MEXICO:
Using Rock to Get Out the Young Vote
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY,  (IPS) - "We all complain. But how many of us vote? If you don't vote: shut up. Don't let anyone else decide for you on July 2." With this slogan, printed on billboards and signs with the image of famous actors, rock stars and models, the Tu Rock Es Votar campaign is trying to encourage young people in Mexico to take part in the coming presidential elections.

The initiative also includes a series of rock concerts and an agreement with MTV Latin America for a series of interviews with the presidential candidates, to be aired between May 29 and June 2.

In the "We Are 30 Million: Conversations with Presidential Candidates" series of half-hour specials, the presidential contenders are interviewed by MTV Latin America's news anchor Ilana Sod.

"Today's candidates don't even really know what MTV is, because they don't seem to have much contact with the current generations of young people, but I think it's worth the effort to forge connections in order to somewhat reduce the level of apathy," David Ortigosa, president of Tu Rock Es Votar (literally "your rock is to vote"), the private foundation carrying out the campaign of the same name, told IPS.

Between April and June 30, the foundation is organising free rock concerts in different cities in Mexico to get out the vote. Among the most famous bands performing as part of the series are Víctimas del Dr. Cerebro, La Lupita, Fobia, Natalia y la Forquetina, Motel and la Gusana Ciega.

Of the just over 70 million Mexicans eligible to vote, 30.8 million are between the ages of 18 and 35. Of that total, 10.8 million will likely not vote, according to opinion polls.

In the 2000 elections, when President Vicente Fox was elected, 67.8 percent of young people voted - a proportion that plunged to 31.3 percent in the 2003 legislative elections.

"We don't know if Tu Rock Es Votar will make a difference, but that is our intention," said Ortigosa. "Young people are very uninterested in politics today."

He said that in the pre-taped interviews with MTV, the candidates can be seen trying to reach out to young people, but "you can see by the language they use that they are far removed from them."

However, "I believe these conversations will help show the other face of the candidates, less formal and stiff than their image in the campaigns, and that might draw the attention of young people."

In the interviews, the candidates answer questions collected from young people in Mexico City. According to MTV, the queries focus on a range of issues, from drugs and music to hobbies and how the candidates see young people.

Andrés López Obrador, the 53-year-old candidate of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and Felipe Calderón, 44, of the conservative governing National Action Party (PAN), are leading the polls.

The other candidates, with no real chances of winning, are Roberto Madrazo, 54, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) - which ruled the country from 1929 to 2000 -, Patricia Mercado of the social democratic Alternativa, and Roberto Campa of the Nueva Alianza. Both Mercado and Campa are 49.

"Young people, let's go out and vote, let's show that we are capable of deciding who we want as a leader!" said singer Julieta Venegas, who has supported the Tu Rock Es Votar campaign.

But some artists have actually criticised the initiative. Paco Barajas, with the group Panteón Rococó, said the campaign is "fascist and offensive to freedom of speech, because it undermines the right to free will."

Barajas, who supports the barely armed indigenous insurgent group Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which is based in the southern state of Chiapas, said young people have the right not to vote and to express their opinions anyway. "The candidates do not represent us," he complained.

Ortigosa said he respects Barajas' stance. "It's ok, he might be right, but he should go and cast a blank vote. The important thing is to participate, and not just stay invisible," he argued.

A 21-year-old fan of Mexican rock music, Fabián Hernández, told IPS that the campaign to encourage young people to vote "is stupid, because all of the candidates are old geezers."

In contrast, Manuela Fernández, 18, said it was a good idea. "Rock is a good way to draw youngsters in, so we don't just turn our backs on what is happening around us."