The Origins of Contemporary Chicana/o Anarchism by O.R.

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CHICANA/O ANARCHISM

Modern Chicana/o/ Mexicana/o/ Central and South American identity and experience in the United States has been shaped within the context of the invasion, colonization, occupation, and redefinition of nation state boundaries leading up to and following the U.S./ Mexico War. In order to survive, the Chicana/o struggle in the United States has evolved and adapted to cope with the challenges that directly impact the social variables of gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, class, and ecology.

The Chicana/o community now faces new challenges in the twenty first century. Reactionary/nativist radio disc jockeys, the mainstream media, right wing militant groups such as the minutemen, and the police state have labeled and targeted undocumented immigrants and the Chicana/o community as scapegoats to the flaws found in the economy/capitalist system.

Unlike traditional leftist ideologies such as Marxism/Leninism/Trotskyism, anarchism is an ideology that has the capability to facilitate and be conducive to the needs of the Chicana/o community. Rather than simply focusing on the economic power structure the way Marxism does, anarchism directly addresses the power dynamics and inequalities that impact gender, sexual orientation, culture, race, class, and ecology.

It is by this construct that anarchism has the capability in facilitating the Chicana/o community in gaining a better understanding of their environment and their societal and economic placement by transcending beyond nationalism and contextualizing a tangible vision and a synthesized plan for anarchist self-management and Chicana/o self-determination.

In order to survive, one must invent something new. This study proposes that the new phenomenon/social movement of Chicana/o anarchy can suit the needs of the Chicana/o community from colonization and capitalist globalization. The origins of Chicana/o anarchism can be traced back to the Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magon (1874-1922), who organized in Mexico and the United States. Magon’s activism and organizing in the U.S. and Mexico has made him the link of Mexican anarchism and the prototype for Chicana/o anarchism.

All utopianism is the impulse to dream oneself out of the present. This impulse to dream needs to be developed. The struggle of the Zapatistas, Magonistas, and Chicana/o anarchists are just a few examples of sacrifice for survival.

Chicana/o anarchism has the capability to be a catalyst for change through resistance of capitalism/dominant culture and the affirmation of culture. Anarchism directly addresses the power dynamics and inequalities that impact and encompass gender, sexual orientation, culture, race, class, and ecology. It is by this holistic approach that anarchism has the capability in facilitating the Chicana/o community in gaining a better understanding of their environment and their societal and economic placement by transcending beyond nationalism and contextualizing a tangible post-capitalist vision for the future.

We walk diagonally as horizontalists

We walk like Quetzalcoatl, from side to side, listening/learning/touching/feeling/loving our way through as we advance.

All text is taken from “The Origins of Contemporary Chicana/o Anarchism” by O.R. The full essay with all interview excerpts can be found on theanarchistlibrary.com

Interview Selections:

“I think mainly my life experiences have led me to label myself and identify myself as an anarchist or anarcho-communist, right? Just growing up as a Chicano in South Central, working class. A lot of my experiences, dealing with authority and the state have been negative. I think the state in general is used to oppress and keep us in this position and subjugation especially how the U.S. was founded and capitalism was developed in the U.S. through white supremacy off the backs of indigenous people here, Blacks, Africans, and Mexicans. The theft of land- the southwest, which was North Mexico. They use institutions like the police, the prison industrial complex, the schools to continue not only the colonial mentality but the colonial reality in our communities where the police are locking us up, brutalizing us, killing us. They’re an occupying army. I now understand the community as a neo-colony so my experiences on a daily basis that of a person living under colonial conditions.” (Joaquin Cienfuegos interview)

“It starts from the principle of attacking all forms of oppression. Anything that works that way has a lot to offer to the Chicano community. It’s just like any other community, especially just like any other occupied colonized community, there are a lot of problems of patriarchal abuse, sexism, addiction, all these things that people do in response to being colonized and occupied. Anarchism directly addresses a lot of the underlined issues that lead to those subsequent problems. Like immigration, you’re talking about this problem that affects our community, has to do with borders and immigration and then you’re talking about an ideology that says there should be no borders, there should be no nations. That’s a great example of how the ideology directly addresses a particular problem.” (Kualyque interview)

“I think what’s going to lead to our liberation is creating a strategy that also incorporates our principles as anarchists. The key principles that are important to us like I mentioned mutual aid, cooperation, self-determination, self-organization, autonomy, self defense, federalism, creating people’s militias, creating duo power, getting rid of the idea that we need a vanguard party, creating the people’s institutions, and so on; Popular education, cultural revolutions, all these ideas are anarchist ideas and principles and those are what we need to apply to the Chicana/o community in my opinion and that’s where we’ve seen victories because most people relate to that. They’re tired of being involved in hierarchal organizations that reflect the same power dynamics or the same social relationships of this oppressive system or this society we’re living under today that we’re trying to get rid of. I think this process of creating different social relationships we’ve seen men and women, between all people, right? How people relate to each other, how youth relate to older folks, how white people relate to people of color in general. All these things, we have to change those relationships now. Not wait for some vanguard party take state power. I feel that even the idea of state power is oppressive, the idea that a centralized bureaucratic body can decide for all these different regions what’s in their interest. Going back to the theory as anarchists, it’s important but I think mainly, what’s important is our practice or creating a new praxis for change. I think what we do today with the revolutionary autonomous communities (RAC) is we hold or we’re trying to build and create the programs that are missing where we live, in our neighborhoods. We need childcare, we need healthy food, we need better education-we need an education that’s going to tell us the truth. We need to hold the police accountable, we need to get rid of them from our communities.” (Joaquin Cienfuegos interview)

“In a general way, yes, I think that anarchism suits the needs of all communities. Historically, that’s how humans have organized themselves in their communities. Making a real community involves anarchism. It involves self-organization, self-leadership. But specifically for the Chicano community, it offers, one-there’s already the connection with an indigenous way of being that resonates with anarchist ideas. With the idea of popular assembly, that already resonates. With Zapatismo, you see that connection. You see a lot of young Chicano activists or anarchists who come at it out of Zapatismo like I did too. Early on, that was another thing that propelled me was that I saw a movie about the Zapatistas. That really resonated, at the same time I was thinking about anarchism. In that sense, yeah I think it validates and acknowledges those ancient ways of organizing in community and being in community. So it resonates more than say communism, even though it’s also a European ideology. Even in Europe it goes back beyond an imperialist way of being. The colonization and imperialism started in Europe when the Romans invaded. I think that anarchism sprung out of that same basic impulse towards indigenous ways of being. Over there, you’re talking about tribal paganism in Europe, in Scotland, in Ireland. You’re talking about people conquered the same way they were conquered here. In that sense, I think that it does resonate to that situation or that history. Just the same that it has to offer to any community, that utopic vision of equality; that different way of interacting that’s equal, that’s non-sexist, that’s not homophobic, that’s non-ageist. It starts from the principle of attacking all forms of oppression. Anything that works that way has a lot to offer to the Chicano community.” (Kualyque interview)

“For as long as there’s minorities that are discriminated against, there’s always gonna be revolt and there’s always gonna be discontent for as long as their taught to assimilate and forget their own culture. Dissent and education are always going to be at the forefront at those being targeted. Chicanos/Mexican Americans have a rich history of dissent when it comes to tyranny, exploitation, oppressive policy, and law. I believe anarchy can push the envelope for further dissent, creativity, and imagination.” (R. De La Riva interview)