Among the #YoSoy132 committees are ones called "throwers", i.e., Molotov bomb throwers. Some of the oldest protests groups of UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico] joined in solidarity with them. Its most active members have come to the front pages of newspapers that report the protests in which they are involved. Therefore, and because they say the police harass them, they claim that the State criminalizes their actions in order to legitimize violent repression.
The #YoSoy132 movement arose in the context of the last presidential election and before long was atomized. Among the groups resulting from the fragmentation there arose a polarized understanding regarding ways that ought to be followed in political participation: the violent and peaceful, the moderates and the radicals, the flower throwers and Molotov throwers, the hooded ones, and those who accept employment with Televisa ...
"It is a natural dialogue in a mass movement such as #YoSoy132 was, but it was exploited by the political powers that intended to distort the language in order to transform it. Flower throwers or not, it's a false debate, a game of the State and its instruments, the media, to blur the social content of the protest by focusing on the hooded protesters or the alleged abuses, but never on the demands," says Christóbal Hernandez, UAM [Autnonomous University of Mexico] student and member of the April 24 Brigade that opposed the supposed privatization of that university and struggles for it to remain public.The radicalized youth comment that, following the repression suffered on December 1, during protests against the "imposition of Enrique Peña Nieto", they carried out a deep reflection that led them to move "from the student struggle to class struggle". They say that for this reason their presence is evident in marches and rallies.
They claim that they marched against the education reform "because the problem of education is not limited to caricaturing teachers as jerks". They participated in the seizure of the administrative offices of the College of Sciences and Humanities (CCH, the high school campuses of UNAM ), in solidarity with those opposed to its rules, such as also occurred in the UAM. They accompanied the march to seize the administration building of UNAM and also protested against the development plan for Iztapalapa [a poor delegation or borough in Mexico City], among other actions.
To explain their purposes and reasons, they granted an interview with Proceso, "with names and without hoods". They argue that they are not agents of destabilization, but are part of a solidarity movement. Their slogan, shouted at each occasion, is "not one more isolated struggle."
An Ideological Mosaic
The radical bloc that emerged from #YoSoy132 has presence in different organizations or groups whose ideological orientation and origin are different.
After the elections of 2012, the Plaza of the Republic was the scene of the Revolution Encampment, where different committees of #YoSoy132 gathered. The Encampment was evicted on December 1.
Among the groups participating in the Encampment was the Union of Revolutionary Youth of Mexico,which is the youth chapter of the Popular Revolutionary Front (UJRM-FPR). It originated in Oaxaca and is Marxist-Leninist. This organization participated in the social conflict in Oaxaca in 2006 and has since extended its links to student groups in Mexico City.
The presence of In Defense of Cuatlicue, an Iztapalapa-based organization, should be noted. It defends gender and land issues. Also participating are the Interbrigade Front, the Simon Bolivar Front and the most visible one in the media coverage in recent weeks, the Eastern Front.
According to Carlos Esteban Jimenez, this group emerged during #YoSoy132 assemblies to give organization to students from the east side of the Federal District and Mexico State, i.e., the UAM campus in Iztapalapa, the FES Aragón [Faculty of Higher Education Studies of UNAM] and CCH East.
This set of organizations includes groups with specific demands, such as Animalista Movement, which promotes animal rights and, among other things, opposes bullfighting.
With a base in CCH East, the UJRM-FPR is identified in several publications as the organization that is behind all the others, which were created as a front to have more votes in the #YoSoy132 assemblies or to give multiple faces to their social protests. Proof of this, it is claimed, is that their flag, like the anarchist emblem, appears in all protests.
That's a lie, says Carlos Esteban: "what there is is solidarity between different groups and that's no crime."
As regards the Eastern Front, Carlos Esteban and Luis Barrera explained that during the sit-in at the Santa Marta jail, which was demanding the release of Rita Neri, one of the people arrested during the eviction of the Plaza of the Republic, they decided to take the work of the assembly to the [poor] neighborhoods in the East of Mexico City which had accompanied them at different times in the Encampment.
Most of the organizations mentioned maintain ties through the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), although in the case of the Eastern Front its membership is suspended while it develops its assembly procedures.
Moreover, in the Revolution Encampment other groups arose, such as the popular assemblies of Cuautitlan Izcalli and Naucalpan [cities in the state of Mexico, just north of Mexico City], respectively.
- Is there an ideological definition? they were asked.
"The points of view are not pure. We have been discussing our worldview and have no single tendency. There are anarchists, communists, progressives, socialist democrats ... but in this mosaic what defines us is a class perspective," Carlos Roberto pointed out.
He adds: "We conclude that the exploited and dominated classes are the ones that need to advance, so beyond our differences and labels, our discussion is about the reality and how we can transform it."Luis adds:
"First of all we are humanists, as we believe that human beings must regain their essence, taken away by work and the production processes hostile to their existence. To the extent that the world of things is valued, it devalues the human world, and we are not willing to do so. That is the ethical principle that governs our assemblies."At the one year anniversary of the founding of the #YoSoy132 movement, the interviewees set forth their proposals: media democracy, improving the mechanisms for electoral fairness and the rejection of Enrique Peña Nieto as president. But they have expanded their program.
"We had to see what was happening, not from inside the movement, but from above. To go ask people and help give organicity, to aspire to broader processes of struggle. Some university groups [of #YoSoy132] were demobilized and ours took on a more populist tint," says Luis.In the organization's demonstrations, this slogan is often heard:
"Communist, fighter and consistent; anarchist fighter and consistent. In proletarian struggle, the Eastern Front."Media Lynching
Beginning with the seizure of the UNAM Rectory, several publications reported that behind "the hooded ones" was the Eastern Front, and Uriel Sandoval, who lost an eye during the events of December 1, was frequently mentioned. Then, when it participated in the rally on May 1 [International Workers Day] in the Zocalo, attention to its members increased.
Beginning on April 25, Mexico City's newspapers referred to members of the front and dedicated their front pages, even up to two pages, to show images in which Carlos Esteban and Uriel appeared. The latter was referred to as an "activist supporter of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [2012 presidential candidate of the leftist alliance]."
However, they insistently deny any party membership and express their rejection of the political class, whose members qualify as "parasites of the people's money."
Carlos Esteban says: "A columnist compared me to Elba Esther Gordillo [jailed leader of the teachers union]. The announcer, Esteban Arce, demanded jail for us and our companion Janzpa, was given decontextualized follow-up by Televisa".- Do you consider yourselves violent? they are asked.
"No. The worst thing is that they attribute violence to us for protesting in full exercise of our constitutional rights. What we say is that violence comes from the State. It is violence that there are half a million youth who are illiterate, than 8 million young people have no access to education. Violence is used against detainees; there is media violence," Carlos Esteban exclaims.He gives an example:
"In seizing the UNAM Rectory a window was broken. The violence that they attribute to us is a broken window. The foundation isn't broken glass, but a rotten system that beats up on everyone equally, the teachers of Guerrero, Oaxaca and the militant young. The bottom line is that the system does not give answers or alternatives. They have closed all the doors: the electoral, work, education ... that is violence."In each protest they warn that there is excessive police deployment. According to another member of the Eastern Front, Vidal Rojas, hundreds of capital police guard, surround and detain protesters by the handfuls. In their case, they say the riot police shields, now equipped with cameras, make attacks possible, that they hit them from below the shields and the attacks are specifically directed against several of their companions.
Although they claim that no Eastern Front members were in the seized offices at UNAM, they claim solidarity with the taking of the UAM Rectory in Iztapalapa, where, they say, there was academic harassment.
Regarding what they call a media lynching that attributes violence to them, Christóbal Hernandez argues that the forms of struggle, peaceful or violent, are decided by the people.
"There can be symbolic, pacifist or political violence, but it will always be as the people say. We make demands and we support all struggles and we feel that the media have lynched the movement without seeing the context: the violence that has been a consequence of State aggression.
"That has been the use they make of the information, with things like the flower throwers and the Molotov throwers, and the media attend to it with morbid curiosity and report morbidly. Thus, the discussion is lost and what remains are slogans without context and the path of repression is prepared."Spanish original