Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA25956 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 2 Oct 2001 20:35:31 +0100 Message-ID: <002f01c14b78$d1ff1b00$6924f4d8@teddace> From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3102A6D04E@inchna.stir.ac.uk> Subject: Re: state of memes Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 12:31:20 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Vincent,
I found the article by John Ross in the September 19th issue of The Anderson
Valley Advertiser, a weekly paper out of Boonville, California (and, by my
estimation, the finest newspaper in this whole damn country). I assume the
article has been published elsewhere, most likely the NACLA Report on the
Americas, which Ross contributes to often. He's one of the foremost US
authorities on Mexico, much like Robert Fisk and the Middle East.
Ted
> Hi Ted,
>
> This is useful for some teaching/writing I'm doing. Can you tell me what
> paper/channel this was from?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Vincent
>
> > ----------
> > From: Dace
> > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 6:05 am
> > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > Subject: Re: state of memes
> >
> > It wasn't just the Palestinians. What happened two weeks ago was much
> > like
> > the climactic scene of The Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch of the
West
> > melts into a pool of water, and her servants rejoice at their sudden and
> > previously unthinkable liberation.
> >
> > Here's the view from Mexico, by correspondent John Ross:
> >
> > Many Mexicans clearly do not display the same compassion as [President]
> > Fox
> > and [Foreign Minister] Castaneda for their nearest neighbors to the
north,
> > a
> > world power that has repeatedly invaded, annexed, and vexed Mexico for
> > centuries. For many Mexicans, despite the North American Free Trade
> > Agreement and the Fox-Bush embraces, the United States of North America
> > remains the Great Satan.
> >
> > Chilangos (Mexico City residents) followed closely the malignant events
of
> > Black Tuesday step by step as the two monopoly TV networks transmitted
CNN
> > saturation coverage with Mexican anchormen and women providing local
> > color.
> > Some of the commentators, such as Televisa's Joaquin Lopez Doriga
> > unsuccessfully sought to conceal their glee as the twin towers crumpled
to
> > earth, burying thousands. "The symbol of world economic power is no
> > more,"
> > Doriga yapped excitedly over and over again as the re-runs reiterated
the
> > destruction on an endless tape loop.
> >
> > Later, the star newscaster would boast that prior to this terrorist
Pearl
> > Harbor, only Mexico had ever had the audacity to attack the United
States
> > on
> > its own turf (Pancho Villa invaded Columbus, New Mexico for a few hours
in
> > March of 1916.)
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > I sat at my desk in the old quarter of Mexico City, staring in horror at
> > the
> > fuzzy black and whites of the destruction. Suddenly, a banda de guerra
> > (brass band) from impoverished Oaxaca state began to aggressively blast
> > away
> > beneath my balcony. Joy was in the air.
> >
> > One activist got so giddy that he went to the U.S. embassy on Reforma
> > Boulevard and handed out a list of Yanqui Imperialist war crimes that
> > included Hiroshima and the genocide of North American Indians. In the
new
> > spirit of Mexican democracy, he was promptly hauled off by the police.
> >
> > I ran into Pepe G. in the Vascona panaderia (a local bread store.) I
know
> > Pepe from years of covering demonstrations in the great Zocalo plaza a
few
> > blocks away, in which he often participates. "Que Padre!" he was
grinning
> > from ear to ear. "How beautiful!" Pepe did not mean the roscas and the
> > pineapple tarts and the creampuffs. "What balls the pilots had!" the
> > small
> > brown man raved on, "Que Chingones!"
> >
> > I have been covering social strife in Latin America for many years. I
am
> > tall and white and often distrusted and disliked by the small brown
people
> > whose story I am telling, as the gringo enemy. Indeed, when the
> > companeros
> > are friendly, I get suspicious. Such resentment, part historical, part
> > class and race, is understandable and always a subtext to my reportage.
> >
> > Whenever Tio Sam stomps his seven league boots on the corpus delecti of
> > Latin America, the hatred runs white hot. I watched my back during
Playa
> > Giron (1961) which the Yanquis fittingly tag the Bay of Pigs, or when
the
> > CIA and Bolivia's current ambassador to Mexico, Gary Prado, captured and
> > executed Che Guevara in the Bolivian outback Oct. 8th 1967. When a lame
> > news boy hobbled aboard a Cuzco-bound train in 1986 hawking a paper
whose
> > headline read "Yanks Kill Quadaffi's Baby!" the hatred in my
> > fellow-passengers' eyes was unmistakable. And there was a lot of
tension
> > around the counter at the Cafe La Blanca on the morning the first George
> > Bush took it upon himself to invade Panama (1989).
> >
> > This September 11th, George W. Bush was much too preoccupied to reflect
> > upon
> > the fact that the terrorist attack on the U.S. took place on exactly the
> > same date as the 1973 overthrow of the legally elected Allende
government
> > in
> > Chile by Henry Kissinger and the CIA, an event that was accompanied by a
> > loss of life similar in numbers to the World Trade Center and Pentagon
> > bombings.
> >
> > Terrorist revenge for perceived U.S. crimes against the rest of the
world,
> > and the unbelievable loss of life that accompanied it, is a catastrophic
> > x-ray of the empire's vulnerability, and it is going to change
> > Mexican-U.S.
> > relations very quickly...
> >
> > [end of excerpt]
> >
> > This was written a few days after the event, when its tangible
> > ramifications
> > were being exaggerrated everywhere. Its real importance was more
symbolic
> > than substantial. For a moment we could see the reality submerged under
> > the
> > Pax Americana. Then the movie ended, and it was back to work.
> >
> > Ted
> >
> >
> >
> >
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