Chavez: Take up struggle

Labor leader Cesar Chavez, who has been active in the struggle for farm workers' rights since the early 1960s, told a University audience yesterday that "the struggle moves on," but warned that "we have moved backwards." Previous reforms and legislation protecting farm workers have not been enforced, and instead have been eroded by politicians concerned only with corporate welfare and not with human welfare, Chavez explained. Chavez -- who came to campus yesterday for a four-hour visit sponsored by 28 organizations including Movimento Estudiantil Chicano De Aztlan and Connaissance -- spoke to more than 100 people in the University Museum auditorium about the continuing problems facing farm workers in America. The founder and president of the United Farm Workers of America urged the audience to join in his fight to ban deadly pesticides and improve conditions for farm workers. Each year, thousands of farm workers and their children contract cancer because of repeated exposure to the pesticides used to harvest grapes, Chavez said. "Pesticides are, by nature, poisonous; there are no safe pesticides," Chavez said. An imposing speaker, Chavez pounded on the podium several times during his speech to emphasize his points. Chavez was born in Arizona in 1927 and began working as migrant farm worker at age ten. Although he has endured three hunger strikes in his lifetime, the activist looked much younger than his 64 years and seemed to have the energy typically associated with college-age activists. Chavez gave a graphic description of working conditions for farm workers in the southwest, saying they are deprived of water and are not allowed to take breaks during their strenuous work days, even to use the bathroom. Migrant farm working women are often hired only after promising sexual favors to their employers in return, he said. "They force women to make a decision between their dignity and their livelihood," Chavez said. And although Chavez's topic was weighty, he peppered his forty-five minute speech with humorous anecdotes which left the audience laughing. "We're told pesticides are not really harmful," he said. "It scrapes the paint off cars, but it's not really harmful." Chavez said he uses humor when speaking about serious issues because it draws people into the cause instead of alienating them. Chavez said change will eventually come about. "[Public action] is not charity," Chavez said, asking those in attendance to join his struggle. "It's doing good work for social justice." Chavez, who recently spoke at several other Ivy League schools, is on a four-state tour and will later continue on to Mexico and Canada. Elizabeth Cedillo, vice-president of MEChA, said she was pleased with the large turnout. "To see so many people from a diverse background co-sponsor and attend [the speech] gives me faith in the community of the University of Pennsylvania

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