MujerArtes’ Celebrando el Amor con Arte (see back page) February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 San Antonio, Tejas
La Voz de Esperanza February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez Design: Elizandro Carrington Contributors Tarcisio Beal [ABC Noticias], Richard Eskow [Common Dreams], Julio Guerrero, Victor Hugo poem submitted by Antonio Cabral, Sheri Linden [The Hollywood Reporter], Don Mathis, Nic Yeager [Texas Observer] La Voz Mail Collective ...is sheltering at home due to COVID-19 but will return when it is safe. Extra funds are being raised to pay for the folding of La Voz. Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez Esperanza Staff Angel Cantú, Sherry Campos, Elizandro Carrington, Kayla Miranda, René Saenz, Imane Saliba, Susana Segura, Rosa Vega Conjunto de Nepantleras —Esperanza Board of Directors— Richard Aguilar, Norma Cantú, Brent Floyd, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Jan Olsen, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens • We advocate for a wide variety of social, economic & environmental justice issues. • Opinions expressed in La Voz are not necessarily those of the Esperanza Center. La Voz de Esperanza is a publication of Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org Inquiries/Articles can be sent to: [email protected] Articles due by the 8th of each month Policy Statements * We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length. * All letters in response to Esperanza activities or articles in La Voz will be considered for publication. Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. As one year ends and another begins, we all deal with different types of transitions. The December 2022 freeze killed off many of my plants: my beautiful cactus patches including the tall ones lining my driveway, my hoja santa with nice full leaves surrounding my Chinese tallow tree, my tall rose bush, and my remaining agave and maguey plants—all were devasted—even though I diligently tied large bags around them to protect them from the cold. As a baby boomer, I find myself caring for my 96-year-old mother knowing that she is slowly coming to realize that she does not want to stick around much longer. A painful realization for me, no doubt for her. Sometimes, a transition can be the result of a natural evolution into a more peaceful and happy state in life. Such is the transition that I wish for Amelia Valdez who recently retired as a staffmember of the Esperanza having joined us in 2015. Amelia, a graduate of the University of Michigan, was raised in and continues to live in the Westside of San Antonio. A great asset, with her intimate knowledge of the Westside, she elevated Esperanza’s use of Buena gente volunteers to a new level with many elders participating in and volunteering at Esperanza events. Amelia also took on the role of agent for Las Tesoros: Rita Vidaurri, Perla Tapatia (Janet Cortez), Beatriz Llamas and Blanca Rodríguez setting up their “gigs” at Esperanza events, senior homes, and in schools and cultural centers as far away as Denver, Colorado. Amelia also came to care for them as if they were her own familia, being there for them when they needed her. Inevitably, Amelia, along with the rest of us suffered the passing of two of her dear friends from Las Tesoros, Perla and Rita. Amelia will now focus on her family, her beloved dogs and relax outside her home facing Cassiano Park. She may even start bike riding again! With much love, we wish you the best, Amelia! Rest, travel and relax! ¡Muy merecido! Well deserved! —Gloria A. Ramirez, editor Amelia with her sisters at the Paseo por el Westside. Amelia at Día de los muertos event. Amelia with two of the Tesoros: Beatriz Llamas and Blanquita Rodríguez. VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/ spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come. ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it to lavoz@ esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list, for whatever reason, please let us know. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The subscription rate is $35 per year ($100 for institutions). The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 2
Hace 157 años, Víctor Hugo terminó su obra magna, “Los miserables” .Victor Hugo falleció en París el 22 de Mayo de 1885 a la edad de 83 años, cuando todavía se encontraba pleno en sus facultades. Sus opiniones, a la vez morales y políticas, y su obra excepcional, le convirtieron en un personaje emblemático al que la Tercera República honró con un funeral de Estado, celebrado el 1 de junio y al que asistieron más de dos millones de personas, y con la inhumación de sus restos en el Panteón de París. Este poema que no cansa al leerse y releerse millones de veces lo escribió para siempre. Compas, hoy, 23 de diciembre 2022, quiero compartirlo con ustedes. Si todas estas cosas llegaran a pasarles a cada uno de ustedes no tengo más nada que desearles, amig@s y companer@s, que aun siguen formando un mundo mejor, hombro a hombro con Los Miserables de este mundo de hoy: Feliz Fin 2022 y Muchos Triunfos en 2023 Les envio un abrazo fraternal. Adelante! La Lucha Sigue! y Sigue! –Antonio Cabral “TE DESEO” Te deseo primero que ames, y que amando, también seas amado. Y que, de no ser así, seas breve en olvidar y que después de olvidar, no guardes rencores. Deseo, pues, que no sea así, pero que si es, sepas ser sin desesperar. Te deseo también que tengas amigos, y que, incluso malos e inconsecuentes sean valientes y fieles, y que por lo menos haya uno en quien confiar sin dudar. Y porque la vida es así, te deseo también que tengas enemigos. Ni muchos ni pocos, en la medida exacta, para que, algunas veces, te cuestiones tus propias certezas. Y que entre ellos, haya por lo menos uno que sea justo, para que no te sientas demasiado seguro. Te deseo además que seas útil, más no insustituible. Y que en los momentos malos, cuando no quede más nada, esa utilidad sea suficiente para mantenerte en pie. Igualmente, te deseo que seas tolerante, no con los que se equivocan poco, porque eso es fácil, sino con los que se equivocan mucho e irremediable mente, y que haciendo buen uso de esa tolerancia, sirvas de ejemplo a otros. Te deseo que siendo joven no madures demasiado de prisa, y que ya maduro, no insistas en rejuvenecer, y que siendo viejo no te dediques al desespero. Porque cada edad tiene su placer y su dolor y es necesario dejar que fluyan entre nosotros. Te deseo de paso que seas triste. No todo el año, sino apenas un día. Pero que en ese día descubras que la risa diaria es buena, que la risa habitual es sosa y la risa constante es malsana. Te deseo que descubras, con urgencia máxima, por encima y a pesar de todo, que existen, y que te rodean, seres oprimidos, tratados con injusticia y personas infelices. Te deseo que acaricies un perro, alimentes a un pájaro y oigas a un jilguero erguir triunfante su canto matinal, porque de esta manera, sentirás bien por nada. Deseo también que plantes una semilla, por más minúscula que sea, y la acompañes en su crecimiento, para que descubras de cuantas vidas está hecho un árbol. Te deseo, además, que tengas dinero, porque es necesario ser práctico, Y que por lo menos una vez por año pongas algo de ese dinero frente a ti y digas: “Esto es mío”. sólo para que quede claro quién es el dueño de quién. Te deseo también que ninguno de tus afectos muera, pero que si muere alguno, puedas llorar sin lamentarte y sufrir sin sentirte culpable. —Victor Hugo LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • “Cosette Sweeping,” illustration from Victor Hugo, Les 3 Misérable (1862).
EDITOR’S NOTE FROM LA VOZ: The following poem was offered as a closing to the year 2022 and to new beginnings and triumphs for the year 2023 by Antonio Cabral. Antonio sent in the Spanish version, Te Deseo by French writer, Victor Hugo, considered one of the greatest French writers of all time with works like Les Misérables and the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. He was honored with interment in the Pantheón de Paris. We include here an English translation for Voz readers with Antonio’s wishes for the New Year that we continue making this a better world working shoulder to shoulder with Los Miserables of this world, today. I Wish You A Poem by Victor Hugo, translated from Spanish First of all, I wish you love, and that by loving you may also be loved. But if it’s not like that, be brief in forgetting And after you’ve forgotten, don’t keep anything. I wish that wouldn’t happen, but if it does and you forget, you could be a person without desperation. I also wish you may have a lot of friends, And even if they are bad and inconsequent, They should be brave and true And, at least one of them, should be completely reliable. But because life is the way it is, I also wish you may have enemies. Not many or too little, just in the right number So that you will have to question your own certainties and truths as well. And may there be among them at least one who is just and fair, So that you can never feel too secure in your ideas. I wish you may be useful but not irreplaceable And in your bad moments, When you have nothing else, That sense of usefulness will keep you on your feet. So equally, I wish you to be tolerant, Not with those that make little mistakes, because that is easy, but with those that make a lot of mistakes and can’t help it. And make good use of this tolerance to set an example to others. I wish that, being young, you don’t mature too quickly And once you’re mature, don’t insist in getting younger. And when you’re old, don’t feel despaired Because each age has its pains and pleasures And we need them both in our lives. By the way, I wish you to be sad at least one day So on that day you may discover That to laugh everyday is good, To laugh often is boring And to laugh constantly is an illness. I wish that you may discover With maximum urgency That, above and in spite of everything, There are people around you who are depressed, Unhappy and unjustly treated. I wish you to caress a dog, To feed a bird and to listen to its chirp as well As it sings triumphantly early in the morning. Because this way you will feel good for no reason. And then I wish you may sow a seed Even if it is really small. And may you accompany it in its growth. So that you will discover how many lives a tree is made of. I wish as well that you may have money, because we need to be practical. And that, at least once a year, You put some of this money in front of you and say “This is mine”. So it is very clear who owns who. Also, I wish none of your loved ones may die, But if some of them do, I wish you may cry without regret and without feeling guilty for the things you never said or the things you never did. Finally, I wish for you that being a man, you may have a good woman and being a woman, you may have a good man. Tomorrow and the day after. If all these things would happen to you, Then I wish for you nothing else. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 4 A drawing by Victor Hugo.
2022’s News of San Antonio by Don Mathis This review of the year is unlike others you may see. This abecedarium gives the news from A to Z. Alamo archaeology may be news of the decade if they find the line in the sand Col. Travis made. Bravo is censured after his City Council outburst but the antics from District 10 were even worse. Councilman Perry was issued a warrant after he left the scene of a hit-and-run accident. Deadly explosion rocked South Presa Street in an underground home with 4,000 square feet. Earthquakes in San Antonio are seldom seen but November’s shake closed the Robert B. Green. Free Tuition opens opportunities for vocations with AlamoPROMISE at many campus locations. Governor’s Race was as explosive as a powder keg. But Beto lost, Governor’s Mansion stays with Greg. Hispanic Elvis has died, but you can still view his image on the wall on San Pedro Avenue. Immigration is a national issue but a local one too. Congressman Tony Gonzales wants to keep Title 42. Jefferson High School feared a gunman was around and so the campus launched a premature lockdown. Killer on the loose was the news on social media but a police spokesman squelched that hysteria. Layoffs at USAA because of ‘shifts in the marketplace.’ Robust consumer spending cannot keep pace. Migrants seeking asylum face a cold hard winter. 1,800 pass daily through the Migrant Resource Center. Nelson Wolff ends his career at age 82. He served the State, the City, and Bexar County, too. O’Rourke has lost three races since 2018, but don’t expect him to disappear from the scene. Popovich is now the winningest coach in the NBA. And he’s done it with aplomb, a sense of fair play. Queens just want to celebrate their Christmas cheer but armed protesters object to their notion of queer. Roadrunners are proud to call San Antonio home. They won another championship in the Alamodome. San Pedro Creek Culture Park completes Phase One. That leaves Phase Two, Three, and Four to be done. Tractor trailer becomes a tomb in a migrant tragedy as 53 died in a crime against humanity. Uvalde’s mass shooter caused 21 people to die – while 376 law enforcement officers were standing by. VIPs get a peek at the new Alamo exhibit hall. It opens next year when artifacts are installed. Waters in South Texas rivers are drying out. Is Global Warming the blame for the drought? X-Cop Brennand was fired from the police after he fired on a teen eating a burger with cheese. Yanaguana Garden was the best playground in 2022. It has swings and things that kids like to do. Zoo’s oldest elephant, Lucky, has passed away. She entertained millions back in her day. That was 2022’s news in Alamo City. Stay tuned for the headlines of 2023. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 5 Let’s not forget Uvalde nor the 53 migrants who died in San Antonio in a tractor trailer tomb. Credit: Al Rendon Photos
by Richard Eskow, www.commondreams.org On this, the national holiday named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ajamu Baraka tweeted: The U.S. should drop its’ commemoration of Dr. King’s birthday because there is no relationship between (the) Dr. King the Black freedom movement created (and the) violent, warmongering U.S. “The King birthday is a colonialist expropriation that should be rejected,” Baraka added. That is a discussion and a decision for Black people, not me, but I will say this: It’s hard to deny that the forces Dr. King condemned are trying to colonize his legacy and exploit for their own selfish ends. But try as they may, they must never succeed. His memory is a country of the mind that must always remain free. Over a decade ago, when there were fewer Left voices on the internet, I used my perch at the Huffington Post to honor Dr. King’s truly radical voice in my own small way. The celebrities I mentioned are forgotten and the economic numbers have shifted, but Dr. King’s words ring even truer now than they did in 2011. Wiser voices than mine, with more visibility and more right to the King legacy, are available to us now. (It did occur to me in 2018 that Dr. King would have knelt with Colin Kaepernick.) I would commend the following quote to those political opportunists who accuse leftists of being race-blind in order to deny the economic strangulation of the working class: “The unemployed, poverty-stricken white man must be made to realize that he is in the very same boat with the Negro. Together, they could exert massive pressure on the government to get jobs for all. Together they could form a grand alliance. Together, they could merge all people for the good of all.” That form of organizing was once known as ‘class struggle.’ Then there’s this: “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.” Wealth inequality soared after bank criminals crashed the economy in 2008, but the grotesquely unequal United States of 2011 looks like a socialist paradise compared to today’s world of accelerated class theft. And this: “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” Those triplets have grown up to Horsemen of the Apocalypse. “Machines and computers” manipulate our society, our politics, and our economy to further enrich the billionaire class. Drones and missiles continue to endanger our planet. The “property rights” of the few – from rental properties to pharmaceutical patents – kill thousands of people daily. Dr. King also said, “Congress appropriates military funds with alacrity and generosity. It appropriates poverty funds with miserliness and grudging reluctance.” Never were those words truer. When members of both party add tens of billions to the Pentagon’s already-bloated budget request, words like “alacrity” and “generosity” are genteel descriptions. They throw lavish gifts at the feet of the generals like courtiers pursuing the monarch’s favor. It’s like watching a gang boss reward an underling with a sack of cash for a murder well done. “Here, get yerself somethin’ nice ...” “Of all the forms of inequality,” Dr. King said in 1966, “injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” What would he say of today’s corporate-driven healthcare, where hedge funds buy up medical practices, private insurers profit from public illness, pandemic victims go untreated, and Wall Street erodes Medicare with a program that is an “Advantage” only to investors? A few more quotes to ponder before the holiday comes to a close: “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.” “[W]e are saying that something is wrong … with capitalism…. There must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.” “I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic… “ “In a sense, you could say we’re involved in the class struggle.” The government, along with most of the nation, claims to honor his memory while defiling his dreams. They have turned a living soul into an idol. It may be shaped like a human being, but it makes a sound like desert wind blowing through the hollow body of a golden calf. BIO: Richard (RJ) Eskow is a freelance writer. Much of his work can be found on eskow.substack.com. His weekly program, The Zero Hour, can be found on cable television, radio, Spotify, and podcast media. He is a senior advisor with Social Security Works. Class Struggle and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The US claims to honor his memory, even as it defiles his dreams. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 6 Civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., surrounded by crowds carrying signs during a 1963 march for economic and voting rights.Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images
‘The Territory’: Film Review | Sundance 2022 by Sheri Linden, Reprinted from The Hollywood Reporter Chronicling the struggle of Indigenous people in Brazil to protect their ancestral land, Alex Pritz’s debut documentary was made with the production involvement of the Uru-eu-wau-wau community. Focusing on what the filmmakers call “an island of rainforest surrounded by farms,” The Territory is a striking first feature for cinematographer Alex Pritz, as well as a notable collaborative work. Its producers include Darren Aronofsky, and its subjects, the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people of Brazil, helped make the film. The documentary’s title refers to a 7,000-square-mile region in the Brazilian state of Rondônia, sovereign land of the Urueu-wau-wau and other Indigenous groups. With a profound connection to the land, animals and rivers, they’ve lived there for generations, but it wasn’t until 1981 that their first contact with the outside world occurred. They’ve been on the defensive ever since, as agribusiness, farming, logging and ranching interests encroach upon their home. Numbering fewer than 200 and led by a forwardthinking young man, the Uru-eu-wau-wau became partners in Pritz’s filmmaking process, shooting portions of the doc, an approach that became a necessity in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic. Pritz chronicled the group and its struggles against incursions over a three-year period beginning in 2018, the year that Jair Bolsonaro was elected president and local farmers formed an organization with aims of developing land in the protected region. Early in the film we see Bitaté, an intelligent, charismatic teenager who would be named Uru-eu-wau-wau leader before he turned 20, watching a Bolsonaro campaign speech on his phone. “There won’t be one more inch of Indigenous reserve,” the politician proclaims. (That an Israeli flag is prominently displayed on the stage as he speechifies can’t help but bring to mind the Israeli settlements that have proliferated in violation of international law.) Bitaté turns to his grandfather and asks, “Do you ever worry about our people disappearing?” Another key figure in the film is Neidinha Bandeira, an environmental activist and not just a mentor to Bitaté but a “second mother.” Well into middle age, she’s tireless in her commitment to the Uru-eu-wau-wau, certain that saving them is the way to save the Amazon. Bitaté, who sees the Amazon as the heart of the planet in terms of climate health, also looks up to Ari, who leads the Uru-eu-wau-wau surveillance team documenting land grabs and clear-cutting to an increasingly indifferent government. The film’s sympathies are clear, and it would be compelling with just these figures as its focus. But its strength lies in the way it offers intimate access to people on several clashing sides of the situation, making for a complex, layered and thoughtful examination. Pritz spends time with Sérgio, a 49-year-old farmer who has worked other people’s land his whole life. Determined to realize his dream of owning his own farm, he forms the Association of Rural Producers of Rio Bonito, with visions of a community of a thousand or more families. Attuned to the pain of hardworking, underpaid people like himself, he commits to following the letter of the law so that his plans can proceed. But settler Martins can’t wait for the rulefollowing association to cross its T’s and dot its I’s. He shares Sérgio’s belief that the Uru-eu-wau-wau “don’t create anything” and have too much land, but he’s moving ahead with his chainsaw and his land-clearing fires. “Every road in Brazil was created like this,” he says, feeling encouraged by the government and invoking a biblical imperative to take land that he believes is his. The Territory poses important questions about progress — specifically, the pioneer spirit that has often gone hand-in-hand with genocide and the destruction of tribal lands in the Americas. “That felt like the end of the world,” a settler says after felling a tall tree. He means it as a boast. For the Uru-eu-wau-wau, endangered and outnumbered within their territory, drone cameras and other recording technology prove crucial in their unflagging efforts to prove their case to the government and protect themselves from development. Footage from one of Neidinha’s drones reveals the lines of demarcation between the green forest and a man-made desert. Bitaté leads his people into the world of connectivity, aware that the devices also help to preserve their culture and language through documentation. Macro shots of gorgeous creepy-crawlies provide a vivid sense of the diversity of the forest, enhanced throughout by an immersive sound design, rich with the songs of birds and insects. Deforestation and invasions in the Indigenous territory are on the rise, closing titles say. But with the Uru-eu-wau-wau setting up their own news media team to get their message to the world (and Pritz planning to continue working with them), The Territory closes with a sense of hope, hard-won and fragile though it may be. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 7
by Tarcisio Beal Sadly enough, the assault on the Brazilian Congress and White House this past January 8 was a carbon copy of the terrorist attack on the U. S. Capitol. Both were tied to the refusal to accept an electoral defeat and were preceded and followed by an avalanche of lies, distortions, and false accusations by the parties in power, propagators of undemocratic, authoritarian, and Nazi-Fascist ideologies against the defenders of democracy, that is, of the will of the majority of the people. The pro-Bolsonaro crowd, claiming the election of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva had been stolen, stormed the center of the government in Brasília, causing serious damage to the offices and attacking the Security police. In the end, 170 rioters were arrested; 52 of them had been transported to Brasilia by 7 seven different traveling companies, three from faraway States of Tocantins and Paraná. The invaders’ move was most probably facilitated by one of the Security guards; they broke and piled dozens of chair in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the Presidential Palace. In contrast with Trump’s presence in the White House and even his willingness to join the attacking crowd of January 6, Brazil’s newly-elected President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was 500 miles away meeting with poor and needed citizens. Elected in 2019, Bolsonaro’s archconservative government copied the tactics of the former military dictatorhip (1962-1998), with the blessings of Trump, repeating the brutal tactics of the military government of decades earlier and backed up by a conservative, right-wing crowd and by the major newspapers of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. While Bolsonaro received strong support from most of the evangelical churches, his critics and opponents were called subversives, Marxists, and Socialists, just like what the “Trumpists” have been doing in the US. During the last campaign, pro-Bolsonaro newspapers even published the false news that the supporters of Lula da Silva were attacking Catholic churches and institutions. By contrast, while in the US the Catholic Bishops Conference, led by conservatives and even by critics of Pope Francis, stayed silent or even supported “Trumpist” positions and lies, in Brazil the National Conference of Bishops, following the example of Cardinal Arns and of Dom Hélder Câmara, were constant critics of Bolsonaro’s autocracy and stood firmly on the side of the poor and the persecuted. Already before the election, Bolsonaro had made plans to absolutely refuse to accept defeat. In conversations with dozens of foreign Ambassadors, he manifested his distrust for the personnel that supervised the electoral system, to the point of stating that if he was not reelected by 60% of the vote, then something was wrong with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). Not surprisingly, after the terrorist attack against the Brazilian Congress and the presidential Palace, the police found the notes of a decree being prepared by Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice Anderson Torres with instructions to install tight security within the Supreme Court in order to insure that the results of the 2022 election could be changed by decree. Actually, on January 2, in order to make sure that Bolsonaro would end up reelected, Torres was made Public Safety Secretary by Ibaneis Rocha, the Governor of the Federal District. Since Bolsonaro’s disgraceful presidency was connected with Trump’s and the GOP control of the United States by the ideology of persons like Steve Bannon, the similarities kept multiplying. Just like President Donald J. Trump was elected after a campaign fueled by billionaires and by voters who bought the lies and distortions thrown against his opponents, so was Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign for a second term. He was supported by the big media and big money in his constant distortion of the truth and of the facts about his opponent Lula da Silva, a former President who had greatly improved the socio-economic conditions of Brazil and its stand in the world. Lula’s two terms as President lifted tens of millions of Brazilians out of poverty, receiving strong support from the Brazilian episcopate and clergy. As we know, the Amazon forest, by far the largest of the planet, plays a central role in the conditions of the world’s climate. In the last decades, and especially during Bolsonaro’s presidency, deforestation greatly increased in that part of Northern Brazil despite heavy criticism from Brazil’s bishops and from European Heads of State, but none from American top officials. I have personally seen what was already going on in the 1980s and 1990s and how it worsened the conditions of the poor and homeless who struggled to acquire a place to live in the vastness of public, unoccupied lands. Their efforts were impeded mostly by the big land corporations which carried out deforestation without government opposition. Among these corporations were that of the American billionaire Daniel Ludwig, Coca-Cola, the Sharp Industries, and others. By the last decade of the 20th century, LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 8 How “Trumpism” and Big Money Poisoned Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro discusses economic cooperation between Brazil and the U.S.. -Photo: Alan Santos/PR
Volkswagen Industries alone had already cut down 75 million trees in an indigenous area of 23,000 acres; by the beginning of the 21st century, the Amazon had lost 275 million trees. These and other big landowners, like Liquid Gas, have continued to gobble up the public lands, with the inaction of the state authorities. However, Sister Helena stood in their way. Let me explain: It is well-known that from the early 1960s to the middle 1990s, Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship that received strong support from the CIA and that targeted the country’s new Church born out of Vatican II. Between 1968 and 1998, I traveled to Brazil to visit my family and to see in loco the working and the fruits of Vatican II and liberation theology, especially in the Amazon area and in São Paulo, the world’s largest metropolis. Here the head of the Catholic Church was Cardinal Paulo E. Arns, my former mentor and professor of theology. During the 1970s and 1980s, Arns became the major target of the military dictatorship because of his staunch defense of the poor and persecuted. On December 13, 1987, I had the pleasure of interviewing São Paulo’s Cardinal Paulo E. Arns in his own residence, and arranged for future meetings with my university students. Then in 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1994, I took some 45 students, including a couple of priests, in a tour of the Amazon to see in loco the building of the CEBs (Comunidades Eclesiais de Base – Base Ecclesial Communities) in the Amazon, then to São Paulo and Iguassú Falls. The CEBs, fruits of Vatican II and of Liberation Theology, emphasize the preferential option for the poor. In Manaus, capital of the State of Amazon, we were led on a tour of the whole area by Helena Augusta Wallcott, a Sister of the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. She was creating CEBs and housing for more than 250,000 of the poor and homeless of Central Amazon. One day we were returning from one of the new communities and suddenly were called to witness how one big landowner was expelling the tenants from the land that had been ceded by the State to Sister Helena’s organization and burning everythin down. As we approached the place, I went over to one of the pistoleiros (hired gunmen) carrying out the destruction and said: “Man, how can you do such a thing?” – His answer: “Sorry, man! I am doing nothing more than carrying orders from above!” No susrprise, then, that Sister Helena herself was a major target of the pistoleiros who worked for the big land corporations. A month earlier she was the target of a pistleiro who, fortunately, missed his target, but still killed one of Sister Helena’s assistants standing next to her. Human rights and the socio-economic conditions of the mjority of Brazilians deteriorated during Bolsonaro’s right -wing presidency. In a document of 72 pages, the ONG Human Rights Organization outlines his undemocratic and authoritarian government that worsened the conditions of human rights in Brazil by neglecting the increasing lack of food for a large portion of the population; by contributing to the destruction of the environment, especially through the support of deforestation in the Amazon and the destruction of indigenous villages by the large corporations, especially in the region of Pará and Maranhão; by favoring greater restrictions on sexual, anti-abortion, and anti-LGBTQ rights; by doing nothing to lessen the inequality between the minority of the rich and the large majority of the poor; and by facilitating a surge of racism in a country where the larger portion of the population is of mixed blood. As we can see, the similarities between “Trumpism” and “Bolsonarism” are multiple and have been greatly highlighted by the terrorist assaults on Capitol Hill and on the Brazilian Congress and Supreme Court. There is plenty of evidence that Trump viewed Bolsonaro as one of his kind and supported him and his government, including the criminal deforestation of the Amazon by the big land corporations. Indigenous lands and their people have been destroyed along with hundreds of millions of trees that play a central role in the regulation of the world’s climate. Now, with Bolsonaro, the “Tropical Trump,” out of the country (imitating Trump, he refused to attend Lula’s inauguration) living in the Florida of Governor Ron de Santis, the prospects for the shaping of a truly democratic Brazil are much stronger. President Joe Biden, democrat Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer and other prominent democrats, plus Frances’ Emmanuel Macron and Heads of State across the world have hailed the election of Brazil’s Lula da Silva and pledged their support. In the United States, however, the big question that remains is: “How long will “Trumpism” continue to dominate and ruin the Republican party and the nation?” Fortunately, there are signs that even the Republican Party might come to its senses. BIO: Tarcisio Beal is professor Emeritus of History at the University of the Incarnate Word. [Note: Sources used for this article can be obtained from lavoz@ esperanzacenter.org] LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 9 Brazil’s 2022 Presidential winner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (left) campaigned in Porto Alegre with his wife Janja Lula da Silva (right) and Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckim (middle). (Photo: Thayse Ribeiro, Flickr, Mídia NINJA, CC BY NC 2.0) Sister Helena Augusta Walcott, 87 years old, a nun who became known in Manaus for her social struggle and leader of land occupations, for the right to housing, occupying illegal areas of the Union, passed away June 13, 2022.
by Julio Guerrero, Democracy Chronicles A number of years back my good friend, Mario Z. Álvarez and I were aimlessly driving around in North Hollywood, Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, no less. Mario and I had met in the Pacific Northwest years before while we were working on Chicano radio news, him in Portland, and I, in Seattle and we were reunited this time around to format the news system for KUFW, an FM station to serve the farm worker communities in the San Joaquin Valley at the request of Cesar Chavez. But this symbolic night we had no plans, no place to stay, no friends in the area and it was already past ten. After we ran out of ideas of how to end the year we decided to stop in a bar and share a drink instead of driving around in the drizzling night so we picked a random bar and went inside shaking off the rain from our hair. It was a nice bar-dive with a good crowd in seasonal festive mood embellished in chorus songs aided by a piano man. Since we didn’t know anybody we went straight to the bar and took the two available stools towards the end. Walking into a neighborhood bar out of the blue is always a gamble so we didn’t really know what to expect but soon enough it felt like a nice comfortable place. The bartender was very prompt to take our order with a friendly smile so as we asked for a couple of beers they were promptly served along with a couple of Christmas hats everybody in the bar was wearing. Noticing we were not local or part of the regular crowd, the friendly man behind the bar made small conversation with us and asked what we did so we told him and, as the night rolled on, we found out later the crowd at the end of the bar were saying Mario and I were Cesar Chavez’s bodyguards. All of this made Mario and I feel right at home; out of the rain, in a warm place, being part of the chisme, with Raza singing rancheras accompanied by piano so we said Salud to one another wearing the silly pointy hats. The piano man was an older Mexican fellow wearing a nice suit, a stylish haircut, a pencil thin mustache and was doing a great job keeping everybody engaged and motivated. He was actually a professional performer that went by the name of Don Juan although they kept calling him “Don”, as in a gringo name. At one point Don Juan asked if there were any requests so I shot back “how about American Pie”. It could have been the cerveza, the holiday mood or the fact that I felt at home what made me think I had the license to change the ambiente from José Alfredo Jimenez, Cuco Sánchez and Los Panchos to Don McLean but it definitely didn’t sit well in this Chicano L.A. bar. There was an immediate reaction of protest especially from the most animated members of the crowd but I only thought American Pie would be a nice group tune to sing along to. Luckily Don Juan, an expert at dealing with loud crowds mediated the situation and proceeded to play the well-known epic song and after the first chords the entire bar was singing along “Bye, bye Miss American Pie…” Today, this particular song has a personal ring to me because on October 21st I lost a dear friend and mentor whom I credit for introducing me to the appreciation of media. I met Hipolito “Polo” Alvarez in the early sixties in Monterrey when we both followed the US Top 40 charts. Those were the years of preparatory school when we immersed ourselves in the rhythm and sounds of the great pioneers of rock such as Bill Haley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard while at the same time joined students marching to the U.S. Consulate chanting ¡Yankis, no!, ¡Gringas, Si!!! Personally, Polo was a charismatic human being, with a charming personality and a great sense of humor. As a friend he graced me with his understanding of pop art and culture and basically cultured me on human behavior and relations. Although he was only a year older than me he had a vast vision and understanding of the ever evolving media industry which The Day The Music Died LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 10
in time would earn him a special place in Monterrey and across Mexico. Throughout his long career, Polo became an iconic radio voice and personality in Monterrey not only among the general public, but also well respected among personalities from the world of communication and the entertainment industry. Like many, Polo started as a humble studio engineer where he learned the basic tools of the broadcasting trade which eventually launched his 50-plus years career. Since he filled the late night hours before the station signing off, he would ask me to join him to keep him company so we would spent many hours together talking about plans, dreams and visions sometimes past 3am. Thanks to these late night sessions I acquired the basic understanding of radio broadcasting operations which I would use later on as I got involved in media activism as part of the Chicano movement. Ten years after we met, I became in charge of coordinating the Radio production component of Sol de Aztlán, a Chicano organization producing programs aired on WKAR licensed to Michigan State University, produced the first bilingual children’s program for public radio at a national level, offered broadcasting training programs for many Spanish language radio aficionados around Michigan and the Great Lakes area that would serve hundreds of thousands of Chicanx and Latinx listeners around the Midwest offering a series of workshops in which people from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois were trained and later went back to their community where participants eventually developed their radio shows in commercial and public radio stations, I eventually coproduced the first national Chicano News Service and co-founded KDNA, one of the first community owned Spanish language stations in the country and 20 years later I was invited by Cesar Chavez to help him develop KUFW, Radio Campesina. When I heard of Polo’s passing memories of our friendship flashed through my mind and the prose; I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck With a pink carnation and a pickup truck But I knew I was out of luck The day the music died As an epilogue I would submit that Polo was credited for promoting rock music in Monterrey to the degree of putting the city on the map for international concerts promoters giving Monterrey the title of the Capital of Rock and Roll. Polo also opened opportunities for many a young talent that continues his rich legacy. Furthermore, that legacy transcends beyond borders by leading me in the direction of media practice and activism. Thanks to his friendship and mentorship I became part of the Chicano Radio Movement and the rest is history. Muere el locutor Polo Álvarez, ‘la biblia del rock’ El locutor que formó parte de Radio Alegría y es principalmente recordado por su conocimiento en la música rock, falleció este viernes a los 80 años de edad. El locutor Polo Álvarez murió este viernes a los 80 años de edad Créditos: Cortesía Por Redacción ABC Noticias Monterrey.- El mundo de la radio y los amantes de la música rock en Nuevo León están de luto, por el fallecimiento del locutor Hipólito Álvarez Guajardo, conocido como Polo Álvarez, a los 80 años de edad. El comunicador, también apoda do ‘la biblia del rock’, falleció la tarde de este Viernes (21 de octubre, 2022) por un infarto, luego de haber sido operado de la vesícula, informó su familia. Se mantuvo por más de 50 años en los micrófonos, deleitando a su audiencia, especialmente cuando se hablaba de Rock, su rama de especialidad y por la que es principalmente recordado. A lo largo de su carrera prestó sus servicios en estaciones como Radio Alegría, Premier 91.7, Stereo 99, Stereo Classic y Frecuencia Tec, además de ser reconocido por su participación en programas como Sincronías y Rock and Roll Fantasy. Álvarez se convirtió en una voz icónica en la comunidad regiomontana, no solo entre el público general, sino también entre personalidades del mundo de la comunicación, que dedicaron palabras de despedida a su memoria en las redes sociales. “El considerado como “La Biblia del rock” fue catalogado por varias generaciones de locutores como uno de los pilares de la radio”, se puede leer en una de las publicaciones en redes sociales. The Day The Music Died LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 11
THE ‘QUEEN OF THE ACCORDION’ IS STILL FORGING HER OWN PATH by Nic Yeager Eva Ybarra plays her accordion with such passion that it can feel like fury. Smashing the instrument’s buttons and stretching her arms out wide, then quickly contracting, Ybarra bends air to produce rich vibrations of sound. One of her original ballads, “El Eco De Mi Voz,” is a booming, dramatic affair: When she starts to sing, in her low, thunderous belt, the music is all the more powerful. Sometimes, she weeps as she plays. She’s mostly been practicing in her apartment since the pandemic began; here, the sound blossoms against the walls. “The neighbors like it,” she laughs. Perhaps they dance to Ybarra’s songs in their living rooms. Known as La Reina del Acordeón, or the “Queen of the Accordion,” Eva Ybarra was named the 2022 Texas State Musician in May. She is widely considered the best female accordionist playing in Texas today—a title she increasingly resents. Why not just one of the best accordionists, period? A longtime leader of her band, Eva Ybarra Y Su Conjunto, she has been carrying around her instrument since she was 4 years old, started performing in restaurants at the age of 6, and scored her first record deal when she was 14. Yet despite her lengthy and critically acclaimed career, Ybarra says she has spent decades overlooked and alienated within a male-dominated genre. While Ybarra has been adored by critics for years, she has historically been snubbed by recording studios, festivals, and venues, often shut out of the San Antonio music scene and broadly unrecognized outside the city. More recently, formal awards have been flooding in: In 2017, she was a National Heritage Fellow through the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been inducted into several Tejano music halls of fame and included in museum exhibits. Yet this has all come later in her life, and her most recent honor comes through with no money or work attached. “It’s been a hard, long road,” she says. “It’s been very difficult to make my living.” One of nine children, Ybarra was raised in a musical family on San Antonio’s West Side. She asked her parents for an accordion after hearing her older brother play, then taught herself by following along to the most popular hits of the day. Her siblings still join her to make music: Her brother David Ybarra played in her ensemble for decades, and her sister has written gospel songs for them to perform. As a child performer, she dressed in homemade cowgirl outfits and stood on beer crates to reach the microphone; the San Antonio Express-News has described her in those days as a “conjunto Shirley Temple.” LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 12 A legendary accordionist in San Antonio, Eva Ybarra faced an uphill battle as a female musician throughout her career. Photo Credit: Ivan Armando Flores/Texas Observer As a child, Ybarra was coined the “conjunto Shirley Temple.” Photo Credit: Ivan Armando Flores/Texas Observer
The conjunto genre, rooted in the Texas-Mexico borderlands, was born in the late 19th century. Historians debate whether Tejanos were introduced to the accordion by way of the north, by German, Polish, and Czech immigrants who brought the instrument to central and South Texas, or from the south, through Monterrey, Mexico, where salon music and dances characterized by Italian opera singing and Czech polkas were surging in popularity. According to Tejano music scholar Manuel Peña, from the moment of the accordion’s arrival in Texas, it became part of the folk music of working-class Mexican Americans. Conjunto bands, inspired by the button accordion and the bajo sexto, came together to play on festive occasions and in Mexican American dance halls. Ybarra’s mother discouraged her from taking up the accordion, correctly intuiting that it would anger male accordionists, who generally dominate conjunto music. This path hasn’t always been safe, Ybarra says. She tells stories of how men, jealous and offended, regularly threatened her at gigs, followed her, and cornered her after shows. Once, when she was invited to perform in Puerto Rico in her twenties, her mother forbade her from going. She felt her daughter’s success could grow to be dangerous. “I’m your daughter, but I belong to the people,” Ybarra replied. She made the trip to Puerto Rico, but when she got there, Ybarra says she was assaulted by the hotel manager who came to her room and tried to rape her. Finally, he let her go. Ybarra also spoke of “killings, shootings, free-for-alls” she experienced playing in cantinas and dance halls. “My parents never knew… I never told them, because I loved music and didn’t want them to tell me to stop.” Ybarra is emphatic about sharing, rather than silencing, these stories. For her, it’s a passing down of knowledge, a warning about how the world is. “I don’t hide nothing,” she says. “I wanted my story out there, so young ladies can take care of themselves.” The main story that her bandmates and her family tell is this: Ybarra is a brilliant figure, and she has been criminally overlooked. A true virtuoso of her craft, she writes original lyrics, especially for corridos, or ballads, but toying with instrumentation is her true modus operandi. The accordionist is not unlike a jazz musician; Improvisation is part of the performance. She’s experimental, often playing in a progressive style. Ybarra plays fourteen instruments total, including bajo sexto, the 12-string Mexican guitar that accompanies the accordion in conjunto music; piano; violin; and electric bass. She is also a force on the guitarrón when she performs in mariachi bands, even though the big guitar threatens to eclipse her, as she stands just above 5 feet tall. Despite the recent spike in recognition, the queen of the accordion is one of those brilliant artists with profound talent who is just scraping by. While some states offer strong grant funding for recognized folk artists, Texas arts funding has long been dismal. Ybarra still plays mariachi at San Antonio restaurants for tips, and her house was foreclosed upon in 2015. If Ybarra doesn’t get the glory, or the economic stability, that the most successful men in conjunto have, maybe future generations of female conjunto musicians will. She already has disciples, such as Iliana Vasquez, an apprentice of Ybarra who plays accordion and bajo sexto. “She’s leaving me her legacy,” Vasquez says. “Her knowledge is gold, it’s precious and it’s priceless.” Vasquez, who hopes to learn to teach this music herself, says recently more conjunto education programs have been introduced in the Rio Grande Valley, where she lives. The queen has no plans to stop performing, either. “I will never give up until God takes me with him,” she declares. “Upstairs, I’m going to play there too. I’m going to ask God, I still want to play.” BIO: Nic Yeager (they, she) is the culture fellow at the Texas Observer. Originally from Austin, Nic wrote for the Austin Chronicle before joining the Observer. They have a bachelor’s degree in American studies and queer studies from Wesleyan University, and co-authored a guidebook 111 Places in Austin That You Must Not Miss. Note: Esperanza staff & board congratulate Eva on this well deserved honor. La Voz reprinted this article in tribute to Eva as one of the highlights of 2022. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 13 Ybarra plays fourteen instruments total, including the guitarrón. Ivan Armando Flores/Texas Observer
SALT of the EARTH 70th Anniversary in 2024 The film Salt of the Earth is based on a historical strike against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico, October 17, 1950. The black and white film depicts prejudice against the MexicanAmerican workers, striking to attain wage equality with Anglo workers in other mines, and to be treated with dignity by the bosses. Filmed in 1954 and released in New York City the same year, the film was written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico, starring Juan Chacon, Rosaura Revueltas, Will Geer. Salt of the Earth appears to be the only American film blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment because of alleged involvement in communist politics by Wilson, Biberman, and Jarrico. This blacklisting took place during the McCarthy era, referring to the policies of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a period known as the 2nd Red Scare in the U.S., late 1940s through the 1950s. The 1st Red Scare in the U.S. occurred, 1919-1920 when fear of recent immigrants and dissidents, in particular, those who embraced communist, socialist, or anarchist ideology, reigned. The human fuel behind the conceptualization of the 70th Anniversary and commemoration of Salt of the Earth, scheduled for 2024, is Dorinda Moreno. The overarching organizer is Fuerza Mundial Continuum &Associates. More information will follow in the next issue of La Platica del Norte (contact: [email protected]). Watch Salt of the Earth at: bit.ly/saltEarth LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 14 I would like to donate $________ each month by automatic bank withdrawal. Contact me to sign up. I would like to send $________ each ___ month ___ quarter ___ six-months through the mail. Enclosed is a donation of ___ $1000 ___ $500 ___ $250 ___ $100 ___ $50 ___ $25 ___ $15 ___ 10 La Voz Subscription ___ $35 Individuals ___ $100 Institutions ___ Other $ _______________ I would like to volunteer Please use my donation for ______________________ For more information, call 210-228-0201 Make checks payable to the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center. Send to 922 San Pedro, SA TX 78212. Donations to the Esperanza are tax deductible. Name ________________________________________ Address ______________________________________ City, State, Zip _________________________________ Phone ___________________________ Email ____________________________ Send your tax-deductible donations to Esperanza today!
The 46th Annual Segundo de Febrero Exhibit: Chicana/ Chicano Reunion, February 2nd, 2023 at Centro Cultural Aztlán from 6pm to 9pm. Arte, Musica y Poesia by the Jazz Poets of San Antonio & music by The Chromies, 1800 Fredericksburg Rd. Check centroaztlan.org. Save the Date! The 33rd Annual Earthwise Living Day event takes place on Saturday, March 4, 2023 in Leon Valley. Plan to attend a fun-filled, green educational day! For details see www.leonvalleytexas.gov/ publicworks/page/earthwiseliving. The 41st Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival will take place on May 17-21, 2023. The 5-day TCF showcases all of the very best in Conjunto music at Rosedale Park on the Westside and the historic Guadalupe Theater. See: guadalupeculturalarts. org/tejano-conjunto-festival/ for a full schedule of events. Community meetings and cultural art events are taking place virtually due to continuing concerns about COVID. Check websites, FB or call 210-228-0201 for meetings and events currently scheduled. www.esperanzacenter.org Notas Y Más February 2023 Esperanza’s International Tiendita Open Mon-Fri 10-7 210-228-0201 • 922 San Pedro Start your 2023 tax deductible gifts Give to the Esperanza in spirit of solidarity so we can continue to speak out, organize and fight for our communities for another 35 Years. Your support is needed NOW more than ever! Thank you for your gifts! Send donations to Esperanza Esperanza Peace And Justice Center 922 San Pedro Avenue San Antonio, TX 78212 To sign up as a monthly donor, Call 210.228.0201 or email: [email protected] Visit www.esperanzacenter.org/donate for online giving options. ¡Mil Gracias! LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • 15
Noche Azul de Esperanza Look for Upcoming Azul Concerts www.esperanzacenter.org/ Facebook.com/EsperanzaCenter Second Saturday Convivio Gather your photos from the Westside (1880-1960) and bring them to La Casa de Cuentos every 2nd Saturday at 10 am for scanning and story telling. Casa de Cuentos • 816 S. Colorado St. Call 210.228.0201 for more info “Celebrando el Amor con Arte” de MujerArtes Colectiva Feb 6-14, 9-5pm 816 S. Colorado St. • Call 210-228-0201 for info Haven’t opened La Voz in a while? Prefer to read it online? Wrong address? TO CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTIONEMAIL [email protected] CALL: 210.228.0201 LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • February 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 1 • Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332 ESPERANZA PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER 922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org