Seattle, WA – On February 2, the Progressive Student Union (PSU) and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) hosted a joint screening of the film Walkout.

Leading up to this event, MEChA and PSU spent weeks flyering and tabling together in order to spread the word. Forty people attended the film screening, held at the University of Washington’s Ethnic Cultural Center.

The film Walkout depicts the East Los Angeles blowouts of 1968 from the perspective of high school student Paula Crisostomo. Throughout the film, students organized against school bans on speaking Spanish, locking of restrooms, janitorial work as punishment, and the “pushing out” of Chicano students. By consistent and dedicated organizing, the students were able to mobilize 15,000 students in East LA to walk out of class in protest of inequality in the public school system. By the end of the film, the students won their demands, college enrollment among Chicanos dramatically increased, and charges that were placed against organizers were dropped.

Carlos Montes, a veteran Chicano activist who helped lead the 1968 walkouts, is portrayed in the film.

PSU and MEChA decided to show this film to a broader audience because knowing the history of past struggles is necessary to inform the fight for Chicano self-determination, as well as the ongoing student movement as a whole. After the film, PSU and MEChA facilitated a discussion on the role of police in suppressing student movements and the importance of the Chicano identity today.

Attendees had a lot to say about the film and its significance. “Nowadays the term Chicano is more of a cultural label, but as this film depicts it has its roots in political struggle. We need to bring back the political aspect, especially now in as time where Chicanos and Mexicans are facing heavy repression from the state,” said Adrián Manzano, a community member who attended the screening.

#SeattleWA #ChicanoLatino #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA #ProgressiveStudentUnion

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

Los Angeles, CA – On the afternoon of May 1, a powerful May Day march, organized by the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC), took place in the heart of downtown as many garment workers were leaving work. The highly spirited 1000-plus crowd was made up mainly of working class Latinos, union members from Roofers Union Local 36 and United Teachers L.A., street vendors, daily laborers, families and high school students. Also joining the march and helping to carry the lead banner were the women and men of the homeless shelter Projecto Pastoral in Boyle Heights.

The SCIC is composed of dozens of groups including the International Action Center, Community Service Organization, Union del Barrio and Bayan USA. SCIC is an independent grassroots coalition that receives no government or foundation funding.

The many speakers called for Obama to stop the deportations and demanded legalization for all. Many denounced the police/ICE abuses such as detentions, deportations and deaths at the border.

Bayan USA denounced U.S. imperialism and its intervention in the Philippines and other countries. Ramon Mendez, a member of Roofers Union Local 36, spoke about being harassed and exploited at work, and when he filed a grievance the boss called the ICE on him. Mendez had to live away from his family until others came to his aid, pressuring ICE to respect a labor neutrality agreement with the Labor Department that protects workers who are in disputes with employers. He is now out on bail, fighting his deportation. The MECHA students talked about the need for legalization and better schools.

Carlos Montes, a veteran Chicano revolutionary, stated that the fight for legalization is part of the struggle of self-determination for the Chicano/Mexican people and equality for Latinos. He noted that May 1 had been revived in the U.S. by the massive 2006 immigrant rights marches led by Latinos.

The spirited march included flags from Latin American countries, including the Chicano nation of Aztlan.

Two other May Day marches took place in Los Angeles on May 1.

#LosAngelesCA #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #Chican #SouthernCaliforniaImmigrationCoalition #CarlosMontes #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA #Latinos #immigrationRights #legalizationForAll #NoMasDeportaciones #RoofersUnionLocal36

San Salvador, El Salvador – El 30 de julio marcharon mas de 2,000 personas para conmemorar el 36 aniversario de un masacre de estudiantes salvadoreños el 30 de julio 1975. La marcha salió de la Universidad de El Salvador (UES) y marchó hacia el puente donde en 1975 los cuerpos de seguridad y del ejército reprimieron una manifestación pacifica en que los estudiantes marcharon para exigir sus derechos y defender la UES que en este tiempo sufrió represión constante de las fuerzas militares y policiales.

Este día se conmemoró la masacre estudiantil, hecho que conmocionó al país, esta histórica marcha tuvo como escenario la protesta de los universitarios por la intervención estatal del régimen militar de esa época, ocurrido el 25 de julio. Reinvindicaban el talante histórico de la única universidad estatal de El Salvador, fundada en 1841, que históricamente y actualmente es uno de las bases mas fuertes de la lucha popular en el país.

La marcha se llenó del colorido de las varias agremiaciones estudiantiles, organizaciones civiles y sindicatos que acompañaron la marcha entonando el grito de guerra del estudiante universitario: “Esta es la U!” Dichas agremiaciones portaban mantas que reclamaban justicia para todas y todos los caídos y se compremetían a seguir con la lucha.

La marcha se distinguió por la fuerte presencia de organizaciones estudiantiles revolucionarias y comunistas, como el Movimiento Guevarista – 8 de Octubre, la Brigada Revolucionaria Estudiantil Salvadorena (BRES), Frente Universitario Roque Dalton (FURD), Universitarios Estudiantes Revolucionarios Salvadorenos – 30 de julio (UERS), Union de Jovenes Revolucionarias Marxistas (UJRM), Brigada Revolucionaria Estudiantil Anastasio Aquino (BREA), FES-Jorge Arias Gómez, FREUS, MOTUES, PSOCA, BASES, entre otros. La Juventud del FMLN también se sumó a la celebración.

Al llegar al puente donde ocurrió la masacre los estudiantes realizaron una recreación simulada de los sangrientes hechos.

Esta tarde también el equipo de fútbol de la Universidad de El Salvador que milita en la Primera División Salvadoreña juǵo en la Ciudad Universitaria y el once rojo saltó a la cancha cargando una pancarta conmemorativa a la masacre estudiantil del 30 de julio de 1975, un hecho que arrancó los aplausos de la Furia Escarlata y todos los presentes.

Este día culminó con una concurrida vigilia celebrada en el Polideportivo de la Universidad de El Salvador nombrado también Héroes y Mártires del 30 de Julio de 1975, donde varios grupos musicales como Los Torogoces de Morazán, Los Norteñitos entre otros deleitaron a los presentes.

#SanSalvadorElSalvador #SanSalvador #StudentMovement #ElSalvador #Repression #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA #30DeJulio #UES #UniversidadDeElSalvador #UniversityOfElSalvador #Americas

San Salvador, El Salvador – On July 30 more than 2000 people marched here to commemorate the 36th anniversary of a massacre of Salvadoran students on July 30, 1975. The march started at the University of El Salvador (UES) and marched to the bridge where in 1975 the security forces and military violently repressed a peaceful protest where students were marching to demand their rights and to defend the UES. At that time the UES suffered from constant repression from the military and police.

The July 30, 1975 massacre of students caused huge reverberations around the country. The 1975 student protest was in response to the military taking over the UES campus on July 25, 1975. The students demanded that the military stay out of the only public state university in El Salvador, founded in 1841, which is also one of the strongest bases of the popular movement in the country.

The commemoration march this year was filled with the banners and colors of many student organizations, popular organizations and unions that accompanied the march with the main university student chant: “This is the U!” The organizations carried banners and signs demanding justice for all that died and vowing to continue their struggle.

The march was notable for the strong presence of revolutionary and communist student organizations, such as the Guevarist Movement – October 8, The Salvadoran Revolutionary Student Brigade (BRES), Roque Dalton University Front (FURD), Revolutionary Salvadoran University Students – July 30 (UERS-30), Union of Revolutionary Marxist Youth (UJRM), Revolutionary Student Brigade – Anastasio Aquino (BREA), FES-Jorge Arias Gómez, FREUS, MOTUES, PSOCA, BASES, among others. The FMLN Youth also had a large presence.

When the commemorative march arrived at the bridge where the student massacre happened in 1975, students recreated a simulation of the bloody massacre.

In the evening, the University of El Salvador soccer team, which plays in the First Division, played on campus. The players on UES’s team took the field carrying a banner commemorating the 1975 student massacre. This brought strong applause from the UES Furia Escarlata fan section and all those present.

The day ended with a vigil celebrated in the Polideportive Center in the University of El Salvador, which is also named after the heroes and martyrs of July 30, 1975. At the vigil various leftist popular musicians played such as Los Torogoces de Morazán, Los Norteñitos and others.

#SanSalvadorElSalvador #SanSalvador #StudentMovement #ElSalvador #Repression #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA #30DeJulio #UES #UniversidadDeElSalvador #UniversityOfElSalvador #Americas

Salt Lake City, UT- 200 protesters filled the Utah State Capitol Building in solidarity with undocumented immigrants on July 29. Their chants rang through the capitol, expressing outrage at Arizona’s latest piece of racist legislation aimed at Mexican and Chicano people. On the day that SB1070, the anti-immigrant law, went into effect in the neighboring state of Arizona, groups such as the Salt Lake Autonomous Brown Berets and the Revolutionary Student Union (RSU) joined with Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) for a rally. The coalition sent a clear message to Utah’s legislators, “Racist legislation not welcome here!”

A Utah right-wing group, the Patrick Henry Caucus, is having its state senators propose copycat legislation: SB81 and SB251. Despite a last-minute federal government injunction against aspects of Arizona’s SB1070, these far right senators announced publicly that they are still proposing such legislation in Utah.

Inside the capitol building five dedicated women activists delivered inspiring speeches that energized the protesters to stop racist laws targeting Mexican and other immigrants. The messages of solidarity printed on signs and expressed by the speakers came from a variety of perspectives, all united in support of immigrants’ rights. One Christian speaker asked, “Who would Jesus deport?” Others represented socialist, feminist and LGBTQ groups.

Many in attendance were not satisfied with leaving their message within the confines of the capitol building and after the rally ended, they enthusiastically took their signs and chants to the streets. The approach of the marchers was noticed blocks away by the sound of pro-immigrant and pro-worker slogans, the sight of the red and black flags waving at the front of the procession, and students and immigrant rights activists holding protest signs declaring, “SB1070 tears families apart,” “Stop the hate!” and “Por la reforma migratoria.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #ChicanoLatino #SB1070 #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA

On July 22 MEChA held a community forum on Arizona's SB1070 and HB2281 as an effort to build for the July 29 action. Community members and several organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) attended and engaged in planning sessions and discussions on Arizona, ICE and police collaborations (which are on the rise in Milwaukee), recent raids and the impact that the national day of action will have nationally and locally.

“It's important for the Milwaukee community to stand up and make our voices heard not only to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Arizona but also to shed light on the ways in which we are experiencing anti-immigrant oppression here. Our Latino working class communities have been the sites for large escalations of police presence unlike that any other part of the city. As immigrants we are criminalized and racially profiled. The reality is that people don't feel safe in their own neighborhoods. They may be trying to silence us with fear but we simply cannot and will not stand for it,” Anahi Sanchez, member of MEChA de Milwaukee, told Fight Back!.

Jeanette Martín of the Milwaukee and Madison MEChA chapters said, “July 29 will be a day to lay down the semillitas [little seeds] of education about our own struggle and it is our duty, as organizers, students and folks concientes of these injustices, to make sure we keep watering that seed and have community water it too.”

Milwaukee's action is taking place in concert with the hundreds of actions all over the country in solidarity with those in Arizona fighting SB1070 and the wave of attacks that have hit the Chicano, Mexicano and Latino community there. The slogans they are raising include “End police/Ice collaboration!” “Stop separating families. End the raids!” and “Boycott racism! Say no to Arizona's SB1070 & HB2281.”

Valeria Gonzalez of MEChA de Milwaukee stated, “These new Arizona laws and their copy-cat laws in states around the country are all manifestations of a civil rights crisis people in power are causing for the Chicanos, Mexicanos and Latinos by attacking the immigrants and undocumented people of our communities. This will be a historically momentous day when people all over the country stand together and demand an end to this unjust treatment.”

#MilwaukeeWI #StudentMovement #ChicanoLatino #SB1070 #MovimientoEstudiantilChicanoDeAztlánMEChA