(Vincent) Tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your background and how did you end up in Chicago?

(Byron) Well, I Came to Chicago over twelve years ago, after I finished high school and college in Tennessee. Then, I came to Chicago with my family. We met up with other family members who lived in Pilsen, which has been my home ever since.

Once I finished college, I wanted to live in a place where there was a large Latino community. And I wanted diversity. Chicago was the place for that. Tennessee was not. Chicago’s progressive political culture was attractive to me and I wanted to start doing political work, so I thought the city was a good place to start.

What were your first impressions of Chicago?

Immediately, I saw many parallels between Chicago and Ecuador. In the late-1990s, there was a major financial collapse after decades of neoliberal policies. There was hyper-inflation and we had to change currency. The major banks closed and took all the capital with them. Virtually every service was privatized. Everyone’s savings were gone. Their wealth was destroyed.

I saw the same things happening in Chicago: privatizing schools, shutting down public schools, closing mental health facilities, etc. Obviously, charter schools do not work. Privatizing health services do not work. But that’s how the system operates: greed has no limits. We must always keep that in mind.

What is the role of the government in these crises, both in Chicago and Ecuador?

In Ecuador, a country of 13 million, over one million left as a result of the financial collapse. The state was absolutely destroyed. Correa’s government has been rebuilding those public services — basic services, really. A lot of people call this revolution, but we just call it good government.

For those of us who have seen the state dismantled, we don’t understand these false narratives that the government is the problem. The real problem is the absence of government. Who is going to provide these services? Sometimes the people can provide these services, but that’s very rare. Usually the state has to provide these services, and it should.

This is why I became involved with Bernie’s campaign: to reclaim government. The message is clear. I’m an immigrant and this campaign has inspired me to be more vocal, and I’m already a vocal person. Immigrants, my people, our people, are hurt most by these neoliberal policies. People of color are hurt most, even poor White people.

In the end, it’s in the best interest of the American people to organize. And it’s better for everyone around the world when Americans organize. We’ve seen some of this in Latin America: what happens in the U.S. has ripple effects throughout the world. If the U.S. economy collapses, the world is hurt, and more than likely the least privileged.

What do you think about Bernie’s relationship to the U.S. Empire and the connection between economic colonialism and imperialism?

From what I can tell, Sanders doesn’t want intervention. That’s what the problem has been for so long: never-ending interventions, especially in places such as Latin America. Those interventions not only hurt people abroad, they hurt people here in the U.S. All of this money for wars, but no money for basic services.

Bernie has been making an interesting point. During the debates he has challenged Clinton on regime change. Now, Hillary loves regime change. She is militaristic. That should scare Latinos who are thinking of voting for her. A vote for Clinton guarantees more militarism in Latin America and around the globe.

Of course, for many Latinos, a path to citizenship is very important. However, a lot of Latinos remember what the U.S. has done throughout Latin America. They are victims of these policies. It’s the reason many of us have been forced to migrate. And it’s not only the regime change policies of people like Clinton, it’s also the trade agreements. Both Democrats and Republicans alike have destroyed Latin American nations.

Poor trade agreements, like NAFTA and the TPP, keep subsidizing products like agriculture, putting Latin American farmers at a disadvantage. Hence, farmers migrate north. Trade agreements have also harmed people here in the US as well. It’s terrible for everyone involved, except those in power.

In Ecuador, we used to have a military base that we had to accept as a part of the economic intervention deal we made when we lost our national currency. When the U.S. said, “Hey, the IMF and World Bank will help you, it’s always going to be bad. Those deals always come with strings attached.

The U.S. has always had an imperialistic vision to expand in the region. Many Latinos see this as a lost of sovereignty. They now these issues are connected. Economic and military intervention go hand and hand.

In many ways, that’s why a lot of Latinos living in Illinois support Bernie. It’s not only immigration reform and the obvious issues, but also his views on military intervention, economic inequality, the political system, democracy and so forth.

The Chicago Reader recently published an article that suggests the biggest voting gap in Chicago is not between Whites and people of color, but between Latinos and Blacks. What do you think about this racial dynamic? Why have Latinos gravitated towards Bernie’s campaign at a greater rate than Blacks who live in Chicago? These divides were also present during the mayoral election between Chuy Garcia and Rahm Emanuel.

The ability to really spark a political and social movement relies on our ability to integrate and unify working class and poor people — the most vulnerable. In Chicago, by design, Casino Capitalism works in the opposite way, unfortunately. Historic housing policies play a role.

Also, big money can buy political consciousness. It’s terrible to say, but big money has the power to divide people. Rahm does this extremely well. Remember, he had over 23 million dollars to spend on ads and the like. None of this was done without a strategy. The plan is to keep Latinos and black communities separated.

Plus, we have to recognize that a lot of people, not just White people, think that Latinos have taken all the jobs. At the same time, it’s the politicians like Clinton and Emanuel who have dismantled the manufacturing sector in places like Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

Money also buys political consciousness in churches as well. Sometimes these institutions can be very corrupt, especially in a city like Chicago. These tensions and divisions go back a long time.

How can these communities move forward? What are your suggestions?

We need good leadership. That’s a very important piece of the puzzle. We need to put egos aside. We need to create a movement on behalf of our communities. For me, the saddest thing to see is Latino leaders sell out to Rahm. And it’s the same with the African American leaders. We need to create a movement of consciousness and values. And many of these so-called leaders do not have the consciousness or values we require to create more democratic and tolerant neighborhoods and cities.

Further, we must stop polarizing each other. I was happy to be involved with the Bernie campaign. No one asked me to be involved. No one from the campaign begged me. I knew it was the right thing to do and Bernie’s campaign matches my political values, so that’s why I became involved.

I will say that many African American leaders weren’t included. They weren’t called by the campaign and many that’s a problem. I think the assumption was that they were already in the Clinton camp.

But it’s the job of organizers and activists to convince people. It’s great to have all these White progressives and a good portion of the Latino community working together. It’s great. However, we have a very diverse city and we need political movements and parties to reflect that diversity.

Honestly, we should have this sort of dialogue all the time, not just during elections, which is often what happens. But political movements take time, a long time in my cases.

Overall, do you think the Sanders campaign has helped local movements in Chicago?

A lot of this coercion happens when big money is involved in the political system. This is true in Chicago and the broader U.S. Bernie has been good about talking about this. Big money can intervene in a serious way. It’s impossible to find good representation with that sort of money and power being thrown around.

I think Bernie has moved us a littler further in the right direction. The same was true with Chuy’s campaign. Yes, the mayoral race in Chicago was very sectarian, very divided among race and ethnicity and class, and the same is true with the Democratic Primary, but there are openings.

The state’s attorney race was interesting in that way. A lot of people were against Alvarez, a Latina. That race brought communities together. People of color were interacting and debating these issues.

In our community, the message was, “Sure, Anita Alvarez is a Latina, but what has she done for our community? What is she doing for Black communities?” We had leaders who are willing to speak about these issues and that’s an important step in creating bonds between African American and Latino communities.

What do you think about alternative political parties? Do you think starting a new party in Chicago could mobilize people, or should a new party, or parties, organically grow from grassroots movements?

I’m not sure which one comes first. I don’t think of it that way. I’m more interested in seeing these things happen simultaneously. In Chicago, we aren’t battling the Republicans – we’re battling the Democrats. That’s the starting point for us. And in this way, Sanders helps. Yes, he runs as a Democrat but his campaign allows us to talk to our community members about socialism and that’s a good thing.

One of the things I like about the Aldermanic races is that they are open races. People can run as Independents or whatever they wish. After all, we want to talk about the issues instead of talking about parties. This nonsense about parties vs. parties is a distraction. We want to elevate the discussion.

In Pilsen, we’re organizing around investment in education — public education. We’re talking about money in politics, policing, immigration rights, economic inequality and the deportations, which destroy families and communities.

In Pilsen, we’ve seen the funneling to money to nonsense projects, but not for essential services. To the extent that we are able to connect these things, we can elect a wave of progressive alderman and women. That would be an important step to take for the city. We used to have four progressives on the city council. Today, we have eleven, with more contested races than at any other time in recent memory.

You have to remember that we’ve had uncontested races in Chicago and with the Democratic Party for so long that it’s going to take a long time to correct these things. If we want to see radical change in the long-term in a place like Chicago, it has to come from a third party system or independents. The Democrats in Chicago are beholden to big money interests.

What about some of the work you do outside of electoral politics? I know you ran for Alderman of the 25th Ward. Unfortunately Danny Solis, a Democratic Machine candidate won, yet you’re constantly involved.

Hey man, 365 days a year we advocate and represent the poor and working class. The Pilsen Alliance is about empowering and educating future Latino and Latina leaders. And it’s a pleasure to be heading the organization right now.

We primarily organize around affordable housing and education. We have a job fair coming up. We want more representation of Latinos in the entire city of Chicago. People need living-wage jobs: basic survival. Furthermore, we want to see more community organizers, more leaders, more public representatives. We want to be in the business of creating organizers.

Our work isn’t just in the political sphere. It’s day to day organizing that never stops. Gentrification is a huge problem, or what we like to call Displacement, because people are being purposely displaced.

How do we develop alternative policies? We need grassroots movements and electoral movements to create a public sector that helps the poor and working class. It’s that simple for us.

Education is a daily operation for us. We’re constantly educating our community, holding events, both cultural and political. Our people need more housing options. We want environmental justice and workers rights.

For instance, on April 1st we’re going to shut down the city of Chicago. Trying to shut down a major city and cause disruptions is a very important task. It’s where a lot of our power lies. And it’s hard work. There is no question about it. This work is difficult, but worthwhile.

We know it’s possible to create new cities, new spaces for human development, not just economic development for the rich.

Any final reflections or thoughts?

Overall, as an Ecuadorian-American, I’m happy to see a movement with the Correa government in Ecuador. They are doing good things. Sure, I have critiques, but that’s how politics works. It’s good to see these same trends with other progressive governments in Latin America: Bolivia, Venezuela, and so on.

For me, I have to be part of politics, of political movements. Politics is the reason I left my home country, so this is my way to contribute to my new community in Chicago and the U.S. I have to honor my values. What kind of person would I be to not be involved?

I can tell you that a lot of people in Pilsen are organized. We had the highest turnout rate in a ward with a Hispanic plurality – over 60% voted for Sanders. This was the result of a variety of things, but mainly because we’re organized and educate people.

When people heard Bernie first talk about free tuition and public education at university and a government for the people, people in the 25th Ward recognized the message because we’ve been talking about the same things. People in this community are smart. They understand the issues.

In the 25th Ward, we saw a big problem with Wall Street funding Clinton’s campaign, whereas Sanders was receiving small donations. That resonated with people here.

I’m optimistic. I see things getting better, at least from the perspective of an organizer, I see things changing and fast. We have new state representatives and a new State’s Attorney. We see people finally challenging the Chicago Democratic Machine and that’s great. People have been intimidated for a long time in this city. But now, the progressive base is growing.

Byron Sigcho is a community organizer who lives and works in the Pilsen Neighborhood, on Chicago’s Southwest Side. He is the Executive Director of the Pilsen Alliance and the co-founder of the Spanish Literacy Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2015, he ran against the Democratic Machine candidate, Danny Solis in the 25th Ward.

Vincent Emanuele is a writer and activist. He can be reached at [email protected]

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