Articolo pubblicato al seguente link: https://prruk.org/mexicos-fourth-transformation-amlo-and-the-global-left/?fbclid=IwAR2oRT15HM36yzCsMnk0t_HwehINrdLo72Ufd2MLrG5aVok9JgZ5nUTY5v8 David Raby writes: For decades Mexico seemed unchanging, locked in a corrupt one-party state under the PRI (Spanish acronym of the Institutional Revolutionary Party) which maintained a relatively progressive foreign policy but remained apart from the dramatic struggles unfolding elsewhere in Latin America. When the PRI was finally defeated in 2000 it was by the right-wing PAN which offered more of the same, but worse. For three six-year presidential terms (2000-2018) PAN and PRI alike imposed unbridled neoliberal policies with greatly increased inequality and corruption. AMLO’s great election victory But in July 2018 came dramatic change with the victory of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known by his initials as AMLO) and his MORENA (Movement of National Renovation) party. Coming from the left of the traditional establishment, AMLO ran for the presidency twice before and was defeated, partly by fraud. But this time he won dramatically, with 52% of the vote in a three-way race, something unprecedented for decades. Not only that, but his party won at all levels of government: both houses of Congress, most state governors and assemblies and many local governments. This came about because this time he ran a different type of campaign, concentrating on a few basic themes: real democracy, fighting corruption, and an end to impunity. He mobilised a vast mass movement, especially among the young. The Mexican people wanted real change, but had no faith in the traditional left. Mexico’s importance is obvious: the second largest population in Latin America, 130 million (after Brazil’s 210 million), the third largest territory (after Brazil and Argentina), and its crucial situation bordering the USA, in some ways a curse but of enormous geopolitical significance. So when AMLO won, and then was inaugurated in December 2018, I decided it was time for to go back to Mexico for the first time in more than a decade, and with my partner Luisa I was there for nearly six weeks in June-July 2019. The “Fourth Transformation” What we found was fascinating. AMLO is not Hugo Chávez, and Mexico is not Venezuela. AMLO’s style is very different: calm, measured, polite. But he is quite clear that he is proposing a radical programme of change: the “Fourth Transformation” in Mexico’s history (the first three being the independence struggle against Spain from 1810 to 1821, the liberal Reform movement of 1855-72 under indigenous President Benito Juárez, and the epic Revolution of 1910-20). From day one AMLO led by example, slashing his own presidential salary by 60% and calling on all high public officials (over 30,000 of them, both elected and appointed) to do the same, and refusing to live in the traditional presidential mansion which has been turned into a museum and public meeting hall. He holds morning press conferences (mañaneras) every working day, Monday to Friday at 7 am, where he and his ministers present policy and field questions from all and sundry. These sessions typically last about two hours, and the President responds to all with remarkable patience and openness. AMLO insists on dialogue, constantly criticising the conservative opposition but always recognising...