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The Mexican Constitution, this year celebrating its hundredth anniversary, was once lauded as one of the most progressive in the world. But political leaders have continued to chip away at its gains. It is easy to understand scholarly and progressive interest in this year’s centennial of the Russian revolution <http://cehi.ub.edu/sites/default/files/2016-10/1circular%20angl%C3%A8s.pdf>, but harder to explain why there is little apparent enthusiasm for an anniversary that is arguably more important – that of Mexico’s 1917 constitution, signed on February 5, 1917. In fact, Mexico’s constitution provided the model for the first Soviet constitution. Its failure to inspire global interest may reside in an uncomfortable question facing the country: whether it should be celebrating or mourning. The Constitution has been revered by constitutional scholars for being the first to enshrine social rights. But relentless revisions by politicians have culminated in an assault on the last vestiges of its progressive content by President Enrique Peña Nieto, leaving it all but moribund. Mexico’s centennial has not been ignored in official circles <http://www.constitucion1917-2017.pjf.gob.mx/>, of course, with a high-powered committee of worthies spearheading a formal program of events to mark the anniversary*.* But outside the corridors of power, some commentators have pronounced the constitution as a dying <https://nacla.org/article/energy-privatized-ultimate-neoliberal-triumph> being, academics liken it to an elderly recipient of multiple transplants <http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2017/02/05/actualidad/1486255501_666016.html>, and surveys suggest many Mexicans know little about it or believe that it no longer responds to their needs <http://historico.juridicas.unam.mx/invest/areas/opinion/encuestaconstitucion/pdf/encuestaconstitucion8.pdf> . http://nacla.org/news/2017/03/08/constitution-corrupted _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
