Salt Lake City, UT – On Thursday, October 24, over 40 students and community members gathered in protest on the University of Utah campus to defend diversity in higher education. The protesters demanded that the school reopen the resource centers for Black, women and LGBTQ students closed by HB 261, the Utah Republicans’ bill attacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The teach-in for diversity countered a racist event held by Young Americans for Freedom, a small and unpopular student group supported by Republicans. Despite the chilly temperatures, that group’s turnout was dwarfed by students chanting and listening as leaders from affected student groups and movements explained how HB 261 and racist attacks on education impact their organizations and constituencies.

“You can’t have true equality until you have equity,” said Nevaeh Parker of the Black Student Union. Parker explained that the BSU chose to end official sponsorship with the University of Utah due to its failures to Black students in the wake of HB 261. Protesters chanted, “Education is a right, not just for the rich and white!”

Alisi Fihaki of the Pacific Islander Student Association also sharply criticized the Republican bill, calling it a “flawed attempt that gives a variety of restrictions and consequences to students of color on campus.”

Speakers from MEChA de U of U also pointed out that the University of Utah went above the required steps to comply with HB 261, citing other Utah colleges which have maintained student resource centers. They called on students to protest the administration to win back DEI on campus.

As the night grew cold, hand-warmers were distributed to the crowd to maintain morale as speakers from the LGBTQ movement spoke on the Republican efforts to erase their presence on campus.

Ien Zielinski, the leader of the Utah Student Pride Center, said, “I started the Student Pride Center to show people that we all belong here.” Celeste Wallin of Utah Students for a Democratic Society said that “unlike the community centers, trans people are still here and always will be here. We can never be erased!”

Ruby Bollinger of Utah SDS ended the night, saying, “If we organize and protest, we can get the women's center back and all the other resources that we have lost. In fact, it is necessary that we do so.”

The teach-in was organized by the Black Student Union, the Pacific Islander Student Association, the Student Pride Center, MEChA de U of U, and Utah SDS.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #StudentMovement #SDS #BSU #Mecha #DEI

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 3, 50 students and community members gathered on the campus of the University of Utah to demand an end to the school’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa, an Israeli military college that practices discrimination against its Arab and Muslim students. Organizers also called for the University of Utah’s full divestment from companies involved in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, reinvestment in student resources, and for the University of Utah to respect students’ right to protest for Palestine.

The rally also celebrated the Palestinian resistance. Chris Loera-Peña of Mecha de U of U said, “It’s been a year of genocide, but also a year of non-stop resistance and fighting from the Palestinian people and the entire world.”

The student movement successfully pressured the university to publicly suspend study abroad with the University of Haifa for the academic year, although organizers demand a full severing of the relationship. The victory comes after Utah youth and students held campus speakouts and educational tabling events against the study abroad program and genocide profiteering on campus since the start of the fall semester.

“When we show up together and join the struggle for a free Palestine, we will be heard,” said Polly Redd of MECHA de U of U. “We are calling for our school to end its study abroad program with the University of Haifa and divest from Israel entirely.”

Students chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” Despite undercover campus police attempting to intimidate the rally participants, the speakers were greeted with loud cheers.

“The money currently spent on genocide and war should be reinvested in student services and resource centers,” said Sebastian Miscenich of Utah Students for a Democratic Society. “Tuition has gone up and up, yet DEI, student resources, and affirmative action in higher education have all been slashed by the Republicans.”

After the speeches, the rally marched two miles through the Utah heat, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners reading “Disclose and divest.” Chants of “There is only one solution – intifada, revolution!” filled the campus as the protesters reached Legacy Bridge, where they displayed their signs and banners to the honks of passing cars.

The rally was organized by Mecha de U of U, Utah Students for a Democratic Society, and the Vote Socialist 2024 Presidential campaign.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Mecha #SDS #Feature

Chicago, IL – On January 24, over 60 people crowded the Latino Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to join a discussion with Juan González of the Great Cities Institute and David Ramirez of the Cuban Embassy around the current immigrant crisis and its root causes. The discussion was co-hosted by two campus groups: New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UIC and Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at UIC.

SDS is a national grassroots organization fighting for progressive change on campus, led by and for students. Members of SDS continually work to fight against U.S. wars and interventions, racist discrimination, police crimes, homophobic and transphobic attacks, attacks on women, attacks on reproductive rights and more through mobilizing protests and campaigns. MeSA is a Chicano, Latino, community-based organization that was established in 1993. MeSA emerged primarily to address pressing problems and issues affecting the Mexican, Chicano and the Latino communities. Young student activists and representatives from six other organizations also got the opportunity to chime in and speak at this extremely insightful gathering.

The importance of a conversation around the current immigrant crisis was made clear to members of SDS and MeSA after tens of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants began pouring into Chicago after being bused out of states like Texas and Florida by racist right-wing Republican governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. These new arrivals are living in poor conditions inside and outside police districts, local parks, empty lots, and sometimes on street corners and sidewalks. Meanwhile, both major political parties are set to host their national conventions in the summer of 2024 – with the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago.

In October 2023, the veteran activist and renowned journalist Juan González published his report titled How U.S. Policy Toward Latin America Has Fueled Historic Numbers of Asylum Seekers. It was then that SDS and MeSA decided to team up with the Chicago Cuba Coalition to organize this educational event. Student activists and representatives from the endorsing organizations were asked to speak about the effects U.S. foreign policy has had on immigration from their respective homelands, as well as what that means for our movement today.

First to speak was Louise Macaraniag from Anakbayan at UIC, a youth activist organization fighting for the liberation of the Philippines through the national democratic movement. Macaraniag drew connections between the newly arrived immigrants from Venezuela to those coming from Mexico, Syria and the Philippines, reminding the crowd that this immigration “is a symptom of U.S. imperialism.” After elaborating on the economic ties between the governments of the Philippines and the U.S., they shared the story of their own family’s forced migration and the trauma that ensued. Macaraniag urged those in attendance to “stand in solidarity with all colonized people across the world to fight against U.S. imperialism.”

Next was the vice-president of the Union of Puerto Rican Students at UIC, Patricia Sepulveda. She began her speech by commending the discussion’s attendees for refusing to stay silent in such turbulent times. Sepulveda shocked the room as she quoted what Puerto Rico’s first civilian governor, Charles Herbert Allen stated in 1901, “Puerto Rico is a beautiful island with its natural resources undeveloped, and its population unfitted to assume the management of their own affairs. With American capital and American energies, the labor of the natives can be utilized to the benefit of all parties.” However, Sepulveda pointed out that what followed was exploitation and destruction of the island in the name of profits, much to the benefit of the U.S. and to the detriment of Puerto Ricans.

Sepulveda concluded that there is an immigrant crisis only because the U.S. has “created a system that leaves people all over Latin America in shambles, and with no choice but to come here, just to be treated like second-class citizens.”

Mahdi Muhamad spoke immediately after on behalf of the Students for Justice in Palestine at UIC, a powerful student organization that promotes justice, human rights and liberation for the Palestinian people. His passionate speech further exposed the heinous crimes that the U.S. government continues to facilitate in Gaza and all of occupied Palestine by sending billions of dollars in “aid” to the genocidal state of Israe. Muhamad closed his remarks with chants of “Free Palestine” that participants proudly echoed.

A co-founder of the newly formed Latine Student Coalition at UIC, Jay Campos, spoke about the brutal exploitation of Latin America by U.S. multinational corporations in the 20th century and the crippling consequences of the coups that they backed against several democratically-elected governments in the region. He also identified the annexation of northern Mexico by the U.S. in 1848 as a “critical point in history” and oppression.

Then, Sol Márquez joined the discussion online to represent Legalization For All (L4A), a large network of organizations and individuals fighting for immigrant rights and legalization for all 12 million undocumented people across the country. Márquez shared what she and others in L4A witnessed during their delegation to the U.S./San Diego border in April 2023, “Policies like NAFTA and embargos like the ones placed on Cuba and Venezuela led to immigration waves from these progressive nations.”

Márquez continued, “We have witnessed protective asylum status for Ukrainian immigrants, and the U.S. fondly referring to them as refugees – but the same gestures are never afforded to immigrants like my Mexican parents or Central American ones.”

The co-hosting student organizations, MeSA and SDS, made their final remarks before segueing to Juan González and David Ramirez. The president of MeSA at UIC, Lucy Arias, called attention to the historic hypocrisy of the U.S. government for their use of Mexican labor via the “Bracero” program implemented during World War II. She said, “Policies have been passed in the United States to both impede and facilitate the flow of immigration, depending on what is most convenient and needed by the United States. We are exposed to exploitation, maltreatment, threats, extortion and more, all because we looked for a new opportunity. They wanted our Braceros, “our brazos” but not our persons and people.”

Sahian Sotelo, a student organizer, emphasized the importance of community and solidarity in their speech on behalf of SDS at UIC. “Recently,” they said, “right-wing reactionary politicians have been having their way as they watch generations of existing Latino communities in Chicago turn against the incoming Venezuelans. The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. In turning against each other, we oppress ourselves and our very own community, when the reality is we are all struggling- and struggling together at that. In the struggle, there should be solidarity. Solidarity to stand up to our true oppressor.” Sotelo left the crowd on a powerful note with the vintage SDS chant, “Dare to struggle, dare to win!”

After the student activists and organizers finished their remarks, keynote speakers Juan González and David Ramirez were set to talk. At this point in the program, they both acknowledged and informed the audience that the youth speakers had energized and fired them up. González, in particular, fondly recalled being a member of the original SDS during his time as a youth activist in the late 1960s. During the presentation of his report on the current immigrant crisis, González repeatedly drew attention to and identified U.S. economic warfare against three specific countries – Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba – as a driving force in the latest migration surge.

González also detailed why so many people are fleeing Venezuela; the endless Cuba embargo; the sanctions against Nicaragua; the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, and practical solutions.

Finally, David Ramirez joined the discussion virtually from Washington, DC to speak on his work at the Cuban Embassy, the historic relations between the governments of the U.S. and Cuba, and Cuba’s tourist economy. Ramirez explained that we need background and context to understand why over 400,000 Cubans have immigrated to the U.S. Southwest border in the last couple years – the vast majority then heading to Florida.

Julie Wolenski spoke on behalf of the Chicago Cuba Coalition and motivated the audience to see Cuba for themselves. She suggested to folks, “Join a May Day delegation or brigade and join the campaign to take Cuba off the SSOT list!”

Afterwards, the students, organizers and community members gathered and held banners to record a short video demanding the U.S. end its blockade against Cuba and lift the sanctions against Venezuela and Nicaragua. The Latino Cultural Center was soon infused with a militant mood as activists broke out in a spirit of solidarity. We chanted “Cuba si! Bloqueo no!” and “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” Juan González and David Ramirez reminded those of us in the room that day that things didn’t have to be this way. If we wanted the situation to change, we had to fight for it.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #SDS #MECHa #International #Venezuela #Nicaragua #LatinAmerica #Cuba #L4A

Orange County, CA – On Friday, October 27, over 30 students and community members gathered across two events to listen to Gia Davila of the Tampa 5 on her stop of the Justice for the Tampa 5 speaking tour. The Tampa 5 are a group of students, workers, and community activists who were violently arrested while protesting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ racist attacks on education at the University of South Florida. They are facing up to ten years in prison and are on a speaking tour to call for these unjust charges to be dropped.

Gia Davila, a member of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), gave context to the current political climate in Florida. She spoke on legislation being proposed that attacks LGBTQ, reproductive, immigrant, union and education rights. She described the bill that Tampa Bay SDS were protesting on the day of the arrests, HB 999, “which effectively banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs from universities. It also had nasty rhetoric about tenure for professors, it attacked Black history, it attacked ethnic studies and multicultural groups.”

Davila continued, “Not only are we innocent, we were doing something good. More students should be protesting on campus to retain these programs and expand these programs of diversity on our campuses.”

The prosecution is threatening them with consequences if they talk to the press, but Davila confidently said, “Of course we are not going to listen to them, that is why I am here.”

The events were put on by CSO Orange County and were co-sponsored by the MEChA de UCI chapter and the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department of CSUF.

Sol Márquez, a member of Centro CSO in Boyle Heights, stated, “The Tampa 5 is much more than specifically people in Tampa, it transcends to all of us who are fighting for what is right.”

Michelle Sanchez, co-chair of MEChA at UCI, highlighted the political repression experienced by students at UCI by saying if they had collaborated with the university to put on this panel, they “would have had to strike some things off of the conversation,” otherwise it would not be approved. She encouraged attendees to get organized in order to fight this repression.

Dr. Marlén Ríos-Hernández, a Chicana studies professor, urged people to take action in this time of heightened political repression, stating, “There will be a time where you have to make up your mind about what you want for the liberation of others, for the liberation of your own people, and decide what it will take for you to be unafraid.”

#OrangeCountyCA #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #DeSantis #StudentMovement #SDS #CSO #MECHA

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 23, members of the Salt Lake City community filled a room on the University of Utah campus for a panel against the repression of progressive speech on campus. Chrisley Carpio of the Tampa 5 was the keynote presenter and was joined by MECHA at the University of Utah and Armed Queers SLC.

The Tampa 5 are five members of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society who were arrested for protesting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s racist attacks on education in that state. They face felony charges from right-wing District Attorney Susan Lopez for the protest. MECHA and Armed Queers SLC joined the panel in solidarity because of the University of Utah’s attempt to shut down a joint event on LGBTQ peoples’ right to self-defense.

Carpio led the crowd in a chant of “Racist, sexist, anti-gay! Ron DeSantis go away!” She said, “We are not sorry, and we are not backing down. We are going to fight these unjust charges because the people of this country oppose Ron DeSantis’s racist, sexist, homophobic agenda!”

Gabriela Merida, the education secretary for MECHA, condemned the university’s attempted repression, saying, “We know this type of repression is not happening to any other org on campus. It is only because we have decided to speak out against the university’s complacency and complicity in the oppression of the LGBTQ+ community and Palestinian and Arab community in the world.”

Ermia Fanaeian of Armed Queers SLC agreed, saying, “The struggle against the repression that left movements face is very real, and growing all over the country. We must recognize that the forces who are holding political prisoners and Palestinian activists are also in charge of pacifying student groups on campus, such as the Tampa 5.”

Organizers from Utah Students for a Democratic Society facilitated questions and answers from the crowd, which raised over $300 for the Tampa 5’s defense fund.

#SaltLakeCityUT #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #StudentMovement #MECHA #ArmedQueersSLC

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 21, hundreds of protesters gathered at the steps of the University of Utah’s administrative offices in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. Speakers condemned the University’s cooperation with Israel and called for the community to take action towards an academic boycott of Israel.

The action came on the heels of University of Utah President Taylor Randall’s noncommittal, pro-Israel statement concerning the attempted ethnic cleansing of the Gaza strip and the ongoing rebellion throughout Palestine.

Julio Irungaray, an organizer with MECHA at the University of Utah, said “There are no both sides to this genocide. The U.S. government should end aid to apartheid!”

Adrian Romero from Utah Students for a Democratic Society condemned the university’s study abroad program with Israel, saying, “By working with an Israeli university, the U is complicit in the atrocities against the Palestinian people. We demand that the U end this partnership.”

Protesters chanted “From Palestine to Mexico, all these walls have got to go!” and “Intifada, intifada!” as they marched to the Legacy Bridge over Mario Capecchi Drive, a major thoroughfare in northern Salt Lake City. Protesters waved Palestinian flags over the side of the bridge, and many passing cars honked in a show of support for the event.

The event was organized by MECHA of U of U, Utah Students for a Democratic Society, and Anakbayan Phoenix.

#SaltLakeCityUT #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #MECHA #Anakbayan

Los Angeles, CA – Several families of young Chicano men killed by the LAPD joined a militant protest in front of the LAPD headquarters, March 30. A large banner with the slogan, “LAPD, stop killing Black and Brown people,” was displayed at the protest.

Josefina Rizo, the mother of Jose Mendez, a 16-year-old killed on February 6, 2016, was joined by Valerie Rivera, the mother of Eric Rivera, who was killed on June 6, 2017. The mothers spoke at the protest and demanded that LAPD stop killing young men and that officers be prosecuted by Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

Sol Marquez with Centro CSO led the protest with chants like “Prosecute killer cops!”

At the start of the protest, 30 students from Ceiba College Prep High School MEChA in Watsonville joined, chanting and holding up posters. Later, 500 members of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan arrived. MEChA de UCLA was hosting the 26th MEChA National Conference the weekend of March 30.

The families and Centro CSO members mounted a large, flatbed truck to denounce the LAPD for killing Chicanos and Blacks. Sol Marquez, along with a spokesperson for Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles denounced the police killing and pointed out the long history of resistance by the Chicano and Black communities.

Organized by Centro Community Service Organization (CSO), the protest included Boyle Heights’ East LA residents, teachers and students.

After the demonstration at the LAPD, the large crowd marched to the Federal Metropolitan Detention Center, this time to protest the Detention Center and ICE. Speeches were made by Bayan USA, American Indian Movement (AIM), Union del Barrio, La Raza Unida Party, and MEChA. They demanded an end to the Trump attacks, detentions and deportations.

Later that day, the National MEChA Conference hosted a panel on the East LA Chicano Student Walkouts of 1968. The panel was held at La Plaza de Cultura y Arte with music, local food and cultural vendors. During the panel, veteran ELA Walkout leaders talked about the struggle for equality in education as part of the long history of struggle of the Chicano people in the Southwest for self-determination.

#LosAngelesCA #ImmigrantRights #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #MECHA #LAPD #Antiracism

Tucson, AZ – Over 400 students from all over the country traveled to the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) National Conference, held in University of Arizona in Tucson, March 18 and 19.

The conference included workshops dealing with history, identity, sexuality, current issues and organizing work. Several organizations gave workshops on the Mexican cartel money laundering by U.S. banks and the struggles in Latin America to name a few. MEChA regional meetings include discussion on issues and campaigns to take up in the near future. Topics included immigrant rights and police brutality.

The Legalization for All Network traveled to the MEChA conference not only to learn from the student movement, but to unite forces in the struggle for liberation and against deportations.

Several keynote presentations were given, including talks by Professor Roberto Rodriguez, Dr. Cintli, professor of Mexican American and Raza Studies and Associate Professor Patrisia Gonzales both from the University of Arizona.

Marco Blanco of Minnesota said, “I enjoyed that the MEChA conference managed to garner a wide spectrum of latinx/chicanx youth with the intent of moving forward a liberating agenda, while still appealing to historical and indigenous sensitivities alike.”

The three workshops the Legalization for All Network led were: “Chicanx Struggle for Self Determination” with Sol Marquez of Centro CSO in East Los Angeles and long time Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes, covering the story of resistance and current struggles in the Chicano/a movement; “Building Bridges, from Ayotzinapa, to Palestine, to Black Lives Matter,” by YES (Youth Empowered in the Struggle) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and “Legalization for All: Immigrant Rights Struggle for Equality” with Camila Flores of YES and Marco Blanco of Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), on the current fight for Deferred Action and legalization for all.

Many present at the workshops led by the Legalization for All Network asked how to organize their own May Day rallies and others wanted long-time Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes to speak at their schools.

Bryan Orozco, a MEChista of Pima, Arizona had waited over a year to attend the MEChA conference. Orozco was one of the dozen who managed to enter the Tucson Convention Center during Trump’s speech and was forcibly kicked out. Orozco says, “We found MEChistas that were organizing themselves at the conference they had been waiting a long time to attend and also to protest Donald Trump; a billionaire who has disrespected nuestra gente [our people] and profited off of. To protest and put themselves at risk of arrest, and assault, my fellow MEChistas are a force to be reckoned with.”

Plans are now under way to mobilize May Day protests and rallies throughout the U.S. to demand immigrant rights and an end to the racist attacks against immigrants, especially Mexicans and Central Americans.

Other plans for the Legalization for All Network include a Supreme Court call-in day, initiated by Centro CSO in Los Angeles, on the first day of hearing on President Obamas Executive Order on Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA). Please participate on April 18: https://www.facebook.com/events/498475330336202/ and join your local May Day protests.

To contact or become a part of the L4A Network please contact them directly at: legalizationforall@gmail.com or legalizationforall.wordpress.com.

#TucsonAZ #PeoplesStruggles #MECHA #legalizationForAll

The conference, hosted by the MEChA chapter at the University of Arizona, begins March18 in the Cesar Chavez building. Registration is at 8:00 a.m. and the first workshop at 9:30 a.m.

Veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes and immigrants rights activist Marisol Marquez will present on the “Chicanx Struggle for Self-Determination” at 10:30 and then again at 11:30 in Room #304.

After a Cesar Chavez march and rally in the morning, the two-day conference continues the afternoon of March 19, at Pueblo High School, including a workshop titled “Legalization for All: Immigrant Rights Struggle for Equality” at 2:10 p.m. Legalization for All Network is comprised of immigrant rights groups around the country.

Attending the conference are local immigrant rights and community groups Lucha Unida por Padres y Estudiantes (LUPE), Centro CSO from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), and Milwaukee’s Youth Empowered in Struggle (YES), and Raíces from Tampa.

#TucsonAZ #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #ChicanoLatino #MECHA #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA #LegalizationForAllNetwork

Shorewood, WI – After enormous pressure from the community, bogus charges against a Black high school student accused of stealing chicken nuggets were finally dropped. Hundreds of people rallied in support of freshman Adam Hernandez outside the Shorewood Village Hall July 20.

The $2.60 chicken nuggets ignited a controversy when school administrators called police to arrest Hernandez for stealing from the school cafeteria. Hernandez was given the nuggets by a friend who did not want them.

The charges against Hernandez were finally dropped just before several hundred community members were expected to rally in his support. “They wanted to send me to jail, but instead I’m gonna send them an invitation to my college graduation!” said Adam Hernandez to hundreds of supporters.

“We asked them to drop the charges and they said no! But the power of the people made them say yes!” said organizer Ava Hernandez before hundreds of supporters at the victory rally.

Organizers credited the outpouring of community support for holding police accountable for the racist arrest, but said the struggle is still far from over for oppressed nationality students. Ava Hernandez said, “We want a permanent antiracist training program,” and, “We want the police out of the schools, they have no purpose there!”

“We are here today to demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Anahí Sánchez of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA). Members of Waukesha Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a banner calling for, “Schools not prison.”

“This group will grow bigger and bigger, until we have the city that we want to live in!” said David Bowen, program director of Urban Underground. On the heels of a big victory, activists promised to fight back against the racist attacks in and out of schools.

#ShorewoodWI #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #MECHA

Los Angeles, CA – Today, Aug. 29, 2009, shows that our people are continuing the fight for equality and self-determination. It was demonstrated by the many groups that were present today at Salazar Park, including the student group MECHA and the new Brown Berets, to commemorate the historic day in 1970 when over 20,000 Chicanos marched down historic Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. to protest the war in Vietnam and the high casualty rate of Chicanos. The mass peaceful rally in 1970 was attacked by the Los Angeles Police Department and the sheriffs. Ruben Salazar, news director for KMEX, was killed, along with Angel Diaz and Lynn Ward. A similar example of repression took place on May 1, 2007 when the LAPD attacked a pro-immigrant rights rally at MacArthur Park.

This year’s event was organized by the local Chicano Moratorium Committee and had the backing of the East L.A.-based Latinos Against War. In Latinos Against War, we organize against the war in Afghanistan and against the military recruiters in our high schools. We support self-determination for Chicanos in the Southwest, the Chicano nation of Aztlan. Our strategy is working with community-based groups like the CSO to organize poor and working class Chicanos in our community to fight for our rights. This means fighting for better education, living conditions, for the rights of our people displaced by poverty in Mexico and Central America now living here and for full legalization.

The campaign “Escuelas Si, Guerra No,” (Schools Yes, No War) of CSO recently won the opening of a new high school in Boyle Heights. The Mendez Learning Complex had an open house today, and will open September 2009. The new school is a concrete victory won after years of struggle to relieve overcrowding at Roosevelt High School and to stop the U.S. military recruiters on high school campuses in East L.A. This is the way to build the annual Chicano Moratorium event that recently has had less participation, especially from the community.

Latinos against War also condemns and exposes the long history of U.S. military and political intervention in Mexico, Central and Latin America. For example many people do not know that U.S. Army General Pershing led an intervention during the Mexican Revolution to attack the forces of our famous hero General Francisco Villa; of course the U.S. failed.

In Central America the U.S. supported the brutal military regimes that killed many of their own people, who were struggling for democracy and self-determination. Now we have the example of Venezuela and Bolivia whose people have supported and elected leaders who defend sovereignty and work to improve the lives of the many poor in their countries. But U.S. intervention continues to sneak in – like in Colombia, which will allow the U.S. military to use several bases under the guise of fighting the war on drugs. But we all know it’s a war against the revolutionary forces in Colombia like the FARC, and to attack the independent and sovereign nations like Venezuela. The U.S. is also giving billions to the Mexican army under the Plan Merida to fight the drug war, but the army commits many human rights violations against the Mexican people.

So on this anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, we commemorate a proud past of struggle and stand committed to a future where our people achieve liberation and self-determination.

Carlos Montes is a veteran fighter in the Chicano Liberation movement. He was a founder of the Brown Berets and the Chicano Moratorium. Montes is currently active in the Southern California Immigration Coalition, the East L.A.-based Latinos against War and with CSO, which organizes parents in the East Los Angeles area to fight against the privatization of public education in Los Angeles Unified School District.

#LosAngelesCA #ChicanoLatino #LatinosAgainstWar #MECHA #BrownBerets #ChicanMoratorium

Los Ángeles, CA – Gritando, “¿Qué queremos? ¡Legalización! ¿Cuándo? ¡Ahora!” un grupo de más de 200 estudiantes de la Universidad de California – Los Angeles (UCLA) se juntó con miembros de la comunidad afuera de una sala universitaria en donde Carl Braun, director ejecutivo del Cuerpo de Defensa Civil de los California Minutemen, tenía planeado hablar el 6 de febrero.

La manifestación fue organizada por miembros del capítulo UCLA del Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), la Asociación de Estudiantes Graduados de la Raza y los Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática (SDS), juntos con varios otros grupos estudiantiles y comunitarios. Al principio llamaron la protesta para denunciar a los vigilantes Minutemen y protestar la presencia de su líder estatal en la universidad. Cuando empezaron a difundir los anuncios de la protesta, la administración universitaria canceló la invitación a Braun, expresando preocupación sobre la seguridad – y obviamente con miedo que se repetirá el incidento que se llevó a cabo en la Universidad de Columbia el otoño pasado, en lo cual un grupo de estudiantes interrumpió una presentación por los Minutemen y últimamente los forzaron salir.

Mientras los derechistas de la universidad han atentado decir que la cancelación del evento era una violación de los derechos de los Minutemen, los manifestantes acentuaron que eso no era cuestión de ‘libertad de expresión’. Los manifestantes, quienes representaron una gran variedad de grupos participantes, fueron muy claros: No estaban denunciando un mero grupo de opinión.

“Es una violación de derechos humanos lo que están haciendo estas personas,” dijo Cynthia Flores del MEChA en la UCLA. “Si [los Minutemen] no son asesinos, yo no sé que son.” Erika Coronado, de la Asociación de Estudiantes Graduados de la Raza, describió a los Minutemen como paramilitares. “Sabemos que esta organización es el producto ignorante de una estructura del poder que desea explotar a nuestro pueblo, que beneficia de los bajos sueldos y la miseria de nuestra gente. ¿Y todavía nos deportan, y todavía separan a nuestras familias? No. No lo aceptamos. Estamos en nuestra tierra y no nos botarán de ella,” dijo Coronado.

“Utilizar el racismo para hacerla víctima a una población no es tema de discusión académica,” leyó un informe sobre el evento escrito por el capítulo UCLA de la SDS. “Como Hitler en Alemania pre-nazi, los Minutemen atentan atacar a la gente pobre nacida afuera del país, pasando la culpa por los problemas de la sociedad a unos ‘ilegales’.” Durante la protesta muchos gritaron, “Nosotros no cruzamos la frontera – ¡la frontera nos cruzó!”

El sentimiento de la protesta era uno de victoria. Los organizadores sintieron que, en organizar la protesta, ellos lograron prevenir que un hombre considerado como responsable por los muertos de cientos de trabajadores indocumentados llegara para difundir su mensaje de odio y racismo en la universidad. “Espero que estudiantes de otras escuelas mirarán lo que logramos aquí como ejemplo de resistencia,” dijo Gurujiwan Khalsa de la SDS-UCLA, “igual como nosotros fuimos inspirados por la acción de los estudiantes en la Universidad de Columbia.”

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Los Angeles, CA – Chanting, “What do we want? Legalization! When do we want it? Now!” a group of over 200 University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) students and community members gathered outside of a campus lecture hall where Carl Braun, executive director of the California Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was scheduled to speak, Feb. 6.

The rally was organized by members of UCLA’s Moviemento Estudantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) chapter, the Association of Raza Graduate Students and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) along with a number of other student and community groups. It had originally been called to denounce the vigilante Minutemen and protest the presence of their statewide leader at the university. As news of the protest spread, the university administration – clearly fearing a repeat of the incident that took place at Columbia University last fall, where a group of students disrupted a talk by the Minutemen and ultimately forced them to leave – cancelled Braun’s invitation, citing security concerns.

While the right wing on campus has attempted to label the events of the evening as a violation of the Minutemen’s rights, the protesters emphasized that this was not an issue of ‘freedom of speech.’ Demonstrators from the whole range of participating groups were clear: They were not denouncing a mere opinion group.

“It’s a human rights violation, what these people are doing,” said Cynthia Flores of UCLA MEChA. “If [the Minutemen] aren’t assassins, I don’t know what they are.” Erika Coronado, from the Raza Graduate Student Association, described the Minutemen as paramilitaries. “We know that this organization is the ignorant byproduct of a greater power structure that seeks to exploit our people, that benefits from seeing our people earning miserias, earning crumbs. And still they deport us, and still they separate our families? No. We will not stand for that. We are on our land and we will not be kicked off,” Coronado said.

“Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion,” read a statement about the event by the UCLA SDS chapter. “Like Hitler in pre-Nazi Germany, the Minutemen attempt to demonize foreign-born poor people, blaming ‘illegals’ for society’s problems.”

Between the speeches, many took up the chant of, “We didn’t cross the border – the border crossed us!”

The general mood at the rally was one of victory. Organizers felt that by organizing a protest they were able to prevent a man who is considered by many to be morally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of undocumented workers from spreading his message on their campus.

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