Why are Farmers Staging Naked Protest in the Streets of Mexico City?

As I was taxi cabbing through the streets of Mexico City journeying from the airport toward my pre-arranged living quarters for the week of the IAC, alternative reality quickly set in when I observed about 300 Indigenous men and women staging a protest fueled by anger and frustration, all of whom, by the way appeared to be naked!

El Movimiento de los 400 Pueblos (400 Villages) has been protesting naked in Mexico City since 2002.

At least 300 men stand on cans and dance naked (my observance was that women were well represented) in some of the city's major squares and streets, whilst the women (and men, again my observance) from the movement collect money from passers-by and give out pamphlets detailing their cause. The protestestors are farmers from Veracruz and they hold marches and protests outside of the Mexican Congress in an effort to bring Delgado, current governor Patricio Chirinos and others to trial. The farmers accused former Governor of Veracruz, Dante Delgado from the Convergence party, of obtaining by force, more than 100 hectares (acres) of land in May of 1992.

One of the first thoughts that came to my mind (besides that I am no longer in Kansas) was the all-too-obvious tyranny that must exist here and being carried out by a government that has for far too long (since 2002) ignored the basic needs of its constituents.

As a farmer, how are you able to farm with no land? How does a farmer feed his family and provide the basic needs of a family like food shelter, clothing and the big one, "Medical Coverage," if he has no land with which to yield a harvest?

It's reminiscent of the 2004 AIDS Activist Naked Protest at the Republican National Convention in NYC where ACT UP Members stopped traffic at Madison Square Garden and stripped to tell Bush the "Naked Truth" about the harmful impact of the Bush Administration's AIDS policies today.

The leader of El Movimiento de los 400 Pueblos, Alfonsina Sandova, was quoted to have said, "Although we are showing our bare skin, we will not to be forced to remain naked Mr. President."

"The problem is that there was repression in Veracruz when Dante Delgado (former Veracruz mayor) was there. They arrested 500 farmers and processed 103 and they displaced farmers. Now, there have been injustices and human rights violations by governor Patricio Chirinos. We want the law to be followed," said "400 villages" Farmers Group leader Agustin Morales.

I say Right On to El Movimiento de los 400 Pueblos! After all we all must do whatever it takes to get the attention of our decision makers and bring about awareness of inequitable issues through the media… Although I feel it's a damned shame that we must strip naked as a tactic …..when our votes should have been sufficient.

I just hope that, along with all the media attention being drawn to Mexico City these next two weeks for the IAC where we are working on ending AIDS as a Crisis, there's also a ripple effect toward getting these farmers not just more media attention but positive results. By that I mean get farmers back onto their land and for heaven's sake get clothes back onto their bodies.