Attend the Conference On Raza Prisoners
RAZA FIGHTING AGAINST PRISON TERROR, GENOCIDE, AND COLONIALISM

Under the slogan, Raza Fighting Against Prison Terror, Genocide, and Colonialism, the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project and the Committee on Raza Rights, will be hosting the annual conference on Raza Prisoners and Colonialism. The conference will be held in Oxnard, CA, on Sat. June 28, 2008.

In Memory Of Compa Raul Salinas
This year’s conference will be dedicated to Raul Salinas, a compañero with long history of activism and production of progressive and revolutionary poetry, who passed away on Feb. 13, 2008 (in Austin, Tejaztlán). For four decades, Compañero Raul fought for human rights, prisoner’s rights, and the liberation of all oppressed people and nations. The Chicano Mexicano Prison Project/Committee On Raza Rights, above all, upholds the memory of Compañero Raul because he took on a struggle that has not been popular amongst most people; specially when it is raised within the context of the liberation of a nation; a stance which bothers white liberals and their brown/black allies, as it expresses an understanding that prisons are nothing but tools for the national oppression of Mexicans, Africans, Asians, and other nationalities found living within the “nation of prisons” –also known as the United States.

Ni Democratas, Ni Republicanos
The conference will focus on three important concerns: (1) How The Criminal Justice and Prison System Works to Oppress Raza, and (2) Fighting Back Against The Criminalization and Mass Imprisonment of La Raza and (3) Ni Democratas, Ni Republicanos -Solo El Poder del Pueblo Organizado Vencera!” (The solution to our oppression can never be found within the politics of the Democratic or Republican Parties, but within the organized masses themselves).

The conference will consist of keynote speakers, panels, solidarity speakers, and informational presentations. A particular highlight of the conference will be a proposal to those attending that will call for all of us to understand true nature of prisons and so-called criminal justice system, the role these institutions play in the oppression of Raza, and what we must do to end prison terror, genocide, and colonialism.
The CMPP/CRR will use the conference as a space to advance our struggle through dialogue and sharing ideas, and especially to bring ideological clarity and understanding that prisons as underpinnings of capitalism and colonialism. We want to challenged those within the prison rights movement who have placed the issue terror and brutality of imprisonment of nuestra gente as one simply having do to racism or some bad apples found working within the criminal justice system, instead of identifying these institutions for what they really are: weapons to oppress nations and keep people fighting for liberation. Moreover, we want to utilize the conference to bolster the spirit of activists at a time when our communities need freedom fighters with courage and commitment, and the ability to take on the merciless and brutal agents of the U.S. colonial system.

Only Strong and Discipline Organization Can Defeat The Enemies of The People!
Who should attend the conference?
• those presently active in the struggle for the human rights of prisoners
• women’s rights activists who understand how more and more, the number of women prisoners is increasing, and that they are specifically being targeted as a genocidal strategy which leads to the destruction of families
• activists working with youth and are aware that juvenile detention centers and prisons are used to physically and psychologically destroy young people before they become conscious and politically active
• those who are searching for alternatives to the de-humanizing capitalist system in which we currently exist and are struggling for the creation of a new society where there is no rich or poor, nor no oppressor or oppressed
• activists hungry for revolutionary knowledge or want to share strategies and tactics that will enable us, united, to defeat the beast known as colonialism
• progressive people who are tired of being disconnected or struggling as individuals, and have come to the realization that only a strong and discipline organization can defeat the enemies of the people.

If you want real change, join the struggle and attend the Conference on Raza Prisoners and Colonialism: Raza Fighting Against Prison Terror, Genocide, and Colonialism.

NOTE: If you would like to endorse the conference or share some critical information at the conference, please contact us. Please note that only activists representing an organization will be included in the program. Seating is limited, so please pre-register ASAP. You can contact us/register at: todopoderalpueblo@yahoo.com

RAZA FIGTHING AGAINST PRISON TERROR, GENOCIDE, AND COLONIALISM

On Sat, June 28, 2008, the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project (CMPP), united with over 10 progressive and self-determination oriented organizations, will organize its 11th conference on the question of Raza and the Prison Industrial Complex. The conference will be held in Oxnard, CA. The theme of the conference will be “Raza Fighting Against Prison Terror, Genocide, and Colonialism”. This year’s conference will focus on two panel discussions: (1) How The Criminal Justice and Prison System Works to Oppress Raza, and (2) Fighting Back Against The Criminalization and Mass Imprisonment of La Raza.

As we have explained in the past, the CMPP pulls no punches; we are upfront as to who we are and what we strive for. We are a project of Unión del Barrio and we struggle against a brutal and racist capitalist-colonialist state, which oppresses nations around the world, as well as Raza and poor people (of all colors) here within its current borders. The CMPP sees the struggle against prison terror as part of the worldwide struggle against imperialism, or what some people call “corporate globalization” (the control of the world by capitalist corporations). We are a non-funded organization that relies totally on the contributions of its membership and the community, and the only Mexican-Raza proliberation organization struggling specifically around the question of prisons and their relationship to the oppression of our people.

The main objectives of this year’s conference will be:

A. To expose the many ways that prisons and incarceration are used to oppress Raza and other poor people.
B. To enable the representatives of prisoner rights/anti-prison organizations, to share and critically dialogue around the concrete ways we are struggling to end the dialectic (connection) between Raza (centro-americanos, mexicanos, puertoriqueños, etc.), African, and Asian/Pacific Islander communities and the Prison Industrial Complex.
C. To continue the solidarity and consolidation of the unity of the various forces and groupings doing work to end the use of prisons as a tool of oppression, genocide, and colonization.
D. To support the Raza Rights Coalition’s campaign of “Ni Democratas, Ni Republicanos -Solo El Poder del Pueblo Organizado Vencera!”. A campaign which works to inform our communities that the solution to our oppression can never be found within the politics of the Democratic or Republican Parties, but within the organized masses themselves.

We understand that white (European) NGO (non-government orgs.), or governmentfunded agencies, are not the solutions to our oppression, and in fact, are often the problem. Therefore, CMPP stands for creating a movement where the oppressed
themselves will not only find the solution and basis for their oppression, but actually lead the struggle which will liberate them.

The issues and concerns which will be address by the conference include relating incarceration and the struggle for liberation to the questions of la mujer (women’s liberation), youth, security housing units (SHU), colonialism, capitalism, Black and Brown unity, internationalism, education, political prisoners, importance of organization, prison violence, and the human rights of prisoners. A proposal and declaration summing up the function prisons and the question of liberation will be presented at the conference for ratification and acceptance as a position of the conference participants.

The following have been confirmed as speakers, those giving messages of solidarity, and panel presenters:

Antonio Velazquez (Raza Press and Media Association, and editor of Clavo En El Corazon, Santa Barbara)
Cathy Espitia (CMPP and Comite de Mujeres, San Diego)
Cesar Gonzalez (Brown Berets de Aztlan, Los Angeles)
Alex Sanchez (Homies Unidos, Los Angeles)
Francisco Romero (Association of Raza Educators and Committee on Raza Rights, Oxnard).
Irene Mena (CMPP, San Diego)
Teresa Zaragoza (Comite de Mujeres Patricia Marin, Los Angeles)
Ernesto Bustillos (Association of Raza Educators and CMPP, San Diego)
Hector Flores (Raza Rights Coalition, San Diego)
Monica Bernal (CMPP, San Diego)
Christian Carbajal (CMPP, San Diego)

Conference endorsers include:

Coalition for Youth Justice and Human Rights (Statewide Org.)
Committee on Raza Rights (coalition based in Oxnard, CA)
Brown Berets del Aztlan (National Org.)
African People’s Socialist Party (International Org.)
Raza Rights Coalition (coalition based in San Diego)
MEChA San Diego City College
African People’s Solidarity Committee (National Org.)
MEChA Sacramento State University
Association of Raza Educators (Statewide Org.)
Raza Press And Media Association (Statewide Org.)
MEChA San Diego State

If you would like to endorse the conference or share some critical information at the conference, please contact us. Please note that only activists representing an organization will be included in the program. Seating is limited, so please pre-register ASAP. You can contact us/register at: todopoderalpueblo@yahoo.com

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THIS ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS
Antonio A. Velasquez
Francisco Romero
and more…

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To All Communities in Resistance to Exploitation and Oppression.
To All Communities in Struggle for Indigenous Peoples’ Dignity and Self-Determination.
To All Communities of the World.

We are the Frente Contra las Redadas del Condado de Ventura. We are a network of organizations, collectives and individuals that was formed in 2007, when Union del Barrio, one of the oldest Mexican Liberation organizations north of the U.S./Mexico border called for broad unity and organized resistance against the increased racist laws and Migra-terror against migrants.

Today, January 1st 2008 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) enters its final stage of implementation. NAFTA, since its inception, was designed to help the rich U.S. Agriculture and Industrial Corporations take over the markets of Mexico and destroy the small farms and national industries. It has caused millions of displaced or unemployed Raza to move to the cities or migrate to what today is the United States and Canada.

According to America’s Policy Program analysts, “Every hour, Mexico imports $1.5 million dollars worth of agricultural and food products, almost all from the United States” While, “In that same hour, 30 people—men, women, and children—leave their homes in the Mexican countryside to take up the most dangerous journey of their lives—as migrants to the United States.” (America’s Policy Program Congressional Briefing, “Standing Up to NAFTA”)

For the rich this is good news, but for us, the working poor, it signals more poverty, more repression, and more death. This is why we resist. We resist the oppression and exploitation of our work, our lands, our community, and of our dignity.

Every year over 400 people die crossing the U.S./Mexico border, a border that each day is more militarized. Every day this Wall of Death stretches onward, inch by inch, and everyday more Migra agents are added to the ranks, signed ujp to terrorize and chase down workers like hunted animals. Every day, some racist politician or their lackey, conjures up new legal ways to implement their laws of oppression against migrants, against the workers that come across the Wall of Death.

The Migra has unleashed a wave of repression against migrants, against workers, men, women and children with laws and plans like Operation Gatekeeper, a plan that forces migrants to cross the border through the deserts to die. At the same time, another vicious plan to repress us is Operation Endgame, a plan that aims to deport 12 million undocumented workers out of the United States by the year 2012.

The cycle of fear and death continues and now the very same campesinos that are forced off our lands in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas, and other areas of Mexico, are here in the barrios of the United States, waking up at 4 a.m. everyday, to go pick the same crops that are shipped off around the world, making those at the top richer, while we at the bottom get poorer.

Just as our brothers and sisters, the Zapatistas, descended down from the Chiapas Lacandon Jungle on the eve of 1994 when the first phase of NAFTA was implemented, we today, fourteen years later, on this eve of 2008, in one of the oldest Mexican barrios in California, el Barrio de La Colonia, declare Ya Basta! Enough is Enough! We call on all those that stand on the side of humanity to join us and fight for justice and dignity.

We will organize for the next four months in preparation for our March for Dignity that will take place on International Workers’ Day, May 1, 2008 in Colonia Park, here in the city of Oxnard. Meet us here, march with us. If you cannot come, organize a March for Dignity in your community, wherever you are.

But as we march, we must understand that we cannot just march for one day or believe that politicians will solve our problems. We must organize ourselves. As our Zapatista sisters and brothers said in the First Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, we must organize and struggle for work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace.

We are in the same struggle as our Chiapaneco brothers and sisters, because we are, as we said loud and clear in the Mega-Marchas of 2006 against the racist law HR-4437, One People Without Borders!

Stop NAFTA! Stop Migra-Terror!
El Pueblo Unido! Jamas Sera Vencido!

Frente Contra Las Redadas del Condado del Ventura

January 1, 2008
Chumash Peoples’ Territory

Call for Articles For the Upcoming Issue:

The Raza Press and Media Association is the only national group of progressive journalists actively working towards effectively informing on issues of justice, equality, discrimination, independence and liberation relating to Mexicano-Latinos (Raza). We meet on a regular basis, have an organizational structure, principles of unity, objectives, and consistently publish the journal, Guerrilleros de La Pluma.

In response to the continuing and growing assaults on the right to information and freedom of expression, especially as it relates to Raza and other nationalities within the current borders of the United States, the Raza Press and Media Association (formerly known as the Chicano Press Association) is making a call to Raza students, community activists, and academicians, and those active in the field of journalism to submit articles relating to Raza inour struggle for justice, self-determination and independence.

The articles must address the historical or current political, economic or social impacts being experienced by the Raza community.

Selected articles will be published in the Guerrilleros de la Pluma. Issues of Guerrilleros de La Pluma are distributed widely in hard copy as well as electronically. Copies are circulated at political actions, colleges, libraries, and conferences; they are mailed to Raza prisoners and a subscribers list; the journal is also posted online (Internet).

Criteria For Articles:

(1) Articles must be between 3 and 5 pages (no longer please), typed and doubled space (Fonts 10 or 12 points). If you submit a research type working paper, when quoting, or referring to data, use footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography for documentation purposes. Writing styles that could be use are the following; Chicago, APA, and MLA.
(2) articles must be submitted by …… December 1. 2007
(3) sent your articles via e-mail (info@razapressassociation.org) or on a floppy disk (i.e. MS Words, etc.) to the following address:

Raza Press and Media Association
Attn.: Guerrilleros de la Pluma
P.O. Box 20411
Oxnard, Califas 93034-0411

Support the RPA! Join the struggle to keep alive progressive and liberation Raza thought and ideology! Support the struggle for Raza justice, self-determination and independence!

Hasta La Victoria
Raza Press and Media Association

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Bulletin #3
May 28, 2007

PRISONS AND THE STRUGGLE WITHIN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

On June 2, 2007, a junta will be held where progressive and liberation activists will discuss and sum-up their work around prisoners and its relationship to the ongoing and growing incarceration (imprisonment) of Raza. The conference is being organized by MEChA City College and the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project (CMPP) under the theme, “If you want liberation, fight against incarceration”.

The organizers see prisons and the prison industrial complex as one of the principal weapons used by capitalism-colonialism to exploit and oppress Raza and other working/poor people within belly of the beast (United States) and around the world. The main objective of this gathering will be to consolidate our understanding of the role of prisoners in the oppression of the masses of the people and use this knowledge so that we can more effectively struggle against its existence.

The conference will include three panel discussions. They are: (1) How to provide a voice to those most affected by the mass incarceration and police violence; (2) How to raise consciousness and educate the many sectors that make up our community (workers, youth, prisoners, students, etc.) as to how the criminal justice system and prison industrial complex works to oppressed Raza and other working class/poor people; and (3) How do we organize our communities into a force that actually welds power and is engaged in real practical struggle.

Some of the activists who will be sharing their ideas and experiences around the struggle to eliminate the prison industrial complex will be:

Pablo Aceves (Unión del Barrio, San Diego)
Monica Bernal (Chicano Mexicano Prison Project, San Diego)
Christian Carbajal (Chicano Mexicano Prison Project).
Cathy Espitia (Comite de Mujeres Patricia Marin/Chicano Mexicano Prison Project, San Diego)
Freddy
Jose Mondragon (MEChA City College, San Diego)
Daniel Montes (Unión del Barrio, Los Angeles)
Eduardo Ochoa (teacher and member of the Association of Raza Educators, San Diego)
Quetzal Ortiz (Barrio Defense Committee, San Jose)
Felipe Porcario (Comite de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa, San Diego)
Lawrence Reyes (Puerto Rican Alliance, Los Angeles)
David Rico (Brown Berets, San Diego)
Freddy Rivas (MEChA City Collge)
Francisco Romero (Committee On Raza Rights/Raza Press and Media Association)
Mirna Solorzano (Homies Unidos, Los Angeles)

In order to be as democratic and collective as possible, after each discussion, those attending the conference will be able to ask questions or give brief statements sharing their perspective and experiences on the issues being discussed. As time will be limited and to ensure the conference moves forward, everyone will be asked to respect the conference facilitators.

Endorsers of the conference include Association of Raza Educators (ARE), Brown Berets, Raza Rights Coalition (RRC) , African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP), Raza Press And Media Association (RPMA), Committee On Raza Rights (CRR), Homies Unidos, African Peoples Solidarity Committee (APSC), Danza Mexica Cuahuatemoc, and the Barrio Defense Committee.

MEChA and the CMPP invites all of those who agree with our general position on the question of prisons, and wish to share their experiences, to attend the June 2nd conference. If you or your organization would like to endorse the conference, please contact us.

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Bulletin #2
May 22, 2007

“The Mass Incarceration of People Is Rooted In The Political Economy of Capitalism and Colonialism”

On Saturday, June 2, 2007, the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project and San Diego City College MEChA will organize, under the theme “If you want liberation, fight against incarceration”, the 10th Conference on Raza Prisoners and Colonialism. The main goal of the conference will be (1) to advance our work around raising consciousness, giving voice to oppressed communities, and organizing effective resistance to the mass imprisonment of Raza and other nationalities living with the current borders of what is known as the United States; (2) and connecting these efforts to the struggle to end the imprisonment of workers and the poor throughout the world by U.S-European Imperialism and its neocolonial puppets -a situation which some refer to the Politics of Globalization.

Everyday, more people are becoming aware of the mass incarceration of Raza. What has to be understand, however, is that this mass incarceration is not one of simply relating “fighting crime” or a matter of only “homeboys and gangbangers” getting busted. The truth is that incarceration of workers and the poor has always been one rooted in the political economy of capitalism and colonialism. Prisons, for hundreds of years now, have been part of a strategy of police-military containment that guarantees enormous profits for rich white people and at the same time ensuring that the oppressed, exploited, and colonized masses (Mexicano-Latino/Indigenous people, African, Asians, and Pacific Islanders). It has been a practice that keeps the great majority of the people on planet earth from exercising their democratic and human rights: the right to a decent job, housing, education, justice, peace, and freedom.

Proof of this ongoing strategy of prison-police-military containment is the “Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007” which is being proposed by both Democrats and Republicans. It is a law that will put more than 18,000 new border patrol and police agents on the “border” and in our communities, and will provide for locking-up at least 27,500 so-called “immigrants” per day on an annual basis.

The terrible reality is that everyday literally thousands of Raza are being rounded up like animals by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and other police agencies, incarcerated, and deported for entering the lands that historically, and by international law, belongs to them. What’s even more horrible (and shameful!), is the fact that our people have not developed the capacity to effectively resist and put an end to these brutality and terror.

To address and find a solution to the terrorizing of our community will be one of the goals of the Conference On Raza Prisoner And Colonialism. We will discuss ways to inform our communities as to the nature of these mass arrests and how to effectively organize resistance to this racist terror being unleashed upon our people.

Essential to creating the ability to destroy the terror faced by our community, the organizers of the conference feel that there is a need to clearly distinguish ourselves from those who confused our people by pushing a reformist line and have sold-out our national aspirations through a politics which calls for “our inclusion”, as second class citizens, “into white capitalist America”; a politics that only prolongs and widens the oppression of our community.

Our stance is one that calls for real and fundamental change. It is a call to truly unite, in a disciplined fashion, to democratically struggle-out a strategy for resistance, and then commit ourselves to making this strategy a reality.

We invite all our supporters and those progressives who are tired of the government-corporate-funded social service agency “leaders” and other neocolonists, speaking on our behalf, to join us at the June 2 conference and create a voice that is really on the side of the masses of humanity.

Ya Basta!
Venceremos!

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Bulletin #1
May 15, 2007

IF YOU WANT LIBERATION, FIGHT AGAINST INCARCERATION

On June 2, 2007, progressive social activists and those active in the struggle for Mexicano/Raza liberation will meet to discuss and sum-up the question of the continuing and growing mass incarceration of Raza and other oppressed nationalities within the current borders of the United States. Those present will share their perspectives and analysis as to what are the fundamental factors behind the unjust imprisonment and violation of the civil and human rights of Raza. And more importantly, the dialogue that will take place at conference will add to the science that informs our movement as to what must be done to end the vicious and inhumane treatment of our people.

Since 1997, the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project (CMPP) has facilitated conferences and gatherings that have provided a space for those struggling for human justice and liberation, free from the grip of NGOs (non-government orgs.)/Non-Profit Industrial Complex, neocolonial liberals (Democratic Party fronts), and government funded agencies (colonial system). In the past, conferences have been held in San Diego, San Jose, Oxnard, Riverside, and Los Angeles. This year’s conference, co-organized by City College MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) will be held in San Diego.

Organized under the theme of “If you want liberation, fight against incarceration”, this year’s conference will focus on three major areas of struggle: (1) how to provide voice to those most affected by the mass incarceration and police violence; (2) how to raise consciousness and educate the many sectors that make up our community (workers, youth, students, etc.) as to how the criminal justice and prison industrial complex works to oppressed Raza and other working class/poor people; and (3) how do we organized people into forces that actually weld power and are engaged in real practical struggle.

The keynote speaker at this year’s conference will be Quetzal Ortiz, coordinator of the Barrio Defense Committee, based in San Jose Califaztlán. Compañera Quetzal has been a tireless worker and fighter for Raza liberation for more than three decades. She has been a member of CASA (Centro de Acción Social Autónoma), National Chicano Moratorium Committee, and Unión del Barrio. Compañera Quetza has spoken at literally hundreds of conferences and national gathers, and has organized, at great personal risk and sacrifice, actions in defense of the Mexican community outside and inside the capitalist-colonialist prison industrial complex.

If you want to join the struggle for Raza liberation or are already active and would like to share information with other movement forces, we invite you and supporters of our liberation struggle to attend this important and historical gathering. Seating is limited, therefore, if you would like to attend, please contact us ASAP, to reserve a place. For more information write to: ebustill@aol.com

La Raza Unida, Jamas Sera Vencida

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