EL PLAN ESPIRITUAL DE AZTLAN
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.
Por La Raza todo. 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
1. UNITY in the thinking of our people concerning
the barrios, the pueblo, the campo, the land, the poor, the
middle class, the professional-all committed to the
liberation of La Raza.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. POLITICAL LIBERATION can only come through indepen-dent
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
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Self-Defense against the occupying forces of the
oppressors at every school, every available man, woman, and
child.
4. Community nationalization and organization of all
Chicanos: El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán.
5. 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.
6. 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!
