Amid our tranquil expatriate enclave, the Lake Chapala Jewish Congregation (LCJC) finds itself grappling with a dilemma echoing through diaspora communities worldwide: in an era of rising global antisemitism, is it safer to stand visible or retreat from view?

“Un lugar sano para conversaciones productivas” is emblazoned across the menu of El Sentido, a “bar” situated steps from Guadalajara’s Templo Expiatorio. The motto seems to well express the outlook of Kurt Robinson, the 40-ish Australian who started the business just 1 1/2 years ago in a quirky upstairs venue that used to house an Oaxacan restaurant.

Many historical accounts neatly bookend the Mexican Revolution between November 20, 1910, the start of the uprising against Porfirio Díaz, and February 5, 1917, the promulgation of the Constitution. 

When Mayan poet Pedro Uc Be stepped onto the stage at the Feria Internacional del Libro last month to receive a recognition for his trajectory as a Mayan poet, the moment carried far more weight than a literary honor. It was a recognition not only of a body of poetry written in the Maya language, but of a life’s work rooted in territorial defense, environmental justice, and the survival of Indigenous ways of being.

The aftermath of the January 7 killing in Minnesota of “ICE watcher” Renee Good is a helter-skelter of reaction to Trump administration threats and aggression against numerous nations, including Mexico, against immigrants in the United States, and now against a protesting U.S. citizen. 

For the second time in less than three years, Guadalajara’s urban agriculture community is mobilizing against proposed regulations they say criminalize planting in public space and threaten long-standing agroecological practices across the city.