I'm reading this book from BARD, Base Nation by David Vine. He writes a lot
of stuff for Tom Dispatch. Anyway, he describes how the US acquired many of
its bases throughout the world. The book is a reminder, in case any of us
might forget, that our country has been focused on building an empire from
its very inception, from the taking of lands of native Americans through its
building of bases on the Pacific islands, through the building of bases in
Central and South America, to Europe and the Middle East. In the process,
our government has dislocated or destroyed populations, or corrupted the
lives of the people who live adjacent to US bases. It is a horrifying
record. There is nothing to be proud of. Americans live in a dream world,
dislocated from reality, when it comes to people in the rest of the world.
That is why it is so ironic to hear our politicians talk about how terrible
some of the authoritarian dictators are and how we will bring democracy to
their people.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2016 11:08 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: End US colonial rule in Puerto Rico!
The Empire's mass media plays and replays every nonsensical uttering from
the lips of Donald Trump. But few words about the continuous rape and
plunder of Puerto Rico. The greed driven Corporate Capitalists learn
nothing from history. They are too focused on the moment. But some of us
recall what happens when a People decide they have had enough, and rise up
and throw off the chains of oppression.
How soon the American Pirates have forgotten Fidel Castro and the overthrow
of the powerful Masters by a determined People And even though it goes back
some years, our Corporate Oppressors should remember what happened right
here when Colonists refused to allow the British Empire to suck any more
marrow from their bones.
These Corporate monsters will never learn. We, the Workers, will eventually
take all we can take. The uprising will blow the Corporate Empire away.
Literally.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/29/16, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2016/8022/802220.htmlcreditors.
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 22 June 6, 2016
(editorial)
End US colonial rule in Puerto Rico!
The imposition of a fiscal board on Puerto Rico strips away the mask
from a simple fact: the island nation is a U.S. colony.
All seven members of the board will be appointed by the president of
the United States. It will have the power to veto any law passed by
the Puerto Rican legislature, to order layoffs of government workers,
to sell off Puerto Rican government property and to impose criminal
penalties on anyone who disobeys its edicts. So much for the
self-governing Commonwealth.
The big-business media and politicians often slander the Puerto Rican
people as lazy riffraff who live off welfare and food stamps, with a
corrupt government that wont make hard decisions to pay off its
At best, they say some blame falls on vulture hedge funds, which
bought up a chunk of the islands bonds for as little as 30 cents on
the dollar, but demand payment in full.
But the problem is not vulture capitalism: its capitalism,
specifically in the form of Washingtons imperialist domination.
U.S. capitalists of all stripes reap superprofits from the colonial
oppression of Puerto Rico: the giant pharmaceutical corporations that
benefit from low wages and taxes on the island; the shipping companies
that have a monopoly on cargo trade; agribusiness that provides 80
percent of the food because imperialist domination wiped out much of
the islands agricultural production.
With the layoffs of thousands, increases in sales taxes and cuts in
pensions, working people in Puerto Rico are already paying for the
capitalist crisis. The fiscal board will further tighten the screws.
President Obama and leading Democratic and Republican Party
politicians, including Bernie Sanders, say they are for a referendum
to give the people of Puerto Rico a choice between independence,
statehood or keeping its current status.
But any vote under colonial rule is a sham. What kind of free vote can
there be under the watchful eye including cops, courts, and spies
of those who benefit from Puerto Rico remaining a colony under the
rule of the same imperialist government that has held independence
fighter Oscar López in U.S. prisons for the last 35 years?
The Socialist Workers Party at its founding convention in 1938 opposed
any attempt by American imperialism, open or masked, to infringe upon
the right of self-determination of any nation or people.
More than ever working people in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. have
everything to gain by fighting together for our common interests and
backing the fight for Puerto Ricos independence from colonial rule,
Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. president,
told the Militant. Shes right.
Independence for Puerto Rico! Free Oscar López!
Related articles:
Puerto Rico debt crisis: product of US capitalisms colonial rule
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home
