On 1/24/20, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
At its best, Capitalism is a system that relies upon using the talents
of others in order for the Capitalist to increase wealth and control,
but rewards those talents fairly. The prime example would be the
American Middle Class from 1940 to 1980. But even if Capitalism had
not succumbed to Greed, it still depended upon using control over
others. Today the Capitalist System has rejected most of the people
it uses, demanding more for less, and using negative controls to keep
the workers in line.
When a System no longer ensures that its people are fairly cared for,
and when that System finds its wealth and power concentrated in
smaller and smaller numbers, it has come to the end of its usefulness.
History shows over and over that the Masses always rise up and cast
off the oppressors.
This is happening around the Globe. And the more the people demand
relief, the more oppressive their Masters become, setting themselves
up for another overthrow.
My concern is not whether an overthrow will occur around the world,
history tells us that this will happen, but my concern is whether
we've reached the point where the Masters can destroy civilization as
they go down.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/24/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2020/01/18/capitalism-colonial-rule-cause-puerto-rico-earthquake-crisis/
Capitalism, colonial rule cause Puerto Rico earthquake crisis
article
BY SETH GALINSKY
Vol. 84/No. 3
January 27, 2020
Above, quake victims living in public square in Sabana Grande, Puerto
Rico. Inset, school in Guánica after Jan. 6 earthquake. Thousands are
sleeping outdoors,
with no government aid. figure
Above, quake victims living in public square in Sabana Grande, Puerto
Rico. Inset, school in Guánica after Jan. 6 earthquake. Thousands are
sleeping outdoors,
with no government aid.
Above, quake victims living in public square in Sabana Grande, Puerto
Rico. Inset, school in Guánica after Jan. 6 earthquake. Thousands are
sleeping outdoors,
with no government aid. figure end
Hundreds of homes suffered serious damage, along with some schools,
churches and other buildings that collapsed, after a 6.4 magnitude
earthquake — one
of hundreds over the last several weeks — rocked the southern part of
the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico Jan. 7.
Thousands are living and sleeping outdoors or in makeshift tent cities
in public plazas, and thousands more are without electricity and running
water.
This comes on top of still unrepaired damage from Hurricane Maria in
2017.
Three earthquakes of 4.7, 5.0 and 4.7 magnitude shook the island within
three hours overnight Dec. 28, followed by many others until the most
powerful
quake Jan. 7. Significant aftershocks continue.
Gov. Wanda Vázquez tried to sidestep any government responsibility for
the unfolding social crisis. “We are talking about something for which
we could
not prepare, [un]like hurricanes, which we can see,” she told the press.
But it’s never been a secret that major faults run underneath Puerto
Rico. Neither the U.S. colonial masters nor its local underlings adopted
any construction
standards for earthquake risks until 1987. Under pressure the Puerto
Rican government tightened those regulations in February 2019, requiring
new buildings
to be able to withstand a 6.5 quake, but it never required retrofitting,
even for schools or hospitals. And it did nothing to ensure that
adequate food,
water or medical care was in place for when a quake did hit.
For more than a decade and a half, instead of modernizing
infrastructure, the U.S. government and the colonial regime on the
island have cut social spending,
slashing pensions, spending on health care and schools, and cut back on
maintenance of the electric grid. Squeezing working people to pay
billions in interest
on debt built up mostly to U.S.-based bondholders has been the
government’s highest priority. And then President Barack Obama set up
the Financial Oversight
and Management Board for Puerto Rico — still running today — to make
sure the payments continue and that the government defends the interests
of capitalist
investors and bankers.
A catastrophe caused by capitalism
All this just helps show that the social crisis is not the result of a
“natural disaster.” It’s the product of colonial rule and capitalist
exploitation
and the U.S. and local capitalist class’s disdain for working people.
And just like after the 2017 hurricane, working people, community groups
and churches have taken the lead in providing food and shelter for those
in need,
in the face of inaction by the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments.
“Everybody is sleeping on the street because we don’t know when the
aftershocks are going to stop,” artist Adolfo Matos told the Militant
from Lajas Jan.
9. “There’s no electricity. Water comes and goes.”
“The government hasn’t done anything,” he said. “It’s the people
ourselves who are helping each other.”
Ivan Vargas, president of the water workers union in Mayagüez, where he
works, went to Guánica, one of the hardest hit towns, Jan. 9 to see for
himself
and pave the way to organize aid from the unions. “There are a lot of
houses that collapsed and even in those that are standing it’s dangerous
to go back
while the quakes are continuing,” he said. After the Dec. 28 quake,
“some local governments organized meetings with community residents
about what to expect,
and that helped to limit deaths.”
“Once a year the schools have an earthquake drill where they tell the
students to get under a desk to protect themselves,” Vargas said. They
were lucky
the most damaging quake hit at 4:30 a.m. and no one was in the schools.
The students “would’ve been buried alive” in those that collapsed, he
said.
The Jan. 7 quake knocked out power all over the island, like what
happened during Hurricane Maria. The worst damage was to the Costa Sur
Power Plant in
Guayanilla, shutting it down. It’s the island’s largest generator,
supplying 25% of the country’s electric power.
‘We need the truth’
Some reports said that the plant could be up and running in a few
months, others said it could take more than a year. “We want them to
tell the people
the truth,” Vargas said.
“No buildings here were damaged,” Lenis Rodríguez, a pharmaceutical
worker and community activist, said by phone from Yabucoa Jan. 11.
People have concerns
all over the island about the shape of school buildings, whether it’s
safe to reopen them. “Many parents have no confidence in what the
government tells
them,” he said.
On Jan. 7, both President Donald Trump and Governor Vázquez declared a
state of emergency in Puerto Rico. But whatever aid they are providing
is “just
for immediate needs,” Rodríguez said Jan. 11, “not for reconstruction.”
The U.S. government still hasn’t released most of the money allocated to
help reconstruct the island after Hurricane Maria, Rosalina Abreu, a
leader of
the Arecma community group in Humacao, told the Militant.
“They paid hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. companies to rebuild
the electrical grid,” she said. “All they did was put up some posts and
string
some cable, but they left it in the same terrible shape it was in before
the storm.”
Fifteen members of Arecma brought hot food and supplies to a hard-hit
area outside Guayanilla Jan. 12, Abreu said. “People from all over the
island have
been bringing aid” to the affected regions, including to “many areas
where no government aid has yet arrived,” she said. “We are a people
with a spirit
of solidarity.”
“The government has no plan for how to rebuild the destroyed homes,”
Abreu pointed out. “And a lot of people live in low-lying areas by the
sea, but the
tsunami warning loudspeakers don’t work.
“The government always puts the needs of the people in last place,” she
said.
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Sam Harris
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― Sam Harris,
