Go to meeting with people it's a privilege. More in one choice where our values are at stake. What do those of us who don't believe believe? This thing of going out and looking directly in the eyes, without fear of being judged, is the same thing that I did from the Secretariat of Public Education and Culture (SEPyC) and the Secretariat of the City Council in Mazatlán (2011-2012). Today I am faithful to the method that brought me here.
We have been nine days Campaign. I get up and go to bed when it's still dark. An hour becomes a day; one day in a week; a week in a month. It is a persevering urgency. Like education, time is always the present.
I have walked 123,892 steps, or what is the same, 103.2km. The distance is equivalent to leaving Colonia Urías in Mazatlán and arriving at Isla del Bosque. I shook hands with 5,042 people; 560 daily on average. I have 11 weeks left; If I continue like this, I will reach 50,400 at the end of the race. Half of the electors who participated in the 2021 election for Federal District 1, my district.
In the 39 neighborhoods where I was present, the feeling of abandonment is general: “politicians never return,” they say. Regardless of the party they come from, “we look very little up top, and they don't know how to look down,” a woman in a neighborhood told me.
However, despite everything, people are generous. You want to BELIEVE! You need to believe. Ask about the candidate. He leaves his house. She stops at the cruisers and rolls down the window. You are interested in knowing options. See alternatives. Listen and question you. He looks into your eyes. The election is NOT decided. She is far from decided!
People are interested in knowing which party you come from. A good part of the population asks if you are from MORENA. If you are with the PRI, PAN, PRD or PAS parties. Its intention has a double message. On the one hand, it is clear that it is a choice of “two soups.” The others do not exist. If you are not with the coalition, you are with the government.
On the other hand, polarization is a reality among the population. There is a previously unrecorded confrontation. The conflict goes beyond Facebook or social networks. It is real. The politics of hate from “POWER” reached a good part of the voters. With them there is no valid argument. It is a matter of identities. For better and for worse, because it works both ways.
With an election still undefined, where each of the parties has its “little pile”, communicating the meaning of the election is increasingly important. This is an election about people, about their interests, not about parties. Much less is it from the past, but from the future. Defining it precisely will make more people participate on June 2.
In the houses where I have had the opportunity to talk, I always find a woman showing her face. She is not the one who stays at home because “the husband” works. Most of the time, she is the head of the family; Or, she has already returned from work and is now taking care of her children.
Women are an essential part of our economy, our culture, our identity. Not only did they “give birth” to us, they also educated us. In 2024, they will decide the victory. They will define the course of the country for the next 30 years. It will not be different for Mazatlán, Concordia, Rosario and Escuinapa.
We'll see what the next 100km have in store for us, because I do “up” if I turn, and I do it from below. We deserve more!
So be it.
Juan Alfonso Mejía is a PhD in Political Science and a social activist in favor of education.
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