In the wake of the 99th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, Cal State Long Beach professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos wants to ensure that students understand the historical and contemporary implications the revolution has in today’s society.
“There is no student movement against the war, budget crisis or [a movement] to boot out the CSU chancellor or the governor. Good old radical politics are in order here,” Vazquez-Ramos said at Thursday’s seminar on the Mexican Revolution. “We are in need of a revolution.”
Vazquez-Ramos is trying to educate students on history so it will not one day repeat itself.
“There must be political consciousness, awareness and social responsibility,” he said.
As one of the first Chicanos to enter Cal State Long Beach through the Educational Opportunity Program, Vazquez-Ramos was active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Vazquez-Ramos is a coordinator and lecturer for the California-Mexico Project and is president of the board of directors for the Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.
Julie Weise, assistant professor of international studies, touched on the legacy the Mexican Revolution has in the U.S.
The second speaker, Catha Paquette, discussed how art was instrumental and can be impactful in a revolution. As an associate professor in the art department, Paquette analyzed the works of Diego Rivera to illustrate how his murals were used as tools to introduce the Mexican people to socialism.
Jose Luis Talancon is the extension center director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and was the third speaker of the day. Talancon chose to speak in Spanish about the infancy of Mexico prior to the Industrial Revolution. He stressed that the maturity of Mexico began as soon as the revolution began.
Vazquez-Ramos summed up the goal of the seminar to students: “Students should get off their ass and become politically active.”
For Vazquez-Ramos, the seminar was a way to enlighten students and show them that there is a very small middle class, an even smaller elite and a rapidly growing class of impoverished people.
Vazquez-Ramos said students are becoming part of the growing class of people who live paycheck to paycheck.
“The government is taking money away from you [the students],” Vazquez-Ramos said. “You should fight them for it.”
Vazquez-Ramos said the seminar is one of many intended to encourage students to use their education to their advantage. He said students need knowledge to increase awareness, and through the exchange and free flow of information on campuses worldwide, people will begin to act on that awareness.