Tenochitlan The Inverse Dream

     

   

     In Mexico City the corner of Pino Suarez and Republica Del Salvador vibrates with movement. Colorful ribbons of people flow past an unnoticed deteriorating plaque pegged to the wall on the back side of the Church and Hospital of Jesús Nazareno supposedly marking the spot on a causeway where Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II met for the first time in 1519. This small plaque marks the most decisive event in the history of the Americas. 
     On the opposite side of this famous corner stands El Museo De La Ciudad De Mexico. Originally the museum was a residence for one of Hernán Cortés’s supporters constructed in the baroque style of the era. One corner of the building has incorporated into its construction the large stone head of a serpent salvaged from the conquered city of Tenochitlan. Two journeys, of two different human tribes, one towards the west and one easterly, which diverged from one another countless generations ago are marked by this contrast in architectural styles, one believing a snake was a God and the other that God was gold. This unintentional marker post planted in the caked mud of what was once the Venice of the New World is a stunning reminder of the vast scope of human postulation and intolerance.

      The Museo de La Ciudad de Mexico

     It was Cortés who ordered the the hospital to be built in order to tend to soldiers wounded fighting with the Aztecs. It is the oldest hospital in the western hemisphere. Facing 20 de Noviembre, a block from the historic plaque is the entrance of the hospital which is embraced by the display windows of a LEON shoe store, but if one ventures past the facade deeper into the heart of the hospital there is a visual treat awaiting,,, a mature peaceful space, a cool green garden, within a 500 year old shadowed court, and in the center of one of the busiest places on the planet. In fact Cortés' remains were placed in the church section in 1774. At the same time a bust was created of the conquistador. This was highly unusual for there are few memorials to the man who brought the Spanish language, catholicism, social upheaval, and great suffering to Mexico. He has been banished from the superficial memory. There is a plaque in the church to indicate the tomb and as the story goes his bones were shuffled about several times over the years to prevent desecration. They were lost and rediscovered and perhaps now lie in the same church although in a secret place. 

   A Very Rare Bust of Cortez


  The courtyard of the hospital

    The Courtyard and garden

     On the second floor of the courtyard there is a long painting done in cool pastel colors by Antonio Gonzalez Orozco that depicts the meeting of Cortez and Moctezuma. The famous pair are positioned towards the center of the painting,, Moctezuma on the higher ground,, both looking proud,,, Cortez's hand on his sword backed by a cadre of priests. At his side between himself and Moctezuma stands La Malinche.  Moctezuma is dressed in pure white, feathered, tranquil, the more innocent, and seeming resolved.  To their left the painting depicts a soothing history of the indigenous peoples, and to the right of the pair Orozco narrates the indigenous life after the conquest. The darker half.  

                  The Center of the painting by Orozco in the Hospital de Jesus de Nazareno

 

What the Mejicas had in common with the Mormons. Their arrival in the valley of Mexico fullfilled their prophecy. When you see an eagle on a nopal with a snake in its mouth well get right into settling down.

                       
 An excerpt from Cortez's first impressions of Tenochitlan:
    "This great city of Tenochtitlán is built on the salt lake, and no matter by what road you travel there are two leagues from the main body of the city to the mainland. There are four artificial causeways leading to it, and each is as wide as two cavalry lances. The city itself is as big as Seville or Córdoba. The main streets are very wide and very straight; some of these are on the land, but the rest and all the smaller ones are half on land, half canals where they paddle their canoes. All the streets have openings in places so that the water may pass from one canal to another. Over all these openings, and some of them are very wide, there are bridges. . . . There are, in all districts of this great city, many temples or houses for their idols. They are all very beautiful buildings. . . . Amongst these temples there is one, the principal one, whose great size and magnificence no human tongue could describe, for it is so large that within the precincts, which are surrounded by very high wall, a town of some five hundred inhabitants could easily be built. All round inside this wall there are very elegant quarters with very large rooms and corridors where their priests live. There are as many as forty towers, all of which are so high that in the case of the largest there are fifty steps leading up to the main part of it and the most important of these towers is higher than that of the cathedral of Seville. . . ." 

    Tenochitlan


Tenochitlan 

Fray Diego Durán, a Spaniard who lived in Mexico a few decades after Cortés’ conquest, wrote:
      King Motecuhzoma (or Montezuma) I, who reigned from 1440 to 1469, created an education system where every neighborhood had to have a school or temple to educate youth.
In those places “they will learn religion and correct comportment. They are to do penance, lead hard lives, live with strict morality, practice for warfare, do physical work, fast, endure disciplinary measures, draw blood from different parts of the body, and keep watch at night...”
Another feature of Tenochtitlán’s society was that it had a strict class system, one that affected the clothes people wore and even the size of the houses they were allowed to build. “Only the great noblemen and valiant warriors are given license to build a house with a second story; for disobeying this law a person receives the death penalty...” Fray Durán wrote.

Chinampas, the floating garden system that produced up to 5 crops a year. The secret of sustaining such a large city.
   
     Let's imagine for just a minute that Hernan Cortez's mission met with defeat. Let's say that if things had been different... if the spaniards didn't bring the pox that severely weakened the aztec nation, Malinche never got to be Cortez's mistress-interpreter because she died in Tabasco when she was four years old, and the far greater numbers of the Tenochitlan along with the bow and arrow proved to be more deadly than early guns. In that case,,,,,,,,,,
Bernal Diaz's account of the war may have gone like this:

      We were four hundred, of whom many were sick and wounded, and we stood in the middle of a plain six miles long, and perhaps as broad, swarming with Indian warriors. Moreover we knew that they had come determined to leave none of us alive except those who were to be sacrificed to their idols. When they began to charge the stones sped like hail from their slings, and their barbed and fire-hardened darts fell like a rain of death each one capable of piercing any armour or penetrating the unprotected vitals. Their swordsmen and spearmen pressed us hard, and closed on us, bravely shouting and yelling as they came. Our general Cortez fell early in the battle cornered and slain by 5 feathered warriors his armoured chest pierced by their sharp obsidian spears. Our artillery, musketeers, and bowmen inflicted casualties on them but not enough to stem the tides of their charges. Their advancing swordsmen took the best and bravest of our soldiers. This was our second confrontation and the indians seemed more prepared. Spiked revetments repelled our cavalry removing a crucial element of our strategy. Our horsemen soon fell their bodies scattered about the wide streets. The Indians were charging us in such numbers that only by a miracle of sword-play could have protected our ranks. But our best were already silenced. That day we lost all. Of the handful of us, 30 more or less, that survived 25 were were offered to their gods on the awful stone altar. I was one of the five that lived to tell of that dreaded day, made to witness what had transpired, forced to chronicle what had happened.

     It's 2018 and Tenochitlan has flourished by tweaks for 500 years since the conquest. It is the oldest "living" precolumbian city in the "New World". The country of Mejica includes all the territories taken by the U.S. through war and deception. Imagine Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, and parts of Wyoming were never expropriated by the alternate future in which those states are part of the USA. 
     Only Tenochitlan resisited the persistent waves of conquerors. Over the years it has retained its identity, the crucial point at which the iron clad west met the obsidian east festooned in feathers and cotton. Tenochitlan, after bitter wars with the Purepecha, France, and a young aggressive United States, has more or less triumphed and still retains its ancient form and flavor. The heart of the culture remains intact. These days sacrificial blood is still clandestinely spilled on a few stone altars in the most distant provinces even though it is now banned in Tenochitlan. The native American nation has had to adapt to another world order, a wise political move. Why not serve the romantic ideas the world entertains about Native Americans. They have even rewritten their history. Modern mejica textbooks minimalize the history of human sacrifice,, portraying the ancients as somewhat peaceful, more interested in making mole than human offerings. Yet if one travels to their kingdom one marvels at the physical differences. This is not The Disney or Las Vegas version of the great city. One senses immediately they have entered a rip in time. Minimal out door advertising. The architecture is real, indigenous, and substantial. The language that fills the air chants a pentatonic scale. There are practically no cars,, the air in the valley is crisp and clear. Rickshaws and elevated trains are used within the city, buses and trains to link the rest of the empire. It is a queer sight right out of a Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
      The aztec kingdom stretches from what is now the State of Hidalgo into the Petan in what is now Guatemala. Spears and bows are still promoted and used but the aztec army now employs AK-47's, rocket launchers, and a host of other modern weapons. They still maintain an unrelenting defense of their remote lifestyle yet the Mejicas have been turned inward having shed much of their former bellicose nature in order not to provoke the powerful western world. Concentration on intramural order and discipline are of great importance. They have decided to focus on improving what they have with dignity and diplomacy as their guide.  It may be difficult to believe that a society of pyramids and copal could over achieve on a world scale, but this is the case. Tenochitlan now participates in the world economy in the fields of agriculture, medicine, electronics, fashion, and tourism. It's GNP rivals that of Chile. It is not uncommon for most of the world with the exception of the USA to see a label marked Ochiualok Ipan Mexiko (Hecho en Mexico).
     The market in Tlatelolco, visited by millions each year,  is now the largest outdoor market in the world, but there are more modern thriving forces that propel the economy. There is a growing electronics industry begun in the 1940's. The empress, Matlalazin II, in the early 1920's, established a world class free university system that produced well trained engineers, doctors, linguists, and scientists. Matlalazin II then invited foreign investment offering a well prepared work force, a climate for growth, and attractive tax breaks for the first 5 years. Presently the medical schools she started have been on the forefront of gene research. Tourism has blossomed since the 1800's. As of 2015 Tenochitlan and the entire aztec kingdom are the number one tourist spot in the world. There is no crime thanks to a political- religious ruling class that operates altruistically without corruption, a police force that investigates even petty crimes, and a swift and strict judicial system.  
     Who would not want to see the Venice of this continent, Tenochitlan, or enjoy the many other attractions of the vast empire. There is a large class of people specifically devoted to making foreigners feel comfortable. The tourism industry was promoted first by Opochtli III in 1830. He noticed the interest of german foreign archaeologists in the cities of the empire. Opochtli III revived Palenque, Tajin, and Chichen Itza. They are now vibrant thriving aztec cities. The aztec currency, the Cuau, (from Cuautemoc) is competitive in world currency markets. Tenochitlan ranks 3rd in the world for the quantity of citizens that speak a second language.  
     Since 1964 after the 40 year war against the USA ended in a US pullout there was an embargo imposed by the U.S. on the pretext that the indian nation must stop human sacrifice and respect human rights. Noam Chomsky, a respected linguist and political commentator has indicated that the long lasting embargo was imposed not because of a tarnished record on human rights but to force the Aztecs to give up their vast oil and gas reserves. "The U.S. is no shining example of human rights", states Mr. Chomsky. " The U.S. history of human rights is a study in arrogance and chauvanism." 
     In 1964 Lyndon Johnson was plagued by the Vietnam and a long intolerance and  animosity against the indigenous empire begun after the Civil War by Ulysses S. Grant. After years of war, the U.S.was ready for expansion. In the eyes of many non-Indians, Indians in the South were the same as African-Americans: they were an inferior race and were to be segregated from White Americans. The greatest challenge faced by the Native people who remained in the South was that racism distinguished only between black and white. The dominant white society often refused to acknowledge any distinction among ‘people of color’ and placed African Americans and Native Americans in the same category. This biracial obsession denied the distinct cultures, histories, and problems of Native people.Grant eager to throw the southern block a healing bone allowed an atmosphere of racism to fester that spread further south beyond the borders. There were calls to bring culture to a place where there was now only savagery.
   Lyndon Johnson initiated the economic embargo to please his constituency and remember in this version of the present there was no General Santa Ana and the great loss of Mejican Territory. President Johnson had to settle for a constituency from Oklahoma northeast. However, he stated privately, "Better we let them bare asses have their pointed houses, and sacrifices. I been in a pyramid ya know. My head hit the wall before my feet,, and beside they got the world opinion on their side. Everybody but a few southern crackers wants to see Cochise alive making his bow and arra and eatin' his corn. This goddamn war in Vetnaam is eating me and the country alive. It's one or thother. Sooner or later all those Squantos down there will come around and ask Uncle Sam for a hefty care package or two. Then we'll have 'em". Publically Johnson showed another face. The embargo he initiated  has endured up to the present. Ironically, it is the republicans and Fox News who have for many years generally admired and favored better treatment of the southern empire. Tenochitlan appeals to conservatives for their strict organization, liberal use of capital punishment for an ecclectic plentitude of crimes, such as stealing,, even if the stolen item is a box of chiclets, political corruption of any type, protests, and treason. Prostitution, however,  is tolerated, as well as sporadic slavery, and human sacrifice in the provinces.  
     There are rumblings in the USA, though, to lift the embargo from the heavily weighted democratic congress and senate. "The reasons are clearly economic", states Noam Chomsky. "The plan is to lift restrictions to trade. There should be no impediments to the worldwide circulation of the U.S. dollar." Liberal economists such as Justin Wolfers, Adam Posen, Jacob Funk Kirkegaard have long insisted the embargo is obsolete. We trade with a billion a half chinese communists why not a nation of ten million Native Americans.
     President Bernie Sanders, (Sanders won the presidency after a contested democratic convention in 2016), traveled to Tenochitlan in 2017 to promote lifting the embargo meeting with Emperor Tizoc IV. Excerpt from President Sanders's speech: 

"But we cannot, and should not, ignore the very real differences that we have -- about how we organize our governments, our economies, and our societies.  Tenochitlan has a one-party system; the United States is a multi-party democracy.  Tenochitlan has a socialist economic model; the United States is an open market.  Tenochitlan has emphasized the role and rights of the state; the United States is founded upon the rights of the individual."
     
      The meeting between Sanders and Tizoc IV was cooly cordial. Sanders, playing to the home audience, insisted on seizing the higher moral ground, never acknowledging or apologizing for the former rhetoric, wars, or the embrago. This angered the Emperor and his people. Sanders was portrayed in a cartoon as a bald white paper doll in the Tenochitlan press. The headline read, BS,,, FOR A REASON.  The Emperor himself commented that he wanted to vomit when he heard Sanders's hollow political rap. 
  Below: Sanders doll made of Ixtle a fibre that scratches the skin
      
      
   

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