Mexico: Neighbors teach how to fight fascism

MEXICO, October 20—In a community east of Mexico City, where the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has been organizing for almost three decades and CHALLENGE circulates regularly, a group of approximately 150 residents organized to prevent the theft and dismantling of the Infrastructure and Network of Electric Power. Workers of the state controlled Federal Electricity Commission’s (CFE, Spanish acronym) contractors steal the existing better-quality copper wiring and install poorer quality wiring.That is the main reason why workers in the area are opposed to changing their electrical power wiring and the installation of the new meter system. Not only is it a breach of the agreement that they entered with former employees of defunct Luz y Fuerza del Centro  (see CHALLENGE 1/26/2017), but it would also result in a rate increase. The advancement of CFE plans that they deceitfully want to impose as a supposed benefit to the population, will cause greater service deficiencies and bigger profits for the financial bosses.
Workers counter growing fascism with class struggle
A crew of about 20 CFE workers arrived in the community. This time they were accompanied by members  of three police forces: municipal cops, a special state police group and National Guard elements, which are military police. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has militarized the police, to guarantee the bosses’ projects, and repress the people that protest against them. (CHALLENGE 2/6). This spectacular display failed to intimidate the brave neighborhood residents who confronted the overbearing CFE gang leader. The neighbors had a small victory when they forced the CFE workers and the cops who protected them to leave.
The tensest moment came when the police tried to surround some of our comrades who have helped to organize and lead this movement, but far from being cowed, they managed to escape the encirclement. They took shelter and began to organize the next action in which one of the objectives is to summon a larger group of neighbors big enough to surround the police. These plans reflect the fact that the best lessons on confronting growing fascism are learned amid class struggle.
With the existing copper cables, some working-class  neighbors improvise connections in order, according to the company, to “steal” electricity. By switching to aluminum cables, this will no longer be possible. Similarly, the new digital meters allow the CFE to remotely cut off service at debtor homes. The government, the bosses, and their media have tried to call these workers who "steal" electricity or have payment debts abusers and thieves, who prevent modernizing the electrical infrastructure.
At the same time, they hide the fact that the CFE grants millions of dollars in subsidies for electrical service to large and medium-sized private and state companies.
Co-opt and attack: what liberal fascists do best
In 2009, the criminal government of President Felipe Calderón fully acquired the electricity company, Compañía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro, which left around 40,000 electrical workers unemployed. The CFE used contractors to keep providing service, which caused excessive and irregular charges, so that residents, mainly from marginalized neighborhoods, organized together with some of the fired workers from Luz y Fuerza, against these unfair charges. They also promoted a payment strike and other actions to prevent any electrical infrastructure changes. This is what happened in this community with PLP’s leadership.
AMLO’s liberal government has launched a defamatory and repressive campaign against social movements to carry out the bosses’ plans. Supported by its political force, it has managed to appease traditionally combative sectors of the working class, such as the teachers of Section 22 of Oaxaca. The movements that it fails to co-opt, it tries to intimidate or represses. That is what happened here and with other movements like the movement against the Morelos Comprehensive Plan.  
PLP’s presence in this type of struggle, in addition to confirming our trust and dedication to our class, is key to unmasking the liberal politicians as enemies of the workers and building the organization to end this criminal system. The international working class must support these actions of resistance to the bosses' plans. This solidarity across borders produces a powerful force to confront fascism.