Editor's note: The following is a general informational update of the work of the Women's Commission of Union del Barrio. Included is the outcome of their first retreat that took place on July 16, 1995.

Union del Barrio is a Mexican Revolutionary Nationalist pro-independence organization with members in San Diego, El Paso, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Jose. Mexican Revolutionary Nationalism is an ideology and practice which demands the national and class emancipation of the Mexican nation (on both sides of the militarily imposed border) and supports the liberation of all oppressed peoples. It also recognizes that our struggle is against colonialism-imperialism, which is the highest level of capitalism.

La Union has a long history of grassroots, barrio-based activism, as well as organizing liberation actions throughout Aztlan. We have organized projects designed to empower our people and advance our struggle for liberation.

These projects include Somos Raza (a youth formation), the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project (CMMP), La Verdad Publications, and La Verdad Graphics. On January of 1995, as an outcome of the first Union del Barrio plenary, the Women's Commission (a national project) was formed.

The Women's Commission was developed in order to critically analyze and address the question of women's oppression and its importance to the overall struggle for national liberation in Aztlan (occupied Mexico). As the Union moves towards becoming a vanguard formation that will be in the forefront of the struggle for the liberation of all Raza, our theoretical understanding of the women's question becomes a critical necessity.

At the plenary, the newly founded commission was assigned the task of developing a theoretical and popular platform with the objectives of:

a) developing a clear and analytical position on the question of women and the struggle for liberation, which will serve as a guide for La Union;

b) exposing the contradictions of the reactionary and counter-revolutionary movement which call itself "feminist";

c) exposing how reactionary and biological based feminism, which leads to divisions, turning men and women against each other, forms part of the U.S. colonial government's counterinsurgency against our movement;

d) developing a plan of action that will deal with question of women within the organization, our movement, and our communities.

SUMMING-UP SOME CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION OF WOMEN AND THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE

The Commission understands that as colonized people, Raza suffer daily exploitation: we are forced to live in poverty, we are victims of police/migra terror, our children are mis-educated and forced to drop out of school, and the great majority find themselves exploited in the work place or without a job. Raza women, generally speaking, are further oppressed. They face sexism in the form of double standards, domestic violence and rape, inequalities in the work place and at home, and in political struggle.

The political, social, and economic exploitation of Raza women, is part of the over-all oppression of our people by U.S. capitalism-colonialism. Therefore, we believe that liberation cannot take place until all sectors of a colonized people are free. We assert this in section 10 of our political program, where we state, "The absolute and unequivocal liberation of Raza women is a fundamental component of our struggle for liberation as a people." Furthermore, we recognize that sexism and male chauvinism are bourgeois features imposed upon us by the European colonizers over 500 years ago.

Therefore, the main contradictions facing our Raza is colonialism, not sexism.

If we take time to study and analyze how the colonial system functions we can see clearly how it promotes the oppression of women and the division of the sexes.

We see this in the policies that govern, for example, welfare, housing, and other programs that are administered. The policies are made so that it perpetuates the separation of men and women. By threatening to cut off support, poor and working women are literally kept separated from men. The objective of government social services is therefore to keep Raza disunited and in a state of dependency to colonialism.

The capitalist-colonial mass media and other social institutions are central to instilling and maintaining sexism within society. Everywhere one turns, we see the stereotyping of women (in commercials, movies, newspaper articles, etc.). Sex and sexism, has become a valuable commodity (product to be sold or exchanged) of capitalism.

Recently, within all societies, especially those involved in a struggle for liberation, the question of women's rights has taken a central role (check recent World Conference On Women, held during in August 1995, in Beijing, China) in the agenda's of various organizations. Some of these groups uphold progressive and revolutionary positions, while other proposed reactionary and capitalist based solutions to oppression of women.

Union del Barrio opposes dealing with Chicana Mexicana liberation from a feminist (a line that advances women's rights without taken into account race/national or class factors) gender led struggle. Through struggle we have come to understand that a trend found within the movimiento is the "Hispanic Feminist Movement," which for all intents and purposes is a "brown front" for the white bourgeois women's movement, as their agenda is basically the same. On the other hand, we have the "radical, gender centered" line that sees all men as enemies, simply because of their sex.

These reactionary trends wrongly scapegoat all Raza men as the enemy, instead of exposing imperialism as the main enemy of the people. This reactionary line calls for the destruction of male power and the for the elevation of all women, without taking account of class distinction or national origin. This line fails to take on the need to jam-up capitalism, which is the root of all oppression, nor does it deal with the liberation of Raza as a nation.

It is this stance for a "female led" struggle of reactionary racism (bourgeois or radical) which divides Raza men and women, and this is exactly what the oppressor wants: to have us believe that we are our own worst enemies. It is a politic that isolates us from others and is reformist (addresses the symptoms, not the disease) in its demands.

This divisionist, anti-national liberation line has been used by U.S. colonialism as part of its counter-insurgency program against Raza. By keeping us divided and into non-liberation struggle, the colonial power is able to keep us oppressed. This is precisely why, when the government unleashed a vicious attacke against the Chicano Power and Black Power movements in the late 1960s (where hundreds were killed and thousands arrested), it did not move against the "women's" movement. The system (colonialism) knew well that the women's movement called only for reforms and a piece of the pie capitalist men were ripping-off from the poor and oppressed. This movement serves as a tool for the oppressor (as it confuses and disarms Raza women) and nothing more.

Its ridiculous to assume that under capitalism and colonialism, a business woman and a worker can be equal, or a woman from an imperialist nation shares the same types problems or oppression as a colonized woman. There is no such thing as liberation for any oppressed person under capitalism-imperialism.

Your typical "Hispanic feministas" and "radical feministas can usually be found hanging around colleges and universities or attending corporation funded conferences; safely away from the politics of the poor and the workers, a politic that demands self-determination and national liberation.

We feel that it is necessary to challenge these reactionary feminist movements, specially the so-called "Chicana Feminists," since many young Mexicanas usually do not see other models or alternatives dealing with the mujer question. Resolving the oppression of women can only be done through the destruction of the system which created it. The problems of Raza women cannot be separated from those that plague our whole nation. Our enemy, whether we're men or women, is the same.

History provides us with lessons that explained that women's oppression can only be eliminated through national and class liberation. In order to insure that we move forward this process, women must play a leading role in the liberation struggles. In places where a national liberation movement has taken place or is strong, is where we find the most liberated women (for example Cuba or among the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional in Mexico).

WORK OF THE COMMISSION

Since its formation in January, the Commission has met regularly to follow-up on the objectives and tasks assigned to it by the plenary. A retreat was held on July 16,1995, in order to concretize and develop the direction that the Commission will take. The Commission came up with questions and issues it felt must be dealt with. These included sexist behavior within La Union, child care, tying women's issues to all our work, recruitment of more women into the organization, and into leadership positions, and how we address these issues within the movement.

The retreat was well attended and a lot of valuable dialogue and criticism, self-criticism took place. It was pointed out that over-all communication between the leadership and members of the Commission needed to be resolved, as well as the need to identify some key points of unity, and what name should the Commission take.

In regards to the question of child care, a question that is vital to most of the female members of La Union, it was recommended that child care be provided whenever possible. Providing child care would enable the advancement of the organization by improving attendance at all Union functionsand would increase involvement and productivity of members. It was suggested that an organized children's care center be developed.

During the discussion around sexism and chauvinism, it was recommended that the organization move towards providing more political education on women liberation (cultural, historical, etc.), at all times provide a balance image of women in our publications and other propaganda/promotional materials (t-shirt graphics, posters, etc.), and combat sexist attitudes and language.

Central here, was to push for the internalization of this question among the members, ideologically and in practice.

On October 25,1995, the Women's Commission will hold a forum on the Question of Women in Struggle for Raza Liberation at San Diego City College. For more information call (619) 280-8361 or email at magonbros@aol.com

!Somos Uno, Porque Nuestro Pueblo Es Uno!

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