MEChA

[FatFreeMilk]

Thoughts? Opinions? Personally I don't like how they focus on Mexicans but I went to their meeting today on campus and it was a nice way to meet people with similar beliefs. I wish there was something more radical and less race oriented but this'll do for now I suppose.

[bcbm]

Not all MEChAs focus on Mexicans.. the one here certainly doesn't.

[An archist]

What's MEChA?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

They focus on Mexicans cause they're the Chicano student movement of Atzlan.

Any way, "An archist", it's a Chicano nationalist movement.

[SPK]

Originally posted by black banner black [email protected] 5 2006, 11:20 PM
Not all MEChAs focus on Mexicans.. the one here certainly doesn't.
What peoples do the MEChA chapters near you focus on?

[Tekun]

Originally posted by black banner black [email protected] 6 2006, 04:20 AM
Not all MEChAs focus on Mexicans.. the one here certainly doesn't.
For the most part, they focus on empowering all Latinos and Chicanos
Regardless of the nationality, their goal is to strengthen and improve the conditions of any spanish speaking Latin American

As far as I know, their positions have been almost exclusively nationalistic
Race and Aztlan is everything to them
They borrow alot of slogans and rhetoric from the Cuban revolution, but they show almost no support for socialist/communist ideals
Proof of which can be seen in former Mecha members who are now involved in bourgeoisie politics (Cruz Bustamante, Antonio Villaraigosa, Henry Cisneros, and others)

[SPK]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2006, 03:44 PM
For the most part, they focus on empowering all Latinos and Chicanos
Regardless of the nationality, their goal is to strengthen and improve the conditions of any spanish speaking Latin American
Have they been able to effectively organize across national lines in SoCal (i.e. among Mexicanos, Salvadorans, Guatemelans, Dominicans, etc.)? Particularly with the latest wave of the immigrant rights movement this year?

I'm wondering what happened with the Labor Day marches at the beginning of the week. The one in my city here in tejas had about 500 people, whereas the April / MayDay marches had over 20,000.

[FatFreeMilk]

As far is MEChA and SoCal is involved all I can say is that the MEChA here in San Diego is or has been involved with border related issues. They had a counter protest for a minutemen rally here not too long ago. Apparently they outnumbered them by ALOT.

I learned all this yesterday when I went to my first meeting ever and I liked hearing this stuff. But I just don't like the fact that they have to focus on chicanos/as even though it is in their name.

But what's in a name right. I hope they keep up with the protests and stuff. From what I could tell in the meeting, the head guy was against imperialism, globalization , NAFTA and stuff like that so they can't be that bad. Right?

[godisdead]

i was in mecha at the in socal and norcal from community college to uc berkeley.

each mecha chapter (at each school) is different and they focus on issues that the members there decide on. for example at uc berkeley gay/lesbian rights was a bigger focus than it ever us at the community college.

as far as being chicano focused...its not just a name...the the point of the group..its like going to a black student union meeting and saying yea lets not focus on "blacks" ???? im not black, muslim, or filipino but i went to some of their student org meetings just to see what was being discussed and how to link it wit issues that correlated wit other groups (mecha, cal anarchists, etc).

another point is that the members comprise very different political ideologies from democrats to communists to anarchists. but generally they are very anti-globalization etc.

the group focuses usually on immigrant rights and border issues, and increaseing chicana/o -latino/a enrollment in universities.

its a student org that works within the same framework that other student orgs work under, so dont expect to "start a revolution" thru mecha but u can meet lots of like minded individuals.

:ph34r:

[which doctor]

I have a question.

Are there many non-hispanic students in this org?

Are they looked down upon?

[FatFreeMilk]

As far as I could tell they didn't really discriminate. I only saw one white guy in there and like one black girl. That was cool. There was a guy from Ecuador so it wasn't completely Mexican.

But yeah as somebody else said, I don't expect to see much of a "radical" attitude in there but it's still nice to meet up with people who are like anti imperialismo and stuff =)

[Tekun]

Originally posted by SPK+Sep 6 2006, 09:08 PM--> (SPK @ Sep 6 2006, 09:08 PM)
[email protected] 6 2006, 03:44 PM
For the most part, they focus on empowering all Latinos and Chicanos
Regardless of the nationality, their goal is to strengthen and improve the conditions of any spanish speaking Latin American
Have they been able to effectively organize across national lines in SoCal (i.e. among Mexicanos, Salvadorans, Guatemelans, Dominicans, etc.)? Particularly with the latest wave of the immigrant rights movement this year?

I'm wondering what happened with the Labor Day marches at the beginning of the week. The one in my city here in tejas had about 500 people, whereas the April / MayDay marches had over 20,000. [/b]
Yes and no...their members showed a significant presence during the marches
However, they played a small role in organizing or recruiting for the marches
Most of the ppl at the marches showed up by word of mouth, through the church, radio stations, or through work
And those who attended, were of all nationalities (though mainly Mexican)
So even though they were at the marches, they had very lil to do with recruiting ppl from all nationalities

However, they did effectively organize a series of student walkouts here in Los Angeles, walkouts that spanned across all nationalities

Mexicans/Mexican Americans/and Chicanos make up that bulk of that organization
There are members of other nationalities, but I think that non-Mexican members are turned off by the intense nationalism and emphasis on Mexico, its culture, and its ppl
That's one of the reasons I lost interest in MeCha, that and their advocacy for brown capitalism and brown bourgeoisie politics



Regarding the Labor Day Marches, they were in the eyes of many a failure
Very few ppl attended, and they received very lil coverage, if any