PRESS RELEASE
López Obrador Addresses Close to
Three Million in Mexico's Zocalo
July 30, 2006 (EIRNS)—Addressing close to three million people today, Andres Manuel López Obrador took the mobilization in defense of Mexico a giant step forward, calling for citizens to establish "permanent encampments" in the center of Mexico City, until the vote is counted. "If you agree," López Obrador told the crowd, "we shall set up 47 camps—one for each of the 31 states, to be located in the Zocalo, and 16 for each of Mexico City's districts, to line three of Mexico City's largest streets that extend out from the Zocalo—and remain there, from today until the fight is won. Committees led by Senators, Deputies, state and national leaders who support this fight shall be in charge of each encampment; artists and intellectuals are to organize educational performances for those staying; and I shall live there with you, until it is won," López Obrador said. (One excited PRD-LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) youth leader responded: "Finally! He's going to get the lazy bums in the PRD party leadership to get out and do some work! Now they have to organize!")
LYM organizers reported that by the end of the rally, depots to which people were bringing donations of food, blankets, etc., for those who would be manning the encampments, were already being set up.
Permanent assembly means you're keeping up the impetus of the mobilization, Lyndon LaRouche noted, when briefed on this announcement. This is a qualitative change in the situation, because the motion is moving upwards. As the former Mayor of Mexico City, AMLO knows how to organize this. The enemy has a problem!
At noon on Sunday, city officials estimated 2.4 million people had turned out for the "Third Informational Assembly" in Mexico City—but LYM organizers confirmed reports that people kept pouring into the rally long after that, spilling far beyond the famous Zocalo plaza. By the end, the total probably reached three million, thus meeting the goal of doubling attendance which Lopez Obrador had set for the rally at the Second Assembly on July 16.
The atmosphere was one of a "revolutionary fiesta," LYM organizers reported. People who had rented loudspeakers were stationed at virtually every corner, offering the microphone to anyone who wished to address their fellow citizens, an opportunity the LYM repeatedly used to amplify its chorus's reach. People brought folklore bands typical of Mexico, set off fireworks, and burned effigies of Fox, as Judas effigies are typically burned during Easter Week.
In his 40-minute speech, López Obrador delivered a very focussed message: Mexico stands at a crossroads, a historical decision. The country, with its history of privileges and inequality, requires a real democracy, not the sham of formal democracy without its content, in order to secure social justice for its people. And that requires an organized citizenry. We cannot sit by with crossed arms to see if the Federal Court orders a recount, he said.
López Obrador located today's battle as a continuation of the battles for justice which Mexicans have fought throughout their history:
"We must remember," he told those looking to him for leadership, "that everything achieved in our country regarding freedoms, justice, and democracy, has been won through the organization and struggle of the people. Nothing, or almost nothing, has been a free concession of power. We were an independent country not because the Spanish Crown so decided, but through the people's fight headed by Hidalgo and Morelos. The Reform was carried out, not by the will of the conservatives, but by the conviction and tenacity of the liberals. And the little or much social justice that has been achieved, is due to the Mexican revolution and to the struggle of Villa and of Zapata and of many anonymous heroes. That is why we don't think that democracy will be validated from the top. This will only be possible with the effort and mobilization of the citizens.
"Democracy, like justice, like freedom, is not begged. It is conquered."
LaRouche Youth Movement Organizers Lead Delegation to July 30 Mexico March
July 30, 2006 (EIRNS)—Carrying their now-famous giant banners ("The Dog: Felipe Calderon; Its Masters: The Fascist Bankers. The Solution: LaRouche's NBW" and "López Portillo Was Right: It's Time to Listen to the Wise Words of Lyndon LaRouche"), a 25-person LaRouche Youth Movement delegation intervened into the huge López Obrador rally in Mexico City today. Singing throughout the hours of march, rally, and aftermath, LYM activists distributed 45,000 leaflets with LaRouche's statements on Mexico. Its most frequent song: "We Shall Overcome," with new Spanish lyrics, which begin "Nosotros Venceremos, Por Bien de Todos." People listened, clapped, and wanted more. The occasional PANista who protested its sign (with the now-famous PAN-blue swastika) was greeted with "The PAN are Nazis," to the music of Beethoven's droll canon "Signor Abbate."
LYM organizers enthusiastically noted that they now face a giant organizing opportunity—and a lot of work! They intend to turn the Benito Juárez Monument (centrally located on one of the avenues where the camps are to be located) into a permanent LYM office, with banners, pedagogical materials, a portable piano, bullhorns, laptop with animated graphics, and every scrap of literature to be deployed in organizing this revolution.
