Mexico’s midterm election for its Chamber of Deputies, six governors and mayors and local legislators in 11 states will be held next Sunday July 5. The governing National Action Party (PAN) has  deployed an agressive campaign that attempts to turn the elections  into a referendum on  President  Felipe Calderón’s war against the drug cartels: either Mexicans are with him and voting for his party or they are against him and siding with organized crime.

Despite the continuous media bombarding associated with partisan campaigns a group of Mexican intellectuals and a growing number of citizens have made public their intention of crossing the entire paper ballot on July 5 to render their vote null and void. As they refuse to be convinced by the appeals made by the governing and opposition parties their objective is to show the political establishment as a whole that not one of the platforms in contest satisfies their demands and aspirations.

However,  current electoral norms will make sure that parties will not suffer as a result of citizen rejection. Public funding is allocated according to valid votes and the foreseeable activation of traditional clientelistic machines will ensure that parties retain a significant amount of control over their  fortunes.The null vote will have practically no effect on the manner by which political parties will distribute decision making power after  elections take place. Those who question the current state of affairs are challenged to think outside the (ballot) box if they want to change the way democracy works in Mexico.

Tatiana Clouthier has accepted this challenge. The daughter of Manuel J. Clouthier, a revered former presidential candidate of the PAN, she became interested in politics as an adolescent in a time when the long ruling PRI (Revolutionary Institutional Party) regularly rigged elections and even resorted to repression in order to stay in power. Opposition gains were then few and far in between and electoral protests became the only way in which widespread frustration could be channeled.

Internal and external pressures eventually forced the PRI to commit to gradual political liberalization in the 1990s. As opposition parties won seats in Congress, state and municipal governments, they gained leverage in the definition of Mexico’s democratization.   The PRI peacefully handed over the presidency to Vicente Fox of the PAN in 2000 thereby launching the transition to democracy.

It soon became clear that the Fox administration had little to distinguish itself from previous PRI governments.  Corruption scandals and a chronic lack of accountability characterised the first opposition experiment at the national level. Tatiana Clouthier, then a PAN Congresswoman from the state of Nuevo Leon decided to resign to her party in 2005 by publicly stating that winning the presidency had turned the PAN into a bad copy of the PRI.

Since then, Clouthier has been actively involved in non governmental organizations in Nuevo Leon that promote citizen empowerment outside of political parties to provide solutions to Mexico’s  insecurity and uneven development. Although she  never renounced to what she believes  were the original objectives of the PAN, she did conclude that the party was no longer the best means to achieve them as it had  itself become part of the problem.

Unable to run as an independent under Mexican electoral laws, Clouthier accepted to become the candidate of a small party to the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia after being given legal guarantee that this party would not intervene in the campaign or in the prospective municipal government.  San Pedro has been correctly deemed one of the most affluent municipalities in Latin America. Yet  contrasts are barely hidden behind the facade of big mansions,  country clubs and luxury shopping malls. Beyond  the Valle residential area, the inhabitants of surrounding low income neighborhoods complain of deficient public services and nonexistent opportunities of economic advancement.  Adding to the unsatisfactory responsiveness of municipal governments to these and other grievances,  citizens of all social classes are now united in their fear of San Pedro slowly but steadily becoming a conspicuous turf of Mexican druglords.

Up until now local and state authorities have turned a blind eye to this encroachment. Most tellingly, it was recently disclosed that Clouthier’s opponent Mauricio Fernández of the PAN - currently leading in the polls- was willing to strike a deal with some resident druglords to jointly preserve order in San Pedro.  The issue grabbed national headlines as it exposed the inherent conflict between President Calderón’s public strategy and the positions defended by his own party’s local candidates.

In what has become the trademark of her campaign Clouthier has let actions speak louder than words.  She demanded an explanation from both Fernández and the current PAN municipal government regarding these declarations and joined other candidates in a move to corner federal authorities into investigating the case.  Furthermore, amidst an ensuing exchange of drug-consumption accusations between the candidates, Clouthier was the only one who dared to submit herself to a full laboratory test to demonstrate that not only is she prepared to counter the influence of the cartels in the municipality but that she is also herself drug free.

Powerful inertias and voter apathy have conspired against the success of Clouthier’s campaign. Although her personal credibility and original platform have awakened enthusiasm, Sampetrinos worry that a vote for a minority party might be a waste or beneficial to their least favored option.  Clouthier’s response has been to insist on citizens becoming aware of their democratic rights and obligations. If citizens are serious about making their opinions count in the way the country is ran, elections have to be regarded as the first of many more steps to be geared towards the elimination of long endured vices still present in the relation between state and society in Mexico.

Without a doubt San Pedro’s election will become a test case for Mexico’s democracy. Alienated by the political parties that led Mexico’s transition, citizens might still  take part in the consolidation of this process if they decide to raise to the opportunity.  As things stand, null votes will never prompt a change of direction. In Mexico, as elsewhere, this can  only happen after an alternative, a true counterhegemony to traditional politics, is bravely upheld by the citizens themselves.

In one of the last acts of her campaign Tatiana Clouthier decided to do something different and something she herself had never done before. On board of a Cessna 206 Turbo she jumped with a parachute from an altitude of more than 7 500 feet. After landing on ground and greeting dozens of  supporters Clouthier cheerfully commented: “I know I have done something unusual for a candidate today but it can also be unusual for society to stop being afraid. The only thing we have to do is take the first step. We can do it together. We can choose hope over fear.”

By Klara Moradkhan

Imagine having a strong desire to help others, and finally getting the opportunity to do so in the country you take pride in and love. Then imagine that same country suddenly imprisoning you, taking you away from your family, your friends and your humanitarian work. This happened to my dear cousin and friend, Silva Harotonian.

Silva, an Iranian citizen of Armenian descent, was working in an administrative role to help implement a maternal and child health program between Iran and the U.S. This program, the Child Health Education and Exchange Program (MCHEEP) of the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), aims to improve health conditions for mothers and children in Iran. But then on June 26, 2008, Silva’s life was turned upside-down when she was arrested by Iranian authorities.

Silva is no revolutionary. She is a kind-hearted and genuine woman who is passionate about helping others. Growing up, she had a love for literature and art, leading to her studies in Armenian literature at the University of Azad in Tehran and later as a teacher at the Armenian School of Literature. Ask any of her family and friends and we will all attest to Silva’s constant caring and generosity.

Despite having no political background, Silva was accused of plotting a “soft revolution” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. In January 2009 she was sentenced to three years in the infamous Evin Prison, noted for its political prisoners’ wing. At one point, Silva even shared a jail cell with Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was released last month.

Next week marks one year since Silva’s arrest. My family and many of Silva’s supporters are using this important anniversary to raise awareness of her imprisonment and continue to urge Iranian authorities to release her. On Wednesday, June 24, family, friends, supporters, colleagues and human rights leaders will come together in Paris to call for Silva’s freedom. We invite all of Silva’s supporters to attend the event and call for her release.

Iranian authorities took everything away from Silva, most importantly, her voice. Now, my family and Silva’s supporters must speak on her behalf to set her free. To learn more about Silva’s story and sign our appeal to respectfully urge the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to grant her release, please visit www.FreeSilva.org.

Klara Moradkhan is development director for Children Uniting Nations, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles dedicated to providing quality mentoring relationships for at-risk and foster youth.

Who’s afraid of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s fondness of “mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir—rice, beans and pork”? The Grand Old Party, apparently. I think that if there are questions about the influence of patitas de cerdo con garbanzo on her judicial philosophy during the confirmation hearings, it will be immensely entertaining for all involved.

Croatia lays claim in the Guinness World Records to the world’s largest jeans. If only they were white denim, Croatia would be even more “FASHION,” as my little cousin likes to say.

Former Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum fancies himself to be Dr. Love! No Broadway show and dinner for Barack and Michelle Obama because it sets a bad precedent for African-American families for reasons that are not quite clear to me. “I think he has to realize that flying to New York is…self-indulgent,” Santorum told Fox News. “Go down to the corner bar and have a drink, a shot and a beer. It does not matter where you go with your wife, is that it’s with your wife.” Of course, that friendly White House corner bar that George and Laura Bush frequented!

No shots or beers in the corner bar necessary for love to blossom in the Middle East. The Israeli Foreign Ministry fields hundreds of requests from Arab men from Saudi Arabia to Iraq desperately seeking help to find brainy and beautiful Israeli women to marry. Camels and cars are on offer. The very married former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is especially popular. Diplomatic relations up next?

Cross-strait relations between the Chinese mainland and the Republic of Taiwan have made significant progress with an extension of goodwill to Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which strives for Taiwanese independence. Earlier this month, Kaohsiung municipality Mayor Chen Chu became the highest ranking DPP official to have set foot on the mainland. Not only is Chen mayor of one of Taiwan’s two municipalities (the highest level classification for cities, with the other municipality being Taipei), but she is also one of the DPP’s founding members and serves on its Central Standing Committee.

It was the Kuomintang (KMT), the founding party of the Republic of Taiwan, that broke the ice with the historic exchange in 2005 between Lien Chan, the KMT’s honorary chairman and Hu Jintao, the President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). However, while relations between the KMT and the mainland are based on mutual trust, opposition to Taiwan’s independence and acceptance of the 1992 consensus—an understanding between China and then ruling KMT that there is only one China, and that Taipei and Beijing were each free to interpret the meaning of “one China” in their own ways—the DPP’s visit was strictly for business, with direct references to Taiwan’s president, central government and the Taiwanese visitors’ own official titles.

The significance of this move by the DPP lies in its practical nature and should not be interpreted as a sign of DPP’s weakness. First, as president of the Kaohsiung 2009 World Games Organizing Committee, Chen Chu is obliged under the International World Games Association to promote the World Games to be held this July. Second, in the face of mainland’s economic might and significant rise in cross-strait investment and trade figures, the DPP realizes the futility of maintaining a course of refusing any contact with the mainland. Recent statistics indicate that an estimated 750,000 Taiwanese now reside and do business in the PRC with cumulative Taiwanese investment on the mainland since the late 1980s estimated at more than $100 billion. That aside, trade across the strait—mostly Taiwanese exports—exceed $110 billion annually.

It seems that at this juncture in history, Taiwan simply can not afford to avoid the mainland. Nor does it need to. Both China and Taiwan are encouraging mainland electronics, telecommunications and other businesses to invest in Taiwan, and more mainland tourists are now visiting the island as regular direct air and maritime restrictions have been lifted. Last month, authorities opened the doors for limited Chinese investment on the island—which until now was largely prohibited. It is argued that fresh funds could help stimulate Taiwan’s economy, which shrank by a record 10.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Taiwanese companies are hoping to use the opportunity to expand out of low-end manufacturing to branch out into the still underdeveloped service sector. The key is that Taiwan is free to regulate and monitor mainland investments on the island by protecting industries and sectors that matter. Already, authorities have not permitted state-owned China Mobile’s bid to acquire a 12 percent stake in Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., apparently because of security issues.

The strengthening of economic ties and official visits can be constructive and stand a better chance for healthy political development in the long run. Rather than staging meaningless protests against KMT officials attending the World Health Assembly as observer and a representative of “Chinese Taipei,” thus belittling Taiwan, the very least that the political parties in Taiwan can do is to appear to be united with common purposes of upholding the spirit of the rule of law, principles of a democratic society and economic prosperity. The hard core separatists in Taiwan need to understand that engaging with the PRC does not mean giving up these principles. As the DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen states, “DPP supporters must grow.” In Chen Chu’s words, “Taiwan will continue to survive only if it can integrate itself with the rest of the world…If given the chance, I will let the Chinese authorities hear other Taiwanese voices rather than just those from the ruling Kuomintang.”