Presentation by Chairman Ernesto Bustillos:

Editor's Note - The following is the presentation made by Chairman Ernesto Bustillos of Unión del Barrio. This historic speech was given at Unión del Barrio's 15th Anniversary Commemoration held on August 31, 1996 at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, Califas, Occupied México.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who organized and helped put this commemoration together. I would especially like to thank Consuelo Manríquez and Judy de los Santos who were central to the organizing of this event.

I would also like to recognize Antonio Marín from the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, El Paso region, and Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party. I would like to thank all our membership that is struggling for our people's liberation. A special recognition should go to Marcelino Frias who is one of the few members who have been with us since the organization's founding in 1981. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported us and stood by us. I would like to thank everyone present here tonight for coming out and help us commemorate 15 years of struggle.

I think we all know how important this commemoration is. It is important because it is not everyday we get together to celebrate the 15 years of a movement organization. Especially the kind of organization that Unión del Barrio is. Especially if we understand the most difficult conditions in which La Unión del Barrio has existed in. Especially if we understand the many obstacles Unión del Barrio has had to go through. And especially if we understand that most organizations have died out or have been destroyed trying to overcome these obstacles.

Our Enemies Thought It Would Be Easy To Destroy Unión Del Barrio

Our enemies thought it would be easy to destroy La Unión del Barrio. In fact our enemies thought that we would not survive a year or two. But we survived because the enemy is so arrogant that it fails to understand and respect history and laws of social development, which some of us call dialectical materialism.We survived because we are a humble organization; an organization who strives to understand the laws of social development. We survived because we respect and are guided by the laws of social development. We survived because we understand that in order for the enemy to destroy us, it must destroy the whole human race, including themselves.

All of us in this room know, that without us - the poor, the workers, and the oppressed people of the world - the enemy could not survive. We are the ones who make them rich. We are the ones who put food on their tables. We are the ones who make the products that they use and sell. We are the ones who clean their homes and the buildings that they own. We are the ones who create the music and the art they try to enjoy - I say "try", because I don't think they actually do. We understand that the racist capitalists live off the sweat and blood of our people.

The EnemyCan Kill Some Of Us - But They Can Not Kill The Movement

We understand, that the enemy can kill some of us, but they can not kill the movement. They can kill the revolutionary, but they can't kill the revolution. Because whether they know it or not, the revolution is a response to the oppression and the misery in which people exist.

The revolution is nothing more than a movement to end oppression, to end exploitation, to end misery, to end poverty, and to destroy this system which enables one human to oppress another. So the enemy can kill a revolutionary, but the revolution is going to continue. We understand, that even as we are gathered here today, the enemy is killing people throughout the world, it is killing people throughout Aztlán-México, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

A Zapata Is Being Born In Latina America

Compañeras y Compañeros

I think many of us are very much aware that even as we are gathered here, at this very moment, there is a Zapata being born in Latin America. There is a Malcolm X being born in Africa. There is a Ho Chi Minh being born in Asia - and there is not a damn thing that capitalism-imperialism can do about it.

This is what the law of social development is all about. We understand this and have come to terms with it. That's why we respect the laws of social development, that's why we are guided by these laws. The very existence of Unión del Barrio is based on these laws, because out of the destruction of our movement in the 1970s, Unión del Barrio was born in 1981. So while the enemy thought they had destroyed the Black Revolution, the African People's Socialist Party was born. While the enemy thought they had destroyed the Mexican Revolution, the Zapatistas were born. And when the enemy thought that it had "neutralized" or "contained" the Zapatistas, the Ejército Popular Revolucionario is born. This is what we understand the laws of social development to be.

We Survived!

Compañeras y Compañeros

Our organization has gone through some very hard times, periods of crisis and confusion. Periods in which only 3 or 4 people would show up to meetings. Periods in which many of us became demoralized and left the organization. Periods when members chose to leave the organization rather than deal with the many contradictions which existed. Periods when we could not see the fruit of our labor and made us question what exactly it was that we were doing. Periods of isolation - because the enemy had been successful in destroying or neutralizing our movement, and everyone was either in prison, demoralized, trying to survive and some had just plain "sold out."

Periods when people actually laughed at us and said that we were stuck in some historical time machine; that our political ideals and objectives were dead or not real. Periods in which the personal contradictions caused by the enemy became unbearable, forcing some of us to give up struggle. But we survived.

Compañeras y Compañeros

We survived because there has always been a core group of members committed to revolution. We survived because we never lost touch with the barrio, with our reality. We survived because in spite of all our contradictions, we are an honest organization.

We survived because, as weak as our political development was, we were fundamentally right in our understanding of what was coming down all around us. We survived because we were, and are, an organization based in the community - united with the poor and the working class and the oppressed masses. We survived because we have learned from our mistakes. We survived because we have learned from the struggles of our Raza's long history of struggle. We survived because we learned from the struggle of other liberation movements - we have learned from the Sandinistas, Frente Farabundo Martí, the Zapatistas, the Vietnamese National Liberation Movement, the Black Panthers, and the African People's Socialist Party.

The Reason We Can Stand Proud Today, Is Because Of The Movement

We survived because we are a product of the laws of social development, which teaches us that wherever the forces of oppression and exploitation exist - you will also find the forces of liberation and revolution.

But as hard and difficult as our organization's history has been, we have also had our share of successes. First of all, we must understand, that it has been the struggle which has made us who we are today.

The struggle has humanized us, has made us men and women. The reason we can stand proud today is because the movement has given us the opportunity to do so.

Compañeras y Compañeros

We have to question how other Mexicans can go to sleep at night knowing that the forces of oppression are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12 months a year, doing the most terrible things to our gente. Attacking our culture, attacking our children, keeping us in a state of ignorance, forcing us to live under the most violent conditions, importing drugs into our communities, keeping the majority of our Raza in a state of poverty.

We have to seriously question how can people sleep at night and not do a damn thing about this oppression.

Unión has provided our Raza with the means in which to challenge this oppression. Unión has provided us with an answer to this question. Unión is a response to racism, violence, and poverty.

Compañeras y Compañeros

La Unión del Barrio has given us the opportunity to struggle against oppression. Everyone knows, even the most critical, even our worst enemies know, they all know that the most active, consistent, and revolutionary Raza formation in the occupied territories (Aztlán) is Unión del Barrio.

Anyone who is honest and understands the conditions in which we exist today will acknowledge that Unión de Barrio has played a significant part in the resurgence of our movement.

Unión Is Influential Throughout Aztlán

Many of the political ideals, the language and symbols used by Raza activists and cultural workers today, were things kept alive or developed by Unión de Barrio. Unión de Barrio has played a large part in the resurgence of a movement that we are witnessing in the 1990s. We can't go to any part of Aztlán and not see the influence of Unión del Barrio.

¡LA VERDAD! newspaper, Somos Raza, La Verdad Graphics, Comité de Mujeres Patricia Marín, Unión del Barrio Security Brigades, and the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project - are projects that are motivating, educating, and defending Raza throughout Aztlán.

Compañeros y Compañeras

The future looks good for the organization. But we must understand that the road ahead is difficult. That our enemies, seeing our success, will intensify their movidas to destroy us.

Compañeros y Compañeras

Unión has a rich and honorable history in the struggle for Raza self-determination. A history which future generations will read about, learn from, and be proud of. If we continue to be honest, committed, willing to sacrifice, guided by a correct political line, nothing can stop our struggle for the liberation of la Raza, our lands, and the reunification of Aztlán and Mexico!!

¡Hasta La Victoria - Siempre!
¡Que Viva Patricia Marín!
y ¡Que Viva La Raza!