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Vol. 80/No. 39 October 17, 2016
(front page, Socialist Workers Party statement)
Socialist Workers Party backs independence fight
Below is a message delivered by Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party
candidate for U.S. president, at the Sept. 23 Grito de Lares celebration
in Lares, Puerto Rico, in support of independence from U.S. colonial
rule. Kennedy led a nine-day SWP fact-finding and solidarity visit to
the island.
It is an honor to join you here today for the Grito de Lares. The
Socialist Workers Party in the United States stands shoulder to shoulder
with you and extends our solidarity to all those fighting for an end to
U.S. colonial domination and for the independence of Puerto Rico.
The economic crisis that is battering Puerto Rican working people today
is not of your making. It is part of something much larger, a world
economic situation unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. The
disaster of unknown proportions that is looming over us all has come
crashing down on you before many others, however, because of the
colonial bondage in which you are held by the ruling families of U.S.
capital.
Across the United States, as we go door to door talking with working
people about this crisis, my party is urging everyone we talk with to
join the campaign that is gaining strength every day to tell the US
government: Free Oscar López now! Because of their own experiences with
the capitalist “justice” system, many workers in the United States can
identify with Oscar and his fight for freedom. And today we are working
with others to organize as many people as possible to go to Washington,
D.C., Oct. 9 to demand the release of our brother Oscar.
On our return from Puerto Rico, we will tell workers and farmers in the
United States what we have learned from your experiences and struggles.
The fight to end Washington’s colonial domination of Puerto Rico is also
in the interests of working people in the United States because we face
a common enemy — the imperialist ruling class and its government.
For example, two weeks ago I was part of a rally of 5,000 coal miners in
Washington, D.C., demanding the U.S. government live up to its
commitments to guarantee miners’ pensions and health care benefits. As
you here in Puerto Rico will understand well from your own experiences
with similar multinational corporations, many coal companies in the U.S.
have declared bankruptcy precisely to get rid of their health care and
pension obligations to tens of thousands of retired miners, many of whom
face serious illnesses like black lung because of their years of work in
the mines.
We embrace the thousands of Puerto Ricans who have been forced to
migrate to the United States because of the devastating crisis here. We
will find ourselves fighting side by side, and they will help strengthen
the solidarity between workers in both countries.
Unlike the Democratic and Republican candidates, the parties of the U.S.
capitalist class, I am not here in Puerto Rico to seek votes in a U.S.
election. We are here to offer solidarity. We are here to support your
right to self-determination. We are here to join your protests against
the U.S. fiscal control board and other struggles by workers and youth
to defend jobs, wages, health care, education, and living standards.
We oppose efforts to make the Puerto Rican people pay the billions in
debt to the wealthy bondholders. As the independence movement explains
so well, the board shows the real face of colonial domination.
Revolutionary Cuba, which for more than half a century has defended its
sovereignty and freedom in face of the mightiest empire in history, is a
powerful example for us. It shows that when workers and farmers take
political power out of the hands of the capitalist minority, we can use
it to reorganize society in the interests of the vast majority, and
against all odds, we can win.
We add our voices to yours in saying: Free Oscar López now! End U.S.
colonial domination! Independence for Puerto Rico!
Related articles:
Free Oscar López! Independence for Puerto Rico!
Widespread support for López in Puerto Rico
Oscar López: Join fight for Puerto Rican independence!
Picket hits Washington's takeover of Puerto Rico's budget
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