The right hates culture… (what else is new?)
The right have no cultural interests, says Navarette
Jornada (8 December 2006) Andrea Becerril , Georgina Saldierna
(my translation)
PRD Senators deplored cuts in cultural and educational programs in the proposed federal buget . “This isn’t just a matter of problems with economic variables and lack of recourses, it’s an expression of the phobias of the right, who have neither an interest nor a matter of phobias, because those on the right have neither the interest nor the imagination to deal with cultural matters, combined with their insecure governance. Felipe Calderón is only interested in investing in public security and the armed forces,” charged the party’s floor leader, Carlos Navarrete.
“It’s terrible! Instead of resources for culture and education, we’re investing in repression,” commented budget committee member, Rosario Ibarra.
Interviewed later, Narvarrete said that “Calderón’s proccupations aren’t just political, but economic,” caused by a drop in international petroleum prices, lower crude exports and growing concern about the state of the U.S. economy, coupled with defiencies in revenue collection. Given the concern, Narvarrete expected a tight buget for 2007. He added that he wasn’t taken by surpise by the right’s specific proposals. “We need to work within constraits, but the right undoubtedly was looking for some way to deal with their own obsessions and used their old standard recipes for dealing with the problem.”
“I know how a weak administration acts. They zero in on their own senstivities.” Calderón’s proposed budget cuts funding for culture and education in real terms. “The budget calls for belt-tightening for the people with the least resources, while reinforcing the areas to which the right has always given priority: national security, including the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República) and the Defence Department (Secretaría de la Defensa).For her part, Senator Ibarra, the budget request reflects “the attitude of an illegitimate government, which wants an ignorant people, unable to defend themselves.”
Rosario Ibarra, by the way, ran for president in 1988 as a Trotskyite. She isn’t, but it was the only way to bring up the topic of the “dirty war.” Her son, Dr. Jesus Ibarra, was disappeared by Luis Echivierra’s administration in 1972, and she’s been fighting for social justice (and her family) ever since. If I had a Mexican mom, I’d want Senator Ibarra.
mexfiles.net 
Let’s see…Michoacan, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon are basically in varying states of anarchy. In Nuevo Laredo, armed groups ride around the city during the daylight inthe open…like in Somalia or Iraq. Kidnappings are rampant throughout the country. Cancun and Tijuana seem to be slipping out of control as well. And then there are the hundreds of dead women in Juarez. And that doesn’t even include the problems in Oaxaca, Chiapas, or Mexico City. But according to La Jornada, the government of Mexico should be spending money on the Ballet Folclorico and archaelogical projects.
Let’s deal with reality, gente. Have you heard of a country named Colombia? Have you heard of their ongoing civil war fueled by drug proceeds? Mexico is not far from that (maybe just a sexenio away). Unless Mexico can get control of its justice system and enforce its own laws…I mean the basic laws prohibiting murder and robbery…we can all forget about things like education, culture and the arts, environmental protection, etc.