Yo
ngenious, as we presume Being Mexicans, we have contributed to the rules of operation of democracy the figure of the raffle; curious method that appeals to the whims of the gods of chance. Furthermore, so that there is no doubt about our ingenuity, we inaugurate it precisely in the domains of laws and the indispensable administration of justice. In the Senate of the Republic where everything has become a historic feat.
“Yesterday,” writes Enrique Quintana (“Justice went to… the raffle,” The Financier12/10), we had one of those episodes that will be embarrassing (…) In a raffle the judges and magistrates were selected (…) (at a charge) at random to determine who keeps their job (…) Likewise, it is incoherent that think that this process is a remedy against corruption.”
From what we have seen and heard, the much-cited judicial reform has more to do with many confusions and mental disorder in the highest places and less with the desire to make justice a daily practice in our violent reality. Neither the reform is the result of the popular mandate of June 2, as we are reiterated time and time again, nor can credibility, proper functioning, the fight against impunity and the prompt and timely application of the laws be derived from… a tombola . Nor, as far as we know, is there clear evidence that popular election is a guarantee of respectability or capacity.
Elections are a necessary instrument of the democratic system, but not the sole source of its content or principles. Nor do they have anything to say about the ethical quality of people.
Thinking that improving justice has to do with haste and that it can be done quickly, in a sloppy legislative process stifled by the majority gang is, to say the least, naive, if not an abuse of power. Due to this urgency, attributed to President López Obrador who sought to settle accounts with the Supreme Court, forms and acts typical of the carp have been privileged without thinking about the consequences on credibility, respect for institutions and, of course, politics. .
How is it possible for a raffle to become a mechanism for so-called democratic decisions? Without a doubt, we know it by heart, attachment to power clouds eyes and minds, but in any other context or country the shock of a presidential dismissal would cause, at least, a certain blush. Of authors and audience. But nothing happens here, because it has been decreed that way.
Each one does his own thing, because all political actors are too engrossed in their affairs and overlook that among their central missions is, precisely, giving a rational meaning to politics or, at least, trying to do so. And give and give us a fundamental respect without which there can be no community, much less democracy and deliberation.
Absurdity invades the spheres of public life. The shocking and empty solemnity of the rituals of the past changes but only to maintain itself. Can we say today, when we have been shown that life is nothing but a tombola, that judicial reform is “(…) an unparalleled possibility of (…) building a new democratic, sensitive Judiciary with a vocation for service” ?, as Minister Lenia Batres Guadarrama pointed out ( The Day10/13).
It is true that we lack a true system of procurement and administration of justice because its failures and shortcomings continue to be many, but the imposed reform and its most apparent methods do not allow us to speak of a miraculous transmutation where we will have, overnight , an incorruptible, autonomous power, free from any suspicion.
Understanding and addressing in a comprehensive manner the cry of society against the unstoppable increase in violence and insecurities is urgent and not only due to the elementary exercise of the government but because whether we like it or not, the way in which it is applied, or not, the law is an extension of political discourse, of the message of the rulers and of the feelings and convictions of the governed.
On the path to building an agile and expeditious, transparent judiciary, open to citizens, with the material and human resources to be able to reach all regions of the country, respectful of human rights, with trained and well-paid judges and defenders, Much more is needed than a random and humiliating vote. We require will and willingness to cooperate to (re)build a democratic culture that has barely been launched but is already supported by the pillars of a modern, plural, participatory society. In short, building what was not intended to be done when preparing and putting the reform to a vote. The new government starts without a true agreement between the powers of the union and between them and the rest of the Mexicans. And so, no matter how much goodwill we have generated in the election and after, it cannot be governed.
But we have come this far. And it’s going to hurt us.
