Occupy Mexico

Well, to say the least, the M-15O didn't catch on in Mexico as well as in other parts of the world. Compared to Spain's, Italy's and Chile's thousands-crowds, Mexico comes in at a very sad and disappointing arguably last place, with only about 400 people. The two current sleep-in camps in front of the country's Stock Market building and in colorful, touristy Coyoacán have about 300 floating participants of which you can see about 15 at any given time.

People do come and go for different reasons like school, work and so on, so this reduced presence of the original 300 is understandable. Yet what is not understandable is the presence of the under-represented in the first place. Given that Mexico has so many outstanding social issues, its surprising that the Occupy movement has not caught on here. But here are some possible explanations:

- The Occupy movement, first and probably most important of all, is Internet based. In Mexico, about 20% of households have this service, which leads to a regular usage. Surely a large percentage of the country has Internet access through cafe's and wi-fi services, but can lead to irregular and need or purely recreational usage. People that have a more or less guaranteed and constant access are probably considered as of higher income homes and therefore not very affected or bothered by social problems.

- The social problems in Mexico are historical to the very income-bottom of society. Although the implementation of Free-Trade drove several million under the poverty line, limited access to money and opportunities to generate it have been massively present since the Conquest. Fortified by a colonized mentality that allowed for the general population to be subdued, we can still see today that it is still present, which inhibits disruptive behavior. Its kind of like "this is the world that I know" that leads large societies like Mexico to not pursue other alternatives of reality.

- Protests are constant and annoying in Mexico. With about five to ten a day in Mexico City alone, many not appearing on the news and only a minimum of them actually getting government official's attention, its not surprising that people have lost faith in any kind of public expression.

Yet this is precisely why the Occupy movement needs to grow somehow. The Mexican society has no or very little representation in government and in the decision making processes that lead the country. Similar to the drug-trafficking problem that only gets attacked militarily but not financially, the monopolies and other interests that lead to impeding competition and erasing possibilities of participating in the national economy also need to be attended at the root: their money. Mexican and international corporations for years have found a safe-haven in this stock market with tax break and avoidance deals. They move their products around on roads that the People pay for, but that the government concessions to them so they can charge the People to travel on them which gives these corporations enormous savings and then over the top profit.

But then again, the general mentality of the country is stale, uninspired and quintessentially trained into subduction. But wait! The country is obsessively in love with soap operas. Maybe the media can do something to inspire people! Oh no, wait again. Those are made by the same monopolies that keep the people quiet and in place...

Will inspiration to regain control of their realities come from the outside? Will an Internet based movement be enough?