The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Friday, February 11, 2011

Bronze and Flesh


Installation of sculptures in main square of Cuernavaca (not finished yet)
Street Vendor in rural Mexico

Mexico's rampant poverty, lagged social development and general public welfare is strongly tied to its politics. Historically, the political system of Mexico has not favored the general population, mainly because it focused to become and be a single-party system of government, largely dubbed "institutionalized" where those in charge had a one-voice, unquestionable plan of action mainly focused to favor the few elite while ignoring the welfare of the rest of population. From the 1800s to the end of the 20th century, as presidential administration came and went, the forms of government has been described as authoritarian, semi-democracy, centralized government, untouchable presidencies, mass-controlling, corporatist and elite-controlled. As each administration took turn, some changes have occurred, sometimes as to contribute to the welfare of the least fortunates but history has clearly shown that poverty has remained constant at any given time in the history of Mexico. Overall, the political framework behind the economic and social structure of the country continues to be the greatest contributor to inequality. The political economy of the country has been inadequate and unfair for many decades.

Corruption is rampant in Mexico. Mexico's government has been historically corrupt at all hierarchical levels: federal, state, and local. Mexico ranks high-to-very high among most corrupted countries in the world. The cost of corruption in Mexico is equal to 9 percent of the country's GDP. Business companies admit to spend as much as 10 percent of their revenue in bureaucratic bribes. 39 percent is spent on bribing high-ranking policy makers and 61 percent on lower-ranking bureaucratic-administrative office holders. At least 30 percent of all public spending ends up in the pockets of the corrupt. With these rankings, it is clear that the unethical practices by government officials directly affect the population, their development and the state of poverty in which they remain. [Wiki]


music+image

Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments, I appreciate them all. Stay tuned.

4 comments:

Luis Gomez said...

Son una belleza estas imagenes!

Japy said...

Que bonitas imagenes!!! El B&N les da un toque especial, les va genial. Saludos.

joo said...

My favorite is street vendor:)
Greetings.
j.

Kate said...

The statues are as remarkable as your comments. I do love México and lament what has happened to the population at the hands of their corrupt government. What will it take to change it and get rid of the drug cartels, I wonder.