Rather than developing a Mexican brand of far-right politics, Verástegui tried to transplant a distinctly American flavour
That was probably why. Though I suppose that it doesn’t explain why no one else tried to innovate a more native far-right brand.
2024 might otherwise have been a tough year, but 2025 was a lot better. Just look at the recent elections in Australia and Canada.
I think since Reagan breaking the unions and NAFTA, regular Americans have felt their economic power decline. That makes people bitter and angry. They just want to burn things down and throw a tantrum rather than creating any type of country where someone other than them might succeed.
And he delivered. López Obrador’s government doubled the minimum wage in real terms, while expanding social programmes and cash transfers for pensioners and the young, among others. It clamped down on the practice of outsourcing workers to avoid paying benefits and legislated that union contracts be put to democratic votes.
Carlos Slim sold TracFone in 2020? Answers a lot.
I’d say having a foreign-born population share of less than 1% helps.
As of 2024 Mexico had a count of 1.7 million of naturalized foreign born citizens. Which exceeds 1% of the population by itself. After the establishment of Mexico as a “third safe country” during the first trump administration, the influx of undocumented immigration has increased considerately. But there is no exact census by the INEGI of what percentage of migrants stay in Mexico or just travel across.
In essence Mexico has always been very multicultural and multiracial. Issues that involve ethnicities and indigenous people Exist in Mexico and they are very worrisome, but racist policy hasn’t been part of governmental policy in the last decade or two. Even in the most right wing, catholic areas of the country like el Bajío, the general population tends to be very inclusive. Class being the major cause for discrimination.
So foreign born population doesn’t help as much in this topic as it is irrelevant. So take your propaganda elsewhere gringo.
As of 2024 Mexico had a count of 1.7 million of naturalized foreign born citizens
Naturalized citizens? You sure about that? Because the numbers I found (which to be fair are from 2020) list 1.2 million foreign-born residents, not citizens.
But there is no exact census by the INEGI of what percentage of migrants stay in Mexico or just travel across.
Even if we assume as many undocumented immigrants as documented immigrants, that’s less than 3% foreign born residents. Compare that to Germany’s 20% or France’s 13%.
In essence Mexico has always been very multicultural and multiracial.
I mean so is America and… uh… yeah. These days nationality, rather than race, is the main form of xenophobia.
So take your propaganda elsewhere gringo.
My point is that Mexico’s example doesn’t teach us much about how to counter the far right because the single biggest predictor and cause of far-right politics in the 21st century, foreign-born population, is too low in Mexico. I mean if you told me that only 3% of Mexico’s population was foreign-born I’d guess based on that alone that Mexico doesn’t have a strong far right.
single biggest predictor and cause of far-right politics in the 21st century, foreign-born population
The far-right doesn’t require foreign-born population to function. Yes at the moment this is the lowest hanging fruit that fulfils the function of an other however the lack of it doesn’t change the mechanisms that give rise and prominence of the far-right. If there is no foreign-born population, an other can be found within society, as it has in the past and present. Also, when an other has been “dealt with,” a far-right regime has to pick another in order to sustain its power. So even if you start with immigrants, natural born citizens of some kind are next. Leftists, Jews, LGBTQ people are historically common targets.
The far-right doesn’t require foreign-born population to function.
True, but far-right movements in the 21st century have generally formed around a core of anti-immigrant sentiment and failed to materialize without a large immigrant population.
the lack of it doesn’t change the mechanisms that give rise and prominence of the far-right
True, but it seems that without a sufficiently low-hanging fruit the modern far right can’t gain enough steam to then go after less vulnerable segments of society, such as LGBT people or Jews. This is as opposed to early 20th century fascism, because then these groups were vulnerable enough to be the core targets of a fascist movement. Either way it’s a fact that foreign born population (the more foreign the better) and the strength of the far right are highly correlated.
Yes, of course, the victims of right wing populism are actually the cause! Why didn’t I see that before?!
Oh, I know why; I’m not a fucking idiot.
Do you even understand what I’m trying to say here? I’m not blaming immigrants for the far-right, but rather saying that it’s dangerous to assume that countries like Mexico have “solved” the far-right when in all likelihood the conditions for a strong far-right to emerge just aren’t there yet. How to prevent fascism in the 21st century is still an open question, and hasn’t been answered by Mexico as the article implies.
Dude, stfu.
Mexicans come from all sort of indigenous & international backgrounds, not just Aztecs & Spaniards.
There’s tons of Japanese people from when they escaped US internment camps.
There’s also tons of black people, from escaped slaves running away from the US slaver states.
It’s just that we are all intermixed, so it’s harder to tell.
Mexicans come from all sort of indigenous & international backgrounds, not just Aztecs & Spaniards.
Yes, but they’re all Mexican, whatever that means. This sort of national identity, not ethnicity, is the primary driver of far-right fascism nowadays. Americans also come from all sorts of backgrounds yet Trump won the election, so being ethnically heterogeneous isn’t an indicator against fascism.
Mexicans are just as proud as they are ashamed of their country, just like Americans are.
We have cartels, corrupt cops & government officials, scarcity, addiction, homeless, violence, etc.
We are not some magical people united by our strong national identity, especially when many indigenous groups continue to be marginalized and abused.
What we do have that Americans do not is a greater sense of community.
So if you ask me, it’s simply that we are all such broke mofos, we understand what that feels like so we help others out.
My mama always had me run food over to people who looked like they were struggling, and we helped many others over the years with a place to stay or some money to help them get going on their education or small business.
