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MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán), is an organization that seeks to promote an awareness of Chicano history by education and political action. In Spanish, the word mecha means spark. The motto of MEChA is La Unión Hace La Fuerza, or "Unity Creates Strength".

"To be a student and not be revolutionary is a contradiction"- Salvador Allende 1973

Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan

At a conference held at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in April of 1969, concerned Raza educators, students, and community members gathered to draw attention to the needs and concerns of Chicana and Chicano students in California's systems of higher education- MEChA is born!

Each word in M.E.Ch.A. symbolizes a great concept in terms of la causa. Movimiento means that the organization is dedicated to the movement to gain self- determination for our people. Estudiantil, identifies the organization as a student group for we are part of our Raza's future. At the heart of the name is the use of the identity- Chicano. At first seen as a negative word, now taken for a badge of honor. In adopting their new identity, the students committed themselves to return to the barrios, colonias, or campos and together, struggle against the forces that oppress our gente. Lastly, the affirmation that we are Indigenous people to this land by placing our movement in Aztlan, the homeland of all peoples from Anahuak.

MEChA originated in the Southwest, but quickly spread throughout occupied Aztlan. MEChA's primary roles in the Chicana/o Movement are: 1) To increase the number of Chicana/o students in higher education and to ensure that all necessary assistance is offered for successful completion; 2) To take part in the direction of the movement toward Chicana/o self- determination (control over our own destinies); 3) To socialize and politicize Chicana/o students on their particular campus, to the ideals of el Movimiento; 4) To establish close working relationships in the barrios, assisting in all that has to be done to achieve justice and equality for our people; and 5) To educate and mobilize our youth toward self- determination and not the self-destruction that this racist imperialist society offers the poor and people of color. We are of the community for the community!

Historical Foundations of MEChA

The East Los Angeles blow- outs started on the morning of March 3, 1968. Over a thousand students walked out of Lincoln high school. In solidarity, several thousand students followed them from five other East Los Angeles high schools. The Los Angeles Unified School District was brought to a standstill. At the end of the day, over 10,000 students participated in the walkouts. They demanded the hiring of more Chicana/o teachers and classes on Chicana/o history and culture.

In March of 1969, after a tumultuous year of assassinations of civil rights leaders at the hands of white supremacists, and the explosion of anti-war protests, over 1000 Chicana/o students from across Aztlan gathered in Denver, Colorado. The occasion was the National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference, sponsored by the Crusade for Justice, the first Raza civil rights organization in Aztlan. There the students drafted El Plan de Aztlan. The following month, at the University of Santa Barbara, El Plan de Santa Barbara was created, the Chicano manifesto that galvanized Chicana/os into a student movement. El Plan de Santa Barbara created the structure for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.

National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference

The Crusade for Justice hosted the National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference (NYLC) on March 30, 1969. The conference was held at the Crusade's headquarters in Denver, Colorado. The NCLY Conference brought together people of all types; students, people from the community, militant youth from the streets (Vatos locos), and ex- pintos to discuss community issues and politics.

Rejected Americanization

Participants were reminded that previous generations of Mexican- Americans completing academic programs had abdicated their responsibility to their people. They had been "Americanized" by the schools. The schools had conditioned them to accept the dominant values of American society, particularly "individualism", at the expense of their Mexican identity. This rejection of Americanization set the mood for Chicanas and Chicanos to abandon the "Sal Si Puede" mentality.

Revolutionary Role Models

To liberate themselves from this colonization, students needed "revolutionary" role models. The language and dress of the street youth, the "Vatos locos", would be emulated. Carnalismo (the code of Chicana/o youth gangs) would mold the lives of students and become a central concept in the proposed nationalist ideology. From the ranks of this new breed of youth would come the poets, writers, and artistas necessary for the forging of the new Chicana/ Chicano identity. This identity would base itself on symbols of traditional indigenous culture and would reflect a total rejection of gavacho culture, the culture of the White Anglo- Saxon Protestant. Emphasis was given on the importance of community control of the schools. Chicana/o Studies programs were implemented to teach Chicanas and Chicanos their history, and culture, and bilingual education was sought to assure the continuity of the Spanish language.

Chicano Nationalism

The NCLY conference's agenda emphasized a framework towards the formation of an identity and the development of an ideology for the Chicano Student Movement. The result was the ideology of cultural nationalism, which would serve to bond the Chicano movement. At the conference El Plan de Aztlan was produced, this document called for a new ideology to concretize the Chicano Student Movement, this ideology was Chicano Nationalism. El Plan de Aztlan states: "Nationalism as the key to organization transcends all religious, political, class, and economic factions boundaries. Nationalism is the common denominator that all members of La Raza can agree upon" (El Plan de Aztlan).

El Plan de Aztlan

El Plan de Aztlan was the accumulated fruit of the conference activities and widely distributed across Aztlan after the conference. A committee of activists who participated in the conference drafted the document. El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, is a poem that is the introduction to El Plan de Aztlan. Through this passage, El Plan de Aztlan puts into context the Chicana/o struggle as an indigenous people of las Américas:

"In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny. We are free and sovereign to determine those tasks which are justly called for by our house, our land, the sweat of our brows, and by our hearts. Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent

Brotherhood unites us, and love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gavacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture. With our heart in our hands and our hands in the soil, we declare the independence of our mestizo nation. We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlan. For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada" (El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan).

This gathering led to the various modes of thinking that has evolved over the last thirty years of its existence. Attributed to El Plan de Aztlan's call for nationalism, which are now commonly manifested in notions of empowerment through physical (reclaiming the land), conceptual (embodied, a way of thought), and of self-determination. This document also states, "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan sets the theme that the Chicanos (La Raza de Bronze) must use their nationalism as the key or common denominator for mass mobilization" (El Plan de Aztlan).

The Santa Barbara Conference and El Plan de Santa Barbara

Approximately a month after the Denver youth conference, the Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education held a conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Participants were interested in creating programs to help Chicana and Chicano students attending California's colleges and universities. The goal of the conference was to develop a master plan for the creation of curriculum and the related auxiliary services and structure essential to facilitate the Chicana/o access to those institutions. It was significant because it was the first opportunity for young Chicana/os who attended the Denver conference to implement the ideas of El Plan de Aztlan. The result of the weekend's activities was the creation of El Plan de Santa Barbara, a Chicano Plan for Higher Education. This 8-part, 154 page, document included a Manifesto for Chicana/os on the pursuit for higher education and also laid out a blue-print for:

1) Organizing and Instituting Chicano Studies Programs on Campus 2) Recruitment and Admissions: A Chicano Position 3) Support Programs 4) Curriculum 5) Political Action 6) Campus Organizing: Notes on MEChA 7) The University and the Chicano Community

The Santa Barbara conference set down the framework for the establishment of Chicano Studies programs and the creation of Movimiento Estudiantil Chiano de Aztlan.

The student leaders at the conference moved to adopt this new name for existing student organizations, a name that would transcend localism and regionalism, and align the student movement with the goals of El Plan de Aztlan and implement El Plan de Santa Barbara. It is because of El Plan de Santa Barbara that MEChA has an obligation, as the student arm of el Movimiento Chicana/o, to keep la causa moving forward on school campuses. This document charges the organization with the historical obligation of making the University accessible to all Chicana and Chicanos via conscious student organizing.

The formation of MEChA

The adoption of the name Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan signaled a new level of political consciousness among student activists. It was the final stage in the transformation of what had been loosely organized, local student groups, into a single structure and a unified student movement. Adamant rejection of the label "Mexican- American" meant rejection of the assimilation and accommodationist melting pot ideology that had guided earlier generations of activists. Chicanismo involves a crucial distinction in a political consciousness between a Mexican- American (Hispanic) and a Chicana/o mentality. El Plan de Santa Barbara speaks to such issues of identity politics by asserting:

"The Mexican- American (Hispanic) is a person who lacks respect for his/her cultural and ethnic heritage. Unsure of her/himself, she/ he seeks assimilation as a way out of her/his "degraded" social status. Consequently, she/he remains politically ineffective. In contrast, Chicanismo reflects self- respect and pride on one's ethnic and cultural background. Thus, the Chicana/o acts with confidence and with a range of alternatives in the political world. She/he is capable of developing an effective ideology through action" (El Plan de Santa Barbara).

MEChA played an important role in the creation and implementation of Chicana/o Studies and support services programs on campus. Chicana/o Studies programs would be a relevant alternative to established curricula. Most important, the Chicana/o Studies program would be the foundation of MEChA's political power base. Today many Chicana/os Studies Programs in California Universities would have difficulty operating if it were not for the enthusiasm and dedication of Mechistas to Chicana/o Studies. On campuses across Aztlan, MEChA and Mechistas are often the only groups on campus Raza and non- Raza alike that seek to open the doors of higher education para nuestras comunidades and strive for a society free of imperialism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. An inspirational statement in El Plan Santa Barbara that speaks to this notes:

"MEChA must bring to the mind of every young Chicana and Chicano that the liberation of her/ his people from prejudice and oppression is in her/ his hands and this responsibility is greater than personal achievement and more meaningful than degrees, especially if they are earned at the expense of her/ his identity and cultural integrity. MEChA, then, is more than a name; it is a spirit of unity, of sisterhood and brotherhood, and a resolve to undertake a struggle for liberation in society where justice is but a word. MEChA is a means to an end" (El Plan de Santa Barbara).

The Philosophy of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan

   Like many organizations, MEChA has had the unfortunate experience of being manipulated and/or infiltrated by opportunistic groups through out its history. These outside organizations often times did not share in MEChA's philosophies and for the most part these groups did not possess the legitimacy in the Raza community, as did MEChA. The credibility that MEChA had was what these opportunistic organizations sought to capture in order to make a name for their organizations and to tap into to MEChA's campus resources. In particular cases of infiltration MEChA chapters and the entire MEChA structure has been nearly torn apart because of the turmoil and deceit resulting from cadre raiding and party building by outside organizations. A historical struggle, which is commonly regarded in MEChA's history, is the infiltration by the League of Revolutionary Struggle (LRS), commonly referred to in MEChA lore as " Liga" in the mid- 1980's.

After tremendous conflict, there was an attempt to purge Liga from California MEChAs statewide and nationally. Many Mechistas believed that Liga was attempting to subvert MEChA from its Chicano Nationalists position and make it subservient to the LRS and what was described as "Marxist Internationalism". This was a very turbulent episode in MEChA's history, especially in California. The power struggle between Mechistas through out the State had divided many chapters on ideology and over the understanding of what were Mechistas common goals and objectives. Ultimately, Liga and its membership were expelled from MEChA. This was accomplished in great part by the development of what is now called "The Philosophy of MEChA". The Philosophy papers were created so that MEChA could define what it was that MEChA intended to do as an organization aside from the struggle for the access of higher education for Chicanas and Chicanos. It was through this process of self- definition that MEChA was able to discern what was in the best interest of MEChA. Most importantly, the Philosophy Papers established a set of principles, structure that would allow MEChA chapters from across Aztlan to have a common understanding of what MEChA stood for, and what is should be striving towards in our quest for the liberation of Aztlan.

Originally, the Philosophy papers were referred to as four different documents collectively called MEChA's Position papers on: Philosophy; Structure; Goals and Objectives; and Relationship to Outside Organizations. The process to adopt the Position Papers began at the Fall Summit of 1986 at Casa Ramona community center in San Bernardino, California. The process agreed upon was that all chapters would take the first draft of the Position Papers back to their campuses and MEChA would return to them in one school year to engage in the process of ratifying the documents. The process was prolonged, but the documents were officially adopted in pairs at the 1989 Summits at UC Riverside and later that summer at Mt. Jacinto Community College.

The Position Papers have undergone two major changes since 1989. The first revisions occurred in 1992 at a Summit hosted by CSU Fullerton. A majority of the revisions was the removal of programs that had not successfully served their intended purposes. The Second major revisions were approved at the MEChA National Conference of 1999 at Phoenix Community College. This later round of revisions in the late 1990's was the result of year and a half of work spear headed by the Northern Regional Task Force (NRTF).

The Northern Regional** had established a task force to look into issues of MEChA philosophy after a round of dialogue that arose at the California Fall Statewide Conference in 1996 at CSU, Northridge. This discussion was motivated by the concern that MEChA was not accurately assessing the problems of the Chicana/o community in terms of the current conditions de nuestros barrios and of the contemporary understanding of what constitutes Chicanismo.

After nearly two years of collecting input from MEChAs throughout the nation and state, the NRTF initiated a revision process at the Statewide and National level in 1999. The NRTF emphasized Indigenismo, La Mujer, Raza of Non-Mexican Descent, LGBT Mechistas, and Chicanismo, as well as to tie all of the Position Papers together as one document, in their recommendations. The NRTF presented their final proposal of revisions on the Position Papers at the California Spring Statewide Conference held at San Francisco State University. After long debate, California Statewide endorsed these changes and moved to forward the proposals to the National MEChA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. After two days of discussions and hard work, National MEChA adopted the revisions to the Position Papers, now called The Philosophy of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, on March 21, 1999.

The MEChA External Structure

Since the conception of MEChA at the Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education at UC Santa Barbara in 1969- MEChA has become a national organization. Now MEChA Chapters are organizing on campuses throughout Aztlan. At the national level MEChA is organized into regional bodies much like the great confederations of our ancestors in the valley of Anahuak***.

At the present time there are nine regions recognized by the National MEChA structure:

1. Pacific Northwest 2. Alta Califa Norte MEChA Región 3. Centro California MEChA Region 4. Alta Califas Sur California MEChA Región 5. Calpulli Montañas del Norte Coast 6. Centro Aztlan 7. Southeast Tejaztlan 8. Midwest Region 9. EsteAztlan

In the State of California we are organized into three regions:

• Alta Califa Norte MEChA Región • Alta Califas Sur California MEChA Región • Centro California MEChA Region****

Each Region meets on a monthly basis in order to keep lines of communication open between chapters and Centrales, in order to coordinate actions on a region wide level. Within each Region are Centrales; a Central is an entity, which is formed by multiple MEChA chapters to better serve the Chicana/o community. Centrales meet regularly for the same purposes as Regions, but seek to outline and implement plans of action for their particular area, usually within a county.

In the Alta Califas Sur M.E.Ch.A. Region there are five Centrales:

• Inland Empire M.E.Ch.A. Central • Inland Valley M.E.Ch.A. Central • Los Angeles County M.E.Ch.A. Central • M.E.Ch.A. Central de San Diego • Orange County M.E.Ch.A. Central

In the Alta Califas Norte M.E.Ch.A. Region exist two Centrales:

• Tlatokan Ameyal M.E.Ch.A. Central • Penutian M.E.Ch.A. Central

A Selected Bibliography

El Plan de Aztlan

El Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education

The Philosophy of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan

Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings edited by Alma M. García

Youth, Identity, and Power: The Sixties Chicano Movement by Carlos Muñoz

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rudolfo Acuña

De Colores Means All of Us: A Latinas Views for a Multi- Colored Century by Elizabeth Martinez and Angela Y. Davis

Mexican American Youth Organization: Avant- Garde of the Chicano Movement in Texas by Armando Navarro and Mario C. Compaen