Hundreds of thousands of workers and small farmers marched across Mexico, on January 30 in a huge mobilisation for economic and human rights.
The protest was organised under the banner of a "National Day of Struggle for a Change in Economic and Political Direction".
The protesters called for a major change in the political economy of the country. Demonstrators in the capital gathered at various points around the city and marched to the central Zocalo Plaza.
The organisers of the actions, the National Movement for Sovereignty over Food and Energy, the Rights of Workers and Democratic Liberties — known popularly as the Class Alliance — argued that Mexico's workers should not bear the burden of the economic and financial crisis.
It warned that the movement will not support any regressive legislation that affects working people badly.
"They were proclaiming that the [world economic] crisis is becoming much deeper, and that it was never a matter of a simple 'hiccup´ in the system, and were demanding from the federal government that it should act now to prevent the bankruptcy of the workers´ pension funds, which have been converted into [mechanisms for] stealing millions of pesos from workers´ savings", reported La Jornada on January 31.
The workers' organisations who organised the national mobilisations announced that they were presenting a proposal to the national congress to nationalise workers' savings funds. They also demand that the government put an end to the continual pillaging of public resources.
This call refers to the privatisation of the workers' pension funds under the neo-liberal policies of the right-wing National Action Party [PAN] government.
The Class Alliance is a broad coalition that includes trade unionists, peasants, indigenous people, professionals and other workers.
Its leaders have said that if the federal government fails to respond to their demands then protests will continue, culminating in a national general strike before the middle of the year.
The National Union of Workers (UNT) told the January 31 La Prensa there were plans for future actions, with the wide endorsement of union federations.
Should the government try to dismiss the workers concerned then the UNT warned they "will take over the highways, the offices, the ports, the airports, and this includes moving to a national strike in the first semester of this year".
Earlier on January 30, a rally organised by the peasant organisation Central Campesino Cardenista (CCC) was held in front of the US embassy in Mexico City.
The CCC delivered a letter directed to the US president, calling on him to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. In particular, the CCC wants the section on the agriculture and fishing industries to be fundamentally revised. The peasants then marched to join the main mobilisation in Zocalo.
Benito Bahene Lome, leader of the Alliance of Transport Workers of Mexico and vice-president of the UNT, said on February 1 that it was urgent that the government of President Felipe Calderon adopt a "more Mexican" strategic position, corresponding to the reality of the country rather than according to the dictates of the northern neighbour.
He said, "I think that in February and March, we are going to have a very grave situation, with increasing insecurity: There will be more delinquency, because above all we are exposing the youth, who need resources in order to live, and I think that we will touch the depths if the government does not adopt correct alternatives."