El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán
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 Aztlán 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. Aztlán 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 "gabacho"
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 Aztlán.
For
La Raza to do. Fuera de La Raza nada.
Program
El
Plan Espiritual de Aztlán sets the theme that the Chicanos
(La Raza de Bronze) must use their nationalism as the key or common
denominator for mass mobilization and organization. Once we are
committed to the idea and philosophy of El Plan de Aztlán,
we can only conclude that social, economic, cultural, and political
independence is the only road to total liberation from oppression,
exploitation, and racism. Our struggle then must be for the control
of our barrios, campos, pueblos, lands, our economy, our culture,
and our political life. El Plan commits all levels of Chicano
society - the barrio, the campo, the ranchero, the writer, the
teacher, the worker, the professional - to La Causa.
Nationalism
Nationalism
as the key to organization transcends all religious, political,
class, and economic factions or boundaries. Nationalism is the
common denominator that all members of La Raza can agree upon.
Organizational
Goals
- UNITY
in the thinking of our people concerning thebarrios, the pueblo,
the campo, the land, the poor, the middle class, the professional-all
committed to the liberation of La Raza.
- ECONOMY: economic control of our lives and our communities
can only come about by driving the exploiter out of our communities,
our pueblos, and our lands and by controlling and developing
our own talents, sweat, and resources. Cultural background and
values which ignore materialism and embrace humanism will contribute
to the act of cooperative buying and the distribution of resources
and production to sustain an economic base for healthy growth
and development Lands rightfully ours will be fought for and
defended. Land and realty ownership will be acquired by the community
for the people's welfare. Economic ties of responsibility must
be secured by nationalism and the Chicano defense units.
- EDUCATION must be relative to our people, i.e., history, culture,
bilingual education, contributions, etc. Community control of
our schools, our teachers, our administrators, our counselors,
and our programs.
- INSTITUTIONS shall serve our people by providing the service necessary
for a full life and their welfare on the basis of restitution,
not handouts or beggar's crumbs. Restitution for past economic
slavery, political exploitation, ethnic and cultural psychological
destruction and denial of civil and human rights. Institutions
in our community which do not serve the people have no place
in the community. The institutions belong to the people.
- SELF-DEFENSE of the community must rely on the combined strength
of the people. The front line defense will come from the barrios,
the campos, the pueblos, and the ranchitos. Their involvement
as protectors of their people will be given respect and dignity.
They in turn offer their responsibility and their lives for their
people. Those who place themselves in the front ranks for their
people do so out of love and carnalismo. Those institutions which
are fattened by our brothers to provide employment and political
pork barrels for the gringo will do so only as acts of liberation
and for La Causa. For the very young there will no longer be
acts of juvenile delinquency, but revolutionary acts.
- CULTURAL values of our people strengthen our identity and
the moral backbone of the movement. Our culture unites and educates
the family of La Raza towards liberation with one heart and one
mind. We must insure that our writers, poets, musicians, and
artists produce literature and art that is appealing to our people
and relates to our revolutionary culture. Our cultural values
of life, family, and home will serve as a powerful weapon to
defeat the gringo dollar value system and encourage the process
of love and brotherhood.
- POLITICAL LIBERATION can only come through independent
action on our part, since the two-party system is the same animal
with two heads that feed from the same trough. Where we are a
majority, we will control; where we are a minority, we will represent
a pressure group; nationally, we will represent one party: La
Familia de La Raza!
Action
- Awareness and distribution of El Plan Espiritual de
Aztlán. Presented at every meeting, demonstration, confrontation,
courthouse, institution, administration, church, school, tree,
building, car, and every place of human existence.
- September 16, on the birthdate of Mexican Independence,
a national walk-out by all Chicanos of all colleges and schools
to be sustained until the complete revision of the educational
system: its policy makers, administration, its curriculum, and
its personnel to meet the needs of our community.
- Self-Defense against the occupying forces of the oppressors
at every school, every available man, woman, and child.
- Community nationalization and organization of all
Chicanos: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán.
- Economic program to drive the exploiter out of our
community and a welding together of our people's combined resources
to control their own production through cooperative effort.
- Creation of an independent local, regional, and national
political party.
A
nation autonomous and free - culturally, socially, economically,
and politically- will make its own decisions on the usage of our
lands, the taxation of our goods, the utilization of our bodies
for war, the determination of justice (reward and punishment),
and the profit of our sweat.
El
Plan de Aztlán is the plan of liberation!
