Chanting “Libertad. Libertad. ¡Para todos libertad!,” dozens of demonstrators gathered at Boyle Heights’ Mariachi Plaza this week to speak out against military strikes in Iran and Lebanon.
Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization — which organized the Wednesday protest — were there, as well as Chicano organizers with Centro CSO and Filipino activists representing groups like Bayan USA and Gabriela Los Angeles. They held signs that read “FIGHT TO END ALL IMPERIALIST WARS!” and “U.S. HANDS OFF IRAN!” as they marched toward Boyle Avenue and First Street, where they shortly blocked traffic.
“The war does not benefit working-class people in the U.S.,” said Gabriel Quiroz of Centro CSO, addressing the crowd from the stage at Mariachi Plaza. “We have our own problems here in the United States with ICE, with Trump. People are struggling to get by. Gas prices are rising. We have our own issues that we should fix.”
Before stepping off the stage, Quiroz shouted, “¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No!”
To Quiroz, it’s fitting that the protest was held in the Eastside, considering its history of anti-war activism during the Chicano Moratorium, when nearly 30,000 people in 1970 marched through East LA to protest the disproportionate number of Latinos dying in the Vietnam War. It was one of the largest Mexican American anti-war demonstrations in U.S. history.
Just like Mexican Americans have fought for “self-determination,” Quiroz told Boyle Heights Beat, “the Iranian people have the right to determine their own future free from U.S. bombs and U.S. occupation.”
In predominantly Latino Boyle Heights, protests in recent years have rallied against war in Venezuela and have stood in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese people. “We have Lebanese people that live in Boyle Heights show up. … Same with the Palestine protests,” Quiroz said.
“I would say a lot of people, if you talk to them in Boyle Heights and East LA, are against this war because it doesn’t benefit us,” he added.
For Lebanese American Zeina Baltagi, an artist who lives in Boyle Heights, it’s heartbreaking seeing Israel’s strikes on Lebanon. On Wednesday, according to the New York Times, Israel bombed 100 sites in 10 minutes. It marked the deadliest day for Lebanon since the start of the Iran war, the New York Times reported.
“I live with grief so much, it just keeps billowing and growing,” said Baltagi on Thursday, thinking of friends and family in Lebanon. “The past two days have been a lot.”
But being involved in community efforts in and around Boyle Heights has brought comfort, Baltagi said. She has participated in anti-ICE protests and community patrols. She feels a sense of “familial love” when her neighbors greet her in Spanish and when she sees “Free Palestine” posters at the local coffee shop.
She recalls being stricken with grief while eating a meal at George’s Burger Stand when a worker asked her where she was from. “I was like, ‘I’m Lebanese.’ His face looked at me with just this affirmation of like, ‘I’m with you. My heart breaks with you,’” Baltagi said.
“In Boyle Heights, I feel like it’s the one space where I can just exist,” she said. “Struggle recognizes struggle.”
Brianna Mosqueda, a supporter of Centro CSO, said people in East LA and Boyle Heights should speak up against the war.
“Right now, we’re in a war with ICE. We’re seeing that many of our parents, or many of our families, are being affected by all the raids here,” said Mosqueda, who was at the protest on Wednesday. “We don’t only have a war at home. We have it outside.”
“We are very scared of what Trump is doing. A cease-fire doesn’t directly mean that it’s going to stop,” added Mosqueda, who grew up in Boyle Heights. “We’ve seen it with Palestine.”
Seeing her neighbors gather against the war signals strength and unity, Mosqueda said. For local activists, that feels particularly necessary against a backdrop of national divisions and global conflict.
“I love that about us, because here in Boyle Heights, we are a family,” Mosqueda added.
