LRU - Current Policy Directions

Vision

Our basic vision is of community. Of La Raza Unida as a caring and responsible family.
Our Policy Directions:

Our Policy Directions are our Principles applied to Politics. We believe that we need to carry on our heritage of expanding rights and opportunities. We owe most of our freedoms to those who worked before us. It is our responsibility to build a better future for following generations.

Democracy: Maximize community participation. Minimize concentrations of political, corporate, and media power. Establish and support publicly financed elections. Increase voter choice. Invest in civic education and participation.

Equal Rights: We support equal rights and fairness for all and in every area.

Peace: Promote peace and dialogue. Force is only a last resort in defense. Provide security and protection with these principles.

Family Friendly Economy: Support for people working for a living in order to support families. Eliminate below-poverty-wages. Create family friendly jobs. Family supports to encourage healthy families.

Health: Eliminate the social inequalities that create health inequalities. Provide health care for all.

Education: A vibrant, well-funded, and expanding public education system. High standards, support for staff, nurturance of children, and support parent involvement.

Early Childhood: Early experiences have high impact. Support high-quality early childhood education.

Environment: Poison-free communities. A clean, healthy, and safe environment for all. Healthy built environments that support safe and healthy communities.

Nature: Preserve our natural heritage for future generations.

Energy: Renewable energy. Energy independence from foreign oil. Look at how energy use impacts public health. Halt global warming. Energy conservation.

Openness: Open, efficient, and fair government.

Ethical Business: Support business practices that serve the common good and create common wealth.

Protections: Provide protections for children, families, consumers, retirees, and workers from unethical business practices and other threats.

Día de La Revolución - 2011

Today is Revolution Day for Mexico. La Raza Unida commemorated this by screening the documentary The Internationale last night at El Chante. Tomorrow 11/21 is the anniversary of Ricardo Flores Magón dying in Fort Leavenworth.

Look for more word on May Day 2012 and the Walk to Cure Capitalism!

Dia de La Raza 2011

10-08-11 Occupy reflection

Today was a great day of taking it to the banks. The march started off at UNM and went to Central and San Mateo. Along the way stopping at banks and even went into Wal-Mart. At one point the group took to the center of San Mateo and Central. Very exciting for the mobilization piece.

Lots of things happen that need to be processed and discussed.

Multi-party democracy is one part of all the things that need to be changed. Here are "left" parties you can register for in NM. When you get a voter registration form just fill in one of the three letter abbreviations in box 5.

La Raza Unida de Nuevo Mejico (LRU)
New Mexico Socialist Party (SNM)
New Party of New Mexico (PNM)
Peace and Freedom Party (PAF)
Socialist Labor Party (SLP)
Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
Worker's World Party (WWP)

Short Reflection on Occupy

This is a brief set of thoughts on the current political impulse.

My main question is how do we make direct action, community organizing, and electoral work build upon each other?

We know that a more open approach to politics will make things better for many people. It will not be the solution, but will move things forward. As an example, there have been Mayors who make sure that police do not attack strikers and demonstrators. There are also elected officials, Senator Sanders as an example, who believe in many things that the 99% organizers believe.

We can move beyond "either/or" and get to "all and." This means that we will have to learn to listen to each other. We have to learn to communicate differently. To reach out and check in more often.

We'll make mistakes. And it is OK because this is the time to learn to be gentler with those fighting for social justice. We tend to be very hard on each other. It is time to move beyond that.

We have the opportunity now to discuss lots of things. Who has the privilege to camp, be arrested, travel to demonstrate, etc. And how to use that as an advantage. We have the chance to have conversations about class, race, gender and more with people have not had those conversations with.

We have the opportunity now to talk beyond individual issues. We have the opportunity to discuss changes in the systems and rules. Systems change after the rules change. You don't get different people at the table as long as you need to be a millionaire to buy a ticket. We get different policies by the combination of pressure and more representative decision-makers. We have had one good discussion at Camp Coyote about long-term electoral politics. Something beyond the current "progressive" approach. We need to have many, many more of those conversations.

We have the opportunity now to take many movements and turn it into movement! Many communities have been screwed by capitalism for many years. Like many problems now that it is impacting the white and middle-class it is a "crisis."And in many real respects it is a crisis for all of us.

This is a great time to be alive and working for social justice!

10/04/11 - Left Parties

Yesterday at Camp Coyote there was a discussion of electoral politics and direct democracy. The electoral politics reviewed the reality that we currently do not have a federal level left party. We discussed needing work on that and how many electoral reforms will be necessary for that. Among the reforms necessary were same day registration, ballot access laws, and instant runoff voting.

Someone asked if there were differences in outcomes between proportional representation and "winner take all." The winner take all systems tend to have two parties, and lean more to the right in general when compared with proportional representation. Another idea presented was for those who do not participate in the primaries to register with a left political party. This will begin to build collective electoral action. Below are a list of left political parties recognized by NM.

Not all independents identify as left or right.

Independents:

Independent (IND)
Independent New Mexican Party (NMI)

Left:
La Raza Unida de Nuevo Mejico (LRU)
New Mexico Socialist Party (SNM)
New Party of New Mexico (PNM)
Peace and Freedom Party (PAF)
Socialist Labor Party (SLP)
Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
Worker's World Party (WWP)

Why I Support La Raza Unida by Federico Reade

Para ser un miebro del Partido de la Raza Unida is to announce to the United States that the needs and desires of people have to be met. That the wealth and the countries resources have to be equitably, and that all of humankind deserves to live a satisfying life free of exploitation.

Federico

Why I Support LRU by Robin Gibson

I am a registered socialist. When I registered, I thought if everyone who turned 18, who didn’t feel Democrat or Republican, registered as a different party, whichever party most closely aligned to their ideologies, we could dispatch with the two-party system, and begin to create a government that represented what new voters really wanted for their country. I acted as my best instincts told me, and I’ve never regretted it.

Now, 17 years later, my political affiliation is mostly a point of personal pride. Some states in the U.S. have had an S.W.P. candidate for president on the ballot in recent years, but not New Mexico.

Two years ago, I got a postcard from Enrique Cardiel, inviting me to a gathering for “people registered with progressive parties.” Most of them were L.R.U., and I think there may have been a couple Greens there too. I was disappointed not to meet other Socialist Workers, but Enrique and co. explained to me that they were considered socialists for the most part, and he explained to me why.

“I think being socialist means we take care of each other,” he said, and that pretty much fit with everything I’ve been trying to verbalize about my idea of government. We choose to live together in communities, and we elect a government to make sure our communities are as productive as possible. We all pay dues (taxes) to pay for agreed upon necessities, like roads, schools, police, firefighters, etc., and we make sure that everyone in our community is cared for. The L.R.U. works to ensure everyone has access to the communal amenities their taxes have paid for. The L.R.U. works to ensure everyone is represented by our elected government.

Our taxes pay for the roads we drive on, the schools our children attend, the safety regulations that control the food we eat; the safety net that surrounds each of us when something terrible and unexpected happens. I am happy to pay for that safety net, because I see people every day who might fall, and I know I am no so far from the edge. The L.R.U. party works to ensure everyone has access to that safety net, even if they aren’t corporate lobbyists or high-dollar contributors to someone special’s campaign. I love the L.R.U.’s platform of The People. The People are the ones doing the work, paying the taxes, using the services. If the people we elect to represent us aren’t doing the job, we need to replace them with People Like Us, who WILL represent us.

Each of us, teacher, nurse, letter carrier, sanitation worker, administrative assistant, administrator, is a soldier on the ground. We live and work in the state and country governed by Santa Fe and Washington, D.C. We deserve to be led by people who live like us, think like us, who REPRESENT us. That is why I support L.R.U.

Voting as Part of Community Organizing by Roberto Martinez

I became a member of La Raza Unida in 2003, after getting to know party members in Albuquerque who are also involved in other organizing efforts for social, environmental and economic justice. I am a member of the party because I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils, and want to do my part to elect good people who will represent my vision for a better world. But most importantly, I want to be part of a movement that uses voting as part of larger community organizing strategy to create justice for poor and working class communities.

I am Committed to the Party by Aurea Cardiel

I am registered and I support La Raza Unida Party, because it reflects my values and beliefs. La Raza Unida represents community and caring for one another. It also is family friendly and keeps in mind future generations as well as the present generations, which is very important to me as a single mother. I want to make sure that this world is better for my son when he is grown and raising his children.

I also grew up with in this party. I was part of La Raza Unida Youth Committee and from that experience I have learned so much. I learned of past revolutions and revolutionaries, of my culture, of current issues facing our communities, and of life skills. La Raza Unida has been a big part of my growth as a community activist/organizer.

La Raza Unida has made a huge impact on who I am today, and that is why I am committed to the party.

Welcome Home By Rusita Avila

I am from Albuquerque. I went away to school at 18 years old and gained my voice. I was extremely involved in student movements while at Brown University in Providence, RI. I developed more as a community organizer and was ready to fight all injustices every place they showed their ugly faces. I returned to Albuquerque in 1994 to find a void. I found my home with LRU.

I quickly got involved in LRU as a supporter and helped with the youth organizing. For a long time I was a “Democrat supporting LRU”. It took awhile to overcome the fear to commit to LRU as my political party.

I changed my party affiliation to LRU because of the party platform of supporting all people’s struggles and fighting against all injustices. LRU is inclusive and welcomes everyone. It’s important to me that it is family friendly, gay/lesbian/bisexual friendly, and puts at the forefront workers' rights. A living wage is the only way people can live.

I also like saying that I’m “La Raza Unida” whenever someone tries to get me sign up to vote or lobby a candidate or issue. It’s still in style!

In Lak Ech: Tú eres mi otro yo By Maria Brazil

In Lak Ech: Tú eres mi otro yo. Si te hago daño a ti, Me hago daño a mí mismo. Sí te amo y respeto, Me amo y respeto yo.

You are my other me. If I do harm to you, I do harm to myself. If I love and respect you, I love and respect myself.

The Raza Unida Party represents the potential to reach this ancient concept that was taught through action by my parents and grandparents. The platforms that are presented by the LRU show these ideas as a way to move toward a more just and equal society. Without organization and an understanding of our past and present we cannot dream a future. The reasons that the LRU began still exist. Without a way to organize ourselves we are scattered. Third party options are needed as a way to truly be able to express our desire for a better world…more voices, better outcome. That's why I am registered LRU.

Because its Time! By Aine Brazil

Because it is time for politicians to truly represent the people. It has been long enough that the public has had to choose between the better of two evils. It should not be like this. We as hard working people, deserve to vote for a party who we can actually count on to fight for us, and who we are proud to endorse. It is time for unity as working class people to come together and ask for what we need to nourish the education, heath care, economy, and environment of our community.

41st Anniversary of La Raza Unida

Today marks the 41st Anniversary of La Raza Unida Party! And commemorating this on the Bernalillo County La Raza Unida blog will be the writings by members and supporters of La Raza Unida. They have written as to why they are registered LRU or why they are supporters of LRU.

The first post will go up later tonight!

Albuquerque Youth Health Summit 12/4/10

The Albuquerque Youth Building Health Communities project held their Youth Health Summit today. Representatives of La Raza Unida, Young Women United, SWOP and other groups were there to discuss health from a youth perspective and also talk about solutions.

The group will continue to process the information and look for a project to follow through on. It was very exciting to discuss health from a social justice perspective. These youth may truly be the future!

41st and 17th Anniversaries

La Raza Unida Party will have its 41st anniversary on January 17th. That has transformed largely to el Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida. That organization is a directly descended organization of the original LRUP. The chairpersons have been from Texas, New Mexico, and California.

The Bernalillo County La Raza Unida (LRU) started on August 29, 1993 in the County's South Valley. The La Raza Unida Youth Committee was a major focus of that initial effort. The voter registration part of that effort follows under el Partido de La Raza Unida de Nuevo Mexíco. The Bernalillo County La Raza Unida (LRU) is working to build a strong voice for electoral, social, and economic justice by combining community, cultural and electoral work.

The South Valley Dia de Los Muertos Marigold Parade is one aspect of this. The voter registration aspect is another.

Register! Vote! Organize Raza Unida!

US Desires Third Party

"Given the lack of alternatives, it perhaps is no surprise that Americans' desires for a third party are as high as they've been in at least the last seven years. And while the formation of an official third party is not imminent, that desire may be manifested in voters' strong anti-incumbent sentiments this year."

While there are significant barriers to third party development put in place by corporate sponsored parties this desire cannot be denied forever. A multi-party democracy would have better voter turnout, be more representative, and would reduce much of the useless deadlock of our current system. You can register La Raza Unida by putting "LRU" in box 5 of your NM Voter Registration Form.

Feliz Dia de La Revolucion - 2010

100 years ago, Mexicanos stood up to fight tyranny and corruption! Let us hope we can live up to such high ideals in our own ways! Viva La Revolución!

Register! Vote! Organize Raza Unida!

Bernalillo County La Raza Unida FB Page

Bernalillo County La Raza Unida FB Page

Bernalillo County La Raza Unida

Now on Facebook!