Dear all,
Due to the sudden massive email delivery since the swine flu epidemic started, heated messages which have been nurtured from all kind of political stance and theories, speculation and so called scientific information, we have decided to deliver the following views.
We are witnesses a social crisis which unfortunately has happened several times before. Since this country came into existence (and that is, since “The Discovery of the Americas”) government lies and corruption have manipulated Mexicans with either science-fiction stories (e.g. “The Chupacabras”), nature-gone-wrong tales (e.g.”The African Bee Attack”) or any propaganda available to distract them from the truth (e.g. Similarities with Lopez Obrador and Hugo Chavez” etc.)
This country has been burned and tore down by its inhabitants and by their government. We can reassure you that there are no evident next-door swine flu cases, but deep and terrible silence. Each corner of this city (Mexico City) is saturated with silence. The events take place in the very center of our Nation, therefore, in our roots. Again, our voices have been silenced.
Prisoners in the meshwork of government, Mexicans do what they have been told to do. This is not a matter of wearing face masks or not (which their recent increase in demand have considerably increased pharmaceutical companies income), it is a matter of how easy and innocently Mexican people are responding to threat and apparent chaos.
When you walk on the streets and when you use public transportation, there are very few people reading, even talking. People rushing home to turn on the TV news in order to listen all over again how to wear a face mask properly or which are the symptoms of this new virus, even though many of them are unable to explain it. Some hours ago, our catholic and military-monger president has commanded to the Mexican people to stay home, because contact-only with our families will prevent the virus to be spread.
People are being deprived of a better future and a better income. Media, institutions and the selective upper class have piled them up on the edges not only of the city but on their very hearts and beliefs. We have heard elected politicians reasserting that this epidemic has gone badly, that critical actions must be taken, hiding such issues as the imminent search warrant to the private spaces, to our very own homes. A new law has already being approved by the Chamber of Deputies on April 23 along with the presidential decree on April 25, in which non-uniformed police officers or health agents have the right to enter our homes either for drug dealing suspicion or swine flu infection. Their actions and measures reveal their conspiracy against all of us. Institutions and companies are also implicated, not to mention the pharmaceutical industry.
And still, despite this, what has shocked us is the incapacity and uselessness of the big majority that is scared to the bones: “wear masks just in case...” Who hasn’t overheard this discussion? We hear all the time people complaining about government, and still, they obey.
We have already posted several information and texts in Spanish in our personal blogs and myspace profiles, but we think it is our duty to do so by Stoner Rock Mexico, both in English and Spanish so people who have subscribed to our newsletter not only from Mexico and Latin America but from Europe and the U.S. Feel free to start a discussion, to send us your comments. Your feedback is really important to us in this “dark times”.
We are sending the following recommended texts and links because we believe it is our responsibility not as society outcasts, but as human beings concerned for what is happening in Mexico, to keep people informed, and to keep you people away from your government’s claws.
We believe in truth, which already exists in our hearts. We are against fear, panic and sheep-like behaviour. We are also against the soon-to-be belief that we Mexicans, filthy people of the earth, pork-taco eaters, have spread the virus.
It is our duty to talk and spread in our own words what we stand for and what we see as witness of this hoax.
Surrounded by a constant fear for measures that have been developing until they become a state of exception, we stand for despising power of the “specialized class”, remembering all past and recent events that have taken place in this country. People tend to forget and forgive, ignoring pain, and will ignore soon their part in this martial law test. We strongly believe that those who sit on their capitalist thrones will congratulate us all for good behaviour in a matter of days. They will say that thanks to our good submission, the virus will be eradicated.
We still do not know if this propaganda will drive the population into mass acceptance for upcoming important political elections, into acceptance of imminent economic crisis which we have already dismissed from our heads. It is obvious that they were concocting this manipulation months ago. They have already achieved this: big and small restaurants are closed, museums, schools and universities are closed: every public event has been cancelled, constraining people to stay at home, censoring any action to disseminate suspicion and discussion, silencing the reluctant population.
Currently waiting for the authorities to confirm the Black Sabbath Tribute, the very first event we organized that would take place on May 8th, we hope it will not be cancelled in the last minute. The main goal for this show was to introduce Mexican kids to this music as an alternative choice to what they currently listen in mainstream radio and TV shows. Like many other subcultures and urban tribes in Mexico, we are doing a big effort to create more alternatives.
In addition, with our posts and these recommended texts, we want to introduce an alternative way of thinking and facing this "emergency". We want our voices to be heard, not to be shut off with a face mask.
Gaby de la O & Iván Nieblas
“Maybe there will be a popular revolution, and that will put us into state power; or maybe there won't be, in which case we'll just work for the people with real power: the business community. But we'll do the same thing. We'll drive the stupid masses toward a world that they're too dumb to understand for themselves”
Noam Chomsky, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda.
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