Claudia De la Cruz: Education, Activism, and Political Journey

Claudia De la Cruz is a prominent figure known for her roles as a mother, educator, community organizer, and theologian. She has actively participated in various projects, organizations, and social movements, striving to connect diverse groups in the pursuit of justice. De la Cruz's journey began in the South Bronx, where she was raised by immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic, influenced by the Black and Caribbean working-class communities of the Bronx and Washington Heights during the 1980s and 90s.

Early Life and Awakening of Class Consciousness

From an early age, Claudia De la Cruz questioned the conditions of poverty, violence, and oppression prevalent in her neighborhood. These early observations and experiences served as her introduction to working-class consciousness. At the age of 13, she began her political organizing work at her home church, Iglesia Episcopal Santa Maria (later the Iglesia San Romero de Las Américas-UCC), grounding her work on principles of liberation theology. Her early activism included advocating against the blockade against Cuba, for the freedom of Palestine, and against police terror.

Education and Youth Leadership

De la Cruz's commitment extended to her work with youth and young adults. While completing her studies at the City University of New York (CUNY), she coordinated Palenque, a project that brought together teenagers from across the city to study histories of struggles and resistance through popular education, arts, and culture. In 2003, she participated in mobilizing youth from this program, along with church and community members to participate in rallies against the war in Iraq, including the historic mass marches in Washington, D.C.

In 2004, while working at a community-based organization in Washington Heights, Claudia, along with a group of four teenage women, co-founded and directed Da Urban Butterflies (DUB). DUB was a youth leadership development project and center for young women from the Washington Heights community and the Bronx to build sisterhood, learn histories of struggle and resistance, and engage in collective action for justice. For 13 years, DUB was a space where young women were able to learn about collective action and struggle, organize study circles, summer programs, conferences, summits, rallies, cultural festivals, participated in solidarity brigades, as well as build coalitions and collaborations.

Claudia completed seminary in 2007 and became the pastor of her home-church, Iglesia San Romero de Las Américas-UCC. In her commitment to sustain such a significant space for solidarity, internationalism, working-class politics, culture, and values-grounded on the faith, principles, and traditions of liberation theology and grassroots organizing-she served the church in her position as pastor for eight years.

The People's Forum and International Solidarity

Most recently, she has served as the Co-Executive Director and co-founder of The People’s Forum in New York City-a political education space and cultural home for working-class organizers, leaders, and intellectuals from all over the country, and around the world. In her role at The People’s Forum, Claudia continued her work towards building internationalism and people-to-people solidarity. She has led and participated in numerous international gatherings and events all over the world. Claudia has been a key convener of groups and social movements, and a contributor to the overall conception and development of political education and cultural programming.

Political Involvement and 2024 Presidential Campaign

Claudia De la Cruz has been actively involved in political campaigns and ran for President of the United States in 2024. Running with a steadfast conviction that we must build political organizations and a mass movement independent from the two-party system of the ruling class, she aimed to uplift the demands and needs of the people.

Key Platform Points

De la Cruz's campaign focused on several key issues:

Economic Transformation: She advocated for transforming the economy from a capitalist model to a socialist one, prioritizing the growth and development of humanity as a whole over private interests. She proposed seizing the 100 largest corporations in America from their billionaire owners and turning them into public property to guarantee basic needs such as healthcare, education, childcare, affordable rent, and a living wage.
Climate Crisis: De la Cruz emphasized the need to urgently transform the way we produce energy, grow food, and move around the world to deal with the disastrous effects of the climate crisis, replacing the capitalist economic system with socialist economic planning.
Foreign Policy: She called for an end to the new Cold War against China and Russia, the abolition of the NATO military alliance and AFRICOM, and the lifting of cruel economic sanctions imposed on countries around the world. She also demanded an end to aid to apartheid Israel.
Political Reform: De la Cruz aimed to outlaw corporate lobbying, ban politicians from serving on corporate boards after leaving office, and publicly finance all campaigning to prevent millionaires and billionaires from buying elections.

Campaign Highlights

During her 2024 presidential campaign, De la Cruz and her running mate, Karina Garcia, sought to restore power to the working class. They aimed to end politicians’ ability to serve on corporate boards while in office and make all political campaigns financed publicly to end large donations by billionaires by ending Super PACs.

Latine Representation

Claudia de la Cruz and Karina Garcia are the only Latinas to run for the presidency in United States history. Their campaign aimed to restore power to the people by encouraging “youth climate corps, neighborhood associations, student groups, unions, [and] civic organizations” in order to find solutions within the government. Additionally, they planned on getting rid of current systems of incarceration and replacing them with “a justice system aimed at rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.”

Read also: Understanding UCSC Costs

Palestine Solidarity

De la Cruz and Garcia’s campaign fully supported Palestinian liberation. aid to Israel. They also “demand an end to the repression and intimidation of pro-Palestine protesters.”

Addressing Voters

De la Cruz emphasized her working-class background and lifelong activism, stating that the two major parties do not address the questions of violence in our communities, access to healthcare, or the burden of student loans. She highlighted a Princeton University report indicating that public opinion equates zero to the development of policy in this country, with the corporate agenda being the driving force.

Controversies and Criticisms

Claudia De la Cruz has faced controversies and criticisms related to her political views, particularly concerning her stance on Israel and Palestine. She has been described as glorifying Hamas terrorism, expressing support for terrorists, equating Israel with Nazi Germany, and spreading hatred of Israel and America.

Allegations of Anti-Semitism

Some of De la Cruz's statements and actions have been interpreted as anti-Semitic, including her use of the phrase "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free," which is seen by some as calling for the elimination of the State of Israel. She has also been criticized for retweeting posts that celebrate individuals associated with terrorist organizations, such as Leila Khaled and Khalida Jarrar.

Defense and Context

De la Cruz and her supporters argue that her criticisms are directed at the policies of the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians, rather than at Jewish people in general. They maintain that supporting Palestinian liberation and criticizing Israeli policies is not inherently anti-Semitic.

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