Historical Foundations

The fundamental principles that led to the founding of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztl‡n are found in El Plan de Santa Barbara (EPDSB). The Manifesto of EPDSB sees self-determination for the Chicana and Chicano community as the only acceptable way for out people to gain socioeconomic justice. El Plan argues that a strong nationalist identity is a necessary step in building a program of self-determination. Self-determination, in this regard, challenges those involved in principle struggle to respect the rights of all Chicanas and Chicanos. EPDSB stresses that in organizing M.E.Ch.A., every opportunity must be taken to educate Raza. Also El Plan exhorts M.E.Chistas to preserve Chicana and Chicano culture in this culturally diverse society, while resisting European colonialism through a strategic use of education, both in the community and on campus. Thus, a Chicana and Chicano Nation is a necessity defined as an educational, socioeconomic, and empowered Chicana and Chicano community of the Southwest. The Manifesto of EPDSB warns us in part: We recognize that without a strategic use of education that places value on what we value, we will not realize our destiny. Chicanas and Chicanos recognize the central importance of institutions of higher learning to model progress, in this case to the development of our community. But, we go further: we believe that higher education must contribute to the formation of a complete man and woman who truly values life and freedom.

Proceeding the Santa Barbara conference in 1969, at Denver, Colorado was the National Chicano Youth Conference that drafted the basic premises for the Chicano and Chicana Movement in El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan (EPEDA). A synopsis of El Plan stipulates: 1) We are Chicanos and Chicanas of Aztl‡n reclaiming the land of out birth (Chicano and Chicana Nation); 2) Aztl‡n belongs to indigenous people, who are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture; 3) We are a union of free pueblos forming a bronze nation; 4) Chicano and Chicana nationalism, as the key in mobilization and organization, is the common denominator to bring consensus to the Chicano and Chicana Movement. 5) Cultural values strengthen our identity as La Familia de La Raza; and 6) EPEDA, as a basic plan of Chicano and Chicana liberation, sought the formation of an independent national political party that would represent the sentiments of the Chicano and Chicana community.

Both EPDSB and EPEDA served as the historical foundation for the establishment of a viable Chicano and Chicana Movimiento, and are therefore, fundamental to the M.E.Ch.A. philosophy.