Towards the Building of a United Raza Liberation Press:

Editor's Note - The following is a presentation that was supposed to be given, by Ernesto Bustillos, at the National M.E.Ch.A. Conference in Edinburgh, Texas. Due to a lack of interest in the workshop, the workshop did not materialize, thus the presentation was not given. Because of the importance and necessity of creating an independent Raza press we have decided to publish an edited version of the presentation.

As we have summed-up in the past, Unión del Barrio believes that for Raza to win self-determination - which to us means the right and ability to control, as Mexican people, our own future - three fundamental developments must take place:

1) We must raise the social/political consciousness of the people and win them over to the understanding that the basis for our oppression lies in the system of capitalism/imperialism - and not simply bad apples in the police department, personalities in the Democratic and Republican Parties, or this or that government official;

2) we must organize and unite all sectors of our community - workers, prisoners, homeboys/girls, students, and progressive intellectuals - under one national liberation movement;

3) and, that this movement must call for, as its strategic objective, the total liberation of La Raza and our lands, and the reunification of Aztlán-México.

Since our founding in August of 1981, Unión del Barrio has dedicated itself to making a reality of these three fundamental factors. We have attempted to make real this objectives through prison work (Chicano Mexicano Prison Project), youth work (Somos Raza), barrio/community work in the Raza Rights Coalition (RRC-San Diego) and the Barrio Defense Committee (BDC-San José), building a national movement - through involvement with the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (NCMC), and the raising of the consciousness of La Raza through our newspaper, ¡LA VERDAD!

In 1989, as a way of advancing the struggle around raising the consciousness of La Raza in general, and movement activists in particular, Unión del Barrio re-established ¡LA VERDAD! newspaper. ¡LA VERDAD! had been published by movimiento activists in San Diego from 1969 to 1973, during a period in our gente's struggle for liberation that we call the "Chicano Power Period" (1965-1975). Since its re-establishment in 1989, ¡LA VERDAD! has been the only regularly published, consistent Raza liberation-oriented newspaper in what we call occupied america and some know as the United States.

We re-established ¡LA VERDAD! because we knew that a people without a consciousness could not, or would not, struggle for its self-interest. We understood that in San Diego there was a critical absence of a mechanism by which to win the people's minds to supporting the liberation struggle. Moreover, we saw how the tools for educating and winning minds of our gente were absent - not only in the San Diego, but EVERYWHERE in Aztlán and other parts of occupied america. During the years previous to the re-publishing of ¡LA VERDAD!, we had traveled throughout Califas, Arizona, Nuevo Mexico, Colorado, and Tejas, and witnessed first hand the absence of a liberation oriented press.

Therefore, within one year of the re-publication of ¡LA VERDAD!, we convened a summit, in April of 1990, with the objective of re-establishing the "Chicano Press Association" (CPA) as a way of promoting the establishment of Raza newspapers and liberation journalism throughout Aztlán. The CPA, during the Chicano Power Period had united the most progressive Raza revolutionary newspapers. Over 20 newspapers, from San Diego to San Antonio, belonged to the CPA during this particular period of struggle. La Causa, El Grito, La Raza, El Gallo, and Regeneración, were just a few of the movimiento publications who had united under the banner of the CPA. Since its re-establishment in 1990, the CPA has made great efforts (through conferences, networking, and sharing of resources) to unite progressive-liberation oriented newspapers and inspire other Raza activists to establish publications.

Having given you this brief introduction, we would like to get into the objective of this article, which is to sum-up some characteristics of the Chicano Mexicano press and its role in our people's struggle for liberation.

Central to this issue, is to sum-up and come into unity with several key questions:

1) what is the "Chicano Mexicano Press" (at least from our perspective);

2) what is the basic functions and tasks of the Chicano Mexicano Press as it relates to Raza liberation;

3) and how will or can the Chicano Mexicano press achieve these tasks and its responsibilities.

First of all, when we speak about the "press", we are talking about the particular part of the "media" which uses the printed word as its primary form of propaganda (systematic/organized spread of ideas, beliefs, or information). Within the society in which we presently exist, we have several kinds of press. On one hand we have the "mainstream press" or what we call the "colonial press." These are the large, usually gabacho owned newspapers, whose objective is to maintain capitalism and the oppression of Mexicans and other nations. We also have what we call the neo-colonial press or what some call the "Hispanic Press." These are publications produced by people who are directly tied into the system. They kiss-up to the system, they want to be part of the system, and they support the system. They are not about liberation of Raza, they are about assimilation and maintaining colonialism (whether they know it or not).

But we also have another type of press. This is what we call the "Chicano Mexicano Press". Within the ranks of this type of press, is the "progressive" press, whose primary objective, generally speaking, is to simply "educate" La Raza. Also among the ranks of the Chicano Mexicano press we have the liberation or "revolutionary press" - which not only wants to educate and raise the consciousness of La Raza, but actually - in a concrete way - works to liberate La Raza.

Four Key Tasks And Functions Of The Liberation Press

The liberation press has three basic, interrelating, and inseparable, tasks:

1. To Raise the consciousness of the masses of nuestra Raza;

2. Actively organize the masses;

3. Prepare La Raza for liberation struggle;

4. And actually join La Raza in the struggle for liberation.

The first task is to raise the social political consciousness of the Mexicanos masses to the reality that the principle enemy of the people is capitalism and colonialism. A task that demands enabling nuestra Raza to understand that the great majority of our problems stem from capitalism; laying it out clearly that if you want to deal with the question of poverty - you deal with capitalism; that if you want to deal with the question of racism - you must deal with capitalism; and that if you want to deal with the question of sexism - you must deal with capitalism.

The liberation press must make it crystal clear, that poverty is a natural by-product of capitalism. That you can't have a few rich people, without a whole lot of poor people. We have to educate people to the fact that an uneven distribution of wealth is a fundamental and necessary characteristic of a capitalist system.

The liberation press must educate the people to the fact that we are not born racist or sexist, that this system, through its propaganda institutions, instills these ideas and practices in us - as a way of keeping us divided and unable to deal with it - the real enemies of the people.

Central to understanding capitalism is that it gives birth to what we know as imperialism and colonialism (conquest of the land and labor of other nations/peoples). The fact that Mexicanos are a colonized and oppress people has to do with the spread of capitalism during the 1500's. So in order for us to liberate ourselves we must do something about capitalism. It is impossible to speak about "de-colonization" [which is a popular term now a days] without addressing the capitalist system.

Breaking The Colonial Chains

We raise the consciousness of the masses to the question of capitalism and colonialism by showing concrete examples in their realities as to how these systems oppress them. The liberation press must cut through the chains that colonialism has placed around the minds of our gente; this is done through constant activism and literature that serves as examples and tools for furthering the liberation process.

We connect issues such as Prop 187, police/Migra brutality, gang violence, and the ever-increasing imprisonment of nuestra Raza, by exposing how these are central components of the system's strategy to keep us oppressed and colonized. This must be done in what ever way or language that the masses understand. The liberation press must inform the people how all aspects of society, - political, economic, the social - are interrelated. In other words, we must make the struggle relevant to the majority of the people.

But the liberation press is not only about raising the consciousness of La Raza, therefore a second task is to actively organize La Raza. The liberation press must win over people to the need for organization. It must demonstrate that no matter how smart or talented an individual is, you cannot liberate the masses alone. We must drive the point home, that the system is so powerful and rich, that only organized can we expect to win liberation. The press must at all times lay-out the fundamental truth that if you're serious about liberation then you must belong to a liberation-oriented organization.

The liberation press organizes the people by first explaining what an organization is; the nuts and bolts on how to form an organization; and direct the people to existing liberation-oriented organizations.

Central to the organization of the masses, the liberation press actively works towards creating principled unity, linking-up all activist forces, and wining them to the understanding that the struggle for the liberation of Mexicanos is a common struggle. This calls for combating the "narrowism or regionalism" that exist within some forces in the movement. A type of politic that claims that the conditions in Califas is so fundamentally different then Tejas, or Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, etc. - that unity is impossible. Consequently, the regionalists put up all kinds of excuses for not coming together under one national organization. Only consistent struggle, through the Raza press and other forums, can we eliminate this backward anti-organization tendency from our movement.

Preparing The People For Struggle

Thirdly, liberation press, besides raising consciousness and organizing, must also prepare the people for struggle. It must explain, in the most honest and clear fashion, what transpires when people are involved in struggle. Specifically, that liberation is difficult, that people get hurt in the struggle, and that it is something that we might not see in our life time. Part of this preparation, is to provide people with information that enables them to protect and defend themselves. This information must be based on the realities and the level of struggle in which the movement finds itself. This type of information can be anything from legal rights and general personal/organizational security concerns -to which weapon is the best for self-protection. As an example, those involved in the production of the press MUST BELONG TO AN ORGANIZATION AND THEMSELVES BE PREPARED FOR POLITICAL STRUGGLE.

And fourthly, the liberation press must actively engage in liberation struggle. It must be in the service of the movement. It must be a weapon of the movement. It must take risks. It must be part of the revolutionary process.

When we say "actively engaged," we are saying that the press must be part of the concrete struggle being waged by our movement. Those involved in the production of the press must also be central to the organizing and leadership of pickets, demonstrations, marches, and so forth. The liberation press can not be on the sidelines, just taking pictures or writing articles, it must be in the thick of things, in the trenches throwing chingazos alongside other movimiento activists.

When we say it must be in the "service" of the movement, we're saying that the press does not do its own thing. This is a counter-revolutionary bourgeois characteristic. A true liberation fighter must follow the directives coming from the movement organizations, because it is from organization that the strategies and tactics of struggle are formulated.

When we say it must be a "weapon" of the movement, we're saying that the liberation press must engage in relentless attacks on the "oppressors" ideology, propaganda, and all of its institutions. It must expose the violence and murderous actions of the police/migra, how the banks/stores/landlords rip-off the people, the lying-hypocritical politicians and how these forces blame our people for every evil that they themselves create.

Dealing With The Vendidos And Negative Tendencies

Central to being a "weapon of the movement" is to also, which is probably the most difficult task, - expose, jam-up, and challenge those Mexicanos, who subjectively or objectively, are allowing the oppression of la Raza to continue to exist.

We're talking about the vendidos who confuse and put our people to sleep (Hispanic press) by making them think that a few brown faces in the right places means that our communities are progressing. That some how if we elect some Hispanic to office things will get better for all of us. But we're not just speaking about the Hispanics, we must also expose and criticize those who call themselves movement people or "revolutionaries" yet are not about any kind struggle. We are referring to those who talk-talk-talk and talk, about unity and struggle, yet are not united with anyone and are not doing a damn thing about struggle.

When we say the liberation press "must take risks," we're saying that those involved in the press must place themselves in the same position as other liberation forces. We must be prepared to face isolation, verbal and physical abuse, loss of employment, etc. You can't be effective if you let fear control your work. This is exactly what the pigs want; this is part of their strategy - to put so much pressure and fear in us, that we will not effectively struggle for the liberation of our gente.

And finally, when we say that the press must be part of the revolutionary process, it means that we must join other activists and collectively shape and develop the program and strategies that will win liberation for our people.

¡THE LIBERATION PRESS MUST EXPOSE THE SYSTEM AND ARM THE PEOPLE WITH THE TRUTH!