Mijente is saying farewell to 2021 with our head and hearts full of possibility. As we look forward to a new year in 2022, we know it will bring a fresh set of political and social challenges and collective community care opportunities. In all of it, we remain in the fight for justice and transformative change for our gente.
All of our efforts are grounded in our Principios of Unity. We strive to feel pride and confidence in our communities’ ability to not just survive, but thrive and bring about tangible change. The seven principios of Mijente serve as a guide for our work, our movement, and our members. In sharing them with you here, we mean to inspire more hope in a future free from oppression.
“Hope is essential to any political struggle for radical change when the overall social climate promotes disillusionment and despair.”
bell hooks
Principio 1
We are Latinx and Chicanx people that are part of movements for justice and self-determination for all people.
We must cultivate a space that is multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-cultural — where we don’t conflate our experience but understand how oppression and exploitation is linked. This means that we are pro-Black, pro-indígena, pro-worker, pro-mujer, pro-lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer, and pro-migrant. We hold all of those identities and our unity against shared oppressions is central to our vision for change.
Principio 2
Transformative change requires more from us, not just more of us.
We work towards strengthening infrastructure and movement around us with the belief that demographics are not destiny. Even as the Latinx and Chicanx community grows, the progressive change we need is not a given. Both external and internal factors threaten it. We see our liberation as bound to Black Liberation, Indigenous sovereignty, economic and climate justice and other liberation movements.
Principio 3
We are creating a leaderful space that is accountable, transparent, and continues evolving.
We are committed to having honest, courageous conversations, so that we can develop and make room for new and seasoned leaders to continue evolving our political home. To say it simply: we need more not less leadership. That’s why we seek to lift up all the different forms of leadership people bring to justice work. We strive for a leader-full space, in which we hold ourselves and each other accountable, share information and resources, listen and implement input.
Principio 4
We organize people, technology and resources to get the goods.
We believe in the power of and are committed to organizing. And our foundational approach to change is through organizing, by bringing together people and sustaining collective efforts to achieve change. Our communities and organizing efforts can and should harness the possibilities of new technology. But we will never lose the power of in-real-life connections. We are open to experimenting new ways to create digital and physical space for Latinxs to connect and build with each other.
Principio 5
We are loyal to our ultimate goal of achieving el buen vivir and self-determining our future, not to singular tactics, strategies, or dogma.
We understand that there needs to be a multiplicity of strategies and tactics to get El Buen Vivir. It includes doing and showing up in work sin (without), contra (against), and desde (from) the state. Our work must improve the lives of our gente. This may mean long-term strategies that set up the opportunities for organizing or for future wins, even if they are not our full, ultimate goal. As individuals and organizationally we will work in different fields and formations as parts of a multi-pronged strategy.
Principio 6
We don’t throw each other away.
Everyone is capable of being harmful and of being harmed. We believe in principled struggle, and that as disagreements arise conversation and resolution is critical. Conflict is inevitable and necessary for honest discourse and unity across differences. We commit to building a space that can hold disagreement can lead to greater accountability, resilience and antifragility.
Principio 7
We acknowledge and value that part of the work is to recover, unlearn, and remember.
Like all colonized people, we hold the double consciousness of what we have been told versus what we know to be true. We value authenticity and a holistic view of the labor of pursuing justice and building power. Recognizing that we all have work to do on our own healing is important. Part of this is unlearning lies we’ve been told, remembering who our people are and where we come from, and living the legacy of radical love, resistance, and resilience of our ancestors.
As we prepare for what’s to come, we hope you join us en la lucha por El Buen Vivir in 2022 and beyond.
