Take a globe model and locate Mexico. It looks as if it is the geographical antipode of India. That means if you were to drill a hole from say, Nagpur through the centre of the earth to the other side, you would think that the hole would break out in Mexico. Well! Not exactly! Actually it emerges in the Pacific Ocean, off South America. But Mexico is at a similar Latitude on the other side of the globe.
When I travelled in the United States many years ago I was often mistaken for a Mexican. When I tried to buy a cotton shirt in Pittsburgh, the shopkeeper showed me an attractive printed cotton shirt that seemed a trifle too expensive. When I vehemently complained about the price he had marked, the shopkeeper remarked "But Sir! These shirts are from the sunny slopes of Southern India !"
When I told him I was very much from the same place, he exclaimed "But I thought you were a Mexican !"
Well! Mexico seems to have the same problems that India has. There is growing violence. The streets of the cities are unsafe. There is rampant drug-trafficking and government corruption. Mobsters and land mafia haunt cities like they do in Mumbai and Bangalore in India. Yes! Both India and Mexico have problems. But the main problem that both countries have, as Emiliano Salinas identifies, is that the citizens of Mexico (and I add the citizens of India too) view themselves as victims.
One of the main reasons Indians are apathetic is that they consider themselves as Victims of circumstances. Historically we have acted as victims. First we viewed ourselves as victims of the Muslim invaders. Then we viewed ourselves as victims of the British colonisers. Now we view ourselves as victims of a series of corrupt governments. And inasmuch as we view ourselves as victims, we cannot muster up the spirit to break the denial and apathy that thence results. As Salinas says 'We must open our eyes and stop seeing ourselves as victims'. We have to take responsibility and stop behaving as victims and move on to directing the future with our own hands.
Emiliano Salinas gives out a clarion call for Mexicans to rise up and break the denial and apathy just the way Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi have done in India. He has exhorted Mexicans to rise up and protest honorably against the lawlessness and corruption stressing that honor is more dear than life itself and that people should prefer death to dishonor.
I give below a link to a powerful and eloquent Ted Talk by Emiliano Salinas. Unfortunately the talk is in Spanish but there is a facility to turn on the English subtitles below. I earnestly seek everyone to turn on their speakers and watch and listen to this talk by also clicking on the English subtitles.
http://www.ted.com/talks/emiliano_salinas_a_civil_response_to_violence.html
Please click on the link above.
