MEXICO 2001-2

 

In 2001, most antisemitism in Mexico was expressed in anonymous letters and graffiti, and in printed and Internet propaganda. Jewish institutions received abusive mail continuously throughout the year. The Israeli-Palestinian crisis generated many anti-Israel and anti-Zionist articles in the national media.

 

The Jewish Community

The Jewish community in Mexico numbers about 40,000, out of a total population of 102 million. Most Jews live in the capital Mexico City and its suburbs, while the rest are located in the cities of Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana, and in Cancún.

            Jewish immigrants to Mexico formed communities according to their place of origin, a way of life that has persisted until today. The main communities, together with the Jewish Sports Center, are represented in the Jewish Central Committee of Mexico (JCCM). Tribuna Israelita, the community’s public opinion and analysis agency, promotes an ongoing dialogue with opinion leaders and implements joint ventures with various national organizations.

            High enrolment in Jewish day schools and a very low rate of intermarriage characterize the community, which is highly organized and cohesive, with a wide range of welfare and educational services. A variety of periodicals reflect different political, cultural and ideological trends.

 

Antisemitic activities and racist groups

Apart from a bomb threat received by the Tarbut Jewish school in Mexico City, in March, most antisemitism in Mexico in 2001 was expressed in anonymous letters and graffiti, and in printed and Internet propaganda.

Jewish institutions received anonymous antisemitic mail continuously throughout the year. They included abuse such as: “Jewish pigs, Mexico is for the Mexicans ... Get the hell out of our country”; “I support Yassir Arafat. I hope he will get rid of you”; “I regret that Hitler didn’t finish you off”; “Heil Hitler! Jews are liars and parasites. I don’t believe in the Holocaust. Kill a Jew and honor your country.” In addition, anti-Jewish graffiti, in particular, swastikas, appeared in suburbs of Mexico City with large Jewish populations in late May and June, as well as at UNAM University in January. Anti-Jewish leaflets were also found in phone booths in the Condesa quarter of the city. The groups or individuals behind these acts were not identified. It should be noted, too, that crosses appeared for the first time on two Jewish homes in Monterrey in February.

Propaganda of the Mexican extreme right was disseminated on the Internet via the Argentinean neo-Nazi site of Alejandro Biondini. In addition, various groups promoted an idealized image of the country’s Creole identity. (Creoles are descendents of Spanish and French settlers in America.) Considering themselves part of a white Mexican supremacist movement, these groups – such as Orgullo Criollo and Partido Nacional Socialista de Mexico – blame the Jews for the problems of Mexico and other nations. Xenophobia, Nazism, antisemitism and anti-Zionism are central tenets of their ideology.

            The revisionist books of the right-wing extremist Salvador Borrego, Mexico’s most prolific antisemitic writer, and a Mexican edition of Mein Kampf, were available in some bookstores.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict generated a significant number of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist articles in the national media. Israel was portrayed as a militaristic and violent nation whose attitude toward the Palestinians was racial and genocidal. “Israel was created and is maintained through terrorist actions against the Palestinians,” asserted Angel Guerra Cabrera in the leftist newspaper La Jornada (6 Dec.). Letters to the editor claimed “Sharon is a murderer, a butcher who defends imperialism in the Middle East. Long live the intifada!” (José Antonio Salas, in Uno Mas Uno, 6 Dec.); and, “Israel … has been and will always be ungrateful to Mexico ... Being Jews, different from the rest, they abuse the Palestinians, in revenge for the Russian and Polish pogroms and the Holocaust” (Augusto Hugo Peña, in Excelsior, 28 Nov.).

The ultra-rightist magazine Surge! published an article in its April edition alleging that the Jews rejected Jesus because they were interested in material rather than spiritual issues. In December the paper explained the “powerful Jewish influence in Mexico.”

 

responses to racism and Antisemitism

Tribuna Israelita continued to counter anti-Israel and anti-Zionist attacks by publishing articles of journalists and intellectuals in the national press, meeting with representatives of the mass media, participating in interviews on radio and television, and publishing informational material.

            Representatives of the Jewish community attended the UN World Conference against Racism, Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, held in Durban in September. They lobbied the official Mexican delegation to support rejection of the term “holocausts” instead of Holocaust, and opposed the attempts of Arab and Muslim states to politicize the conference.

            Members of the Jewish community participated in the Anti-discrimination Commission created by President Vicente Fox. The draft of an anti-discrimination law presented to the president by the commission in November declares that antisemitism and xenophobia constitute discriminatory behavior.

            The program designed to improve relations between Jewish and non-Jewish students and provide information on Judaism and Israel has continued to prove successful, promoting better understanding and dialogue in universities where it has been implemented (see ASW 2000/1).