The Culture of Peace, Democratic Agenda 2022

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy endangers everyone’s safety.

John F. Kennedy

We know that democracy is like a film, not like a photograph, it is a process in permanent movement, unfinished and unfinished.

It should be remembered that our democratic process did not begin on July 1, 2018, nor did the first alternation occur on that date. From the beginning of the Revolution, two fundamental elements were accepted: effective suffrage, that is, the universal vote as the sole source of political representation, and political parties, which since 1911 have been protagonists of electoral life.

During the second half of the last century, political reform was promoted and in its last decade the consolidation of our democracy accelerated in an orderly and concerted manner, a process in which practically all the political forces coincided to strengthen the autonomy of the Federal Electoral Institute, now INE, and freedom of expression.

No one can deny that so far in this 21st century those who have held the Presidency of the Republic owe it to the construction of a better electoral system and the majority vote.

We have advanced in the construction of our democracy, but we have not learned to use its elements such as dialogue, debate, criticism and tolerance towards plurality. We have not adopted a culture of peace that allows us to negotiate, listen to others and direct ourselves to the development so longed for by all.

We are currently living in times of intensity in the democratic process that encompasses representative democracy and participatory democracy. However, we are not exempt from involutions or deviations. Some symptoms of dysfunctional democracy can be seen in covert authoritarianism, simulation, falsification of the citizen’s will as well as in populism, which is an expression of political corruption as it is an instrument to divide society.

On the democratic agenda for next year, elections for governor will be held in the states of Aguascalientes, Durango, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and Tamaulipas. In addition, 39 municipalities will be elected in Durango and 25 deputies in Quintana Roo. Political parties are expected to participate with the candidates they run to run for the corresponding positions. We are confident that there is fair play and harmful involvement of organized crime is prevented.

Our democracy does not end in elections, it is also citizen participation in public issues, a modality known as participatory democracy in which the role of the citizen, within the democratic system, goes beyond the exercise of suffrage, of representative democracy. With this participation, citizens can access, with their vote, decision-making at the municipal, state, regional and national levels.

Participatory democracy, which implies a social dialogue, is made concrete with popular consultations for what can be considered as instruments of the culture of peace. However, it is not acceptable that consultations are used to simulate and falsify the will of the citizens, as happened with the poll organized by the President-elect in 2018, regarding the cancellation of the construction of the new airport and the increase in the age to be a beneficiary of the so-called universal pension.

The first popular consultation carried out under the terms of the Law, originally on the trial of former presidents, was the product of a political mobilization and a campaign promise of the now President. Sadly, that first exercise in participatory democracy had the purpose of lynching, distraction and political propaganda, distorting the essence of that noble mechanism.

In the current electoral agenda there is an issue that haunts the tenant of the National Palace, the revocation of the mandate – modality of participatory democracy – which, according to official propaganda, is a right of citizenship that surprisingly no one asked for. A matter that was not consulted with the public, only the President has an interest in it and promotes it daily by all the means at his disposal. It has already started the parties that are related to it to try to collect the signatures required by the Law so that, if it is achieved, it can be carried out in March. For such consultation, the INE would spend an amount close to 4 billion pesos, not counting the cost of the Q4 efforts to collect signatures.

This priority of the President -not of the citizenship- is far from signifying a democratic advance in real terms, since it only consists of one more means of worshiping his personality, which seeks a sign of confidence from the semantic change from revocation to ratification. However, the risk of indifference on the part of the citizens to the request for revocation of the mandate is very high.

It is about maintaining a permanent atmosphere of the electoral campaign of the Q4 tending to influence the next electoral processes, particularly in the presidential elections of 2024 and a new reason for polarization, tension and controversy.

There are other issues of the greatest importance, such as the increase in civilian to military tasks, which should be consulted with the public.

It is ignored that all people expect from their government results that improve their quality of life, not that scarce public resources are used to finance their multiple actions and occurrences so that a party increases or remains in power.

Let us remember that authentic democracy promotes the culture of peace and encourages, increasingly, a more active participation of the population to find new ways of relating, in which personal responsibility, respect for others and the use of dialogue are privileged for collective development. Let us also bear in mind that well-being, progress and a culture of peace are only possible when there is high political intelligence.

As we have proposed, dialogue is the path to detente, therefore we insist on the urgency that the President pay attention to all sectors of the population, that he listen to reasons, proposals and claims.

That is the participatory democracy that interests citizens.

* The author is a lawyer and professional mediator.

#MediationInMexico

[email protected]

Twitter: @Phmergoldd