Chicago, IL - To honor International Women’s Day, on March 9, Freedom Road Socialist Organization hosted a film screening of Si Se Puede a documentary on the 1985 Watsonville, California strike, followed by a panel discussion with activists in the Black liberation, immigrant rights and labor movements.

The documentary tells the story of a successful 18-month strike of over 1000 food processing workers by Chicanas and Mexicanas, backed up by the Chicano movement across the country.

The event was well attended by a diverse crowd of over 50 community members and activists from various sections of the people’s movement including Arab, Latino, Black and white workers and students.

The Watsonville strike was sustained for 18 months because of the unity of the workers and the support of the community for their struggle. The company hoped that their coziness with the sellout union officials would make the workers give up, but the unity of the rank-and-file workers and support from the community carried them through to victory.

Two of the panelists picked up on the struggle against sell-out trade union bureaucrats in Watsonville and recognized this obstacle from their own struggles. 

Chanel Crittenden of the Labor Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression put it, “This was a resistance led by the rank-and-file members of the union,” and that we should follow their example of unity when the capitalists attempt to undermine our unity with strategic attacks on older workers, or on healthcare benefits.

Eliza Schultz shared her experience as a UPS worker in the Teamsters in 2018 when the sellout leaders forced them to accept a contract that had been voted down. The union members who fought for a better contract were then joined by more members to defeat the sellout officers a few years later.

Vicky Lugo of El Consejo del Resistencia in defensa del Inmigrante (Resistance Council to Defend Immigrants), when she saw the Watsonville strikers having to stand up to the police, recalled her experiences organizing and winning permits for the street vendors in the Pilsen and Little Village communities in Chicago.

Another point underlined by Schultz was, “Unity is an idea built around an act.” The workers with many years of seniority revolted against the lowering of wages and cutting of benefits; younger workers were drawn in, and following that, the community rallied around them. The unity that resulted was how the strike was sustained for 18 months.

Crittenden compared the ironclad unity demonstrated by the workers in the documentary to the Chicago Teachers Union standing with their students against ICE, rallying the community with them and showing that it takes numbers to force the capitalist class to reckon with our demands.

Vicky Lugo recognized the people are scared, but they are not so scared they won’t fight back. She called for those in attendance to support a week of action beginning on May Day, including marches and boycotts, and led by their coalition of over 50 organizations.

Inspired by the women in the film, Crittenden stated, “Women didn’t fight for their right to work; Black women have always worked and want our work to be recognized. The capitalists will recognize the strength in our numbers and we can make shit happen.”

#ChicagoIL #IWD #UPS #CTU #ICE #CAARPR #Teamsters #SiSePuede #ChicanoLiberation

Chicago, IL – Using the tag line, “Going to the Heart of the People’s Struggle,” our podcast has quickly spread across the country. Fight Back! Radio host Richard Berg noted, “We do interviews with the real leaders of the people’s struggles. We go past the bourgeois think tanks by talking to activists that are organizing workers, oppressed nationality peoples, students and other fighters.”

Since hitting the airwaves on May Day 2022, Fight Back! Radio has captured the imagination of revolutionaries and activists everywhere. In a very short time, the podcast has reached 10,000 downloads by interviewing the most successful mass leaders. The podcast has interviewed, for example, Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Greg Kelley, president of the 90,000-member Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas.

“I’m lucky,” Berg said, “I get to sit and chat with people that are leading movements to change the world. When I was interviewing American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3800 President Cherrene Horazuk, she broke down in specifics how to fight sexism. She talked about a program for working-class women. You don’t get that on CNN. It’s inspiring and exciting.”

On Sunday September 18, we will release an interview with Carlos Montes. An iconic leader of the Chicano National Movement, Montes was a founder, spokesperson and minister of information for the Brown Berets. He was also a key leader of the 1968 Los Angeles High School walkouts, the Chicano Moratorium against the Viet Nam War, the mega-marches from 2006 and continues today as a leader of Centro Community Service Organization in Los Angeles.

Joining Montes to give a response is Angel Naranjo, a high school senior and leader of Chicago’s Little Village Lawndale High School Fight Back! organization. Angel and their fellow students across Chicago walked out of class last year when Chicago Public Schools tried to force students into unsafe schools amidst a pandemic.

Check out the current or past episodes of Fight Back! Radio at https://t.co/kmQZI26WtL

You can contact Fight Back! Radio at richard.fightbackradio@gmail.com

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #ChicanoLiberation #FightBackRadio #podcast

Los Ángeles, CA – Familias, sindicalistas, maestros, activistas y estudiantes llenaron la casa en el centro local de arte chicano, Self Help Graphics, el 29 de agosto, para conmemorar el 48 aniversario de la Moratoria chicana contra la guerra. El programa honró la histórica moratoria chicana del 29 de agosto de 1970, donde más de 30,000 chicanos marcharon en el este de Los Ángeles para protestar por la alta tasa de víctimas muertos de los chicanos en la guerra de Vietnam. El conocido periodista Rubén Salazar fue asesinado por un alguacil del LA durante las protestas.

La conmemoración fue organizada por Cento CSO, que continúa denunciando las amenazas de intervención y guerra del presidente Trump contra países como Irán, Venezuela y Corea del Norte. Centro CSO también pide que la Marina de los EE. UU. Y las tropas salgan de Filipinas y se solidariza con el pueblo de Palestina, Puerto Rico y Venezuela.

La integrante de Padres del Este Contra Privatización Eloisa Galindo habló en contra de la apertura de la escuela Kipp privada en East LA y Boyle Heights. La líder de United Teachers of LA (UTLA) Lupe Torres, una maestra y miembro de Centro CSO, criticó la falta de fondos para escuelas públicas, la alta proporción de estudiantes en las aulas y la falta de personal de apoyo y salarios injustos para los maestros de LAUSD. UTLA acaba de tomar un voto de autorización de huelga.

Raúl Ruiz, ex editor y fotógrafo de La Raza diario, habló como testigo del asesinato de Rubén Salazar.

Gloria Arellanes, fundadora de la Moratoria Chicana original, Boinas Cafés y Las Adelitas, un grupo de mujeres contra la guerra, habló de la historia de la lucha de los chicanos contra la Guerra de Vietnam y el papel principal de las mujeres.

El evento incluyó una charla de Cruz Becerra, un veterano de Vietnam, un mensaje de solidaridad de Bayan USA; y discursos de Dalia Jaramillo, vicepresidente de SEIU 1000 y parte del Comité Organizador de la Moratoria Chicana; La organización socialista camino a libertad-Sol Márquez y Carlos Montes del Centro CSO.

Únase a Centro CSO para sus reuniones públicas el tercer miércoles de cada mes a las 6 p.m. en la Biblioteca Benjamín Franklin. Busque / Centro CSO en Facebook y Twitter.

#LosAngelesCA #AntiwarMovement #Labor #ChicanoLatino #ChicanoMoratorium #ChicanoLiberation #Antiracism #48thChicanoMoratorium #CentoCSO

Los Angeles, CA – Families, union members, teachers, activists and students filled the house at local Chicano art center, Self Help Graphics, Aug. 29, to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Against the War. The program honored the historic Aug. 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium, where over 30,000 Chicanos marched in East LA to protest the high casualty rate of Chicanos in the Vietnam War. Well-known journalist Ruben Salazar was killed by a n LA sheriff deputy during the protests.

The commemoration was organized by Cento CSO, which continues to denounce President Trump's threats of interventions and war against countries like Iran, Venezuela and north Korea. CSO also calls for U.S. Navy and troops to get out of the Philippines and stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

Eastside Parents Against Privatization member Eloisa Galindo spoke against the rash of charter school opening in East LA and Boyle Heights. United Teachers of LA (UTLA) leader Lupe Torres, a teacher and Centro CSO member, criticized the lack of public school funding, the high student classroom ratio and lack of support staff and unfair wages for LAUSD teachers. UTLA has just taken a strike authorization vote.

Raul Ruiz, former editor and photographer for La Raza newspaper, spoke as an eyewitness to the killing of Ruben Salazar.

Gloria Arellanes, a founder of the original Chicano Moratorium, Brown Berets and Las Adelitas, an anti-war woman’s group, spoke of the history of Chicanos fight against the Vietnam War and the leading role of women.

The event included a talk by Cruz Becerra, a Vietnam veteran, who delivered a message of solidarity from Bayan USA; and speeches by Dalia Jaramillo, SEIU 1000 Vice President and part of the Chicano Moratorium Organizing Committee; Sol Marquez-Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Carlos Montes of Centro CSO.

Join Centro CSO for their public meetings the third Wednesday of every month 6 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Library. Look for /Centro CSO on Facebook and Twitter.

#LosAngelesCA #AntiwarMovement #ChicanoLatino #ChicanoMoratorium #ChicanoLiberation #Antiracism #TeachersUnions #48thChicanoMoratorium #CentoCSO

Los Angeles, CA – A contingent from the Boyle Heights-based Centro CSO received enthusiastic responses from the Black public at the annual MLK parade, which took place in the heart of the African American community. The delegation from Centro CSO carried a large banner reading “Dump Trump and right-wing racists.” Many in the large crowds applauded and chanted, “Dump trump now.” A CSO member carried a poster urging Black and brown unity.

Centro CSO felt it very important to participate in the march to show solidarity with the Black community in the fight against police terror and to support the struggle for equality and self-determination.

The delegation also participated in the festival at the historic Leimert Park with a variety of music, dance, MLK speeches and great food.

Centro CSO fights for equality and liberation of Chicanos and Latinos in the East LA area and can be contacted at centrocso@gmail.com or Face Book: Centro CSO.

#LosAngelesCA #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #CentroCSO #EastLosAngeles #ChicanoLiberation #MartinLutherKingDay

Milwaukee, WI – More than 100 people gathered at a rally, Sept. 26 at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) to condemn deportations and police brutality.

Timed to coincide with a talk by Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow, the rally brought together two of the largest movements in Milwaukee. One is the movement against the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, gathered around Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) and its parent organization Voces de la Frontera. The other important movement is against police brutality and mass incarceration, gathered around a number of community leaders and the families of police brutality victims.

Speaking to the gathered crowd, State Representative-elect David Bowen condemned the deaths of young African-American men at the hands of police. Next from Voces de la Frontera, Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz denounced “the private prison system that profits from filling its beds with undocumented immigrants.”

Then Angela Walker, socialist candidate for county sheriff, explained, “The historic tactic of the ruling class is to divide oppressed peoples against one another. By holding rallies like this we are challenging oppression and exploitation.”

Nate Hamilton, brother of Dontre Hamilton who was murdered by the Milwaukee Police Department, implored, “We need unity between Black and Brown communities. We call on all forces to rally this upcoming Tuesday at Red Arrow Park, the site of my brother’s murder, to mark the fifth month anniversary of his death.”

MATC community college students led the rally. Youth Empowered in the Struggle at MATC founder Mario Gomez laid the foundation for the rally by looking at the common denominator between mass deportation and mass incarceration – class exploitation and national oppression. Gomez spoke directly, “Let’s be honest, they’re targeting the working class. They’re not targeting just anybody. They’re not out here targeting and deporting rich Europeans and Canadians. They’re targeting the working class, and as a proud member of that working class, at the largest working class college in Wisconsin, we’ve got to start fighting back!”

The rally maintained a high level of enthusiasm throughout, and ended with YES leading the crowd in a Unity Clap, inspired by the farmworkers struggle of the 1960s and 1970s. All participants were invited to a lunch social afterward, hosting by the MATC student organizations.

Co-sponsors of the rally included: Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Youth Empowered in the Struggle – MATC, MATC Black Student Union, MATC Latino Student Organization, Voces de la Frontera, and the African American Roundtable.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #YouthEmpoweredInTheStruggle #ChicanoLiberation #immigrationRights

Los Angeles, CA – Under the slogan “Education not war!” Boyle Heights community members participated in a townhall meeting to commemorate the Chicano Moratorium Day of Resistance. The event was sponsored by California State University, Los Angeles MEChA and the Community Action Taskforce on Chicano Studies Education (CATChE).

The local Ben Franklin Public Library class room was packed with youth and local residents. A photo display with pictures of the original march, rally and the police attack were displayed. People were captivated by the stories of Gloria Arrellanes, Ray Andrade and Carlos Montes, who shared their triumphs and difficulties during the Chicano movement struggle against the Vietnam War.

The August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium protest against the Vietnam War took place in East Los Angeles. Over 30,000 Chicanos protested the U.S. war in Vietnam and the high death rate of Chicano youth in that war. Ruben Salazar, KMEX news director, was killed by the Los Angeles sheriffs during the police attack and community rebellion.

During the '60s and '70s the Chicano movement fought for education, against war, for equality and self-determination. The struggle continues today as Latinos, especially immigrants, fight for legalization and are targeted by the military for recruitment to fight in U.S. wars of intervention.

#LosAngelesCA #AntiwarMovement #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #ChicanoMoratorium #ChicanoLiberation #USImperialism #Immigration

Fight Back News Service is circulating an important commentary written by veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes in 2010. Montes is a regular contributor to Fight Back!

40th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War

A Long History of Struggle against War and Racism

August 29, 2010, marks the 40th anniversary of the historic Chicano Moratorium protest against the Vietnam War. On Aug. 29, 1970 over 30,000 Chicanos marched down Whittier Boulevard in the heart of East Los Angeles protesting the Vietnam War, the high casualty rate of Chicano soldiers and racist conditions in the barrios. The participants included youth and families of a mainly working class community with delegations from throughout the Southwest. The marchers chanted “¡Raza Si, Guerra No!” inspired by the call for Chicano self-determination and opposition to the imperialist U.S. war in Vietnam. Many Chicano youth had been drafted into the military after being pushed out of high school. The Chicano Movement was on the rise after several years of mass actions like the East Los Angeles high-school walkouts of 1968, land struggles in New Mexico, strikes by the United Farm Workers union, and the growth of new Chicano groups like the Brown Berets and MEChA (Movemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Atzlan, a Chicano Student Movement of the Southwest).

The mass rally held at Laguna Park by the Chicano Moratorium was brutally attacked by the combined forces of the Los Angeles city police and the Los Angeles county sheriffs. Whole families were beaten and tear gassed. Youth responded by defending the rally with their bare hands against the police. A rebellion followed for the entire day, where later Ruben Salazar, a Los Angeles Times journalist and Spanish TV news director, was killed by a sheriff at the Silver Dollar. He was shot in the head with a tear gas missile projectile normally used for barricaded situations.

It is important to commemorate the Chicano Moratorium because it is part of our history of resistance that is not always taught in history classes. This event is also part of the long struggle of Chicanos for self-determination and liberation. Today it is important to continue the fight against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to protest the military recruitment targeting Chicanos and especially immigrant youth.

Jose Gutierrez was the first U.S. Marine killed in Iraq. He came from Guatemala to Los Angeles and then joined the Marines at age 17 even though he had no papers. Gutierrez is an example of how U.S. intervention and support for Central American militaries trained at the School of the Americas that massacred over 200,000 Guatemalans has driven people to the United States. U.S.-sponsored counter-insurgency and counter-revolutions in El Salvador and Nicaragua are other examples. The U.S. supports U.S. business interests and brutal military regimes that attack popular movements and democratic or socialist governments. This causes war, poverty, displacement and mass migration to the United States.

NAFTA is an example of how U.S. policy has caused mass unemployment and poverty in Mexico, forcing millions to come to work in the U.S. and live in horrible conditions. Today these immigrants are facing growing numbers of deportations, expanded use of local police to track down the undocumented and racist laws such as Arizona’s SB1070. The mass migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the U.S. has led to the strengthening of the Chicano/Mexican communities and to the growth of a strong mass movement for immigrant rights. Our fight for legalization and is part of our historical struggle for equality and self-determination and liberation of Chicanos/Mexicans.

This is why we continue our struggle today against U.S. wars and interventions like in Colombia, and Plan Merida in Mexico. Also we must support movements and governments that are independent and oppose U.S. power, like those in Bolivia and Venezuela.

We make a call for principled unity to the community and all the organizations organizing for the Chicano Moratorium, to continue the struggle for Chicano self-determination. In addition to the the 1970 slogan of “¡Raza si, guerra no!” we now add “¡Raza si, Migra no!” and “¡Aquí estamos, y no nos vamos!”

#LostAngeles #LostAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #CarlosMontes #ChicanoMoratorium #ChicanoLiberation #ChicanoMovement

Fight Back! interviewed veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes on the fight to win legalization for undocumented immigrants. Montes is a longtime fighter in the struggle for immigrant rights. Fight Back!: Why is the struggle for legalization for the undocumented so important right now?

Carlos Montes: The struggle for legalization is very important now because immigrants, especially Mexicans and Central Americans, have been suffering tremendous hardships. The deportations, long detentions, police-ICE harassment and raids have caused extreme hardship for the masses of families who live in daily fear. These attacks have been exceptionally focused and hard on Mexicans and Central Americans, since they count for more than 90% of all deportations, and have high rates of incarceration and deaths on the border. On top of all this they face oppressive conditions in public schools, oppression in the work place, with low pay for long hours and poor working conditions, often without benefits or health care.

Fight Back!: There is growing discussion of so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ by politicians in Washington D.C. Is this what the community needs? If not, what demands does the immigrant rights movement need to put forward?

Montes: The community needs a fundamental change to the current oppressive immigration situation. The large Latino vote turnout showed that Latino voters want Obama to work on immigration along with job and other bread and butter issues. The immigrant rights movement needs to continue to put forward the most principled, advanced and progressive demands, such as legalization for all, no more repression on the border and in the workplace, and no guest worker program. We cannot let the politicians set the agenda and the platform of reform, because they will vacillate and compromise for a weak reform that serves the interests of big business and not the community.

Fight Back!: What is the connection between the struggle for immigrant rights and the struggle of Chicanos for self-determination and full equality?

Montes: The fight for immigrant rights is a fundamental part of our struggle for self-determination and full equality. We don’t just want a green card, we want our freedom! The history of the U.S. is a history of oppression and annexation of the Chicano/Mexicano people, our land, labor and culture! Fighting for immigrants’ rights is just a step in our ongoing fight for self-determination, economic and political power and freedom from the chains of U.S. imperialism.

Fight Back!: How can the movement win the struggle for immigrant rights?

Montes: Mass organizing, mass protests, civil disobedience and every tactic and form of protest is valid. Change will only come about if we force the politicians to change. In Los Angeles we organized, protested and forced the L.A. city chief of police and mayor to change the car confiscation policy by police who targeted immigrants without licenses. Real genuine reform has historically only come about when the people demanded it and took action. As in the historic Chicano movement when we organized the East L.A. walkouts demanding quality public education, an end to racism in the schools and Chicano Studies, and the mass anti-war protest of the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War.

More recently undocumented youth, the so-called Dreamers, took militant actions that pushed the Obama administration to grant temporary residency known as DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals]. Now is the time to unite and move into action. Many forces are already moving and taking action, everyone should do something in their community. But the key is to base our work among the poor and working class as they are the ones who will stand firm. They should lead this movement – not the politicians, nonprofits, or intellectuals. What poor and working class will unite and fight for is full legalization for all and not a compromise that puts up barriers to legalization while increasing the repression of immigrants.

#UnitedStates #CarlosMontes #ChicanoLiberation #immigrationRights #immigrationReform #legalizationForAll

Anaheim, CA – Hundreds marched on the Anaheim Police Headquarters, July 29, to protest police killings of young Chicano men. The protesters confronted the police with chants, shouts and banners denouncing these brutal and racist killings. The Anaheim Police Department (APD) has carried out a rash of killings this year, far more than previous years. Two people have been killed in the past week.

The protesters were met with a heavy, militarized police presence including horses, helicopters, armored cars and cops on rooftops with shot guns ready.

The family of Cesar Ray Cruz, killed by the APD in 2009, held up a banner demanding justice and a poster with the pictures of nine other men killed by APD. They also denounced the recent killing of Manuel Diaz. Diaz who was shot in the back and back of head on July 21 in front of the families of North Anna Street, a working class Chicano community. On July 24, the family of Manuel Diaz filled a civil rights violation lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court demanding justice and $50 million.

The demonstrators attempted to march on nearby Disneyland, but were blocked by the police. Many drivers going by the protest honked and waved to show support.

Many Chicano groups joined the demonstration, including Chicanos Unidos de Anaheim, Brown Berets, Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida and the Southern California Immigration Coalition, to name a few. The Occupy movement, along with socialist and anarchist groups also participated.

Carlos Montes and other veteran Chicano activists participated and spoke with the Cruz family to express their support and solidarity.

Orange County has a long history of racist attacks and practices against the growing Chicano community. The city developers have plans to expand the amusement park resort and some feel that they want to dislocate the large Chicano community.

#AnaheimCA #ChicanoLatino #Racism #CarlosMontes #policeKilling #ChicanoLiberation

Montes is a veteran Chicano activist known for his leadership of the 1968 East Los Angeles student walkouts, the historic Chicano Moratorium against the U.S. war in Vietnam, and the recent immigrants’ rights mega-marches of 2006. Montes was a co-founder of the Brown Berets. In recent years he has be active in the anti war, Chicano, labor and immigrant rights movements. He currently one of the 24 anti war and international solidarity activists who have been targeted by the FBI, and is scheduled to go on trial May 15.

The video urges people to call Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, at 213-974-3512 to demand that all charges against Montes be dropped.

“Everyone should see this video and share it with their friends. It‘s the inspiring story of a heroic activists, Carlos Montes, who facing an FBI frame up. We can’t let him go to prison,” says Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

#LosAngelesCA #CarlosMontes #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #ChicanoLiberation

Brothers and sisters,

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Comrade Ernesto Bustillos. We send our condolences to the leadership and members of Unión Del Barrio, his friends and his family. He devoted the entirety of his life to building the struggle for the emancipation of the oppressed. He will be missed and always remembered.

Comrade Ernesto Bustillos was an outstanding revolutionary who made many contributions to the struggle to liberate the Chicano and Mexicano peoples and he was an internationalist who fought to shatter the chains of imperialism and exploitation. His tireless activism should serve as an example to all of us as we continue the battle for liberation.

Ernesto was a founding member of Union del Barrio and he worked to form the Raza Press Association, the Association of Raza Educators and other people’s organizations. He was instrumental in the reformation of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee in 1989-90, which held the 20-year commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium. This event helped to reaffirm our history of anti-war activism and solidarity with oppressed people of the world.

The spirit of Comrade Ernesto Bustillos will live on in the fight to free La Raza and wherever the oppressed step forward to fight the oppressor.

Comrade Ernesto Bustillos presente!

#UnitedStates #Remembrances #Chican #ChicanoLiberation #ErnestoBustillos #UniónDelBarrio

Anh Pham spoke first. She is one of the 23 anti-war activists recently subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in a sweeping investigation of “material support to foreign terrorist organizations.” The anti-war movement considers this witch hunt baseless and reminiscent of McCarthyism. These activists face potentially long jail sentences because of their ideas, their speech and their anti-war and international solidarity activism. She gave the background information on the case and talked about the organizing going on to stop the repression.

Pham is a Vietnamese immigrant. She talked about the experience of many immigrants who come to the U.S., saying, “My family and I moved here from Vietnam in 1975. Very typical immigrant story – we came over here because there was a war in Vietnam, as people know. My family came over here to escape the war. I think that’s a very typical story of many immigrants.” Her life experience brought her to see the importance of struggling against U.S. wars, as well as the importance of working for the rights of immigrants who face discrimination and inequality here in the U.S.

Francisco Segovia then spoke about the repression he lived under in El Salvador during the civil war there, before he came to the U.S. as an immigrant. He recounted personal experiences living under the U.S.-backed military dictatorship saying, “We always had that fear that we were being investigated and knowing that eventually something was going to happen to us.” Segovia explained how the repression there functioned – the National Guard would arrest someone and threaten them or torture them until they named names of others that the National Guard would then go after, creating a never-ending chain of repression.

He talked about the importance of international solidarity in building relationships between the people of the U.S. and El Salvador to end government repression there. He said, “If it wasn’t for those groups and institutions in solidarity with El Salvador we wouldn’t be able to explain the reality of our country and also the reality of United States involvement and how citizens of this part of the world could intervene to change those policies that were killing people in El Salvador. It was key to us that there were people from here in the U.S. coming to our country and educating people here about our struggle. Again, when you’re trying to change government policies, you become at risk because there are so many political and economic interests to keep things the way they are.”

Segovia ended his talk by saying, “At one time people from the United States were in solidarity with El Salvador, and still many people are, and I think today is my time to be in solidarity with everyone here who is looking for a better society.”

Veronica Mendez, an organizer with the Center for Workers United in Struggle (CTUL), spoke about her organization’s experiences with repression against Latino immigrant workers trying to organize for better wages and working conditions. She talked about the recent firing of a leader in their retail cleaning campaign and the outpouring of solidarity to protest that firing of a key organizer.

Mendez said, “The reason I came here is to make clear that repression happens all around us in so many different forms and it’s so crucial that all of us stand in solidarity because what hurts one of us will hurt the rest of us.” She continued, “We’re standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are currently facing this repression because workers know, and all of us know, if they can come for you they can come for us next.”

Manuel Barrera is a professor at Metro State University with a long history of activism in the Chicano liberation movement. His involvement in the Chicano movement started with the struggle against police repression against the Chicano moratorium anti-war protest in East Los Angeles in 1970, at which the police unleashed violence on protesters and in the process they killed journalist Ruben Salazar. Barrera has been involved in many anti-repression struggles since then.

Barrera strongly praised the 23 subpoenaed anti-war activists for their decision not to testify before the grand jury, giving his view that their stand takes great courage and carries personal risk, but that it’s the only principled option for activists. Barrera spoke of the repression against all movements fighting for the basic rights of workers and oppressed people. He talked about the history of repression against the Chicano liberation movement, from the repression against the Chicano Moratorium in 1970 to the government effort to destroy the La Raza Unida Party (an independent Chicano political party) in Texas.

Barrera spoke about the need to stand up for the right to disagree with the government’s wars (in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere) and the necessity to defend activists that come under attack for doing so. He said that those in power will do anything, including using extreme repression, to stop people from expressing themselves in a way that challenges their interests.

He emphasized that the struggle against repression underlies all other political struggles, saying, “This struggle against repression is really a powerful demand, and a very attractive one. It's associated with the struggle for union rights, and it is associated with the struggle against repression in El Salvador or Honduras, or the right for workers to organize at Jimmy Johns or Chipotle or Target. It’s also totally associated with the idea that a group of anti-war activists have the right to express their point of view and not be prosecuted simply for having ideas.”

Video from the April 7 panel: Latino & immigrant leaders speak out on solidarity & repression:

theuptake on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

#MinneapolisMN #ImmigrantRights #ChicanoLatino #September24FBIRaids #AnhPham #CenterForWorkersUnitedInStruggleCTUL #ChicanoLiberation #FranciscoSegovia #VeronicaMendez #ManuelBarrera