Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán

322 Pages·2015·18.977 MB·English

by  MIM(Prisons) Study Group, Cipatli, Ehecatl

Chican© Power
and the
Struggle for Aztlán
Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztian
by a MIM(Prisons) Study Group
2015
ISBN: 978-1-894946-74-2
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This book is co-published by MIM(Prisons) and Kersplebedeb.
Kersplebedeb considers this to be a thought-provoking intervention,
and has respect for the work done by MIM(Prisons). That said, there
is not theoretical unity on all points touched upon in this book, nor on
each of MIM(Prisons)'s Six Main Points.
This project is dedicated to all those who lost their lives to
brown-on-brown violence inside and outside of prisons.

Contents
Figures 4
Preface 6
On Rebuilding the Nation and Regional Divisions 8
Introduction 10
Who is a Chican@? 14
What is Aztlan? Who are la Raza? 15
Chican@ Nationalism, Revolutionary Nationalism,
Proletarian Feminism 17
Part I: Chican@ Power and
the Struggle for Aztlan 20
Section I: History of Chican@s 22
The Birth of Mexico 22
Colonization, Development and the U.$.War on Mexico 25
Revolution in Mexico 1910 36
From Imperialist War to Braceros 42
The Brown Liberation Movement 45
Section 2: Historical Basis of Aztlan
and the State of the Nation Today 56
Territory 56
Language 58
Economy 61
Culture 65
The Border: Past, Present and Future 66
Aztlan is an Oppressed Internal Semi-Colony 68
Section 3: The Path Forward for Emancipation 71
Socialism and the Chican@ Nation 75
Incorrect Lines Toward Aztlan 79
Revolutionary Nationalism 84
Cell Structure, Barrio Committees,
and the need for a Vanguard Party 87
Section 4: Questions of Organizing 93
The First Nations and Aztlan 93
Chicanas:Wimmin Hold up Half the Sky 95
The Role of Chicanismo 98
Pandillas: Our Red Guards 99
Barrios Wrapped In Razor Wire
Contents, cont.
Part II: Further Research 108
Section I: Obscured for Centuries,
the Nation is Bigger Than Ever 109
A Rising,Vibrant Nation I 10
“Hispanics" and the Erasing of First Nations 119
Measuring Assimilation 124
Class Nature of the Internal Semi-Colonies 128
Battling in the Realm of Ideas 129
Section 2: Real Lessons of the Chicano Moratorium
and the High Treason Against Maoism 131
Three Views in Politics 134
High Treason Against Maoism 136
Section 3: Why Revolutionary Proletarian Nationalism? 143
Section 4: Democratic Convention
Highlights Chicano Assimilationist 150
Section 5: Response to rcp=u$a’s Opposition to Aztlan 154
How Many Ways Can They Deny Our Right To Self-Determination? 156
Nationalism is Bourgeois Anyway 164
Section 6: Murder of Chicano Youth Holds Lessons for
Revolutionaries 168
Section 7: Mexicans Targeted for Censorship 174
1
Contents, cont.
Part III: Chican@ Literature
from a Maoist Perspective 176
Burning Chican@ Books 177
Occupied America 180
Mexico’s Revolution Then and Now 183
The Chicanos: A History of Mexican Americans 186
Youth, Identity, Power 188
Chicano Liberation and Socialism 194
Labor, Family, Feminism and Revolution 202
Class and Gender 203
White Wimmin’s Pseudo-Feminism 206
Reproductive Rights 208
Patriarchy in Revolutionary Organizations 209
Distinctive National Culture 210
Cultural Nationalism 210
Intersections of Nation, Class and Gender 211
We Will Rise - Rebuilding the Mexikah Nation 214
Appendix 220
I .a Brown Berets - Prison Chapter 221
I .b United Struggle from Within 226
I .c Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons 229
2 .a Agreement to End Hostilities 233
2,b United Front for Peace in Prisons 236
3 .a Class overview 238
3 .b Labor aristocracy 243
3x First World lumpen 255
3,d Fascism and its class nature: A brief introduction 257
4 .a Why we use the word “migrant" and not “immigrant" 259
4 .b On Cesar Chavez and the Correct and Incorrect Handling of
Contradictions Among the People 260
5 .a Cell Structure,Vanguard Parties and Mass Organizations 262
5,b United Front 268
5x New Democracy and the Joint Dictatorship
of the Proletariat of the Oppressed Nations 273
Glossary 291
Index 313
Hgur«*%
t ( ( ( ( RuaI 24
I inoi <■ | | 1 Nkw *»|trtln 26
rigiM*1 I I i '««nu Io hail 28
I igui o I I I R,u.i as Percent of Total U.$. Population 58
I l<uro 1.2.2 Raza population by county in the United States 2010 59
Figure 1.2.3 Linguistic Assimilation of Mexicans and Other Immigrants 60 (
Figure 1.2.4 Global Wealth Flow Under Imperialism 62
Figure 1.2.5 Wealth Flow in the First World 63
Figure 2.1.1 Foreign-Born Population of the
United States, by Region of Birth, 1960-2005 III
Figure 2.1.2 Reference map of present United States boundaries 112
Figure 2.1.3 Percent of Foreign-Born Population 1
from Mexico and Other Central America: 1960-2010 114
Figure 2.1.4 Raza as % of Population in 2010 115
Figure 2.1.5 Distribution of Largest Raza Populations Across the
Continental United States 116
Figure 2.1.6% Living Below Federal Poverty Line
by Country of Origin 119
Figure 2.1.7 Economic Assimilation Indexes 120
Figure 2.1.8 Percentage of the Foreign-Born Population Who Are
Naturalized U.S. Citizens by Country of Birth: 2010 125
Figure 2.1.9 Percentage of Foreign-Born Population by Language Spoken
at Home and English-Speaking Ability by Country of Birth: 2010 126 I
Figure 2.1.10 % of Population with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher
Education by Nativity Status and Country of Birth: 2010 127 1
Figure 2.1.11 Median Earnings in the Past 12 Months 1
by Nativity Status and Country of Birth: 2010 127
Figure 2.3.1 Hispanic Ethnicity of U.$. Military 145
Figure 2.3.2 World Distribution of Household Wealth, GDP,
and Population in the year 2000 147

Preface
THIS BOOK WAS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT written in a study
group for U.$. prisoners, led by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry
of Prisons, or MIM(Prisons) for short. While we all discussed, wrote
and edited the material, MIM( Prisons) was the principal editor. Once
we had a draft that was close to final, we sent advanced copies to a few
other comrades inside and outside of prison for additional comments.
We welcome readers to continue sending us feedback on this book, and
we are eager to get it into the hands of those organizing for liberation
in the belly of the beast! The greatest feedback will come in the form of
advancements against oppression.
The two principal authors of this book are prime models of revolu­
tionary leadership from behind prison walls. Ehecatl and cipactli are both
long-time leaders in the anti-imperialist organization United Struggle
from Within. Cipactli also writes on behalf of the Brown Berets - Prison
Chapter, a more recent project cipactli helped initiate to push the Chican@
national liberation struggle forward. This book was a collaborative writing
effort, rather than just a collection of essays with different perspectives.
Cipactli first inspired this project by putting together the central
essay, which provided the framework for what became Part I of this
book. Cipactli recognized the need for Maoist literature and leader­
ship in the hotly contested struggle of Chican@s and migrants against
Amerikan repression, especially in a new context of multiculturalism
and widespread wealth throughout the United States. Coming together
with a basic agreement around this need, and the line that needed to be
presented, we assembled the material for this book.
The Maoist movement in Aztian is still young. As such this book
is somewhat preliminary and will not provide all the answers. In some
aspects we did not all agree, but in the end, through unity-struggle-unity,
we resolved most major disagreements to present a cohesive analysis. The
core principles that we firmly put forth here are: 1) that a distinct Chicane
nation exists, 2) that it developed in dialectical relation to the oppressor
nation of Amerika as a colony and later an internal semi-colony of the
United $tatcs, and 3) that supporting and upholding the right to secession