The 42nd IPN International Book Fair claims reading as a refuge

Daniel López Aguilar

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 28, 2025, p. 5

This Friday, the 42nd International Book Fair of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) opened on the esplanade of the Jaime Torres Bodet Cultural Center, where officials, students, and guests gathered to kick off 10 days dedicated—from yesterday until July 6—to reading and cultural exchange.

The ceremony was attended by the director of the IPN, Arturo Reyes Sandoval, and the head of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), Mario Delgado Carrillo.

In this edition, China participates as a special guest country, while Puebla joins as the first guest state in the fair's history. Speaking to the Polytechnic community, Reyes Sandoval defined reading as an act that combines enjoyment, curiosity, and awareness.

He emphasized that this fair reaffirms the institutional commitment to knowledge and intercultural dialogue, and its mission is to educate generations capable of imagining and building new realities .

He also emphasized that the initiative responds to the need to educate critical citizens, willing to face current challenges and contribute to building more just and egalitarian societies.

For his part, Mario Delgado Carrillo emphasized that books can be a refuge, and that education should serve as a bridge to understanding different ways of inhabiting and thinking about the world.

Attendees included Alejandra Pacheco Mex, Secretary of Arts and Culture of Puebla, representing Governor Alejandro Armenta Mier; Zhu Jian, Chargé d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Mexico; Senator Alfonso Cepeda Salas; representatives of Sections 11 and 60 of the National Union of Education Workers; and members of the polytechnic community.

The book fair will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. More than 700 cultural, artistic, and musical activities will take place at the Jaime Torres Bodet Cultural Center, Lázaro Cárdenas Plaza, and the Víctor Bravo Ahuja National Library of Science and Technology, spaces that will serve as venues for the written word, socializing, and dialogue.

One of the highlights of the opening day was the presentation of the book The Universe or Nothing, by writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska. In this work, the author, also a contributor to this publishing house, recounts the life of her husband, astronomer Guillermo Haro, a pioneer of Mexican science and tireless promoter of education among young people.

Through her narrative, the author recovers the figure of a universal Mexican whose intelligence and passion for knowledge led him to found the great astronomical observatories of the 20th century in the country, and to make discoveries that placed him alongside the most prominent astrophysicists in the world.

In an interview with La Jornada, Miguel Ángel Cortizo Rodríguez, head of the Libraries and Publications Department at the IPN, stated that the main objective of this edition is to promote reading, especially among children and young people.

We have a pavilion dedicated to children. If you start the habit with them, you become readers. The goal is to reconnect the community with physical books, to pick up a book again and enjoy it.

He also emphasized that, although the IPN is recognized for its technical and engineering programs, reading is promoted in all areas of knowledge and at all educational levels, from high school to graduate school.

Promoting reading also means fostering critical thinking and sensitivity, essential elements for developing well-rounded professionals.

The fair brings together more than 80 publishing houses and nearly 40 educational institutions, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Metropolitan Autonomous University.

More than half a million books are on display, with an institutional publishing collection that includes more than 2,000 titles at affordable prices, ranging from 20 to 200 pesos.

Among this year's new features is the exhibition of an electric sports car from China, the guest country, a symbol of the relationship between culture, science, and technology, and a glimpse into the future toward which the IPN is headed.

Regarding the social impact, Cortizo commented that more than 500,000 people are expected to attend, including students, families, and the general public. During weekdays, between 5,000 and 7,000 young people are expected to visit daily; on weekends, the fair becomes a family space where grandparents, parents, and children enjoy exploring books together.

The fair provides a community service to make reading accessible to everyone, with discounts ranging from 10 to 50 percent.

▲ The author of The Five Prices of Oil also addressed misinformation in the media and on social media. Photo courtesy of the IPN

Fabiola Palapa Quijas

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 28, 2025, p. 5

International affairs specialist Alfredo Jalife-Rahme argued that the future of international geopolitics is headed toward a tripolar world with the United States, Russia, and China , as the Donald Trump administration seeks to break the strategic alliance between Moscow and Beijing.

The La Jornada contributor participated yesterday in the 42nd International Book Fair of the National Polytechnic Institute with the lecture "The Inevitable New Tripolar Order: G2 Russia and China plus the United States?", in which he discussed the role of the great powers, disinformation, and the interests that pull the strings of the conflict between Iran and Israel.

According to Jalife-Rahme, Russia's partnership with China arose from a mistake Obama made, which led those countries to develop cooperation across all areas and agreements, in addition to supporting each other in key global situations.

There's such a strong complementarity in scientific collaboration at all levels—space, military, and missile—that they created a G2, whose name they dare not reveal . He mentioned that Russia has the famous Oreshnikov missiles, invisible, undetectable, and unstoppable.

The academic commented that, unlike China or Russia, the United States has only three things left: the dollar, which is devaluing and could fall; propaganda, because it has its own repeaters in the Western world; and submarines.

On the global stage, Jalife-Rahme emphasized that learning Mandarin is important today because it's the language of the future, thanks to China's growth in the geopolitical and economic landscape. He also highlighted the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology, as well as understanding the new technological language.

Regarding China's supremacy in the field of AI, the analyst mentioned that the Pentagon's cybersecurity chief acknowledged that Beijing has a 20-year lead in that area. "They have their work cut out for them ," he added.

Another topic the author of The Five Prices of Oil also addressed was misinformation filled with deception in the media and social media. For example, he noted that during the 12-day war, people took to the streets to celebrate the end of the conflict, but he didn't see anyone coming out in Israel, so he recommended people stay well-informed.

He explained that in this multidimensional transition of the multipolar world, there are five oil prices, the combination of which helps to elucidate its volatile price. In my book, I talk about oil prices; don't think I jumped in at a second to 12: we've been at this for years, at least 20. There are many oil prices: economic, financial, speculative, geopolitical, and misinformation .

Jalife-Rahme explained that he has a nose for misinformation because it's all part of what he calls a brain-freeing event , where everyone can work out the thesis, the antithesis, and create a synthesis of the topic to be deciphered.