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Mexican Americans’ “..2 0. often fitile, attempts to bettas Geils ict, And in this largely agrarian area they have been subjected to terror and intinidation in the land which wes long part of the nation of their fore- fathers--Mexico--and where many still seek the fulfilment of the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. But the present day struggles differ from former ones. Nowacays widespread support 18 coming from the civil rights move~ ment, sections of organized labor, the militant youth, and, an ever incneasing section of religious leaders, especially the Catholic Church, It is no longer a relatively simple matter for. : - oe i the oppregsors of the Mexican Americans to cut into shreds at the, . — first signs of rebellion against semi-colonial oppression. ~” And young unafraid leaders, perhaps beat symbolized by Cesar Chavez of the grape strike and Rudolph "Corky" Gonzalez who is jeading the fight against police brutality and the inequities of the anti-poverty program in Cclorado, are coming to the fore as new heroes of this oppressed people. In the course cf these struggles there are some indications that major nandicaps of the past may be overcome. The prominent and outstafiding role of women leaders in the grape strixe and in antf’ poverty protests is being widely discussed among Mexican American women in the Southwest and gives hope that the lergely latent power of Mexican American women, relegated to the home for the most part, will be merged into the stream of struggle. Strike publications such as El Malcriado, published in Spanish and English editions, has had an immense increase in circulation among Spanish speaking workers and gives rise to the possibility —— of more publications ‘tn Spanish to etl this great need for communications in this language. Significantly these above menticned struggles, and many more, have become the concern of virtually all mass organizations in the Spanish eponking wmeminitioal Thewe alisemlos. have interacted on each other, helping to galvanize into action some of the most conservative ones. This has made the role of these organizations, and work within them by all forces, more important than ever before. The greater urbanization of the Mexican American population has brougnt with it increased political organization in Be