Enviro-Marxists join forces with Latino Marxists.

Earth Day Network (EDN), the militant environmental organization headed by Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes, is joining with radical Hispanic groups to co-host a National Latino Congress on Public Policy and Political Participation, September 6-10, in Los Angeles. Hayes, who began his enviro-activism in the Rockefeller-created Worldwatch Institute, now, in addition to EDN, also heads the Bullitt Foundation, which lavishes grants on leftist green causes.

One of Hayes' objectives over the past decade has been to broaden the demographic of the revolutionary green movement beyond its core constituency of white yuppies and hippies. To that end he has recruited the usual tax-exempt foundations--Ford, Rockefeller, Hewlett, Tides, MacArthur, et al.--to fund efforts aimed at recruiting leaders of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American organizations into the radical environmental agenda, even though the negative impact of the regulatory and tax consequences of that agenda will disproportionately harm those ethnic groups. Jesse Jackson was one of the early black activists to jump on the green bandwagon. But Hayes and company have long realized the powerful political potential of the swelling U.S. Hispanic population.

"This bold initiative will broaden, diversify and ultimately strengthen the U.S. Latino movement, particularly the environmental and health movement, by incorporating the priorities and enlisting the support of the Latino community--the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S.," said Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers, in the EDN's announcement of the National Latino Congress. "Of special interest is mobilizing the Latino community and political leaders on climate change and the health consequences of environmental pollution."

Among the organizations joining to launch the National Latino Congress are the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP).