How Mexico City Unleashed Its Political Imagination | Ashwin Ravikumar
Mexicans built a popular movement over a century of organising—and now they're using state power to finance revolutionary politics.
Under the left-wing leadership of mayor Clara Brugada, Mexico City has invested millions in the city's poorest neighbourhoods, building UTOPIAs which provide food, healthcare, therapy, and many other public services to those in need. The story of this incredible project involves a century-old social movement which found support in the left-wing Moderna party, led by Claudia Sheinbaum, revealing a fascinating relationship between state power and people power which is radically transforming the material conditions of Mexico's poorest residents.
In this fascinating episode, Ashwin Ravikumar, professor of Environmental Studies at Amherst College, walks us through the history of the social movement which mobilised both rural and inner-city workers, developing a collective political consciousness which made them a formidable political force in a time of land grabs and immense corruption. Ashwin explains how the national government also sprang out of this movement, and the tensions which have had to be navigated now that they have access to state power. He also explains the UTOPIAs in great detail, revealing the incredible services provided, how they're funded, and the plan to develop even more because, for the Mayor and the people, these spaces are to provide a physical space where people can come together and learn from one another, educate, agitate and win back the ground that was lost to a century of corruption to build a utopia for all.
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