Puerto Rico Gettin' Politricked

Let me preface this by saying, I believe in democracy, regardless of how flawed it can be and regardless of what version of it we practice here in this country. I also believe in every person's right to self-determination and agency that allows them to choose and direct their own paths. That view, I know, is directly informed and influenced by having been born and raised in the States.

So I post this article below s a public service announcement...

I'm not much for cutting and pasting other people's work on my own blog, but I felt like the only way to do this topic justice was to allow people to read it for themselves. My sister brought this piece to my attention and it touched a serious nerve. Yesterday morning I sat and read various news articles about which way Puerto Rican voters would sway during this weekend's upcoming primary, I immediately thought it was a cruel exercise in futility. How do you allow a group of people to vote on a potential nominee in a contest that they ultimately can not participate in? Although our island-born gente are American citizens by birth, they are not permitted to vote in Presidential elections. So in essence you're telling me that they get to pick who runs, but not ultimately who runs the country they are umbilically tied to? Riiiiiighhhhhhtttt...cuz that makes a whole lot of sense. Check out the commentary below..feel free to share your opinions...can't wait to hear what folks have to say.


May 27, 2008


http://www.counterpunch.org/alarcon05272008.html
An Insulting Spectacle
Puerto Rico's Turn

By RICARDO ALARCÓN de QUESADA

On June 1, primary elections will be held in Puerto Rico. For that reason, politicians and journalists will travel to the island to pay to it an attention they never paid before and to turn their visit into part of the spectacle of marketing of politics that in the United States is called "democracy." In this case, however, the spectacle becomes insulting.

The Democratic candidates will compete there for the favor of voters who are not part of U.S. society and therefore have no vote in the U.S. general elections next November. In theory, Puerto Ricans can decide who the Democratic candidate will be but cannot vote for him, or her, or the Republican rival, or any other candidate to the presidency of the United States.

Once the farce is concluded, politicians and journalists will pack their bags and go away, not to deal again with Puerto Rico for the next four years. Once again, they'll try to ignore the interests and aspirations of its noble and generous people.

This time, however, it won't be so easy. The following week, on June 9, the United Nations' Committee on Decolonization will again discuss Puerto Rico's status, as it has done every year since 1972. Many voices have been raised there, and in other U.N. entities, to demand that the United States put an end to its colonial regime and return to the Puerto Rican people the right to decide their fate, a right that was wrested from them more than a century ago.

It was not necessary to travel to another country to hear that demand. It was repeated, one summer after another, for more than three decades, from the skyscraper on Manhattan's First Avenue, in the heart of New York. But the major U.S. media and its politicians pretended not to notice.

This year, their disdain will be a bit more difficult. Before the Committee will speak representatives from the whole of Puerto Rican society, including representatives of all the parties and political movements on the island, along with the Socialist Internationale and the Conference of Political Parties of Latin America (COPPAL), which brings together the main parties in the continent, including several parties that now are governments.

They will raise a petition for the U.N. General Assembly to discuss in depth the case of Puerto Rico, as we unanimously agreed at the International Conference of Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence, which we held in Panama in 2006 and reiterated this year in Mexico. In the name of all those who participated in those two events, Dr. Rodrigo Borja, former President of Ecuador, will address the Committee.

This Latin American demand echoes the one made in Havana in 2006 by the chiefs of state and government of the nonaligned countries.

Latin America is living through a new era, and Puerto Rico is not absent from it. Its turn, Puerto Rico's turn, is very near. It is coming much faster than some people in the North, drunk with demagoguery and ignorance, think.

Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada is Cuba's Vice President and President of its National Assembly.

Random Fun Facts

I love history. Whether that's because it allows me to understand myself or the world around me, I find it endlessly intriguing. I get abnormally excited when I pick up a new fact or piece of information about a topic I once knew nothing about or better yet I thought I knew alot about. I especially like sharing the information I've picked up with those around me. So much so that my coworkers and friends have come to call me "The History/Discovery Channel." So in the spirit of sharing knowledge, I'll be posting random fun facts for your reading pleasure about any number of things. I'll start with my favorite topic, mi patria, Puerto Rico.

So...

P.R. Fun Fact #21:

The island of Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain in the 1500s. But due to a push from criollos born on the island for greater independence, Spain gave the island autonomy in 1897. But the Spanish-American War ended their autonomy within months when the U.S. landed in Guanica and installed a military government. The Treaty of Paris made it official when PR was "ceded" to the U.S. All this transpired on an island that was viewed as autonomous by its original colonizers. Thanks Madre Espana!

Oh, Technology

So I need to vent for a minute...something I don't like doing on here. But tell me why it's taken me MONTHS to get back into my own freakin' blog? All of these partnerships that companies create (you can only use our service if you get an email with this company, etc.etc.) Huh? What if I don't want to? What do I do then? I've got enough free emails, memberships to various "free" services (read=I want to use your info to send you more email about services you likely don't need) and password/username combinations to remember without being badgered to remember another one that I'm just gonna forget I have. Grrrrr...

Please feel free to discuss...