January 18, 2012

Raza Press and Media Association

Last week the Tucson Board of Education capitulated to the Superintendent of Education John Huppenthal of Arizona, in an attempt to erase, censor and alter the content and character of Tucson’s educational curriculum.

By dismantling Chicano/a Studies and banning books such Occupied America, by Rodolfo Acuña, Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by Rethinking Schools, and Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, among other books, the Tucson School Board stood on the side of apartheid white rule over the needs and interests of the majority Raza/Indigenous people of that city and of that state.

With one notable exception, the Tucson School Board voted 4‐1 in favor of pulling over 50 titles from the classroom –putting ignorance above critical thinking.

For more than 20 years the Chicano Studies curriculum taught through the Mexican American and Ethnic studies courses were successful in providing a sense of historical understanding to the present day oppression of Raza/indigenous majority of Arizona. This program was one the few set of courses in the whole of the United States that were successful in enabling students to graduate from High School and attend colleges and universities.

So it is no surprise that in the age of increased hostility towards Raza/Indigenous people‐ the racist settler governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law HB2281 in May of 2010. HB2281 was written with the explicit objective of prohibiting “ethnic solidarity” and class‐consciousness –important elements towards building unity among oppressed peoples to effect social justice.

This is why apartheid white rule has openly attacked ethnic solidarity and class‐consciousness; it wants to maintain its political power by utilizing ignorance and lies to alter history.

After more than one year of legal challenges to HB2281, the courts of Arizona in December of 2011 allowed the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to eliminate the Mexican American and Ethnic Studies programs by defunding school districts that teach these areas of study. This act clearly demonstrates that there is no democracy within the current political, judicial and educational system in the United States.

It is clear to us that these attempts to censor and silence the voices of truth and justice, are from those forces who are scared and shaking in their boots of the possibility of oppressed people learning the truth about ourselves and our ability to become subjects of our own liberation. Our task as Raza journalists is to expose the nature of the rotten colonial school system. This is why we must step up our efforts to expose the lies, defamation and dehumanizing conditions imposed on our communities by settler institutions of white power (courts, legislators, and schools).

As an organization who for more 20 years has been struggling for real free speech and raising the critical consciousness of all oppressed people, the Raza Press and Media Association stands in solidarity with the educators, students and parents of Tucson and throughout Arizona, in their struggle to defend the right to learn about our history, social and economic justice, and the right to self‐determination.

We end this brief statement by encouraging all who are in unity with building a movement for a real liberating education to attend the 6th Annual Association of Raza Educators (ARE) Conference, entitled: ¡Aqui Estamos, Educamos, Transformamos y No Nos Vamos!, to be held on April 14th, 2011, at Lincoln High School in San Diego, CA.

¡Que Viva la Raza!
¡Que Viva Chicano/Raza Studies!

Unión del Barrio –an organization that for over 30 years has struggled for the self-determination and liberation of La Raza, and other oppressed poor and working class people– held a community forum on Thursday January 19, 2012, at the Memorial Senior Center. The Center is located in Memorial Park, found within a mostly Mexican and African American community in San Diego. The objective of the forum was to address the critical issues facing our community and the importance of the participation of women in these particular struggles.

TOWARDS A NATIONAL MOVEMENT
The forum was also part of Unión del Barrio’s ongoing work to build a liberation movement that can challenge the oppressive and violent system known as capitalism that controls most of the world today.

The forum, organized under the theme of “La Mujer: Al Frente de la Lucha por la Liberacion de la Raza”, brought together more than fifty participants, which included men and women, teachers, mothers, students, and community organizers. Also, the Save Our Barrio Committee (SOBC), Association of Raza Educators (ARE), Lindsay Community School, and the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project (CMPP) displayed information and art, and sold their group’s material (pamphlets, calendar, pins, etc.)

The program began with a welcome and review of the day’s agenda by Compañera Isabell Peña, a leading member of Unión del Barrio. Compañera Isabell explained to the audience the importance of participating in events like the forum, which provides a space for ideas to be exchanged and to have a dialogue with different sectors of our community. She stressed that forums help us develop the knowledge and creates the unity that will move our struggle forward. Compañera Isabell specifically referred to the forum as part of the work to build a mujer national liberation conference that will be organized by Unión del Barrio on March 10, 2012, in Los Angeles, California.

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Towards the Building of International Working Women’s Day Conference 2012

Breaking Through Colonization with Women’s Liberation: Women’s Conference

Saturday March 10, 2012 | 10am-1pm
Central Region High School #16
The Social Justice Schools
300 E. 53rd Street | Los Angeles, CA 90011

In commemoration of International Working Women’s Day, Unión del Barrio reaches out to progressive and revolutionary forces to join us to discuss the crucial importance of Women’s participation in Political Struggle and the pivotal role we play in advancing Raza Liberation Struggle for Socialism!

Keynote Speaker:
Adriana Jasso, member of Union del Barrio’s
Central Committee

Rompiendo la Colonización a través de la Liberación de la Mujer

Sábado 10 de marzo, 2012 | 10am-1pm
Central Region High School #16
The Social Justice Schools
300 E. 53rd Street | Los Angeles, CA 90011

¡En conmemoración del Día Internacional de la Mujer Trabajadora, Unión del Barrio hace un llamado a las fuerzas progresistas y revolucionarias para unirse a nosotros y hablar sobre la importancia de la participación femenina en la lucha política y tomar parte de un rol fundamental hacia el avance de la lucha por el socialismo y la liberación de la Raza!

Oradora Principal:
Adriana Jasso, miembro del Comité Central
de Unión del Barrio

More information | Mas información

Unión del Barrio, organización política que lucha por la autodeterminación del pueblo Mexicano y la reunificación socialista de México desde las entrañas del imperio yankee, levanta su voz en unidad con los y las compañer@s de la Escuela Rural Isidro Burgos en condenar y repudiar la represión fascista y el asesinato bárbaro de normalistas de Ayotzinapa, en el estado de Guerrero, México. Estas acciones represivas y cobardes de parte del Gobernado Ángel Aguirre Rivero y el “Presidente” ilegitimo Felipe Calderón demuestran una vez  más que el gobierno neocolonial de México, no solo defiende a los ricos y a las transnacionales por sobre su propio pueblo, también demuestra su disponibilidad de asesinar a quienes se oponen a la venta y entrega de la patria mexicana.

Esta acción por parte de cuerpos policíacos estatales y federales, junto con el ejército, obedece una alarmante pauta de represión en Guerrero, y en todo México, hacia el pueblo trabajador.  En particular,  representa otro ataque frontal al sistema normalista – que es uno de los últimos vestigios de una educación laica, científica y popular en México.  Entendemos lo que se pretende hacer con estas atrocidades.  Se busca privatizar la educación y darles tres oportunidades a las masas: ser prisioneros; ser carne de cañón, o ser explotado por los que sustentan el poder. Los que no estamos conformes con este esquema somos destinados a enfrentar la represión, desaparición y la muerte, esto, en ambos lados de la frontera.

Rechazamos el argumento fútil del gobierno mexicano que define el bloqueo de vías como un acto violento que amerita el uso de la fuerza letal para asesinar a estudiantes. Este argumento de «protección de los derechos de terceros» es intento de justificar atrocidades como este asesinato  a sangre fría -un hecho que demuestra que el  «México Democrático» del PANismo es un chiste vulgar -la Guerra Sucia continua y va en aumento.

El Imperialismo y sus lacayos en México buscan aplastar no sólo a los normalistas, sino al espíritu de lucha en este estado y en todo el territorio nacional mexicano.  Guerrero ha escrito grandes capítulos en la historia contemporánea de la liberación de nuestro pueblo y ha sido un ejemplo a seguir para mexicanos tanto al norte como al sur de la Frontera Impuesta e ilegitima. Con más razón el gobierno lacayo busca atacar e intimidar al pueblo de Guerrero para intimidar y romper el espíritu de todo el pueblo mexicano.

Unión del Barrio, advierte al imperialismo y al gobierno lacayo y no electo de Calderón que el pueblo mexicano-sin importar de qué lado de esa frontera impuesta se encuentre-repudia este ataque  cobarde y se une al llamado de los estudiantes de la Escuela Rural Isidro Burgos en exigir juicio político al gobernador de Guerrero  Ángel Aguirre Rivero y justicia por la represión sufrida el día 12 de diciembre en la Autopista del Sol en donde fuero asesinados a balazos los dos jóvenes estudiantes normalistas.

Unión del Barrio, desde los  Territorios Ocupados, saluda la marcha de más de 800 jóvenes normalistas llevada acabo el día miércoles 21 de diciembre por las calles de Acapulco y en protesta y denuncia al gobernador del estado de Guerrero y a los hechos de la Autopista del Sol.

¡Justicia para los Compañeros Asesinados en la Autopista del Sol!
¡Libertad a los Normalistas Presos Políticos de Ayotzinapa!
¡Fuera Aguirre Rivero del Gobierno de Guerrero!
¡Somos un Pueblo Sin Fronteras!

Unión del Barrio
Diciembre 2011

Descargar declaración en PDF, haga click aquí.