I am posting the following letter from Robin because she's done some good research in tracking down academic work and primary sources on NATLFED entities.
Rico,
If you feel it is appropriate you are welcom to post the following:Below is a list of some information sources about Natlfed which I think most people would call neutral viewpoint sources. I put this together as there has been an ongoing dispute over the Natlfed wikipedia article on what sources are neutral. Most firsthand accounts that are available on-line have been dismissed as biased. In addition, information from scholars who are active in writings or groups that oppose and/or expose destructive cults has also been dismissed as biased. Many news articles have been dismissed in the wikipedia discussions as sensationalist. I do not necessarily agree with these characterizations, but none the less think that the following sources should be brought to light as they are written under either academic or journalistic standards, or parts of their content can be argued as objective.Academic Resources:“What About Texas? The Forgotten Cause of Antonio Orendain and the Rio Grande Valley Farm Workers 1966-1982”, Timothy Paul Bowman, May 2005, Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History. Available at:This is a paper that has alot of research behind it. I find it notable in that it does not mention TFWU as ever being part of natlfed and does not mention Gino Perente as ever being an organizer with TFWU."The Sociologist Looks at Communit y Organizing, A Field Study with the California Homemakers Association", Joyce Burris Shupe, 1976, Project, Submitted in partial satisfaction ofthe requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Sociology, California State University at Sacramento.If someone has access to databases of university theses and dissertations you can probably get a copy of this. I believe the author is now a professor at Cal State in Sacramento. I emailed her to see if I could get permission to share the dissertation with others and she never replied. Copyright laws prevent me from putting the copy I have on-line. It gives you facts and a flavor of the early days of CHA.“Families Who Wait for Natlfed Survivors”, Sarah Bollinger, 1996, Supervised by Craig Wolff, Columbia University. Again, I have been unable to contact the author to get permission to share this on-line. In addition, it mentions the names of several families and natlfed cadre so I’m not sure I would even if I could get permission.“La Causa in the East: Stony Brook University and the Long Island Farmworkers”, Charlotta Beavers, HIS 422 – Dr. Klubock, Spring 2007.This was shared through the Natlfed Yahoo group by Mitch Cohen who was one of the people interviewed for the paper. I do not have the author’s permission to publish it on-line. It details the history of Stonybrook student's participation in the struggle of farm workers on Long Island and including the beginnings of EFWA as well as the history of the UFWOC boycott. It was also well researchedThere are numerous articles in the New York Times during the late 60s and early 70s on UFWOC and farm workers in Long Island. They are perhaps notable in that they do not mention Gino Perente and put other names to acts which Perente claimed credit to. I can provide a list to anyone interested.There is a site with firsthand participant essays on the work of UFWOC at: http://www.farmworkermovement.org/ . There are a number of firsthand accounts of the NYC boycott and work in Texas. They are again notable in that they do not mention Gino Perente or any natlfed cadre.There are FBI files on Gino Perente and Natlfed available on-line which are notable for what they say about the FBIs involvement or non-involvement and the raid in 1984. The content may not be viewpoint neutral but the fact that they exist and are viewpoint neutral material on what the FBI did and did not do is (in my humble opinion).
Robin Fahlberg