SalvadoreÃ±o Organizers Talk Political Power

Posted on Sep 29, 2009 Posted by decolonize

Latinos speaking out on immigration policy, Houston and Texas

Houston has a large population of SalvadoreÃ±os, people originally from El Salvador or have family ties to El Salvador. CRECEN (Centro de Recursos Centroamericanos) is the city's largest group speaking out for people of Central American descent, and it's been active on many important issues over the years. Now there's a national mobilizing effort of SalvadoreÃ±os, which may be felt in Houston soon.

by decolonize

The Washington Post reports on a major meeting last week of over 150 SalvadoreÃ±o community organizers from across the United States, gathering to talk about ways of consolidating organizing efforts.

The Post's N.C. Aizenman writes organizers attending the First Salvadoran American Leadership Summit were aware of needing to move from the service model many organizations have embraced and instead aim to expand their political influence. Aizenman acknowledges some challenges:

For all the event's optimism, there are some daunting obstacles to transforming the numerical strength of Salvadoran Americans into political clout. According to an analysis of Census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, 47 percent of U.S. residents of Salvadoran descent are not citizens. And 26 percent more are citizens but are still children, leaving only 27 percent who are currently eligible to vote. And it was perhaps telling that much of the discussion at the conference was in Spanish.

RaceWire (which linked the Post article) says organizers will make naturalization a key issue.

How should we view this kind of strategy? Is ability to vote and citizenship really where oppressed people will find political power? And at the same time, if it is not, what importance is there to fighting for that right even short of our ultimate goals? El Salvador itself has struggled with electoralism and its failures. Though the country declared its independence from Spain in the 1800s, military dictators and repressive juntas ruled it for years. The Farabundo MartÃ National Liberation Front (FMLN) waged a 12-year war against the regime, and became a political party in 1992, following a peace accord.

The summit comes at a time when Latinos are growing more concerned over bigotry in the immigration debate. Marisa TreviÃ±o notes Univision's Jorge Ramos called U.S. President Barack Obama on the issue on his program Al Punto. Citizen Orange alleges a trend of 'progressive' politicians selling out undocumented immigrants after paying lip service during campaign season.

In Houston, youth activism on these issues has emerged out of groups like the Houston DREAM Act Coalition, which hosted a summit Sept. 12 at UH-Downtown.

What can we learn from the beginnings of this struggle, and the history and experience of the Salvadorian people? What is our role and responsibility as revolutionaries in all of this?