A year free from strife for emos in Mexico
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This time last year, Mexico’s emos came under attack from other youth groups around the country when violence targeting them broke out in Queretero and Mexico City. As an article in today’s News notes, it’s a year since the tensions started up for the emos. Emos are a youth subculture whose members combine black, Gothic fashions with colorful brands such as Hello Kitty and Converse, as well as a marked emotionalism -- hence the name.
‘Los emos appear to have been singled out for attack by other groups of youths around Mexico in recent weeks, though the motives are unclear. The clashes, and reports of additional threats spread over the Internet, unnerved officials and put a spotlight on the Mexican variety of youth groups found the world over: punks, Goths, skaters and emos.’
But the tensions between emos and other youth cultures here in Mexico dissipated as quickly as they arose, and some of those interviewed by the News blamed the media for exaggerating the rivalries between the different groups:
‘Today, members of the urban tribes are eager to downplay the problems. ‘Strolling around the Glorieta de Insurgentes on a Friday afternoon, Christian Montiel Solórzano said everyday people are more likely to start fights than are members of the punk or dark movements. ‘ ‘I feel that we’re all the same. We all have the same rights,’ said the 16-year-old dark, his four spiraling lip piercings accenting his simple black T-shirt and closely cropped hair,’ reports the News.
Video: Last year, 18-year-old Andrea Velazquez talked to us about the tensions at that time from the emo point of view.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City