Today we will witness a mise-en-scene that accurately reveals, within each of its layers, the reality of American society through a lens that could not be more chaotic. Donald Trump will depart from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as the anointed candidate for the presidency of the most powerful nation in the world. Not only will party representatives and their traditional supporters be in attendance, but so will Trump's own followers — [those he amassed] since he learned to stoke the hatred and discrimination of a wide cross-section of the U.S. population — pitting them against protesters, which will undoubtedly make for one of the most important media events in recent memory.
Trump has promised a spectacle that will presumably match his ego. Credibility for his candidacy will have to be provided by a media apparatus capable of filling in the gaps in support from establishment leaders, many of whom bowed out from attending, according to the U.S. mainstream media, for such "subtle" reasons as an urgent need to tend their gardens or get a haircut. Trump will make use of a production that, as far as tone and content goes, will need to appeal to people's most basic instincts: fear and hope.
Fear and hope, adapted to his message. Fear for those who distrust the current administration; hope for those who are in outright disagreement. A strategy based on hate and division thrives on and exploits fear not by unifying but by finding differences. This strategy has handed the opportunist the opportunity he has been preparing for over very few months; meanwhile, from the same podium and with forced smiles, the true politicians who missed the chance they may have been waiting for all their lives will give their own speeches.
Such is American society today. The American dream in the land of opportunity has given way to the real nightmare of opportunism and frivolity. The political class has not learned how to take on the challenges that ultimately all democracies in the Western world face: establishing public policies that will bolster macroeconomic indices meant to balance long-term budgets with endless social responsibilities, all while pleasing outlandish figureheads (like what happened in the United Kingdom). Corruption without restraint and a disconnect from citizens. The Republican candidate sums up the deficiencies of a system that no longer works, and his followers are the reflection of a society that measures its value based on approval ratings from social media instead of actual contribution to society. The American political system is a clear example of how the false glow of democracy has blinded those who cannot distinguish between a departure from the prevailing demagoguery and a normal course of virtuous democratic processes.
Trump goes to Cleveland with his flag of intolerance and a resentful society clamoring about its lack of opportunities, which the presumptive nominee has attributed to generalizations targeting Mexico's people. What a few months ago began as a joke, is no longer; it is time to act. The Mexican secretariat of foreign affairs must change its stance and take charge of a situation that, for the most part, is based on the long-outdated Estrada Doctrine.*
*Editor’s note: The Estrada Doctrine refers to Mexico’s core foreign policy ideal from 1930 to the early 2000s. Its name derives from Genaro Estrada, secretary of foreign affairs from 1930 to 1932, and proposed that foreign governments should not judge other governments or changes in other nations because it would imply a breach to its own sovereignty.
Hoy asistiremos a una puesta en escena que, en cada una de sus capas, describe con precisión la realidad de la sociedad norteamericana en un contexto que no podría ser más caótico. La convención del Partido Republicano en Cleveland, tras la que saldrá ungido Donald Trump como candidato a la presidencia de la nación más poderosa del mundo, reúne no sólo a los representantes del partido y sus simpatizantes tradicionales, sino a los seguidores de quien ha sabido explotar el odio y la discriminación yacentes en un amplio sector de la población estadunidense y a sus propios detractores, en lo que será, sin duda, uno de los eventos mediáticos más relevantes de los últimos tiempos.
Trump ha prometido un espectáculo que, se presume, será proporcional a su ego. La credibilidad de su candidatura tendrá que ser respaldada por un aparato mediático que sea capaz de substituir la falta de apoyo de los liderazgos tradicionales, muchos de los cuales han aducido razones tan sutiles para no asistir a la convención como la urgencia de arreglar el jardín o necesitar un corte de pelo, según recogen los principales medios norteamericanos. Trump hará uso de una producción que, en el tono y el contenido, tendrá que apelar a los instintos más primarios de la gente: el miedo y la esperanza.
El miedo y la esperanza, adaptados a su mensaje. El miedo para quienes desconfían de la administración actual; la esperanza para quienes están en franco desacuerdo. Una estrategia basada en el odio y la división: una estrategia que medra del temor y lo explota, una estrategia que no busca sumar sino encontrar diferencias. Una estrategia que le ha brindado a un oportunista la oportunidad, precisamente, para la que se ha preparado desde hace unos meses y que en unas horas contemplarán desde un estrado —con sonrisas forzadas— los políticos auténticos que ven pasar el tren para el que se prepararon toda su vida.
Así es la sociedad norteamericana hoy en día. El sueño americano del país de las oportunidades ha dejado lugar a la pesadilla de la realidad, del oportunismo, de la frivolidad. De una clase política que no ha sabido asumir los retos que comparten —a final de cuentas— las democracias en el mundo occidental: las políticas públicas encaminadas a robustecer los índices macroeconómicos dejan saldos que se cubren, a largo plazo, en la implacable cuenta por cobrar de las respuestas sociales y sus voceros más estrambóticos, como ocurrió en Reino Unido. La corrupción sin mesura, la desconexión con el ciudadano. El candidato republicano resume en sus expresiones las carencias de un sistema que ya no funciona: sus seguidores son el reflejo de una sociedad que se percibe valiosa en función de su aprobación en redes sociales, que no de su contribución real a la misma. El sistema político norteamericano es un ejemplo claro de cómo el falso resplandor de la democracia ha deslumbrado a quienes no han sabido distinguir en la demagogia imperante una desviación, que no un camino, dentro de los cauces normales de los procesos virtuosos de la democracia.
Trump llega a la candidatura con la bandera de la intolerancia, y el reclamo de una sociedad que resiente una falta de oportunidades que el virtual candidato ha sabido atribuir a generalizaciones que tienen como destinataria nuestra nación. Lo que hace unos meses era un tema de broma ya no lo es más, y es momento de tomar acciones al respecto. La postura de Cancillería deberá cambiar y hacerse cargo de una situación que, en mucho, rebasa una doctrina Estrada obsoleta desde hace demasiados años.
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The elderly president, vengeful and bearing a grudge, is conducting an all-out war against individuals, private and public institutions, cities and against U.S. states.
These countries ... have demonstrated that moral courage can coexist with diplomacy and that choosing humanity over expediency carries weight on the international stage.
In general, the United States is undergoing a severe crisis of capitalism and an historic crisis of its two party political system. There is no neo-liberal formula to save the day. Will Trump’s ” make America great again ” quasi-fascist message triumph over the fatuous ” identity politics ” of that Queen of the Status Quo, hawkish ” Wall St. Hillary ” ?
Whatever, this 2016 presidential election in America belongs to the ” angry working class ” anti-establishment voters. Interesting times for democratic socialists everywhere-even in Russia and China.
[ http://radicalrons.blogspot.com ]
In general, the United States is undergoing a severe crisis of capitalism and an historic crisis of its two party political system. There is no neo-liberal formula to save the day. Will Trump’s ” make America great again ” quasi-fascist message triumph over the fatuous ” identity politics ” of that Queen of the Status Quo, hawkish ” Wall St. Hillary ” ?
Whatever, this 2016 presidential election in America belongs to the ” angry working class ” anti-establishment voters. Interesting times for democratic socialists everywhere-even in Russia and China.
[ http://radicalrons.blogspot.com ]