The Long March from Cinco de Mayo to Cinco de Pentagon

The Long March from Cinco de Mayo to Cinco de Pentagon

May 5, 2008

Roberto Lovato on Dreaming Beyond the Walls of
"Civilization"

http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/the-long-march-from-cinco-de-mayo-to-cinco-de-pentagon/

Those of us old enough to remember might recall those
halcyon days when celebrating Cinco de Mayo meant many
things: closing off a street in what was then known as
a "barrio", listening to sometimes inspired and
sometimes less-than-inspired music of long-sideburned
Santana wannabees from the local garage bands and
eating food infused with the love of the local. And we
sort of listened to the bandana'd radical Chicana
organizer urging us to become part of the global
liberation struggle commemorated on May 5th, when
badly-equipped, but inspired Mexican guerrillas
defeated the forces of Napoleon III's French Empire in
the 19th century.

Others may recall how, in the 80's and 90's, the long
lost Decades of the "Hispanic", many turned local
street fairs across the Southwest into the larger,
corporate-sponsored, alcohol-drenched festivals whose
ghost we can still see today. The proud proclamations
of culture and political struggle previously embodied
by "Viva el Cinco de Mayo" gave way to the "Hispanic
pride" contained in slogans like Budweiser's "Viva la
ReBudlucion!" or Absolut Vodka's more recent racist
-and ultimately failed-attempt to cash in on culture
with its ad equating drinking vodka with a fictitious
Mexican desire to re-conquer (the dreaded specter of
"reconquista" promoted by anti-Latino groups and some
media outlets) the Southwest.

Looking back on those days now, it's clear how Latino
children and adults going to Cinco de Mayo celebrations
became a "mission critical market" in the clash of
corporate empires that define a major part of our lives
today. But, as a visit to most of the recent Cinco de
Mayo and other Latino-themed celebrations makes clear,
Latino events now move to the beat of a new power, that
of the U.S. Pentagon.

No longer the small, intimate and largely unknown
celebration it was in the 70's, Cinco de Mayo is now
celebrated from San Diego, California to Sunset Park,
Brooklyn and beyond. And among the major powers present
at such events are the Army, Navy, Air Force and
Marines. Ubiquitous at the hundreds of Cinco de Mayo
street fairs in towns and cities throughout the country
are military recruiters armed with trinkets, video
games, loud music and hyper-hip Hummers that draw even
more children and families than the colorful (and
urine-smelling) playpens McDonald's still deploys in
its Latino outreach efforts.

As African American youth and females of all races
continue to reject military recruiters in record
numbers, the Pentagon finds itself with no choice but
to invest hundreds of millions to capture the hearts
and minds of young Latinos. Our children have become
"mission critical" to the future of the empire itself.
And, so, the U.S. military -and its high powered
Hispanic advertising and publicity firms- has brought
us a new Latino celebration, the Cinco de Pentagon.

But rather than fight these nefarious designs on our
kids (ie; Until recently Chuck E. Cheese included
military-themed puppet shows and television shows
broadcast in its restaurants) with nostalgia, we should
begin by cleaning house within our communities. First
on my list would be a call on local and national
organizations like LULAC and the National Council of La
Raza to stop promoting the military in exchange for
Pentagon sponsorship dollars for their events. The
recent Pentagon propaganda scandal should not shock
anyone who consumes Latino media; Many Latino media
outlets are chock full of paid advertising propaganda
and they should to stop taking advertising from the
various branches of the Armed Forces that've turned
them into mouthpieces for military recruitment. And, of
course, we should approach local organizers of Cinco de
Mayo and other events about boycotting the efforts of
those who lie to our kids in order to get them to go
fight losing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to
remind them of the powerful anti-militarism traditions
rooted deeply in the Chicano, Puerto Rican and other
communities.

I live in New York, which is also called "Puebla York"
because of the huge number of Mexicans from Puebla that
live there. It's painful to see how Cinco de Mayo has
gone from celebrating the liberation politics and
heroism of Puebla to celebrating the recruitment of the
descendants of Zaragoza and other Poblanos by the very
center of U.S. efforts to destroy global liberation,
the Pentagon.

But, all is not lost. Latinos and others across the
country have ramped up their efforts to stop the
recruitment of Latino youth. Efforts like those in
Puerto Rico, counter recruiters have fanned out to all
200 high schools to deliver their anti-militarism
message to thousands of students. So, whatever your
race, background or creed, if you're opposed to the war
in Iraq and to militarism generally, you might consider
stopping recruitment among those without whom the
future projections of the military will not be
realized: Latino youth. And a good place to start might
be to stop celebrating the Cinco de Pentagon and
replacing it with something resembling the CInco de
Mayo celebrations of old.

_____________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest
to people on the left that will help them to
interpret the world and to change it.

Submit via email: moderator@portside.org
Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit
Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq
Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe
Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe
Account assistance: portside.org/contact
Search the archives: portside.org/archive