[News] Major Social Upheaval Takes Place in Puerto Rico
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Oct 1 11:45:02 EDT 2009
Major Social Upheaval Takes Place in Puerto Rico
"El Tipo Comun" (The Common Guy, Roberto Garcia),
from <http://primerahora.com/>primerahora.com, sept 30, 2009
The unsuspecting governor, smack
in the middle of an important press conference,
missed being hit by a projectile by mere
inches. The projectile? Not a bullet, but an
egg. Were unsure if it was a nationally
produced Puerto Rican egg or an imported American
egg. Nonetheless, an outraged citizen calling
himself The Common Guy interrupted the press
conference by screaming in outrage at governor
Luis Fortuno and throwing a slider that landed on
a sign highlighting a new development project the
governor was announcing. As officers locked the
man in a bear hug and carted him off and as the
press swarmed this Common Guy, many things became
suddenly clear. For starters, the Common Guy has
poor aim. But in addition, his public display of
resistance is not only transcendental for its raw
expression of pain and anger, but is also
symbolic and representative of everyones
frustration and open outrage at the turn of events on the island.
Puerto Rico is witnessing the kind of social,
economic, and political upheaval not witnessed in
decades. This week, the government- the largest
employer on the island - laid off close to 17,000
workers, in its 2nd phase of downsizing that was
initiated in May of this year, with the release
of around 5,000 workers. Over 20,000 government
employees have lost their jobs in a matter of
months. Considering the fact that Puerto Rico s
unemployment rate is around 16%, it is obvious
that the island continues to confront a serious
economic crisis. Government officials contend
that they inherited a bankrupt government from
previous administrations along with a huge debt
load. They are scrambling to prevent their
credit ratings to be classified in the lowest of
categories: the junk rating. In order to do so,
they passed a law declaring a fiscal emergency,
and part of the fiscal restructuring taking place
is the downsizing of the government work force.
This, however, also takes place against a
backdrop of other sorts. Incidents of police
abuse are being denounced at an increasing rate
across the island, with a recent incident
involving university students targeted and
attacked with batons and indiscriminate use of
tear gas by the police. Squatter communities
(also known as developers of rescued lands) have
recently been targeted by the conservative
administration; these interventions have also
been characterized by the use of force against
women and children. Part of the fiscal emergency
response has been to declare the end of gains won
by collective bargaining agreements, drawing a
sharp outcry from the union sector. Opposition
political parties called for a larger burden to
be held by the rich and by large corporations,
only to be rebuked by the administration that has
gone ahead with cost of life increases in basic
services and with layoffs which mostly affect the
ever-shrinking middle class. The conservative
administration also censured several books by
renowned authors in the islands schools, a deed
met with fierce opposition. The main political
parties continue to squabble publicly about
future political roles and future candidates for
office, and opposition parties either have no
presence or struggle against marginalization by
news media. Independence advocates in September
commemorated their most holiest of anniversaries
in remembrance of a historical insurrection in
1868 and of the 2005 FBI murder of revolutionary
leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios, with calls of unity,
revolution, and struggle with those
affected. And to top it off, the governor signed
an executive order authorizing the use of the
National Guard to quell public disturbances and
deal with national emergencies.
Even the outlawed anti-colonial guerrillas Los
Macheteros re-appeared and issued a statement on
September 23 calling for struggle and for
solidarity with the affected working class.
The union movement has now taken center stage
and has declared a national strike for October
15, 2009. Union leaders are publicly expressing
that if some of the more painful measures like
layoffs - are not rolled back, they will move
ahead with a general strike, bringing the country
to a complete halt in order to force the government to change course.
The general public, alarmed by the turn of
events, finds comic relief in the egg-sistence of
amusing public displays of anger expressed
towards the person blamed for several social
crises: the governor. The administration,
however, is deeply worried. Aside from losing
the next election, they know that the seeds of a
general insurrection are being sowed:
unemployment, discontent, desperation, and
fear. In light of the disturbing developments on
the island, including the ever climbing crime &
suicide rates, the general public, or the Common
Guy, has reached a level of tension that is culminating in direct action.
Simply put, the common person in Puerto Rico is
tired of being abused by their government. It is
no eggs-aggeration to conclude that something is
amiss in Puerto Rico and to wonder where this
social upheaval will lead to. In the interim,
the Common Guy will continue to look for simple ways to fight back.
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20091001/2b163cb1/attachment.htm>
More information about the News
mailing list