Mexico Earthquakes Destruction Uncovers Workers’ Solidarity & Govt’s Atrocity

The earthquake on September 19 killed at least 333 people in Central Mexico, injured thousands of others, and displaced thousands more. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged so severely as to be uninhabitable. Mexico City has been devastated, but the states of Morelos and Puebla were particularly hit. Overnight, cities have become ruins.
In wake of this catastrophe, workers look to themselves to rescue and provide basic resources. Much like the 1985 earthquake exactly 32 years ago, the capitalist government exposed themselves to be the opportunist profit-driven leeches they are.
Relying on the Working Class
The working class mobilized moments after the earthquake. Some hurled donations of food and water, shovels, and ready to dig people out of the rubble. The Guardian reports:
By the following day, ordinary Mexicans had created a vast recovery operation to fill every imaginable gap in the official response. Donation sites were set up to receive, organise and deliver essential supplies of food, water, medicines, bedding, clothes and tools to rescue sites and shelters. In many cases, search and rescue operations continued throughout the night thanks to lamps, batteries and petrol donated by members of the public.
The huge army of volunteers established spontaneous networks, using cars, trucks, motorcycles and bikes to access even the most isolated zones not yet reached by authorities. Engineers, doctors, vets, therapists, couriers and cooks contributed specialist skills and equipment. Taco vendors donated food to rescuers (9/23).
It is in time of crisis we see the naked face of the two opposing classes under capitalism. For the working class, our instinct and interest lies in collectivity and laboring to meet the needs of those around us, as evident in the aftermath of the earthquake. This working-class leadership is the kernel of a dictatorship of the proletariat.
This collectivity flies in the face of one of the ruling-class biggest lies: selfishness of human nature. “Bosses believe human instinct is capitalistic, that every one is born selfish, and that nature determines wealth and poverty. The bosses pretend “human nature” can’t change. They really mean that workers will endure capitalism forever. These ideas are false and vile” (Road to Revolution IV, PLP’s Communist Manifesto).
Workers with class-consciousness who soar against the bosses’ divisions of racism and sexism make the bosses tremble in fear. For the ruling class, their instinct is to exploit, compete, and make money. This essence of inequality has been systemized and guaranteed by what is the capitalist government.  
Workers See Through the Capitalist State
The illusion of democracy has a weaker hold on the working class in Mexico. It is election season and many know politicians are looking at this mass suffering as an opportunity to advance their careers.
When President Enrique Peña Nieto toured a damaged town in his home state, students booed him. Much of the disaster response was concentrated in rich areas. “Other grievances with local officials predate the earthquake—the rutted road into town, poor water service and too many unkept campaign promises—but the earthquake brought such frustrations to a head” (The Guardian, 9/27).
President Neito promised funds for rebuilding but history shows government aid is usually diverted to groups in bed with the politicians and their capitalist parties, as was the case after the twin hurricanes in Mexico’s Pacific and Gulf Coasts in 2013.
“ ‘They are withholding the food and donations, hoarding them, so they can get a picture of themselves giving out food,’ Rosalino López, 36, a taxi driver said. ‘Promoting their image, that’s all they want and care about’” (The Guardian, 9/27)
Some victims were directed to show their voter-registration ID in exchange for supplies.
Many remember the 1985 earthquake when thousands died and the rest were left to fend for themselves.
Anger surged against the military. “‘The army has a history of imposing brutal triage rules for natural disasters which dates back to the 1985 earthquake,’ said public policy analyst Rodolfo Soriano Nuñez” (The Guardian, 9/21). The distrust is rightly due. In some neighborhoods, armed forces have taken over the rescue operations initiated by civilians and razed buildings that still have people trapped inside.
Part of the government’s worry is how this working-class solidarity can turn into working-class resistance against the government. The bosses are right to be scared.
International Solidarity
When the working class in Mexico organized relief efforts after the earthquakes, they were giving leadership to workers everywhere. We should follow suit. Much of Mexican immigrant families in New York City come from Puebla and surely many have families affected. Some community organizations, that Progressive Labor Party members are part of, are participating in sending supplies to affected areas. It is our responsibility to get out there in the mass organizations—schools, community groups, unions, and hospitals—to organize a solidarity campaign. This includes investigating which members in our organizations are affected, who can link us to fighters in Mexico, and raise money and pro-communist politics about state power.
If the Haiti earthquake of 2010 is any indication, recovery in Mexico means deplorable conditions and stronger military presence. Stand in solidarity with the working class in Mexico. Organize without borders!