OLYMPIA, Washington- As National Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A.) we are endorsing The School of the America's Watch's campaign to permanently shut down the Western Hemisphere Institution for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly The School of the Americas (SOA) located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.

MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
Contact: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlán de University of Washington, mecha@uw.edu

National Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) to Protest Arizona’s HB 1070 and SB 2281 and the privatization of higher education at the University of Washington on May 28th 2010.

SEATTLE -- National Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and MEChA de UW will be having an action on May 28th, 2010 from 2-5pm at the University of Washington during the National MEChA Conference to demand an accessible education system that does not exploit students, immigrants, first generation college students, workers and our communidad!

National MEChA is opposed to SB1070 in Arizona. Continue reading for the full press release.

Healing our Gente y Tierra by Redefining Labor, this is the theme for the 2010 National Conference being hosted by the Pacific Northwest MEChA region in Seattle this year. Visit the national conference page to view the itinerary and download registration and workshop proposal forms.

MEChistAs, Bring the National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge to your campus! Become a student organizer and lead a donor recruitment celebrating Cesar E. Chavez's legacy of leadership and community service on your campus. Already over 120 universities are participating in this annual event. Will your campus participate? It's up to you!

The event is organized nationally by: MigrantStudents.org. They are working in collaboration with the American Red Cross and America's Blood Centers. Your local blood center needs to identify student organizers ASAP in order to be able to schedule the blood drive on the schedule. So, please download your application and submit ASAP. The actual blood drive will take place during March 2010, most likely on March 31st, Cesar E. Chavez's Birthday.

First and foremost, Happy New Year to all! As we enter 2010, an old struggle continues. Immigration reform and the DREAM Act are part of current legislation in congress and we must fight the good fight.

As the economy crumbles, the cost of higher education continues to increase becoming less and less attainable for many. Nuestra gente are looked as a scapegoat for many of the country's ills, and we must fight to end it. Let us reinvigorate the movement with our energy in 2010!

The website is still undergoing construction, but we hope to make it a focal point of our large network of MEChA chapters bringing us all on step closer together as we unite and fight these injustices. So, keep checking back for new improvements.

So, feliz año nuevo y que siga la lucha!!!

Between now and the end of the year, the national website will be receiving some updates as we try to make it a greater component of the national network of MEChA chapters. This will be coupled with enhancements from Twitter and Facebook pages that we hope will work in conjunction to increase the interaction amongst MEChistAs throughout Aztlán. Please don't mind the sporadic changes as we go through this process.

An excerpt about today's action at the National Conference: Today, 600 students are rallying for immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform at the Eugene Office of Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio.

The event was organized by the students of MEChA from the University of Oregon chapter and chapters from across the Nation, as well as CAUSA, Oregon's immigrant rights coalition, with the help and support of various UO Departments, PCUN, and Eugene community organizations.

The 2009 National MEChA Conference will be hosted by MEChA de University of Oregon, of the Aztlán del Noroeste region, at University of Oregon in Eugene, OR. More information will be posted in the national conference section, keep checking back for updates.

Attached to the end of this message is a copy of a press release for an event that took place today here in Sacramento. Today the Sacramento City Council adopted a resolution and formed a committee to further seek communications with Blue Diamond's CEO. This is another step towards the victory, as we gain more allies in support of the workers' struggle to unionize.