Mexican Congress for Sovereignty Marks 10th Anniversary Sixth
National Convention Highlights
Achievements and Challenges
- Pablo Moctezuma Barragán -
On October
2, the Congress for Sovereignty held its Sixth National Convention on
the 10th anniversary of its founding under the theme "The People Take
Up Their Sovereignty." On that occasion, and after
months of discussion among all the members of the organization, 13
resolutions were adopted that reflect the will to provide the country
with a concrete program to move forward after the COVID-19 pandemic,
for the realization of the sovereignty and well-being of the people.
Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the Congress convened
its national convention live via Zoom and Facebook. Some 1,300 people
were thus able to participate in the public session of the convention.
Highlights of the national convention included the
presentation of the Sovereignty Award of Merit and paying tribute to
the renowned Mexican Victoria Novelo, as well as to two of our close
companions, Jesus Escamilla and Virgilio Caballero. As well,
José Crespo, the former Bolivian Ambassador to Mexico, who
is currently a political refugee in our country, delivered a message to
the convention and explained the current situation in Bolivia. Messages
and videos were also received during the convention from the Communist
Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and the U.S. Marxist-Leninist
Organization. The convention also adopted a resolution to join the
international campaign to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Cuba's Henry
Reeve Medical Brigade for its international solidarity work. A special
moment was also devoted to the important issue of water and a message
of greetings was received from Pedro Moctezuma, national coordinator of
Agua para Tod@s. Finally, as part of the cultural
program in which several songs about the struggles waged by the people
were performed, there was a tribute to the 43 students from the
teachers college in Ayotzinapa who were disappeared six years ago, with
the performance of the song Camino, composed in
their honour. Below are the titles of the 13
resolutions adopted by the Congress for Sovereignty at its Sixth
National Convention: 1. Guaranteeing the rights and
integrity of women; 2. Prioritizing the health and
well-being of the people; 3. Solidarity economy and
a sovereign state; 4. Food sovereignty; 5.
Financial sovereignty and the suspension of debt payments; 6.
Education; 7. Culture, identity and historical
memory; 8. Water for all; 9.
Guaranteed labour rights; 10. Cancellation of
mining concessions and protection of the environment; 11.
Defence of human rights denied by capitalism; 12.
Democratic renewal and a new constitution; 13.
International solidarity. Respect for sovereignty. Looking
back to when the Congress for Sovereignty was founded in Mexico City on
October 2, 2010, the country was marking the 200th anniversary of its
independence and the 100th anniversary of the start of the Mexican
Revolution. The Congress was founded for us to take up our sovereignty
in leading the struggles to carry forward our liberation movement into
the 21st century.  In 2010, at the initiative of
Mexteki,[1]
following 16 years of a process of economic integration, five years of
energy and security policy integration, and three years of our
country's military integration with the United States of North American
Monopolies, the Congress for Sovereignty raised the banner of full
independence for Mexico and for an end to the neo-colonial, neo-liberal
and pro-business regime promoted by the Institutional Renewal Party of
National Action (PRIAN).
The task that the Congress
for Sovereignty took up 10 years ago was to contribute to a regime
change to transform Mexico into a country in which the people rule and
remain independent from the project for its integration into the North
American region as a bloc linked to the U.S. Empire. Our slogan was and
remains: that the people assume their sovereignty!
We call for the unity of all people in the struggle for sovereignty
irrespective of their ideology, political party, religious beliefs,
age, gender, skin colour, national origin, socio-economic situation,
sexual orientation or lifestyle. These have been 10
years of relentless work which have seen our action develop throughout
the Mexican Republic and our relations with the peoples of the world
fighting for their sovereignty with consistency and commitment
expanded. From our trenches, we support struggles internationally as
well as across the Americas; we strengthen our ties with the peoples of
Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as with those in the U.S. and
Canada, and support the struggles of the peoples of the rest of the
planet. The decisions of our organization are
collective, discussed in depth and voted on democratically. Our action
is not determined by events but through a plan preconceived by all. Our
action makes us a factor of unity within the movement. We seek to
eliminate the pressure that people only have to follow the leader, so
that everyone can act consciously and collectively. For consciousness
to develop, we accept the premise that understanding requires the
conscious participation of the individual, an act of finding out,
within the framework of collective action. Nothing can be learned with
the attitude of simply following in a passive and conformist manner.
Our decisions are based on action, the experience of the struggle and
our goal of the triumph of national and popular sovereignty, of the
sovereignty of each region and locality. We have
defended a program and national project above personal interests. We
act to defend the unity of the democratic movement and indeed, the
unity within our organization is vital; we reject personal or dogmatic
attacks that divert us from the main struggle and serve only our
enemies. During our national convention in May
2012, we decided to support the struggle to bring down the PRIAN and to
support Andrés Manuel López Obrador's candidacy
for the presidency. That same year we supported the creation of Morena[2] to
defeat the PRIAN regime and reverse the energy, educational and other
reforms promoted by the Pact for Mexico. We supported the creation of
committees across the country and fought for the democratization of
Mexico. The call for political and economic
sovereignty implies the sovereignty of the agricultural and industrial
sectors and of services of all kinds. Within that
context, we carried out local work in one of the municipalities of
Mexico City and, with the support of the people of Azcapotzalco,
assumed its governance. We did this without money or concessions. And,
despite the regime having assured there would be continuity in that
delegation, we defeated the entire fraudulent vote-buying apparatus and
demonstrated that people can succeed if they go into action. During
the 2015-2018 period we developed a democratic government, confronting
the power of the federal government, of the central government of
Mexico City and local provocations. We worked on a project in which the
popular will -- despite all the pressures -- was placed above realtors,
influence peddlers, water hoarders and criminal mafias. Once
the objective of defeating the neo-liberal regime led by the PRIAN was
attained, thanks to the electoral mobilization of 30 million Mexicans
which gave Andrés Manuel López Obrador the
presidency, a process, referred to as the Fourth Transformation, began.
We need to work so that this fourth transformation of our country
results in the defeat of neo-colonialism and the construction of a
fully sovereign country. Following the electoral triumph of July 1,
2018, the Congress for Sovereignty held its Fourth National Convention,
during which a National Project in the form of seven resolutions, which
summarize the main issues, was approved: 1. The
defence of energy sovereignty and the sovereignty of strategic sectors;
2. Self-sufficiency and defence of food sovereignty;
3. Water, oil and mines are riches for Mexicans; 4.
Rejection of the integration of Mexico into the United States of North
American Corporations; 5. Strengthening of the
social and popular economy and the defence of migrants in the United
States and Mexico; 6. Defence of the rights of all;
7. Peace, security and justice. Pablo
Moctezuma Barragán is the national spokesperson for the
Congress for Sovereignty. Notes
1.
Mexteki is the Marxist-Leninist organization, Union of Mexican Workers.
2.
Morena is the organization founded by Andrés Manuel
López Obrador in 2011, first as a movement then registered
as a political party. The party won the 2018 elections and currently
forms the federal government, the government of the National Capital,
and heads the Congress in several states across the country as well as
over a thousand municipal governments.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 40 - October 24, 2020
Article Link:
Sixth National Convention Highlights
Achievements and Challenges
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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