Viva La Causa Summary

Viva la Causa is a short video that was created in 2008, but the story behind it is much more complicated than that. Viva la Causa or “Long Live the Cause” is the history of Mexican oppression in the farms of the American land. It tells the story of how the powerless stood up to the authoritative without the use of violence. Bill Brummel and Alonso Mayo created Viva la Causa in order to bring awareness to this factual event that happened forty years prior in 1965.
This document style/reenactment video, narrated by George Lopez, explains the story of Cesar Chavez and his struggle to fight for human rights. In 1965, the Mexican farmworkers of Delano, California gathered together to discuss whether they wanted to join their fellow Filipinos.

Prior to their gathering, the Filipinos had created a strike against the California grape manufactures. It was successful; they decided to collaborate with their counterparts who were feeling the same effects of inequality. They had dealt with the harsh working conditions for far too long.

The strike was about more than their wages, it was about the harmful pesticides that were being sprayed on them, the one can on water they were expected to share, the children who were making a dollar an hour and the idea that prosperity and security were something they were never going to attain. The NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) was formed and shortly after they began their nonviolent strikes. This type of action required the authorities to be creative with their reactions. The authorities responded with violence, arresting over a hundred women, men, and children. The NFWA ended the year strong with the boycott of Schenley industries; telling people not to buy their liquor anymore as it uses the grapes from vineyards that do not treat their workers justly. This is the event that caught the attention of the senate, Robert Kennedy specifically. Their movements were nationally broadcasted and conveyed the attention of many nationwide. The following year, Cesar Chavez and counterpart Roberto Bustos began a protest march with seventy others from Delano to the capital in Sacramento to raise awareness of the farm workers struggle. The walk was over three hundred miles long and with every stop they made along the way, they collected more

volunteers.

After twenty-eight days they had made it to the capital with ten thousand people standing behind them. This is where Schenley Industries agreed to negotiate/sign an agreement. The UFWOC (United Farm Workers Organizing Committee) was created as a result and the national boycott of California grapes begun. The sales of California grapes significantly declined as customers across the nation, including Canada, stopped purchasing them in protest with the union. The authorities tried to take matters into their own hands with the use of violence, once again. Cesar Chávez’s, in response to the threats of violence, instigated a hunger strike/fast to rededicate his movement to pacifism. After twenty five days, and a court appearance that turned into a Mass, voice of violence settled down and Chavez ended his fast claiming his success. Disaster struck later that year, for them, when Robert Kennedy was shot and pronounced assassinated. However, they did not know that their efforts combined with Kennedys had already

reached millions. By 1970 more than forty cities had become aware of their struggle and began to boycott in front of their local stores that sold California grapes. Seventeen million people stopped buying grapes that year, resulting in grape manufactures printing the UFWOC symbol on their grapes. The ten year strike and boycott ended with a three year contract, containing assurance of wage increase, pesticide control, and water, was signed by Delano growers and the UFWOC.
People have the ability to take their lives into their own hands with just the use of a voice. Margaret Mead, alive during Viva la Causa, once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” and Viva la Causa verifies the truth behind these words. Viva la Causa demonstrates how powerful alliances and human rights movements can be. Their alliance did not include a multitude of people from one race, religion or class; it included a multitude of races, religion, and class from all across the nation. There is a certain power in numbers. The actions of the allies insured the farm workers that they were not alone and they were supported by virtuous people nationally.