There is a Mexican television channel (11) that appears dedicated to the cultural issues and traditions of the Mexican people. It deals with the things that constitute their world view through music, food, sports, dance, work, issues of everyday life, as well as advances the economic and political attitudes of the day.
Channel 11 is also the station that every morning telecasts the press conferences of the Mexican President from the Presidential Palace. This began with the presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and now continues with President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
If you have a Latino package in your cable or internet television subscription, chances are that Channel 11 may be available for your viewing. We can see the daily updates personally made by the President and her colleagues of the day depending on the subjects to be covered between 6 and 9 am in Colorado.
Beginning with Lopez Obrador in 2018, the telecasts appear to reflect a Mexican search for an identity more compatible with their history.
In the beginning there seemed to be a historical focus on the Mexican Revolution and its role in setting the political priorities for modern Mexico, and a socioeconomic emphasis on the poor especially the very young and very old.
President Sheinbaum has brought more clarity to the search by deliberately adding pre-Columbian Civilizations to the national agenda that promotes the recognition of origins. In a sense, the Mexican focus mimics the intellectual search for origins advanced by the Chicano Movement.
Although the most popular operative metaphor was Aztlan, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales’ epic poem “I Am Joaquin” for example, took us down the pre-Columbian route naming the great figures of that pantheon. The descendants of those important civilizations continue to live in the different regions of the country.
Another Mexican take on the Chicano Movement is a renewed interest in the story of Luis and Daniel Valdez’ Teatro Campesino that relates the political experience of the Mexican poor in the California fields. In 1965 Teatro Campesino took its place on the grape strike line led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers Union.
The Luis Valdez inspired plays called “Actos” marked the beginning of a rich production of work that included “Virgen del Tepeyac” in the 70s, “Zoot Suit” the play in 1977 presented on Broadway, followed by the epic movie of the same name, “La Bamba,” the Ritchie Valens story in 1987, “The Cisco Kid” and a melodrama on Tiburcio Vasquez in 1993-94 and many others that continue the beautiful trajectory of el Teatro Campesino into its next generation. The plight of the Mexican poor in the United States as well as their success is capturing the imagination of the Mexican cultural stream.
Mexico is about to enter a period of greater difficulty with the United States and its politics on trade and immigration. It is ironic that now that the country is the industrial base of North America and generally no longer exports labor to the U.S. it is a target on both issues.
Octavio Paz, the Mexican intellectual figure in the 20th Century, always thought that his country walked the path of the lost because the European conquest and colonial experience left its identity in question. That thought forms the essence of his most important book, The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950).
In taking in important elements of Chicano history, the Mexican Renaissance recognizes the hard work it is to find yourself as an individual, as a community and as a country. However, it is a task worth doing.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
