Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: 150 Years Of Gringo Oppression And Raza Resistance Raza March Against 150 years of U.S. Occupation:

Todos A Tucson A Protestar 150 Años de Ocupación Yanqui, Y A Construir La Defensa Y La Auto-Determinación del Pueblo Mexicano

On Saturday, January 31 and Sunday, February 1, 1998 the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (NCMC) will hold a national mobilization in Tucson, Arizona and at the Nogales/Sonora Border. The objective of these two national actions are to: a) demonstrate and protest the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that was signed by the United States and México on February 2, 1848 which divided our nation in two; b) to continue the building of a National Movement that can defend Raza from the increasing U.S. government attacks that we face on our own land every day; c) to unite the movimiento in Aztlán/Occupied México with the National Liberation

Movement south of the militarily imposed border, by working with organizations south of la frontera through holding demonstrations on both sides of the border; d) to put forth to the world the following demands:

1. Annul The Immigration Reform Law 1326
2. The Abolition Of The Terrorist Border Patrol
3. The Demilitarization Of The Border
4. Stop U.S. Intervention In México
5. Stop The Militarization Of México by The PRI/PAN Government
6. Annul The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
7. Free All Political Prisoners

The opportunity to expose the contradictions of this Treaty and use it as a banner of anti-colonial struggle and Raza self-determination comes at a critical time for our people. Analyzing the current wave of U.S. legislation reveals the growing attacks on La Raza. Looking at the present social and political position our people find ourselves in reveals the fact that our people have never benefited from having a Democrat or Republican elected into office. Today, like never before in the history of the U.S., we see more anti-Mexican legislation imposed on our people. The social, political and economic implications are such that our people are being forced into social marginalization, political misrepresentation and economic impoverishment. The attacks are manifested inside our homes with Welfare Reform; in the prisons with the Three Strikes Laws and the Clinton Crime Bill; in the schools with English Only; in the workplace with Immigration Reform Law; in our neighborhoods with more Migra and Chota; at the frontera with the military; and everywhere else we happen to be. (for more information on Welfare Reform see Jan.-May 1997 issue of ¡LA VERDAD!; on “English Only” refer to July 1996 issue of Guerrilleros de la Pluma: on the School System refer to Jan-Mar. 1996 issue of ¡LA VERDAD!: on Immigration and Border Question see this issue of ¡LA VERDAD!)

The product of such laws are representative of the colonial-slave relationship that the capitalist system has with our people. The reality is that the political economy of this nation has maintained its parasitic relationship with our people because it produces super profits and raises the standard of living for the general white population. If we analyze the political economy of the prison industry we see that more Raza prisoners means more jobs for gringos in the form of prison construction workers, prison guards, police, wardens etc., a rising economy in surrounding communities where prisons are located, slave labor for private corporations with the privatization of prisons, and control over our population growth.(for more information refer to “The Political Economy of Prison in Occupied America” Oct.-Dec. 1995 issue of ¡LA VERDAD!)

Analyzing the political economy of the southern part of our nation we see that México’s economic depravation and political corruption are a result of United States foreign policy with slave pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which has had devastating effects on our entire nation. NAFTA was designed specifically to squeeze the life and blood out of the national economy of México by sending super profits to the gringo owned Wall Street stock market and banks, while at the same time causing mass economic depression and starvation.(for more information refer to, NAFTA pamphlet series # 4, La Verdad Publications)

With the rise of Guerrilla struggles (seen in much of the southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, etc. with the EZLN/EPR) as well as other progressive formations such as the Frente Amplio Para La Construcción del Movimiento de Liberación Nacional (FAC-MLN) we are witnessing a military proliferation on the part of the PRI government along with many forms of repression throughout the Mexican nation; overtly supported, many times financed and often trained by the United States military. The effects of the PRI/PAN militarization of México has caused mass repression (as seen with the massacre of 17 campesinos in Aguas Blancas, Guerrero in August of 1995 by the Procuduria General de la República), mass incarceration of those willing to struggle for a free, democratic and just México earning these people the title of political prisoners.

Such foreign policy towards México as manifested through NAFTA, military support for repression against our people, etc. has socially, economically and politically displaced many mexicanos and has forced them to migrate to the Occupied Territories (south-western United States) in search of jobs. Such displacements are causing the gringo settler population to reinforce the border area with more Migra pig agents, as well as with the military. This situation has increased the sick, brutal killing, raping, harassment, physical and psychological abuse faced by mexicanos today. Looking at the political situation, we clearly find that the recent Immigration Reform Law 1326 will have devastating effects on our people who work as slaves to produce and maintain this capitalist-colonialist system. (for more on the Immigration Reform Law see May issue of Voz Fronteriza).

Now, more than ever, there is a need to bring the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to the forefront of our people’s mind and to expose the fact that we are an original people of this hemisphere. We exist as a colonized people and are oppressed as we are, due to U.S./European imperialist-colonialist history and present reality. The “Mexican-American War” was just one of many atrocities committed by European/yanqui imperialism against our gente and the rest of the Indigenous people throughout the Américas for the last 505 years. It is out of this historic and present reality that we must analyze the colonial conditions we face today and put our words and actions into an anti-colonial context. For these reasons we must raise up our voice and expose our right to the land and resources that are stolen from us every day and our absolute right to self-defense, self-determination and our people’s National Liberation.

It Is Of Critical Importance That The Movimiento Take Back Our History From Sellouts, Apolitical Academicians And The Gringo State

Unión del Barrio understands that our movement and the Mexicano working class (which consists of the vast majority of our gente on either side of the militarized border) must articulate our own history and collectively come up with our own solutions based on an anti-colonial analysis. Nowhere is the need for this political struggle manifested more critically and more clearly, today, than with the issue of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Throughout the academic, “Indigenous,” and even hispanic sectors of our community there are different theories regarding the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and its relationship to our gente. The reactionary academics and certain “indigenous” groups point to the treaty as the basis for our legitimacy and say that the main struggle is for it to be respected and to have us “take our place in this society” under it. The more assimilationist hispanics tell us that it has nothing to do with us and would have us believe that we should think of ourselves as “immigrants” and model ourselves after English, German, Irish, Italians and other white/European people who crossed an entire ocean and stole, raped and committed genocide against the people’s of this hemisphere. Yet another theme thrown out by the U.S. backed Mexican puppet government and the hispanic lapdogs of Yanqui imperialism (vendido Democrats and Republicans) is that the Treaty is dead and has nothing to do with us. It is even presented that way in many Chicano Studies classes and is reduced to a footnote in our people’s history.

The time has come to combat these counter historical-dialectical tendencies regarding the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and raise the question of land as the fundamental basis of our people’s struggle for our overall liberation. The question of land must first be answered in order for our people to live in peace, with justice and dignity.

While we must be clear that the treaty is not what gives us our legitimacy as a people- the fact that we are an original people to these lands with over 50,000 years here does that already- it contains in it certain guarantees (such as: an open border, full equality of our language and culture, land and water rights, etc.) which were routinely violated by European settlers, with aid by the U.S. government. The Treaty was supposed to protect these rights, but even before the ink was dry on this treaty the U.S. government and its settler population not only ignored the treaty but intensified the attacks against the civil and human rights of the Mexican people; an attack which has persisted to this day.

We also must expose the fact that the Treaty was signed at the point of a gun under coercion against the Mexican people. It was signed following a brutal war of aggression provoked and carried out by the expansionist colonial U.S. government as part of its arrogant, white power “Manifest Destiny” strategy of colonizing the territories that are now the U.S., stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. No treaty signed under such conditions can be legitimate and neither can the border (such as the one that divides our patria and our gente in two) be a legitimate entity that we as a people must respect.

To expose the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and all it implies before the world further reaffirms our status as an Indigenous people of this continent and not the “illegal immigrants” the U.S. government portrays us as. If anyone is illegal on this land, it is the gabachos who squatted on our tierra. This understanding allows us to unmask “American heroes,” such as: Davy Crockett, Sam Houston and Democratic Party President James K. Polk (and others like them) as the degenerate Mexican/Indian killing, slave runners they were.

The National Chicano Moratorium Committee (NCMC) Has A Seven Year History Of Righteous Struggle In Defense Of Our Community

The NCMC has organized national mobilizations to defend our people’s absolute right for Raza self-determination. The NCMC has, since its re-establishment in December, 1989, been able to unite a broad cross section of progressive, nationalist, self-determination oriented activists and organizations throughout Occupied México/Aztlán around a platform and series of demands that address the day-to-day needs of our community. Unión del Barrio played a leading role in the re-establishment of the NCMC and continues to play a central role in the continued activism of the NCMC, precisely because we understand the need to build a broad, national, militant, independent movimiento. The NCMC has built itself and grown into a formation that has combated a near decade long, U.S. government imposed, isolation that has actually existed since the military defeat of our liberation movement in the mid-seventies (since the last period of struggle).

The Holding Of These Events In Tucson/Nogales Is Significant For Many Reasons

The holding of the two events being planned by the NCMC in Tucson/Nogales is of great significance for many reasons. This is not the least of what is the long history of Raza resistance and struggle for liberation and self-determination in Arizona. In fact, one could argue that this culture of resistance has been bred by the repressive climate Mexicanos are forced to live under in that state.

Of the territories that were stolen from México, following the U.S. war of aggression of 1846-1848, Arizona has been an area of repression and racism against our people, thus producing a culture of struggle for our people. During the years from the takeover in the mid-1800’s until desegregation, the civil rights bill and voting rights acts of 1964 and 1965; Mexicanos, as well as other native people, and Africans, were forced to use different facilities (i.e. swimming pools, water fountains, bathrooms etc.) and were routinely denied the “right to vote.” The Arizona Rangers- like their Texas Ranger counterpart- have existed since the takeover to strike fear into the hearts and minds of the Mexican population and to facilitate the takeover of Mexican lands by greedy gringo ranchers. Arizona has also been home to racist, reactionary politicians such as Governor Evan Mecham (who would not allow observance of the Martin Luther King holiday) and Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was, for decades, the Republican Senator who opposed the Civil Rights Bill, advocated the use of nuclear weapons against the Vietnamese Liberation Struggle as a presidential candidate in 1964, and made open white supremacist statements throughout his close to three decades as a national figure. Goldwater was symbolic of the gabacho white settlers who have subjugated Raza with any means at their disposal.

Arizona is also a right-to-work state. This is put forth by the gringo ruling class as: workers being “free to work without being forced to join a union.” In reality, this type of law (which exists in Texas and most of the Southeast) is a way to cripple attempts to organize workers and to kill collective bargaining. It is important to note here that Arizona is home to a sizable retirement community of old, racist, reactionary white people who depend on low-wage Mexican labor (much like California). Clearly, the inability to organize and struggle has had the greatest impact on Mexicano/Indigenous and African colonized workers, who do the hardest work under the most miserable conditions for the worst pay.

As conditions for our gente continue to worsen and the repression grows, the Arizona government- under the U.S. flag- has done its part to make our people’s lives miserable. Different racist groups are pushing anti-Affirmative Action and English Only legislation (following the California model under politicians like Pete Wilson). The militarization of the Border in the Arizona/Sonora sector continues at a rapid rate, with the effect of an increase of the number of deaths, mass deportations, beatings and rape cases of more Mexicanos every day.

This climate of hate towards our people that has existed in Arizona since 1848 is best summed up by looking at an incident of Border Patrol terror that took place on June 12, 1992 at the Nogales/Sonora Border. Though it is not the exception but rather the rule of what Raza go through at the hands of these pigs every day on our own land, what makes it significant is its blatantness, the response by the system and the courts, and the outcry in Arizona that it produced.

What took place in Nogales was an assassination, pure and simple. A migra pig opened fire without warning and shot 26 year old Darío Miranda Valenzuela (a young Mexicano) in the back twice. The pig then tried to throw the body over the fence in a near-by arroyo on the Mexican side, with intentions of burying the body. The Border Patrol agent would have probably gotten away with this heinous crime (like so many others) but his partner turned him in; but not after Miranda bled for over 30 minutes till his death and not until 15 hours after the assassination took place. (see “War On The Border Lands,” Report on the Américas, Vol. XXVI Number 1 July 1992). Consequently, the pig was put on trial.

What happened next was shocking but not surprising. Despite the preponderance of evidence and the confession by his partner, an all white jury saw fit to acquit this homicidal maniac and set him free. The news traveled nationally and internationally, setting off protests, news conferences, and other acts. In Tucson alone, MEChistas and other struggle oriented organizations came together in marchas, pickets and other acts of protest. In reality, these actions were part of a long history of Raza resistance and struggle against colonialism in the Arizona area.

Raza In The Arizona Area Have A Long History Of Resistance Against Colonialism

In the face of lynch mob oppression and overt racist sentiments against our people, we must say that Raza/Indigenous people in general have a long and courageous history of struggle in the territory that is now Arizona. It is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years and bears reflection of our present understanding that our struggle and resistance has followed the same path throughout Occupied México/Aztlán because the source of our oppression and our enemy are the same, capitalism-colonialism.

For over 500 years, the Yaqui, Hopi, Papgao, Navajo and Apache, among others have given fierce struggle to the Spanish and Yanqui colonial governments in the region that is now Arizona. It was largely in Arizona that a hero of la Raza, known as Geronimo, led his nation in struggle not only against the gringo government and the armed white population, but also against the Gauchupin (Spaniard offspring)/neo-colonial government that existed in México at the time. We can see that basic struggle for land has continued till this day in all corners of Arizona and it has been internationally illuminated with the struggle of the Hopi and Dine (Navajo) peoples at Big Mountain in northern Arizona. Their heroic, decade long fight to stop the gringo colonizer government from taking their land to mine uranium, has inspired Raza and other colonized and oppressed people throughout the world to struggle around the land question.

We must also mention that the work in the Arizona area led by the International Human Rights Council- of which Unión del Barrio was a founding member- and TonaTierra are significant in advancing the link between Mexicanos and other Indigenous people, and in raising the land struggle and our Indigenous status to the International forums of the world.

Clearly, Raza resistance has been present in Arizona in all areas of struggle. In the early nineteen hundreds, Mexicano miners faced up to the big gringo mining companies and their redneck goons to improve the working conditions and be paid decent wages. The UFW and Arizona farmworkers, in addition to many other campesino movements before them, have gone head to head with the system, for better living conditions of campesino brothers and sisters and their children- always risking life and limb in the process.

During the height of the Chicano Power Movement (1965-1975), Arizona was a stage for tremendous struggle and protest in the barrio and on college and high school campuses; as MEChA, UMAS, MAYO, the Brown Berets, La Raza Unida Party (which maintained an active presence in Arizona all through the early nineties) and other smaller, local organizations in different areas, struggled in defense of la Raza and for Chicano Mexicano self-determination. It is this history that makes Tucson/Nogales an ideal area for protesting 150 years of a broken treaty that took our land and subjugated our people.

Since its founding in 1989, the NCMC also has a history in Arizona. From its founding until 1991, the Phoenix region of the NCMC was among the more active. In 1993 when the NCMC embarked on the series of unity conferences to attempt to bring together pro-independence elements in the movimiento, Phoenix/Tempe (Arizona State University MEChA) was home to the second in the series of conferences, and the MEChistas during the entire process had an exemplary attitude of collaboration with the NCMC. This seriousness we observed through working closely with the compañeros y compañeras has proven to our people the tremendous asset in keeping the unity process going.

It is this kind of spirit of struggle that has been seen in one of the newest regions of the NCMC, the Tucson region- also known as the Xicano Coalition. These young, energetic, compañeros and compañeras came into the national process following the National Raza Unity Conference held at San Diego City College on August 11, 1996 and the National Raza March Against the Republican Convention on August 12, 1996. They organized and formed a large contingent to both the march and to the conference. We always tell those who attend national actions to go home and put into practice what has been said. These brothers and sisters have spent the better part of the last year doing exactly that.

Since they became a region, they have held several actions in defense of la Raza, including a marcha and rally at the frontera in Nogales on February 2, 1997 as part of the national campaign of actions by the NCMC. These brothers and sisters were able to raise the contradictions of the frontera to el pueblo mexicano and to the media. We must say that the rise of the Xicano Coalition in Tucson is a very positive step in the building of our movimiento nationwide. While there has been activity in Tucson for years, it has always been campus based or with a more liberal or multi-national agenda. What we have seen with the building of the Coalition and its integration into the NCMC process is that self-determination politics is again coming to the forefront in Tucson, and through our participation in events and other activities with the gente from the Coalition, we are able to see the base in the community being built by this young, energetic region.

In addition to the day-to-day work they do with youth and the entire community, we feel it’s necessary to mention here the two radio programs they have, Chicano Fist and Radio Aztlán. These programs are held every week on public radio and are heard throughout the area. Some of our members have had the pleasure of being guests on these programs and have seen the quality and political content that is being broadcast to the Raza in Arizona by way of the Coalition. This excellent use of that arena of struggle should be a model for all movement organizations in their areas. For the last few months, the compañeros have dedicated tremendous time and effort to the building of the 150th anniversary and we must say that this could be the most successful NCMC mobilization ever.

This Mobilization Will Have Participation On Both Sides Of The Border

A historical aspect of the February 2 mobilization is that it will have participation from organizations on both sides of the gringo-imposed border. We have been in contact with organizations south of la frontera and there is interest in building a jornada anti-imperialista around the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This was proposed at the 5th Encuentro of the Frente Amplio por la Construcción del Movimiento para la Liberación Nacional in Tepic, Nayarit on May 24 and 25, 1997. It was agreed to build these two events and to interchange speakers as well as to build a series of mobilizations on both sides of the border with the demands being put forth by the NCMC in raising the contradiction that our gente are not immigrants, but rather original people to this tierra.

The acceptance of these demands and the compromiso to actively promote this mobilization is a huge positive step in the struggle for the liberation and reunification of all México. It is also a clear sign that the independent organizations of struggle south of the militarily imposed border are ready to unite with Mexicanos in the Occupied Territories on a deeper level than ever before.

We can only look back a few years and remember the dialogue Unión del Barrio had with some of the “established left (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores, some elements of the Partido de la Revolucion Democratica, etc.)” and remember their unwillingness to build any kind of solidarity with independent movement forces, opting for relations with “progressive elements” of the Democratic Party, gay and lesbian organizations, gringo hippies, and gabacho trade unions. We can further remember them telling us that Raza on this side of the border were in reality “gringos” because we were U.S. citizens and had U.S. passports. We must say that it is a great step forward that this degenerate, traitorous, lambiscón attitude toward white people has died the death it deserved. It is important to recognize our ability to be able to work closely with the independent organizations who have always been honest and have never held such backward political lines towards Raza on this side of the frontera. Clearly, the February 2 mobilization and the Jornada Anti-Imperialista will be a giant step forward in the revolutionary unity of our people and in advancing the struggle for our liberation against Yanqui Imperialism and its PRI-PAN vende-patria puppets.
The Call To Unite And Struggle

Unión del Barrio feels that this mobilization comes at one of the most crucial points in our history as a people. It is now, when the U.S. government calls our people “illegal” and tries any number of measures to violate our human rights- including armed aggression against us by the government and the hostile white population- that we have the opportunity to bring our movimiento together in a way that exposes the contradiction of U.S. imperialism to the world, and allows us to struggle around a platform of self-determination. For this reason, we call on all independent Mexicano organizations struggling in defense of our gente to unite with these demands, to contribute to organizing this mobilization, and to come to Tucson and Nogales on January 31 and February 1, 1998 to show the world that we are capable of mobilizing in our own defense and that we will build a movement nationally that can take on the assaults we face at the hands of white power and its vendido puppets.

¡SOMOS UN PUEBLO, SIN FRONTERAS!
¡QUE VIVA LA RAZA!