaborating with the US on the border and aiding deportation while killing indigenous protesters at home and continuing the long tradition of Mexican appropriation of indigenous culture etc. etc.

I also worry due to the unique aspects of mexican settlerism, particularly the strength of indiginismo and that settler move to innocence present among mestizos that in the event of the inevitable US downfall there may be a continued Mexican settler nationalism, possibly even a strengthened one under a project like Atzlan or just reclamation of “occupied Mexican territory”. I can’t imagine it would be a long lived project past the lifespan of US imperialism but Mexico’s unique history of settler-colonialism tells me that it’s more than the US keeping the indigenous and black populations of the area oppressed and hyper exploited and would take further dismantling

I know you don’t mean Harris, but I don’t know why anyone’s going to bat for the head of a settler state who isn’t even a SocDem. Yeah she believes in climate change, but like… she’s a mestizo operating an incredibly violent settler state that’s very complicit in US imperialism. It’s not disimilar than advocating for Harris because she doesn’t revel as much in xenophobic rhetoric

I would be wary of the idea of America stealing Mexico, both states are on stolen land. Kinda like saying Michigan is stolen Canada.

I will say I analyze it quite differently – Mexico’s state relies on the same settler colonialist system as the US, and thus would never dare lash out on the system that its entirely predicated on. Mexico would need to cease to be Mexico to be able to be anti-imperialist in a meaningful way.

Critical support

https://x.com/evoespueblo/status/1828571263297556789

https://x.com/evoespueblo/status/1837445598640816335

In the first one here Morales talks about how he was threatening the nationalization of their hydrocarbons industry and the second is a list of things he’s failed to do or is actively dismantling in terms of progress, a theme seems to be inaction in terms of returning to pre-coup progress or even overturning the far-right policies put in place in 2019 as economic stability gets worse and worse (another example not mentioned here is that Anez restored diplomatic relations with Israel and Acre never reversed this, which Morales has advocated for him to do)

I will note that this is the extent of my knowledge, I’m sure there have been updates since as well and possible counter evidence I am unaware of, but taking Morales at his word this shits pretty crazy

Consider some of the rightist policies and anti-indigeneity going on with the ruling candidate rn (as well as his decision to make Evo unable to take place in elections) it moreso seems like a situation where the Evo protests are the only way they can get their voice out, idk if talking it out is an option and I doubt they haven’t tried

It seems to me like a situation of indigenous socialism vs. south american CIA or simply settler “socialism”, although if someone else knows more about Bolivia feel free to correct me on this.