Discussion on the book: The Mexican Right in the Twentieth Century. Agony, transformation and survival (Campos and Velázquez (Coords.), 2017)
Chronicle
Last Thursday, October 25, was presented at the Maison du Mexique of the Cité Universitaire de Paris, in the voice of the researcher of the Benemérita Autonomous University of Puebla Gerardo Lozada Morales, the book entitled: "The Mexican right in the twentieth century. Agony, transformation and survival", work emerged from the reflections of the Academic Body: "Multidisciplinary Studies of Politics and Law" (BUAP-CA-281).
The work systematized by Xóchitl Patricia Campos López and Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero (2017), with the collaboration of academics such as: James Wilkie, Edna Monzón, Samuel Schmidt, César Cansino, Elio Masferrer Kan, Austreberto Martínez Villegas, Hervey Rivera and Franco Savarino; In addition to the text's own coordinators, it was well received and commented by the Director of the Maison du Mexique of the Cité Universitaire de Paris: Alexander Naime, as well as PhD researchers from L'École des hautes études en sciences sociaux, research laboratories of the Mondes Americains and the Fondation Masison des Sciences de L'Homme, Dr. Edgardo Manero (CNRS-EHESS), Dr. Luis Martinez Andrade (FMSH), like Dr. Laura Brondino (Paris IV), Dr. Rodrigo Diaz Maldonado (Aix Provence) and Dr. Maria Laura Reali (Paris VII).
The work bursts against the current when addressing an uncomfortable issue in Mexican national politics, mainly for the groups in which the right and far right are concentrated. Situation derived from the fact that in Latin America there is a political shift to more conservative, religious, traditional and even Nazi-fascist positions. Is it possible that in Mexico and Latin America you can study, analyze, discuss, discern the right without the course of things imply a serious conflict? It seems not.
At least those were the conclusions and controversies that sparked the intervention of the commentators of the book and the audience. The resurgence of the rights in the West is the cornerstone for the partisan-electoral process in various countries of the world, this not excluding Latin America and Mexico. Hard times are approaching where violence will be present given the intolerance of the right and the extreme right to migrants, emerging social movements, the fight for the defense of equality and the rights of communities such as the LGBTTQQ and the reconfiguration of feminisms. Societies live a severe civilizational dilemma between supporting or rejecting conservative, traditional, religious and intransigent groups. A high point in the event was the discord over the arbitrary expulsion of teachers, students and staff of the House of Argentina in Paris, caused by the debate on the issue of abortion in the South American nation, an issue that allows us to glimpse the interference of the most representative religious groups of uncompromising integral Catholicism at the highest level.
For this reason, it is necessary to disseminate works such as "The Mexican Right in the Twentieth Century", not only because of the controversy it may generate, but also to understand the possibilities of change in societies as conservative as the Mexican and Ibero-American ones - one of the most important characteristics in question of the dominant policy. The political and social ambiguity generated a conservative modernity that simulates the democratic consolidation and the advance of liberalism, thus constructing a façade that closes the thought and search for the truth.
For Dr. Rodrigo Díaz Maldonado, it is necessary to deepen the thinking of Salvador Borrego, Salvador Abascal, Carlos Cuesta Gallardo and Manuel Díaz Cid; to mention some intellectuals representative of the Mexican conservative thought in the twentieth century and Catholic reserved societies. Rodrigo Díaz pointed out the need for an in-depth analysis of José Vasconcelos and to diminish the mistaken admiration towards a bad fascist philosopher and politician. A condition that, according to Dr. Laura Reali, was similar to other Latin American intellectuals who embraced National Socialism as a bulwark of integration and identity for the region.
For Dr. Luis Martínez Andrade, the book is a great contribution in the analysis of the configuration of the Mexican right (veneration of "Cristo Rey", the Cristiada, among other themes), however, supported by the Critical Theory, he stressed the importance of not to detach the study of this phenomenon from capitalist dynamics, because, as Max Horkheimer said, "whoever speaks of fascism without talking about capitalism, should better keep his mouth shut".
Likewise, Dr. Laura Brondino and Dr. Edgardo Manero agreed that it is urgent to develop historiographic and quantitative methodologies to identify the rightist ideology in Latin America; for them, there is no monocausality between the hegemony of Catholicism and the political preference of conservative nationalisms; likewise, they point out, it is mandatory to reinterpret geopolitics as an important anchor for the reactivation of radical right-wing thinking. The Mtro. Gerardo Lozada Morales reviewed the works contained in the book and the unique value they bring; at the same time that he pointed out -in the case of his personal work- the enormous contribution of the vasconcelismo to civic culture in Mexico, notwithstanding the conservative preferences of the Oaxacan philosopher.
The comments of the scholars provoked mixed feelings in the audience, who questioned the political changes in Ibero-America, particularly the cases of Mexico, Spain and Brazil. Likewise, they agreed to congratulate the opening of the House of Mexico in Paris and its Director Dr. Alexander Naime, for the study of a controversial issue but that contributes to dismantling taboos of the national political culture.
