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Puerto Rican Solidarity Day
This bilingual broadcast of Puerto Rican Solidarity Day features Bay Area and international activists shedding light on the history of US and Spanish domination of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican resistance, the movement for independence, and the connections of those struggles with the struggles of oppressed people throughout the world. The event begins with the comical, yet serious play by Bay Area Grupo Claridad and Mexican Grupo Zapilote portraying how indigenous Puerto Ricans have been exploited and manipulated in the past by the colonial Spanish conquerors and in the present by United States politicians and oil, coffee, and sugar tycoons. The groups convey the message that in spite of this foreign domination, Puerto Ricans have maintained a rich tradition of spiritual, cultural, and political resistance that will continue until Puerto Rico is free.
A quick interlude showcases the Puerto Rican National Anthem sung by Lolado Rodriguez, followed by an introductory political and economic history lesson and statement of solidarity with the Puerto Rican Independence Movement by organizer Ruth Rodriguez. Rodriguez highlights
the industrialization of Latin America, Puerto Rican unemployment, militarism, cultural genocide, and the struggle of Puerto Rican political prisoners. Enrique Valle Ester of Sopelote then sings two Mexican folk songs illustrating Latin American resistance to U.S. imperialism. The event is concluded with a speech on the connections of the American Indian Movement to the Puerto Rican freedom movement, by one of the
original founders of the American Indian Movement, the Red School House, and the Freedom School for Native American Children, Eddie Sounding Voice Benton.
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