Podemos. Lessons for democratic change in Mexico

Abstract

15M marked a turning point in the history of Spanish social mobilization. Weeks later it was diluted, but did not disappear; it inspired a wide, uneven and diverse process of mobilization and self-organization that led to the formation of Podemos, in January 2014. Precisely among its creators are some of these militants of the traditional left who saw 15M as an opportunity to widen the field of political dispute. 

Whereas in a country like Mexico, the State always presented itself as a privileged and powerful depositary of a developmental national plan for the country, designed by political and economic elites, and administered by the political bureaucracy, even though the political discourse always stated that this project corresponded to what was desired by the majority of the population and had its origin and justification in the revolution of the early twentieth century. In this process statist forms of politics were imposed, in which workers ranked as subordinates, accepted the protection the state and exchanged politicization for corporative and patronage based rewards. This project came into crisis from the contradictions of the development of a monopoly capitalism both intertwined and subordinated to the economic power of global capitalism.