“Ya basta!” — or “enough!” — is the slogan used by civil rights activists in Mexico. The phrase is now being used by a new group on campus to express their discontentment with suffering.
Conciencia Femenil will host its first Chicana Feminism Conference at the Anatol Center today at 5 p.m. Speakers include former Cal State Long Beach organizer Anna Gomez, artist Alma Lopez, UCLA professor Maylei Blackwell, and author and playwright Sherrie Moraga.
The meeting will cover a variety of issues, primarily focusing on sexism, racism, immigration and women’s reproductive health. It will also feature several workshops about the feminist movement, Chicana feminism and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Lopez will be commenting on the history of the movement, according to Audrey Silvestre, organizer of Concencia Femenil. Lopez received her master’s in fine arts at UC Irvine and her artwork includes serigraphs, paintings, photo-based digital prints, public murals and video.
CSULB has not had an active Chicano voice since the early 1970s, when a group called Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc formed on campus in 1969 and published its periodicals in 1971. Now that a new organization has been established, its goal is to set up a foundation for the next generation to take over at CSULB.
Clarissa Rojas, assistant Chicano-Latino studies professor, said this is an amazing opportunity to bring the history of CSULB’s past to current students and to allow them to continue what former students had started.
According to Rojas, Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc recruited many Chicanos during the 1970s, which tripled their student population. She added that with the current budget situation, the number of Chicano students may start to decrease.
Conciencia Femenil was inspired by Las Hijas de Cuauhtemoc and wanted to honor the group’s legacy. Conciencia Femenil is currently networking with other campuses to inform others of their cause, according to CSULB senior and Conciencia Femenil member Nadia Zepeda.
Although the conference is primarily about women’s rights and Chicana empowerment, Zepeda emphasized that this event is open to everyone.
Silvestre said that men are welcome as well.
“They are our allies,” she said, “and we need to focus on men and women.”