Comité de Mujeres Patricia Marín:
The Comité de Mujeres Patricia Marín (CMPM) was originally established as the Unión del Barrio Women’s Commission. The Women’s Commission was established at the first Unión del Barrio plenary, which was held in January of 1995. The task of the Women’s Commission was to struggle for the equal participation of mujeres, at all levels, within Unión del Barrio, and within the struggle for the national liberation of the Chicano Mexicano people. As central to our work, the commission was to bring clarity to the relationship and role of women in the National Liberation struggle. In December of 1995, the commission’s name was changed to Comité de Mujeres Patricia Marín, in honor of Patricia Marín, a leading member of Unión del Barrio and co-founder of the Women’s Commission, who passes away on December 19,1995.
Since its establishment in early 1995, the CMPM has been the most active and consistent mujer formation in the Movimiento (north of the militarily imposed border). Its members have organized and spoken at literally dozens of events and actions designed to bring more women into the struggle and challenging them to become our own liberators. Through study circles and barrio forums, and in the pages of ¡LA VERDAD!, Voz Fronteriza and Las Calles y La Torcida, the CMPM has labored hard to critically analyze and bring clarity to the question of oppression and the liberation of Mexican women. CMPM has produced dozens of articles on the question of mujeres and contributed to the body of literature that addresses Raza women’s liberation from a Revolutionary Nationalist perspective.
CMPM CONTINUES TRADITION OF STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS OF MUJERES
During the course of 1998, the CMPM has contributed to the rich activism and sacrifice begun by compañera Patricia Marín and other members of the original Unión del Barrio Women’s Commission. On December 19,1998, at a special conference held to review the internal and mass based work of the Unión - as it related to the objectives agreed upon at the first Unión del Barrio Congress (held on January of 1997) - the CMPM gave a summation that evaluated its most recent work, which included its strengths and weaknesses, and its plans for the future.
In relationship to the weaknesses and contradictions within CMPM, the report pointed to: 1) only half of the objectives outlined at the congress had been met; 2) there has been very little membership growth; 3) only a small amount of community work had been done; 4) some meetings did not take place; and 5) some projects taken on by the CMPM were based on unrealistic assessment of resources currently available and thus, never fully materialized.
The strengths of current work were summed-up in the report as: successful organizing of a National Mujer Conference in March of 1998; several fund raisers, setting the foundation for the “Escuelita Aztlán” and formulating a manual on how to organize a child care center; held several study circles on the struggle of Latin American women; members spoke at several events and participated at human rights conference (held in Juarez, in May of 1998), and provided reports and articles to ¡LA VERDAD!
The report also explained that in order to address the weaknesses coming from the work of the CMPM was the need to realistically assess resources (and membership, both of the CMPM and Unión) before taking on tasks; the need to combat liberalism and more effectively address chauvinistic attitudes or sexism when it arises within the Unión; and provide for the growth of revolutionary and active leadership within the ranks of the CMPM.
MOVING FORWARD: THE CMPM WILL INCREASE ITS COMMUNITY AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM
As a way of consolidating the CMPM and moving forward the struggle of mujeres and National Liberation for all Mexicanos, the CMPM committed itself, in its December 19 report, to fulfilling its original goals (as outline at the congress) by staying focused and realistic in our approach to work, and seriously increasing our work in the community. Central to this reaffirmation was to continue to work on advancing our gente’s understanding of the political questions regarding the liberation of Mexicanas, organizing more community outreach actions, building la escuelita, and planning for a major event around women’s international day (in March 1999).