A self-proclaimed Brown Nationalist communist student group at ASU, MECHA de ASU, has been suspended after calling for the deaths of members of certain groups on Instagram, according to State Press.
The group’s message featured a video that included violent police actions:
The group’s message featured a video that included violent police actions:
Video statement from our education committee.
Mecha believes in revolution. Not reform.
We do not condemn the Al Aqsa flood.
We do not condemn Hamas.
We do not condemn resistance.
Death to boer. Death to the Pilgrim. Death to the zionist. Death to the settler.
Glory to the Martyrs!
Freedom to the prisoners!
Victory to the resistance!
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or MEChA, which means a candle wick or bomb fuse in Spanish, has been in existence since the 1960’s, but the group’s antisemitic leanings were not well-known until 2011, when Tucson Unified School District Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Lupita Cavazos-Garcia, called out the group for recruiting the district’s Mexican American students to join in a “an occupied peoples’ conference at which Palestinian and TUSD students would be sharing their experiences living in occupied territories.”
As reported by the Arizona Daily Independent at the time:
Dr. Garcia wrote that she was concerned about the organization’s “anti-Semitic tone and tenor on our campuses.” She went on to state that the some of the district’s students have little emotional support and “our Raza students are ripe for this kind of influence.”
Dr. Garcia a long time educator in Texas and Arizona, and a proud Latina herself who worked in predominately Latino districts, was concerned about the un-American leanings of MEChA, the well documented anti-Semitism exercised and expressed by its associates, and the overall sense that most Americans have that identifying kids solely by their ethnicity goes against the very foundation of our public education system’s goals since the 1960’s.
According to State Press, the group is appealing the suspension.
A spokesperson for ASU told State Press, “Student organizations are subject to the Student Code of Conduct to the same extent as students.”
However, MEChA and other radical groups are calling for action. A group calling itself Party for Socialism and Liberation posted the demands:
On Monday, February 12, 2024 MECHA de ASU made a post on their Instagram account that contained the video showing instances of police brutality in Arizona, with the caption of the post drawing comparisons between the violence of the state here and the extension of violence abroad through American support for Israel. The post that was made is still up and visible for everyone to see. As a result of this post, MECHA de ASU was suspended as an organization on Thursday, February 15th by the university pending an investigation by the Student Rights and Responsibilities Office and ASU police.
We believe that this action taken by the university was the result of targeted pressure by Zionist groups from both on and off campus, and is an active attempt to suppress pro-Palestinian advocacy groups at ASU. MECHA de ASU has long been an active participant in the struggle for Palestine at ASU, and we believe that they are being punished for that role. The university has made it clear that it does not care about the desires of student of its student body to not be complicit in genocide, nor does it actually value freedom of speech like it claims to do.
Freedom of speech and assembly on college campuses has historically proven to be a farce when desires for real institutional change from the student body come into conflict with the academy’s desire to continue the status quo. ASU’s decision to suspend official recognition of MECHA effectively continues their own long legacy of McCarthyite attacks on communist student groups. This also comes at a time when campus groups across the country have been both historically, active and facing extremely heightened levels of censorship and repression for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. SCOTUS ruled in 1972 Healy v. James, that “state colleges and universities are not enclaves immune from the sweep of the First Amendment“ and that they cannot deny official recognition to student organizations based on their views or speech alone. A “heavy burden“ falls on ASU to show that denying MECHA de ASU is necessary to prevent disruption on campus, which issue has failed to do.
We condemn the suspension of MECHA de ASU and demand that ASU immediately reinstate MECHA de ASU as a student organization. We further demand that ASU reaffirm the right of student organizations to freedom of expression, and the right to advocate for people facing genocide by a colonial occupier.
We call on all persons of conscience to please call or email the ASU Student Rights and Responsibilities, office and the Dean Of Students and demand that MECHA de ASU be reinstated as an official student organization, as well as demand that their investigation be closed, and MECHA de ASU be cleared of any wrongdoing.
According to MEChA, the organization changed its name to El Moviemento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA: the Chicano Movement of Aztlán) years ago under the influence of radical Professor Rudy Acuna.
Although MEChA was initially an organization for institutions of higher education, it has expanded to a presence in some Arizona High Schools.
In November 2023, MEChA’s annual conference for high schoolers, themed “fighting for our communities,” was held at the University of Utah.
MEChA has been linked to La Voz de Aztlan, a virulently anti-Semitic organization identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
An Israeli news organization, Arut Shevar, described MEChA as “some of the most virulent racist and mind-boggling Jew-haters in the United States today. They, along with the seekers of a Palestinian state, are among the greatest promulgators of lies, myths, fantasies and outright hate throughout the world. From blatant racist beliefs to the denigration of all things Jewish, these groups thrive on imaginary demons manufactured in the degenerate minds of haters throughout history.”
In October 2023, MECHA de ASU came out in support of Hamas’ attacks on Israel.
MECHA de ASU called for a revolution over Israel’s response to Hamas in another Instagram post.
“Revolution at home is the only true way to prevent the carnage our government perpetuates abroad. Self determination [sic] of the internal colonies in the US is the only way we prevent the ‘US’ from continuing its crimes both abroad and at home,” stated MEChA. “Death to the ‘Israeli’ entity! death to the ‘American’ entity! Long live Palestine! Long live turtle island!”
As the Arizona Independent reported:
“MEChA de ASU helped Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at ASU host their protests against Israel’s retaliation to the Hamas attacks. The next protest is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21 at 10 am, with the location to be announced on Oct. 20.
The National SJP declared Hamas terrorism as “a historic win for Palestinian resistance” and encouraged its supporters to engage in “armed confrontation with the oppressors” in addition to rallies.
“[We] devote ourselves to ending settler colonialism, anti-Black racism, heteronormativity, borders and prisons because our liberation does not exist until these legacies of colonization are abolished,” states the MEChA de ASU handbook.
The handbook further outlines that it will liberate colonized people, thwart assimilation efforts, and oppose colonialism, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, imperialism, and racism.
Notable past members of MEChA include Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
And I’ll wager these clowns aren’t on the SPLC’s list of known hate groups.
And HOW LONG has this been going on? Years?
What a bunch of abosolute loons! I hope Little Raul features them prominently in his campaign ads. Might as well show his true colors!
And yet Trump is accused of inciting insurrection.
The left has been preaching revolution for decades! Look for Marshall Law, coming to a town near you!
MEChA = ASU Young Democratic Socialist Students (YDS). YDS = ANTIFA, it is that simple. As that post from MEChA clearly illustrates, ASU is a very Fertile ground for Marxists recruitment.
Just another example of the Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) at ASU exposing their violent agenda. YDS=ANTIFA, it is that simple. ANTIFA are well established at ASU and other campuses here in AZ. They work closely with other anarchists including HAMAS. ASU left faculty are revered while moderates and conservatives are isolated, and openly demonized. The post from MEChA illustrates, ASU is a very Fertile ground for violence.
Laughing out loud at these entitled little marxist punks.
Maybe we need to clean out some of the faculty of ASU and teachers of public schools for teaching such crap. They are learning it somewhere.
Start with Noam Chomsky at the U of A.