Is Mexico reconquering Aztlan?
Aztlan/Mexico: "Forum on Binational Thought" to be held in Mexico City
by
Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, Alta California - April 8, 2004 - (ACN) The "Fundacion Solidaridad Mexicano Americana (FSMA)" will be sponsoring its "First Forum on Binational Thought" at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Mexico City on April 28th - 29th, 2004. The FSMA has national headquarters in both Mexico City and Washington D.C. and is comprised of high level Mexican government officials and the leadership of national Mexican-American organizations such as the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the American GI Forum (AGIF) and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC).
The FSMA counts on the full support of the Mexican Senate, the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Mexican Department of State), the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (Mexican Department of Education) as well as that of seven major corporations in Mexico that includes Grupo Televisa, Telefonos de Mexico, Grupo Bimbo, Conservas La Costeña, Gruma, Grupo Modelo, and Grupo Jumex. The organization was established in 1994 and is presently headed by one of its founders Graciela Orozco, an International Relations expert from the UNAM. Executive Director and CEO of FSMA Graciela Orozco has extensive experience in directing programs focused on Mexican-Americans on behalf of the Mexican presidency as well as on behalf of Mexico's Departments of State and of Education.
The "First Forum on Binational Thought" has great contemporary significance for the US/Mexico relationship. It come at a time when a growing number of Americans are becoming increasingly "paranoiac" about what some xenophobes are calling the "reconquest of the southwest" by Mexico. It comes at a time when these same American xenophobes are calling for the construction of higher and stronger "walls" along the US/Mexico border and for sending the US Armed Forces to take the place of the US Border Patrol.
The "First Forum on Binational Thought" and its agenda is particularly relevant at a time when huge ethnic demographic changes in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have compelled politicians as well as professors at US colleges and universities to write and publish a series of hysterical books and papers on the "dangers of the Mexican invasion". One of these books is "Mexifornia" by Professor Davis Hanson in which he predicts the collapse of the Golden State because of the "uncontrolled immigration by Mexicans". Another is a recent treatise by Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington in which he writes that "high levels of Mexican immigration threaten to disrupt the political and cultural integrity of the United States," and that, "the United States faces the loss of its 'core Anglo-Protestant culture' and may soon be divided into 'two peoples with two cultures (Anglo and Mexicans) and two languages (English and Spanish).'" And then we have the "politician has-been", Pat Buchanan, author of "The Death of the West", who is going on national television and radio warning Americans that "we are going to lose the southwest if we don't stop the Mexicans".
The "Fundacion Solidaridad Mexicano Americana (FSMA)" works towards four major goals. They are: 1) To promote knowledge and understanding between Mexicans and the communities of Mexican origin in the United States, 2) To elevate the image of Mexico in the United States and the image of Mexican-Americans in Mexico, 3) To promote commerce between the two groups and collaborate in areas of mutual interest in order to further the development of both communities and 4) To maintain and disseminate the values of "la mexicanidad ".
The agenda of the "First Forum on Binational Thought" adheres closely to the above four goals. The theme of the forum is "Los mexicanos de aquí y de alla: perspectivas comunes” (The Mexicans here and there: common perspectives) and will include seminars on various issues each moderated by a Federal Mexican Senator. The keynote speech will be delivered by the President of the Mexican Senate Enrique Jackson.
From Aztlan, Henry Cisneros will deliver the speech "Future of the relationship between Mexican and Mexican-Americans". Cisneros was Bill Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and is presently a John Kerry campaign aide within the Mexican-American community.
Some of the more significant seminars within the general conference includes "Latino voices on migration reform proposals in the United States" moderated by Senator Silvia Hernández. Participants in this seminar are Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union, AFL/CIO, Baldemar Velasquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), and Antonio González of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.
Another seminar is titled "Conditions for a migration agreement" that will be moderated by Senator Raymundo Cardenas. Participants in this seminar are Jorge Bustamante of Notre Dame University, Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum and Rafael Fernandez de Castro of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
A seminar "Political Rights for Mexicans in the United States" will be moderated by Senator Jorge Zermeño. Participants in this seminar includes Diego Valades of the Institute of Legal Research at the UNAM, Raul Ross Pineda of the Coalition for Political Rights of Mexicans Abroad and Jose Woldenberg of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
Another significant seminar will be on "Cultural identity: here and there" that will be moderated by Senator Gloria Lavara. Participants are Luis Leal of the University of California at Santa Bárbara and writer Elena Poniatowska.
Senator Miguel Sadot Sanchez will moderate "Human and Labor Rights for Mexicans in the United States". Participants includes Katherine Culliton of the Mexican-American Legal and Educational Defense Fund (MALDEF) and Patricia Kurczyn of the Institute of Legal Research at the UNAM.
"Migration and its social, cultural and economic effects" will be moderated by Senator Hector Osuna Jaime and includes one of the founders of La Raza Unida Party in Texas Jose Angel Gutierrez as well as former Mexican Ambassador in the US Jesús Silva-Herzog.
Another former Mexican Ambassador in the US will participate in the seminar "Is there a common destiny?" He is Jesús Reyes Heroles. Ambassador Heroles will be joined by Arturo Madrid of the University of the Trinity in Texas. The seminar will be moderated by Senator Genaro Borrego.
Is there a common destiny? Is there a common destiny for Aztlan and Mexico? Will Mexico recover its lost territories? There is a Mexican-American activist that use to be a radio talk host that would broadcast in English, "Wake up and smell the refried beans!" and "We are reconquering Aztlan without firing a shot, house by house, block by block!" Y que?
