LA VOZ DE AZTLAN EDITORIAL

La Raza and Jews on Collision Course in Alta California

There are now significant signs of an impending collision between La Raza and Jews in California. The signs were first manifested during the state's 1998 election primary when a Mexicano defeated the Jewish candidate Richard Katz in the state's 20th Senate District and when the wealthy Jew, Ron Unz, was successful in having an anti-bilingual education initiative approved by the state's electorate. The battle lines between Mexicanos and Jews in California have been drawn and they have been drawn most clearly in the City of Los Angeles.

La Raza's battle for the 20th Senate District is a perfect example of how the Jews will fight tooth and nail to maintain their dominance in state government. The victorious battle by La Raza in the 20th S.D., which is located in the middle of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, was only a small skirmish of a larger battle that is about to occur as we seek more equitable proportional representation in state and local governments.

The Jews of California, about 3% of the state's population, have an overwhelming and disproportionate share of the state's wealth which they utilize effectively to wield immense influence on the state's political apparatus principally through dominance of the Democratic Party. Both U.S Senators of the state are ladies of Jewish descent and there is no sector of California society, either private or public, in which Jews are not significant policy makers. The sectors that they can not control directly, they will do it indirectly through the purchase of influence as well as the cunning manipulation of ethnic and other minorities.

La Raza's victory in the 20th Senate District has been a turning point in the relationship between Mexicanos and Jews. It is the very first time that a significant clash for political control, at the state level, has taken place between the two ethnic groups.

Political representation in Los Angeles County is presently determined along racial and ethnic lines. For example, the Congressional Delegation of the county is presently divided between Mexicanos, Afro-Americans, Jews and Whites. There are four Congresspersons of Mexican descent (Becerra, Solis, Roybal, Napolitano) , three of African descent, two of Jewish descent (Waxman, Berman) and the rest are Whites. They each represent districts where the majority of the population are of the same racial or ethnic group as they are. The same is true with state assembly and state senate districts.

The 20th Senate District was one in transition where Mexicanos were barely outnumbering Jews. The race became wide open when Herschel Rosenthall, a Jew, could not run for re-election because of term limits. A very popular Mexicano by the name of Richard Alarcon, then a Los Angeles City Councilman, decided to challenge the Jewish domination of the senate district by declaring himself a candidate against the Jew Richard Katz . He won by a mere 29 votes but the bloody battle between the Jews and La Raza left a bitter aftermath that has had negative repercussions to this day.

The Jews are sore losers and they did not take the defeat graciously. They insinuated that Mexicans were racists and anti-semitic simply because we challenged them and beat them politically. They criticized Senator Richard Alarcon because during his campaign he publicized a very nice picture of himself and Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahoney. Never mind that various Jewish publications in Los Angeles, supporting Katz' campaign, had photographs of him wearing Jewish kippahs while praying at Jewish synagogues.

The battle for the 20th Senate District in California should provide a very valuable lesson for La Raza. In our political struggle for self-determination, we can not assume the certain groups will be our friends. Jews have catered for our vote in the past but when it comes our turn to share in real political power, they will turn their face and become our enemies.

Since they comprise a very small percent of the overall population, they are forced to utilize strategies outside of having the most numbers to maintain control. A principal strategy is to utilize their vast supply of funds to manipulate the political system as they are presently doing in the race for mayor of Los Angeles. They are very adept at manipulating the varied political interests as well as the interests of racial, ethnic and sexual preference minorities.

They have formed alliances with the Black community, for example, in order to put the rightful political emergence of La Raza in check as they did when a Jew/Black coalition elected Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles. Later, they formed an alliance with Republicans to elect Richard Riordan as the mayor. Jews are very good at formimg alliances with anyone as long it serves their interests . They play all sides of a fence, this way they guarantee that they will always be on the winning side. What they are doing now in the present race for mayor of Los Angeles speaks volumes as to the varied and effective strategies they utilize to perpetuate their political and economic power.

Sensing that Chicanos and Mexicanos have now become an increasing challenge that can no longer be checked with their traditional methods, they have now resorted to investing in the development and empowerment of a small cadre of "vendido hispanic politicos" that they can easily manipulate to carry out their policies. One of these "politicos" is Antonio "Tony" Villargairosa who is running for mayor of Los Angeles. Tony Villargairosa was recruited from East Los Angeles and appointed a Vice-President of the Jewish run American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) which is led in southern California by a Jewish lady by the name of Ramona Ripston. Soon, with the guidance and funding of Jews, he became and Assemblyperson and eventually the Speaker of the State Assembly.

As Speaker of the Assembly, Villargairosa did nothing for La Raza. He is presently running under the "Education Banner" , but he did nothing to open up higher education for the many deserving Chicano/Mexicano students who are now left without a future. He was a member of UC Board of Regents yet he never took a leadership role in changing their racist and ethnocentric policies. He was merely a "puppet" of Jewish interests in the Assembly.

A case in point is his relationship with Jews Ron Unz and Bob Hertzberg. Ron Unz is the wealthy Jewish Mogul who funded the successful passage of the anti-Bilingual Initiative that outlawed Spanish/English bilingual education in California's public schools. This has been a devastating defeat for La Raza yet Antonio "Tony" Villargairosa awarded Ron Unz with an appointment to an Assembly Blue Ribbon Commission. Later, Ron Unz departed to Arizona where he was instrumental in passing a similar anti-Spanish language initiative there. La Raza considers Villagairosa's actions concerning Ron Unz pure treason. We can not trust him as mayor of Los Angeles because we know that he will not represent our interests. One of his Campaign Finance Officers is Eli Broad who, according to Fortune Magazine, is the richest man in Los Angeles county in addition to being Jewish.

Another example of Villargairosa's Jewish collusion is his selling-out of the Assembly Speakership to Bob Hertzberg. Bob Hertzburg is a Jewish Assemblyman that represents Assembly District 40. Assembly District 40 is one half of Senate District 20 that was won by Richard Alarcon during the bitter fight between La Raza and Jews in the district. The other half of Senate District 20 is Assembly District 39 which is predominantly Mexicano, and is represented by Tony Cardenas. Because of term limits, Villargairosa had to move on and instead of making sure that a Chicano/Mexicano would replace him as Speaker, he made a deal with the Jews and helped Bob Hetzberg become Speaker. This is a second act of treason for Villargairosa, and more proof that he is simply a lackey for Jewish interests.

Our increasing population and voting strength will, in the near future, collide with the interests of the Jews in Alta California, and for that matter, in the other regions of Aztlan. Our increasing ties with our brothers and sisters in Mexico will also present a challenge for the American Jewish community. The Mexican Dual Nationality Program means that we now have the same status with Mexico that American Jews have with Israel. We are now in the position to question the over eight billion dollars of our tax money that are sent to Israel each year, much of it which is used for military weaponry to strike out against the Palestinians, and soon we will be in the position to remind the American Jews of their shoddy treatment of Mexico when the nation's UN Ambassador voted to equate Zionism with Racism.

La Raza has been intimidated, over the years, from bringing the above issues into discussion. La Voz de Aztlan has been the victim of censorship on the Internet because we have dared to dialogue on these matters. Hate e-mail we have received from Jews has demonstrated to us that they can be as bigoted as some white supremacists and their treatment of the Palestinians in Israel shows us that they can be as racist.

Just because I'm Jewish doesn't mean I'm a Zionist. Just because I'm Jewish doesn't mean I spport Israel, or their torture ane oppression of the Palestenians. Just because I'm Jewish doesn't mean I don't support La Raza. I am active in opposing white racists, and worked to oppose 187 and the fucked up Ron Unz.

Please don't hate all Jews. Hate people who have fucked up beliefs. Many, but not all, Christians are fucked up; many, but not all, Catholics are fucked up; many, but not all, Athiests are fucked up. To make a blanket conclusion excludes many of us who support you.

By hating Jews or Latinos we'll only accomplish war and destruction. Let's focus on the social issues that need attention, not on racial stereotypes. The human rights of Palestinians and the human rights of the indigenous people of Mexico should be discussed by Jwes and Mexicans together.

Individual greed is a human deseasy which needs to be treated on all human beings.

I've never heard any Jewish people use the bible as an excuse for racism, but I sure have heard it a lot from white christians. I worked in a coalition against 187, and most of the white skinned people in that coalition were Jewish. Why don't you criticize the white christians who run and control much more of this country than any jewish people. We've never had a jewish president, but all of our presidents have been white male christians. There are many more christians in congress than jews, and white christians own the majority of assetts in the united states. Why target Jews, who should be your allies? Being Jewish doesn't mean supporting Israel.

This wasn't written on behalf of "La Raza". Count me out, skinhead. The piece, full of words like "Battle", "War" "Lines Drawn" reeks not of grass roots community action and solidarity but rather the key words of someone writing for CNN's latest war.

Divide and conquer. That is how the enemy works. And if the Aryan ideology permeates the pulse of Aztlan then let Aztlan die peacefully now before you shame her with your petty nationalist bullshit. There is no "Raza" behind this trash.

I call you on it. Liar.

Umm...I'm no expert on this organization, but their Web page certainly seems to be authenic. You did check their Web page, didn't you? Or at least do some sort of research before posting your self-hating comments?

Nationalism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same evil coin, and must be fought with workingclass, socialist internationalism, just as we fight fire with water. La Voz de Aztlan ("LVA") has joined a 2,000-year-old tradition of scapegoating Jews for economic problems which cannot and will not be tolerated.

LVA has made all kinds of accusations and false statements. We now must ask questions about LVA:

(1) Is LVA for capitalism or for socialism?

(2) Are the candidates LVA supports for capitalism or for socialism?

(3) Does the LVA ever support Democrats or Republicans, also known as capitalist candidates?

(4) Why did not LVA list the political positions of the candidates they oppose?

(5) What alternatives to these political positions does LVA provide?

Reading LVA's website, http://www.aztlan.net, we can learn something about this anti-Semitic group. At http://www.aztlan.net/whoweare.htm, the people producing this website are named as Hector Carreon, publisher and editor; Miroslava Flores and Ernesto Cienfuegos, staff writers; and Sergio Hernandez, political cartoonist.

Hector Carreon, at http://www.aztlan.net/cuacua12.htm, at the end of his "Cuacuahtzin Column" is described as follows:

"Hector Carreon is the founder and editor of La Voz de Aztlan and resides in Whittier, California. He was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and moved to Aztlan at the age of 5 years. Hector is a graduate in civil engineering from California State University at Long Beach where he was a founding member of the Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES). He served honorably for two years as a Vietnam-era soldier in the U.S. Army's 2nd Armored Division and is a graduate of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund's Advanced Leadership Program."

In other words, Mr. Carreon is a well-educated, middle-aged man who learned political ideas from a Democratic Party organization, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF).

In this same column, Carreon states:

"It should now be apparent to La Raza that the Democratic Party is corrupt from head to toe and that we need to do something about it. We can not depend on elected Latino representatives because in most cases they are as corrupt as the party they belong to. The time has come to empower a third political party, clean out the present crooked politicians and reform the political system in California and in the southwest in similar ways that the PAN is doing in Mexico."

Carreon must have had his head in the sand for decades if he just discovered that the Democratic Party is corrupt and does not represent the Latino people. As to PAN being an alternative, they are an admitted reactionary capitalist party who have absolutely nothing to offer the workingclass anywhere in the world. As to reform, capitalism cannot be reformed and it is not through elections that most change is made. It is through class struggle, in particular, through a labor movement, that most change is made. Elections only confirm the class struggle that has preceded them, if any. There has not been any serious labor movement in this country for 50 years, and the economic crisis of today is a direct result of the weakness of labor.

The Democratic Party politicians are capitalist politicians, regardless of ethnicity. Both Democrats and Republicans use politicians of all ethnicities and all other identities to promote the same capitalist agenda. The landlords are capitalists, regardless of ethnicity, and act in accordance with their class interests.

In the above article, LVA complains that some unknown members of the Jewish community "criticized Senator Richard Alarcon because during his campaign he publicized a very nice picture of himself and Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahoney. Never mind that various Jewish publications, supporting [Richard] Katz' campaign, had photographs of him wearing Jewish Kippahs while praying at Jewish synagogues."

With such a well-educated, middle-aged publisher and editor as Carreon, LVA must know that it was not a matter of garments but rather of the history of anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church. Jewish nationalists often use that stereotype in election campaigns, just as LVA used stereotypes in its diatribe against the Jewish community in the above article.

Then there is Israel, the best example of why all nationalism is reactionary. LVA does not mention that the Jewish workingclass of Israel is constantly going on strike against the Zionist State of Israel due to its anti-labor policies. Israel is simply a pawn of oil imperialism and the only hope for peace in the Middle East is for a secular, socialist Palestine.

Neither the Latino community nor the Jewish community is of one political ideology. There were many Latinos who voted FOR the scapegoating initiatives of the 1990s, including the anti-immigrant initiatives. There were many members of the Jewish community who voted against ALL the scapegoating initiatives of the 1990s, including the anti-immigrant initiatives.

Neither the Latino community or nor the Jewish community are of one economic class. There are Latino and Jewish landlords, both having the same class outlook. There are Latino and Jewish tenants, both having the same class outlook. There are Latino and Jewish alcohol and tobacco merchants, both having the same class outlook.

And of course, there are Jews without money. That is the Jewish community that fights for the workingclass regardless of ethnicity, and fights for socialism. It is the Jews without money who are always in the greatest danger of being the victims of this anti-Semitic filth being spewed forth by LVA and other such groups, because poor Jews, like poor Latinos, have no protection except a serious labor movement, which does not exist at present.

We all do, however have, workingclass solidarity and a party that represents the entire workingclass regardless of color, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, supports a secular, socialist Palestine and is for socialism. That party is California's Peace & Freedom Party, To join, just check "Other" on your voter registration card and write in Peace & Freedom Party. For more information, see http://www.peaceandfreedom.org

Make your time.

If Octagon's last comments were directed at me, I'd certainly appreciate input on what they could mean. Maybe I'm just slow, but they make no sense whatsoever to me as written.