▲ The director of The DayCarmen Lira, with Hermann Bellinghausen, Javier Aranda, Gustavo Castillo and Luis Tovar, at the 40th anniversary celebration.Photo Victor Camacho
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Last week we sang to him The mornings to The Daya miracle and a sane madness that so many colleagues and allies gave us throughout its now 40 years and that today is our responsibility to care for and protect. When remembering the achievements and challenges of our history, it is worth highlighting that the approach dictated by the editorial line of our house not only applies to Mexico, but to our journalistic work in the international arena.
The correspondence of The Day In the United States, it has always had a different perspective than other foreign media. Under the direction of Carmen Lira, it was decided that along with the obligation to report official news, the focus of its work was to discover and describe the other United States. This task involves constantly breaking the stereotype of gringo In our countries, something that is not easy at all and that, in recent years, became even more difficult when this issue appeared on the national scene. ugly american Trump, the stereotype gringo on steroids.
La Jornada determined that the news in and about the United States is not limited to Washington, Wall Street and the handling of the superpower, but that equally important, or sometimes more so, is the long and constant American history of anti-imperialism and social struggle for justice in all areas.
As part of this, there was also a focus on the cultural sphere; musicians, artists, writers and more who every day offer sonic, graphic routes and stories that break the stereotype and offer a deeper vision of the United States. I don’t think a reporter can accomplish a complete job covering any country without building an ever deeper understanding of that country’s culture, past and present.said journalist Pete Hamill in The Day (https://www.jornada.com.mx/2000/04/30/mas-otra.html).
For all this, in these 40 years The Day has sought to include the great dissenting voices of this country, including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Jesse Jackson, Gore Vidal and more, and to report on historic strikes and major social movements including immigrants, women, indigenous people, the outbreak of anti-globalization in Seattle, the massive anti-war mobilizations, the environmental movement, Occupy Wall Street and the democratic socialist movement of Bernie Sanders.
To understand the United States, it is not enough to record political events and economic maneuvers, but what happens below, which suddenly determines part of what happens above. The anti-neoliberal struggle, for example, did not only occur in countries in the South. The opposition to the so-called washington consensus It included social forces within the United States, including farmers, unionists, environmentalists and more. Without knowing this anti-neoliberal struggle, one cannot understand the current situation and why Sanders became the most popular elected politician in the country, nor can one understand the Trump phenomenon, who feeds on the desperation and disillusionment that neoliberalism generated among various sectors.
From these efforts, new projects have also been born in the newspaper with the same perspective, including the most recent, The International Daywhich offers a weekly selection of the newspaper’s work dedicated to a transnational audience (https://lajornadainternacional.substack.com/).
Perhaps the most important thing about coverage of The Day It is to reveal that in the United States there are those who share the anger and love of their Mexican and Latin American counterparts in the fight for dignity and who wish to fulfill that which another world is possibleThat is to say, reporting on the United States includes reporting on the dynamics of power and its binational and international implications, but also revealing the rebels who are transforming and democratizing the United States, who, ultimately, are the key allies for those who are also aspiring to the transformation of Mexico and the hemisphere.
The Wolves and Café Tacuba. The Revenge of the Bald Men. https://open.spotify.com/track/0SekrbXuRWyigK16qdl1AI?si=6b96b13141e54d6a
