[Marxism] Re: What should revolutionaries do in the Latino immigrant Movement

[Carlos Petroni <cepetroni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some thoughts.

I think comrades are making a false dichotomy.  There
is for me no contradiction whatsoever between
supporting the movement as it is and to develop it
further with the injection of some more radical
political views and objectives.

For what I heard and from the mail I received from
comrades on the ground, they are trying to combine
both.  In one area, the "radical left" and the
Democrats and democrats' "fellow travelers: organized
a demo.  But come independent community activists
disagreed with the slogans (they wanted to raise the
question of amnesty and union and political rights)
and they also disagree with the imposition not to wave
Mexican flags, etc.

The comrades supported the independents and more
radical elements.  Two demonstrations took place.  One
with 200 people (the "left"-Democrats one) and one
with 8,000 (the more independent with our
participation).

But nothing is so clear cut.  In the most independent
one are some community "caudillos" who make political
progress difficult.  Well, nothing is perfec.

In another place, there were not visible radical
elements from the community.  I should rather say they
"didn't coalesce" as such.  Therefore the comrades got
involved in the organizing as it was.  In the process
they made a number of good contacts, etc with the
perspective of developing a more radical wing of an
already established and seemengly "more conservative"
coalition that, contradictorily, mas more democratic
in form.

At the same time, in both cases, the comrades
organized fringe meetings and distribute leaflets
inviting people to attend after the demonstrations or
the following days.  In total they organized about a
dozen meetings, and for the reports from the first
three or four meetings, attendance ranged from 100 to
300 in each meeting (small, but attended by people
opened to more radical policies.)

The question here is not to make a false dichotomy
between what we can learn and what we can suggest (not
teach).  Both are necessary elements, provided that
you also have some standing of previous involvement in
the issues as most of us have (inlcuding myself).

One takes de movement as it is, starting from the
consciousness it expresses, and fight to mobilize it
as much as possible, linking it as mucha as possible
with the rest of the working class, imbuing it with
ideas, but also with hard work (in order to gain
influence you need to be the best builder and
volunteer for many tasks.)

It is a mistake not to recognize that the movement has
a de facto leadership (Church, TV/Radio anchors,
Democrats) but the issue is essentially a program of
democratic demands on which we can do unity in action
with whoever is there, provided that we tactically
offer the perspectives for the future of the movement
and warn the vanguard elements of it of the
limitations of the present leadership.

Carlos

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