Re: [Marxism] Mass work and religion

["Erik Carlos Toren" <ectoren@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Joaquin and Comrades:

To second what Joaquin said. If you are going to organize the Latino or
Mexicano community who are either undocumented workers or first generation
immigrants, the involvement of "progressive" sectors of the Catholic
Church  have to be brought in. From a Mexicano experience, many of the
Mexicanos have first hand experience with "comunidades de bases" and
"catequistas" (catechists) which are the face of the Catholic Church at
the grassroots level. In many of the impoverished areas in Mexico, the
"catequistas" have been in the forefront of organizing for social justice.
As a matter of fact, in Chiapas is well known that a good layer of them
went into the guerrilla movement. In the U.S., such as in my community,
there is a number of priests and nuns who are directly involved in the
day-to-day struggles who come from a Liberation Theology p.o.v.

If non-Latino/Mexicano socialists think that they can organize this sector
of our society, the Latino sector that works in farmwork, service
industry, construction, and food preparation and packing, WITHOUT
involving the church, then as Joaquin states "whoever leaves out of their
approach working with religious institutions and figures in these
communities is likely to wind up organizing a rather narrow layer, not
deeply among the masses."

por el socialismo,
Erik Toren


> The Latino immigrant movement in Georgia has an active engagement with the
> Churches, among other aspects. The direct action committee in charge of
> the
> March for Dignity being organized for October 12 (el Día de la Raza) meets
> weekly at a Church in a heavily-Latino area. And if last year's
> demonstration is any guide, there will probably be a priest or two on the
> front line, as well as --we hope-- some endorsements from the pulpit the
> Sunday before.
>
[...]
> This isn't a peculiarity of the Coordinadora, I think if you look to
> grass-roots based Latino organizations, that will be what they are like,
> just as the Black civil rights movement was very much organized in
> conjuncion with religious figures and institutions.
[...]
> Some will think this is all reformist drivel. But if you're vying for
> leadership of a community, and not just restricting yourself to an already
> politicized and engaged tiny minority, that's what you wind up doing,
> among
> other things.
[...]


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