Latin American Solidarity Committee

The University of Michigan Latin American Solidarity Committee (L.A.S.C.) was formed in 1981 by students. Their common goals were to support the struggles of Latin American peoples against repressive and authoritarian political regimes, and to encourage the establishment of democratic government in Latin American countries. To this end, the committee endeavored to increase awareness of contemporary political and social realities in Latin America, and to pressure the United States government to change its military, political, and economic policies with regard to the region.

Predecessor and, to a certain extent, parent to the Latin American Solidarity Committee was the radical, Boston-based Science for the People. The group's interests centered on the political aspects of science, and the effects of science on the lives of people around the world. The Ann Arbor chapter of Science for the People was formed in 1974 by seven graduate students and faculty in biology at the University of Michigan. A central figure in the organization and activities of the chapter was Biology Professor John Vandermeer.

The activities of the Ann Arbor chapter of Science for the People took place on three levels. First, the group was involved in national-level discussions of issues, and provided ideas for the organization of Science for the People at the national level. "Internal Discussion Bulletins" and National Conferences were the major forum for this exchange of ideas. Second, the chapter was involved in activities at the regional level. These included participating in midwest regional conferences, sitting on regional coordinating committees and editorial collectives, as well as producing special issues of the national magazine, Science for the People. Third, the chapter sponsored activities locally. Activity groups were formed to discuss and analyze specific issues/topics in science and technology (e.g.--sexism in science, nuclear policy, and recombinant DNA) and to act on these analyses, if they felt so compelled. Other local activities included general meetings, a film series, and a 1976 Symposium on Biological Determinism, which spawned a mini-course and a book entitled Biology as a Social Weapon (available at the University of Michigan Natural Sciences Library).

One of the more active groups in Science for the People was the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) Support Group. Formed as a Science for the People activity group in 1977, the FLOC Support Group became semi-autonomous and aligned its activities with those of the national FLOC organization, based in Toledo, Ohio. The Ann Arbor group was started with the idea that the resources of the University of Michigan could be used to help FLOC start a migrant workers' health clinic and to aid in FLOC's corporate relations. However, most of the group's activity involved becoming familiar with the plight of migrant farmworkers in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and providing practical support for the Toledo organization mainly through the use of publicity. The Ann Arbor group was primarily interested in the use of pesticides and their effects on the health of farm workers, and they helped produce pamphlets which served to inform the workers of the potential dangers of pesticides.

Both the University of Michigan Science for the People chapter and the FLOC Support Group actively participated in a nationwide boycott of the Campbell Soup and Libby's companies beginning in 1979. The boycott was a response to the companies' apparent failure to recognize the rights of farmworkers to engage in collective bargaining. The boycott persisted until 1986, when FLOC's Toledo office reached a contract agreement with the companies.

After 1986, the two local groups became moribund. L.A.S.C., which grew out of their activities and co-existed with them for several years, continues to be active.

From the guide to the Latin American Solidarity Committee Records, 1970-1989, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)