Unión del Barrio and the Struggle for...

Union del Barrio, an organization that struggle for Mexicano Liberation, believes that:

• Mexicans living both in México and in the “southwest United States” suffer from political, economic, and social insecurity because the United States Government in 1848 occupied our land and since then our gente have been the victims of people who keep us oppressed, exploit our labor, keep a disproportionate number of our people in prisons, stereotype us through the media, falsify our history, deny us a relevant/productive education, and militarize the imposed borders in order to keep out the very same people from which Aztlán (Northern México) was stolen.

• Mexicanos in Aztlán (Occupied México) must self-determine our own destiny and we are determined to liberate our people. The means to this end is the advancement of Mexicano self-determination which can best be defined as collectively determining our history; economically controlling our social development by self-determining our culture, education, and language; independently developing the content and direction of our political orientation; and controlling the political institutions that make the laws that govern us.

• California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Utah, Nuevo México, and Nevada, constitute Aztlán-México Ocupado. It is a geographical and political territory belonging to the Mexicano people. These lands were taken by armed forced by the U.S. Government, during the US-Mexico War of 1848.

• Collectivism, organization building, and accountability are fundamental to our struggle. We say a critical aspect of this point is the need to channel our people's energy and resources into accountable and disciplined organizations. In political struggle, individualism is bourgeois, elitist, egotistical, and backward trait. We must raise the shortcomings and contradictions to those who profess being active in political work without accountability to an organization.

• The absolute and unequivocal liberation of Mexicana women is a fundamental component of our struggle for liberation as a people. Fundamental to any liberation organization and pro-independence conscious movement is the absolute political, social, and economic equality between men and women.