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Francisco Zarathustra, singer and guitarist of Yerba Buena Tribe, sang “La gente unidad jamás será vencida” (The people united will never be defeated) as he performed during the Day of the Dead celebration at the Fowler Museum.

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Jessica Grande’s spoken-word performance protested various governments’ mistreatment of its people during the Day of the Dead event in Fowler.

Red and black posters on wooden sticks were sprinkled along the Bruin Walk lawn this week to bring awareness to the missing people of Latin America, the theme of the Day of the Dead celebration hosted by conciencia libre, a campus group dedicated to social equality.

Traditionally, Mexicans celebrate and welcome back the souls of the dead by making calaveras, skull- shaped candy treats, and pan de muerto, bread of the dead, every year from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. The Day of the Dead celebration at UCLA included people of different heritages and carried a social and political message.

Over the weekend, conciencia libre members and jornaleros, day laborers, created the posters at the Downtown Community Job Center.

Short biographies accompanied the blown-up pictures of the disappeared in order to humanize the tragedy.

About 50 students and family members came together at the Fowler Museum on Wednesday night to take part in workshops, listen to spoken word and eat together.

The violation of civil liberties of Latin Americans over the last two decades, along with recent violations of U.S.-born Muslims and people of Middle Eastern dissent since Sept. 11 was the unifying theme of guest speakers.

“(Governments) think they can silence (protesters) down with threats and policies, but that’s not going to happen. We’re stronger than that,” said conciencia libre member Blanca Martinez, a third- year political science and international development studies student.

Special guest Nagwa Ibrahim from the Muslim Public Affairs Council spoke about the detainment of over 1,000 people, most of which were of Middle Eastern or South Asian decent, or Muslim, after Sept. 11 in the United States.

“The war against terrorism has been pursued by this administration at the expense of civil liberties at home and human rights of people abroad,” Ibrahim said.

Latin American dictatorships forcibly detained people during the last two decades, and the same tactics are being used here in the United States in the name of terrorism, she said.

“It’s a human rights issue that we as Americans have to care about, either if it’s happening in this country or if it happened in Latin America,” she said.

The celebration also included a theater performance by conciencia libre members that educated the audience while providing comic relief.

One play poked fun at the recent LAX raids of domestic flights in which passengers were asked for proper identification and illegal immigrants were deported back to their countries.

“The main message of the event was to stop racial profiling in the U.S. through comedy but also through straight facts and political means,” Martinez said.

During the intermission, students ate Salvadorean food and members of Raza Womyn, a campus service group, sold and displayed their art.

UCLA transfer students showed they were activists through their spoken word performances.

“Soy poeta y no me dejo porque no soy pendejo (I’m a poet and I don’t restrain myself because I’m not stupid),” said first-year UCLA transfer student Jessica Grande.

Grande came to the United States from El Salvador when she was five. She explained her poem was not intended to entertain, but rather to empower young people and to serve as a testament to the disappeared, like poets that speak up against the governments that take away their basic rights.

The cumbia and raggea beats of the Yerba Buena Tribe, an East Los Angeles band, invited all who attended to get out of their seats to dance and have fun at the end of a long day of building political consciousness.

Fifth-year Chicana/o studies student Francisco Zarathustra and Armando Ibarra, lead singers of Yerba Buena, energized the diverse crowd with their songs.

“We’re not all from the same origins but we’re all together celebrating life and death,” said fourth-year women’s studies and sociology student Cristina Lopez, also a member of conciencia libre. “Let’s continue to support each other.”

MEChA de UCLA, LASA, MSA, Amnesty International and the Community Programs Office, along with others, collaborated with conciencia libre to organize this year’s Day of the Dead event.