About a month ago somebody sent me an invite to a protest in Mexico City called the Acto Psicomagico. It was to be a march, where all of the participants would dress up as skeletons to represent the 50 000 Mexicans who couldn't march (because they were dead... because of the drug wars over the past 6 years). The aim to attract 50 000 protesters was probably a bit ambitious, made even more difficult by the fact that the day of the march it was overcast and freezing, but it was underway anyway. Not only was it intended as a march/protest (that we were reminded was not political, rather it was 'poetic') but a display of art, an alternative medium for speaking out about the injustices and violence that was taking place in Mexico. And as you can imagine, even a few hundred people gathered in costume, anything from a simple painted face to elaborate Catarina costumes, was freaking impressive. Not only gathered outside Bellas Artes and in the Plaza de Mariachis, but walking the streets as a collective, stopping traffic and raising a few eyebrows, as a group we were unified as one giant work of art, speaking out against what was going on.
However, despite being a creative, interesting and unique form of protest, apart from the idle curiosity that was aroused in locals and tourists alike, how effective (if at all) was our march in fighting the drug wars that have brought an entire county to it's knees for so many years. Unlike most peaceful protests, which usually involve at least some placards and some anti- government/corporation/corruption/Monsanto chanting and blocking of traffic. During this protest, there was singing, holding hands, Viva Mexico yelling and very little interruption of people's day to day lives. It didn't seem to be aimed at provoking or forcing a message on anyone, in fact it almost seemed like it was an event by the protesters for the protesters. What's more, it seemed almost like a lot of the people turned out in support of the artist/organiser Alejandro Jodorowsky, with many fans holding up books and art produced by this guy, and running after him like screaming fans at a Justin Bieber concert (I almost lost my thong as the crowds pushed and shoved to catch a glimpse of old mate).
Farce and follies aside, it was a creative and beautiful march which symbolised something very important and brought together like minded and socially conscious people (the ones that made it out of bed and braved the cold). And of course with one in four people there almost being photographers with their professional SLR gear snapping photos of anyone and everyone (the three white girls seemed to be quite a novelty), there are no doubt many gigabytes of photographic evidence floating around the world wide web (people's 'personal collections') to document such an event. Do the war on drugs and the complete desmadre that grips Mexico continue? Of course it does!
But what makes an effective protest? For those hoping to effect change in Mexico that gloomy Sunday afternoon, was it a day well spent? Or a nice opportunity to take photos and march for a couple of hours? Peaceful protesting is the name of the game these days, since violence is a vicious cycle that seems to manifest itself while in reality solving nothing. However, for all of the peaceful demonstrations outside of government palaces and big corporations and on Wall Streets worldwide, how many have brought about serious change? Perhaps the corporate bigwigs are so accustomed to placards and chanting in the street that they simply pull down the blinds and continue working on how to sell dodgy crap of questionable utility to the ignorant and poor. While complacency is the biggest evil in the world, whether or not spending hours gathering in the street shouting is an effective method of putting an end to injustice and exploitation in the world is questionable. While it does raise awareness of many issues that are going on, as well as let the companies/governments know that there are people out there that are against their current practices, a saturation of protesters and shouters is only likely to numb the senses and reduce the impact of any action, which would in fact be counterproductive to what they are trying to achieve.
So what is the alternative? Violence is a strong tactic which sends a serious message that there are people vehemently opposed to what is going on in the world, but it also reduces the legitimacy of any message that a group is trying to promote, especially when the term 'terrorist' gets tagged to any act of political force that is not strictly peaceful. Another method is the SHAC protest model, which was a creative and unique form of non violent (okay... borderline violent) protesting that hit the sore points of an animal testing corporation and proved (at least in the beginning) to be quite effective. Of course the government came in and closed the legal loopholes that allowed such a form of protesting to exist, allowing animal testing to continue in a gross display of the government once again bending over for the corporations that keep any such party in power. But does the world change then? Obviously it requires an active response from passionate people, but the method? Creativity and intelligence in the way that people go about their activism... that hopefully doesn't involves the killing of trees in order to shove yet another fucking flyer in my face! Viva Mexico?
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