This article was published on The Masses before it was a part of the People’s Defense Committee. The editorial board of The Masses will occasionally republish articles from that period based on their practical, theoretical and historical significance.
By Former NEYL Chicago Chapter, Expelled
“We recognize and appreciate the decades of hard, sometimes dangerous work done in the name of revolution by the older socialist parties. Perhaps we wouldn’t exist at all were it not for their efforts. It is our sincere wish to operate in complete harmony with these older groups. But we must create new impetus and greater intellectual and physical energy if the forces of reaction are not to win another extended reprieve. A joint effort will make the task of overwhelming our common enemy all the simpler. But if our present differences cannot be reconciled by an honest and fearless search for the correct way, then we will be forced to take the foundation of correct ideals and theory into our own hands and build a positive and more practical superstructure applicable to the circumstances surrounding our lives. In his Guerrilla Warfare Lenin wrote: “New forms of struggle, unknown to the participants of the given period, inevitably arise as the given social situation changes, the coming crisis will introduce new forms of struggle that we are now unable to foresee.” In other words, the old guard must not fail to understand that circumstances change in time and space, that there can be nothing dogmatic about revolutionary theory. It is to be born out of each popular struggle. Each popular struggle must be analyzed historically to discover new ideas. In the words of John Gerassi: “Building from one to the other, eventually the revolutionary cadre would become equipped with a theory rooted in experience, broadened by historical knowledge, tested by combat, and fortified by reflection.” After ten or fifteen generations of laboring on a subsistence level, after a hundred and forty years of political agitation and education, we grow impatient—not that we fail to understand the risks and complexities of anti-establishment warfare. We simply want to live.” – George Jackson
Reasons
- Lack of Democracy Through Organization Functions: Local leadership is first appointed by national leadership who then appoints other leaders. Actions take place without social investigation and without regard to collective opinion — Final say belongs to nationals with no regard to local membership.
- Expulsion Without Due Process: Members have been purged without any opportunity for response, clarification, or resolution. This lack of due process mirrors the unilateral decision-making processes typically associated with oppressive state structures, undermining the organization’s claim to democratic values.
- Lack of Transparency and Suppression of Criticism: The leadership has consistently suppressed criticism and failed to operate with transparency, despite professing a commitment to democratic processes. This suppression, along with careerist opportunism and microaggressions, has eroded trust and stifled genuine ideological engagement.
- Contradictory Actions and Messages: Events at and with DePaul University exemplifies a disconnection between NEYL stated goals and its actions. The use of people of color as tokens to alleviate guilt and justify involvement with institutions economically and politically invested in genocide highlights a significant ideological contradiction.
- Protection of Predatory Behavior: The organization has shielded a known predator within its spaces, creating an unsafe environment and contradicting its professed values of justice and liberation. No person, no Elder, no organization is above the People.
- Weaponization of Cultural Spiritual Practices: Spirituality has been used as a tool to obscure the need for revolutionary ideology in placement of cultural nationalism. This harm also includes the disregard of restorative solutions despite claims of a spiritual practice. Instead, punitive measures were “agreed upon” by nationals and actions were executed by local leadership.
History of Bureaucratic Organizing/Executive Decision Making/Suppression of Criticism:
June 2020 marked a year of radical resistance after the state killing of George Floyd. The world rebelled and rose up to demand that the senseless killing of New Afrikan people end. This time marked a moment of consciousness raising, however it also marked a moment of opportunism within the movement for liberation. Quickly, we realized the co-option of the movement and the rise those who would cling to the revolutionary struggle for the validation and social capital it brought to them into their personal lives.
In June 2020, S. along with others in the Tristate area would become inspired by the Young Lords Organization (YLO) and create the New Era Young Lords (NEYL). This organization would focus largely on mutual aid such as coat drives, food distribution, etc.
A member of the original Young Lords, David Rivera Sr., would be sent a picture of the NEYL logo and investigated the organization for six weeks before reaching out to S.. Initially, YLO was concerned about people using the organization and its legacy for profit and personal gain rather than truly standing with the masses.
The organization was started by the east coast. Chapters were started by finding individuals that they knew or had connections with in different states. The first two members of the Chicago Chapter were P. and A. who deemed themselves Chairman of the Chicago Chapter and Chairman of the Rockford Area Chapter, which never fully developed.
The organization did its best to develop a system that allowed for the organization to build with the people, however lack of awareness and then obscuring of revolutionary ideology often times kept the organization from building meaningful programs that build with the masses. Due to a non-profit style of organizing and a general distaste for “white theory,” local leadership refused criticisms from the very beginning about the historical realities of movements that neglect revolutionary theory in their practice. Nonetheless, the organization proceeded as it wished, ignoring the calls from our elders to engage in the theory they were reading in their day (Mao, Lenin, Fanon, etc.). The Chicago Chapter created countless Minister positions that were meant to guide the work being done, yet no efforts were made to investigate the community to find out what the people actually needed. Due to these errors, most projects were not seen to completion and the ones that did make it to completion often times lacked the community support and engagement needed to ensure their survival.
Due to this, the chapter intentionally made moves to raise our consciousness. The first political education the organization became deeply involved with was sitting in on Stick Talks PE. From this relationship, we were able to work together to build the first NEYL political education. These would be run out of Casa Hernandez for six months. These political educations were successful because this was the Chapter’s first regular and consistent program. Due to building the regularity, many times we had full rooms as people began to know that Thursday nights meant political education with NEYL. The space provided the community a place to go that provided food, coffee, and free clothes (whatever else was in the store). The second program that became a regular staple out of Casa Hernandez was The People’s Open Mic, done in collaboration with the Peoples Party. These events proved to be successful too as they brought a lot of youth to the organization. It also functioned as a safe place where members from opposing street tribes could come together and focus on music.
This lasted for six months before Casa Hernandez was subject to a police raid. Prior to the raid, it was noticed that a traffic camera was set up across the street that seemed to point at Casa Hernandez. This information was never passed on to the full chapter. The People’s Open Mic was happening when the raid occurred and many young people were subject to the harassment from local pigs. Minister of Agriculture at the time was able to function as a liaison between the crowd and the pigs holding them outside Casa Hernandez until P. showed up. Once P. showed up, officers were escorted through the building. The pigs stated that business activity was taking place and that we would need to have a license to conduct business. From this raid, a cease and desist was given to P. which stated that if anybody was to engage in any more activities at Casa Hernandez, they were subject to arrest. This forced the Chapter out of the space for some time until the charges were dropped although CPD said that they would still be watching the location heavily.
This raid stopped the political educations and the open mics for an extended amount of time. The chapter was very confused, rattled, and split as what needed to be done. Many comrades wanted to use the moment to agitate around the pigs and work with the community to protect Casa Hernandez. Local leadership (Chairman P. and unofficial leadership) in Chicago instead felt that the answer to the police raid was to file the organization as a 501(c)(3). Rather than understanding this as an attack from the state, local leadership and its followers within the chapter felt that the reason why we’re getting harassed by the pigs was because we were not an official legal entity.
When comrades insisted that harassment is a normal part of the fight for liberation, local leadership pushed back and insisted on filing the paperwork. Local leadership framed this as something that would protect the organization from further attacks rather than line us up for heavier repression. Money collected from the political education courses was used to file the paperwork without the consent from the chapter. Conversation around the non-profit was framed that this would protect us from legal repression and that there would be the creation of a separate entity that functioned as a revolutionary organization. Due to the agreement that a separate chapter would be created, local leadership often frames this conversation as one that was democratic and transparent, however criticisms about the dangers of being a non-profit have never been addressed.
For a period of six months, the chapter did not do much of anything, as it went underground to avoid police repression. During this time, the chapter dived into internal study to better understand the work of revolutionaries and to fully understand the risk involved when working for revolution. We as a chapter read Activist Study by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
During this six month period, a number of internal conflicts arose resulting in various tensions throughout the organization. It came to our attention that people in the chapter were engaging in identity opportunism which resulted in a member being bad jacketed as someone who is “problematic” over simply personal disagreements between members that could have been avoided with a stronger political education within the chapter. During this time, the member bad jacketed was meant to hold a speaking position regarding a Young Lords historical event. During this time, the Chairman of the organization made an executive decision to discipline this comrade and remove them from their position with no regard to the collective.
During this time, it was clear that the direction had stagnated and regressed into politics that clearly resembled punitive politics. Two proposals were drafted aimed at changing the local structure of the organization. Both proposals, however different in their approach, included the need to have a full election of leadership within the organization. The proposal that moved forward was a proposal aimed at consolidating the board to focus on the work that we are doing vs the work that aspire to do. In addition, this proposal called for a full democratic vote that would take place where all positions would be up for vote. During this time, Chairman from local leadership communicated to Nationals before the local chapter had the opportunity to talk amongst ourselves and figure out our official next moves. During the regular Thursday meeting, an OG member from the Elder Committee would show up, unannounced, and sit in on our call. The elder would eventually Fed Jacket a member. During this call, Chairman and a friend group of three other individuals (unofficial leadership), rallied behind leadership, making explicit calls for anyone that did not like the way the chapter was functioning to resign — “there’s the door.” Throughout this entire process, three members quit the organization including two non-binary people.
During this time, Chairman of the organization was very against full elections. He stated that others (nationals and YL elders) appointed him his position for the special qualities that he brought to the organization. For this reason, the Chairman felt that he would need to personally train/appoint someone and that this process would take six months to a year.
The Education Ministry began to work on a full analysis of the chapter/organization to express why it was important that all positions were voted on democratically, especially the Chair of the organization.
The aim of this document was to complete an analysis, read it to the full chapter inviting criticism and changes. The thought moving into this project was that many people create a fuller version of the whole picture. Members would have the opportunity to look over the document and make changes to the understanding of how our chapter and organization came to be.
Once we had a document signed off by chapter members, we wished to send the document upwards and let all organization members see/change/sign onto the document agreeing in the collective need for change. This work was also inspired after members investigated other chapters and found that many of us were going through similar problems, suggesting that we were going through the same structural issues.
Once this document had been circulated, we hoped it would spark change, as we had been sure to include the method of resolving the incorrect political decisions that included fighting liberalism, implementing democratic centralism, and the serious consideration of a chapter that would not be tied down by non-profit politics and structures.
Instead, the organization pushed forward, under the assumption that those who had engaged in undemocratic decisions were on board with the chapter as we tried to build transparency in the organization. Promises were made and positions were changed when a majority of the chapter was calling for democracy and votes for leadership positions. Unfortunately, this would prove to be meaningless as the chapter continued into more undemocratic executive decisions.
NEYL Chicago Chapter was largely stagnant since the police raid. The main events that the chapter participated in were ones that individual members could make it out too and claim representation for the organization. These events tended to be protest support and a handful of open mics that we started again to get back to the community and test the waters of police repression.
The most recent political activity that we participated in would shine light once again on the undemocratic nature of the organization and the willingness to put individual perspective and opportunist politic over the voice of the collective.
DePaul Event
April 30, students at DePaul took to the quad to establish The Free People of DePaul University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Students have made it clear to the university that business will not continue as planned while the university is investing money into the genocidal Israel. The encampment had been going strong for 15 days, facing ups and downs, and had remained steadfast and dedicated to growing together to reach their goals.
Many general members felt a strong need to support the encampments. The struggle for liberation for Palestinians directly relates to the struggle for liberation within Puerto Rico. Not only were our people displaced from our ancestral homelands, the same process took place in the barrio under the guise of “urban renewal.” Leading the charge to gentrify the neighborhood was DePaul University.
Despite ongoing escalations against students for standing up against genocide, DePaul has decided this is the moment to raise a plaque “in honor” of The Young Lords. DePaul has collaborated with Young Lord elders and leadership with NEYL who took on an event sponsored by the DePaul President without a full democratic take from the organization. Many members were outspokenly against this event, especially the closer to the event date we got, the more we witnessed Palestinian genocide, and the subsequent brutalization of encampments. The Young Lords and NEYL would stand with the DePaul Administration to “honor” radical history. 36 hours later the school would send violent police officers to assault and destroy the encampment. The raid was met with response from the community of questioning why we stood with them in the first place. Many members, especially those that had participated in building the structure of the camps felt personally betrayed by local and national leadership who prioritized “documenting Young Lord history,” over the objective right thing to do; which is to rebel.
Members realized this to be a failure of the organization and began the work to call attention to this collective failure. This failure was felt even more so as we had a new cadre on campus who was bearing the elements for the NEYL, who was able to offer little support in return due to an unfunctional structure. Additionally, during this time, it became clear how ill prepared we were for escalations politically and how we were not properly preparing new members with political education.
Purge
The following Thursday (5/23) meeting, the chapter was asked to skip our normal agenda and move straight to leadership updates where the Chairman P. would ask how the chapter felt about the event. The chapter had mixed feelings and many felt strongly this was a mistake on the chapter’s part. Members stressed that we asked NEYL to not be associated and the message was not conveyed as leadership from Ohio attended in official uniform.
Additionally during this same time, we had two new people inquiring about joining the NEYL who were both 17. The issue of Carlito Rovira and his SA allegations resurfaced as members demanded to know why nothing was ever done about a predator being in organizational circles and activities.
Quickly the tone of the call switched as local leadership made the claim that we were taking away his personal freedom by asking him to not associate our revolutionary organization with a genocidal institution. The call quickly turned into character assassination and once again fed jacketing used to destroy the credibility of those calling for attention to these major errors. Local leadership (Chairman P.) rallied his supporters (who have been consistently unavailable and absent in organizational functions) to create the illusion of a genuine criticism using identity opportunism, fed jacketing, and public character assassination that did nothing to address the original issue — which was executive decision making, lack of democracy, and the protection of a predator in our movement — only punish those speaking up.
After the call, those who had made major accusations engaged in character slander (P. and his supporters) claimed they had been personally harmed and demanded the defense committee begin the process of resolving the harm that local leadership had largely was the blame for. Even with this process happening, Chairman P. went behind the chapter’s and Defense Committee’s back and went to Nationals to update them of his side of things.
Immediate repression followed with the Minister of Education being removed from several chats as well as on social medias.
The following Thursday (5/30), National was invited onto our call with no prior notice. At this time, National Minister of Defense I. entered the call and as we did our normal check-in.
Once the meeting began I. took over the meeting, the chapter was told to save comments to the end and was not allowed to speak or create a stack so that members may be allowed to respond.
During this moment, all members who had been working to establish democracy and transparency within the chapter were read “infractions” that they committed and purged from the organization with no ability to speak for themselves. During the meeting, many members denounced what was happening. Since the call, multiple members have resigned in solidarity.
This document serves as a public call out against the leadership in the New Era Young Lords. NEYL have suppressed criticisms and created a hostile organizing environment where going against the friendship pacts in power would almost certainly end badly. We hold NEYL responsible for not taking serious the allegations against Carlito and patriarchy within the organization seriously. Leadership has turned away from organizing true people power and a movement that can liberate Puerto Rico. Leadership has largely focused on self memoirs and what kind of movies they can direct in the future about NEYL and has even gone as far to say that those that speak on “people power” sound like they’re from Judas and The Black Messiah and that they have personality disorders. In the same breath that they disrespect the people, they disrespect the legacy of Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and limit his revolutionary thoughts as only relevant to the 60’s.
We do call differentiation between NEYL leadership and NEYL general membership. We recognize many comrades who are sincere in their fight to free Puerto Rico, but we cannot achieve revolution and freedom for the island through the enemy system. We must come to the agreement that not all ideas are equal, and that some ideas lead us into bloody defeats while others lead us to revolution.
We invite any who are sincere to join us in our journey to push the Puerto Rican liberation struggle past our elders.
Carlito Rovira:
In 2022, it also became aware to the organization that a website exists entitled, carlitoroviraexposed.com, listing a number of recent allegations against a formal YLP member.
When this was found out, members tried to have it addressed. Members were met with a non-serious attitude regarding the issue. Members were told to investigate the matter fully and to not speak until we do so. Members were also told that these allegations were false, from the past, and that he was an elder which granted him the ability to be a Young Lord for life. Members were made aware that National Chairman would interview Carlito. Members from the Chicago Chapter advocated for this interview to be canceled however this never made it up the “chain of command” and the interview proceeded as normal.
In 2024 this topic would be brought back up as it would come to our attention that the NEYL paperwork states that one needs to be 18+ to join. This came into question as the Chicago chapter had two 17 year old’s inquire about being in the organization. Comrades noted that it would be irresponsible to bring young people into an organization that did not take seriously the allegations of a former Young Lord. In light of recent escalations in the chapter, comrades were made aware that national may be stepping into our weekly meeting to demand a meeting of those who had been accused of criticizing the organization. The three that were accused agreed that in order to engage in this meeting, Nationals would need to engage in an act of good faith and once and for all address the Carlito situation. Before these demands could be delivered, members were purged from the organization. The demands as they stood before the meeting are listed below.
Demands
Demands (Drafted before 5/30/24’s purging)
Note: these demands were not heard by NEYL Chicago or NEYL National
1) Vote of non-confidence:
The NEYL Chicago Chapter who have signed onto this document have collectively agreed to call for immediate elections following the recent agreement in the lack of faith in our local leadership. Our demands and criticisms extend further than the local structure, these demands serve to hold our leadership accountable for disregard to the collective as well as the blatant disregard for harboring a predator in organizational spaces. We must make the choice to call for a democratic structure that allows for us to progress forward on our goal to liberate Puerto Rico, or continue to allow an informal structure that impedes democracy to dominate the organization’s direction.
2) Removal of Carlito Rovira: Immediate, unconditional, unambiguous, and irretrievable expulsion of Carlito Rovira, similar to the recent expulsion of comrades, from NEYL and related revolutionary spaces.
3) Establishment of Democratic Centralism: Ensuring all voices are heard and decisions reflect the majority. The Central Committee has stifled the development of the organization, the Chicago Chapter in particular, by undermining the potential of individuals to resolve issues, design actions, and build rapport with Leadership.
4) Elected Leadership: Implementing elected positions in every chapter, including a National Minister of Education to lead comprehensive political education.
This program must be a comprehensive anti-colonial proletarian political education program and formal system of heavy ideological struggle to strengthen internationalist line; combat liberal-bourgeois actions, behaviors, values and ideas that reinforces colonialist-capitalistic violence and harm in patriarchy/machismo, anti-blackness, and other oppressive manifestations of class society and neo/colonialism; and study/take note of liberation struggles in not just Puerto Rico, but also Palestine, New Afrika, Aztlán, Philippines, Hawai’i, Guam, New Caledonia/Kanaky, Eritrea, Burkina Faso, Corsica, Grenada, Ireland, Kôngo, Sudan, Vietnam, Kurdistan and other internal working-class colonies inside the U.S. empire and oppressed nations/peoples of the world.
5. Accountability and transparency: Transparency must be prioritized at all times in decision-making for programs, mass work, events, etc., with the collective (incl. cadre) involved in a democratic vote; indefinite ceasing of suppression to criticisms creating the need for private conversations.
ADDRESSING THE CALRLITO SITUATION (DRAFTED BEFORE 5/30 PURGE)
- The undersigned members of the New Era Young Lords call for all of the following to rectify the long-unaddressed issue of Carlito Rovira having worked with and continuing to organize in the periphery of the New Era Young Lords. Allegations detailed here: https://carlitoroviraexposed.com
- An immediate public denunciation of Carlito Rovira as a serial sexual assaulter, posted by the national organization of the NEYL, citing the above evidence, within a week of this demand being delivered.
- Simultaneously with the above, memo sent to all organizations with which Carlito Rovira is organizing, including at minimum a formal recommendation to cut ties with Carlito Rovira over the unaddressed allegations.
- The immediate ban of Carlito Rovira from all NEYL events, and the blocking of Carlito Rovira from all national, local, and leadership organizational social media accounts to prevent him from publicly associating with us in any way.
- The immediate development and implementation of a national program of study to be undertaken by all NEYL members on the topic of patriarchy and oppression of women in american organizing, to the ends of rectifying the longstanding error of allowing Carlito Rovira to exist in the periphery of the NEYL, taking interviews from national leadership, to prevent such a situation from ever arising again. This program must start with the following works, but be much more comprehensive than this short list:
- Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: https://truthout.org/articles/why-misogynists-make-great-informants/
- On Standards of Feminist Conduct: http://web.archive.org/web/20201112004945/http://www.signalfire.org/2013/08/18/on-standards-of-feminist-conduct-cmlms/
Preliminary recommendations for additional readings are the selections from the “Women’s Liberation” and “Homosexuality and GLBT Liberation” sections of this list: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-8/index.htm
In addition to these demands, NEYL must take a much more critical look at the history of the original Young Lords and the work of the New Era, rather than mythologizing the actions and the elders of the YLO and YLP. For too long we have deferred our ability to develop new organizational strategy and sharpen our political analysis of current conditions in the united states and Puerto Rico to asking individual elders or attempting to recreate or enshrine the past.
It is not enough that Carlito Rovira is merely not technically a member, when he has continued to organize in the periphery of the NEYL and there are multiple interviews conducted in a semi-official capacity between him and the national chairman of the NEYL. This, combined with the outsize influence that those considered Elders of the Young Lords have over the organization, demands a serious, immediate, public response to these allegations, to protect our comrades and to take a principled stance on the sexual assault allegations that have not yet been spoken to publicly and only recently internally, despite the considerable amount of time that these allegations have been public.
All of this, again, to protect NEYL members from and to eliminate the male chauvinism present in the New Era Young Lords that has allowed this situation do develop, already caused schisms within the organization, alienated women and LGBT+ members, and threatens to undermine the organization in its entirety. For this reason, all of these demands, except for minor alterations to deadlines and the works to be included in the program of study, are non-negotiable with organizational leadership.
SIGNED BY : 10/18 members
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE:
1. A letter of criticism that was written by the Revolutionary Maoist Coalition and the Humboldt Park Resident Action Committee after an executive decision was made to bring organizations into a project that were not ready this level of communication. This oversight on behalf of NEYL leadership represented a large security risk as Mayors office would become aware of potential plans drafted by local organizers. (Internal)
2. Video interview conducted by National Chairman S. interviewing Carlito Rovira, YLP elder accused of grooming/SA (Public) –
3. carlitoroviraexposed.com (Public)
4. Local/National NEYL analysis (Internal)
5. NEYL DePaul Poster – DePaul funded and hosted events showcase a misalignment between goals and methods, using tokenism to mask deeper issues.(Public)
DePaul:
CARLITO INVOLVEMENT/ENDORSEMENT/CONTINUED USE OF NEYL NAME
Prior attempts to clarify the Rovira case
Due to sensitive nature of some material, some evidence will be held within a Cryptpad with restricted access, available on request only. To receive these resources, please email bori4r@proton.me
The Masses 