Communa Antilla
General Secretary
July 27, 2019
San Juan. Puerto Rico
An embrace of solidarity to all the people standing up in struggle!
During the past few days we have seen how the colonial government begins to reorganize after the resignation of Dictator Ricardo Roselló.
The right wing and colonialist class are using the following talk about the situation in Puerto Rico to justify themselves:
- The corruption shows that the Puerto Rican people cannot govern themselves.
- Demonstrations jeopardize the political and economic restructuring they are implementing.
- Ricardo Roselló's government failed because it did not follow the recommendations made by the Fiscal Control Board.
- The corruption shows that the colonial government needs even more "supervision" by the federal government.
To these points we answer that:
- Corruption in the country is not new and is a reflection of the corruption of the US government itself. During the past few days we have been in constant communication with North American organizations and they have told us how the corrupt politics in the empire goes unpunished. Therefore, if corruption is evidence that our people cannot govern ourselves, the same must be said of the North American people. What the corruption shows, in reality, is the logic of a system that feeds the ruling class through the exploitation of the working and marginalized classes.
- It is the neoliberal policies that are putting marginalized and working classes at risk. Both sectors have a duty to protect themselves from austerity and its consequences. Our country is experiencing constant violence, which is aggravated as long as poverty, lack of opportunities and the elimination of rights continue to increase. These measures are the real danger and encourage the influence of the US government in our country. They are the ones responsible for every action and measure that the people have had to take in defense of their own well-being. We must not be confused by the discourse that the country is unstable because the government has not been as "strong" with austerity measures as the situation "demands." With those words what these people mean is that the masses must sit down and obey their mandates: they are asking us to keep silent while they continue to close our schools and hospitals, privatize beaches and eliminate rights that are necessary for a dignified and just life. We repeat, this is a struggle by the ruling classes and exploiters to continue plundering us to pay off the debt that they themselves have created. The marginalized and working classes are NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEBT. The debt has been the perfect excuse for the whole policy undertaken during the past years: that debt is illegitimate, illegal and colonial, WE DO NOT HAVE TO PAY IT WITH OUR SWEAT.
- The government of Puerto Rico failed because it is not designed to serve its people. This means that the colonial government has consistently failed from the moment it was created. We the people, the working and marginalized classes do not have to bear the burden of feeding the capitalist exploiters who only care for their own welfare. These are the people who created the debt, who are hiding the corruption and who smile on camera while killing the country's future.
- Corruption is not the country's main problem. The main
problem in Puerto Rico, and in many countries of the world, is the
political silencing and alienation of the masses. The capitalist
system works to protect the oppressor, exploitative and corrupt
classes. These classes are not only present on our island, but they
govern in the United States and other parts of the world. Corruption
is a symptom of a system based on exploitation: this system limits
our political powers to voting every four years: this system makes
us passive entities of little importance in what the government
does. This system eliminates the rights of the poor, marginalized
and working classes, while feeding the pockets of the large
multinational corporations, the vulture capitalists and the banking
class. We do not need further intervention: we need a new government
that really works for our well-being and progress and not for that
of the bourgeois class. This government will be forged from below,
to suppress those who are now above.
Now, we are seeing the fighting sectors coming together more and more. We are seeing how the popular classes in Puerto Rico are organizing themselves in Self-Convened Assemblies to sustain their own power outside of the political parties or agencies of the system. We believe that a better tomorrow is possible and is beginning to be built.
It was the union against corruption and dictatorship that led to victory. The work done by different organizations, the speeches they made against the Board and the austerity measures, prepared the ground for the people to say ''ENOUGH”. What we saw happen did not come from nothing; it has been a succession of events that have accumulated in order to give the people the motivation to go out into the street and demand what they need and feel is right.
Finally, if you want to start organizing and you don't know how, feel free in all comfort to communicate with us; we can and want to help. Let us talk, let us be people, let us share ideas: LET US CONTINUE WITH OUR MARCH OF GIANTS!
Communist
Workers and Students for Social Change
July 22, 2019
On the part of Communist Workers and
Students for Social Change, revolutionary greetings to our
working and struggling people.
In this phase of this struggle, where
discontent is manifesting against Governor Ricardo Rosselló, we know
that the slogan that unites us is that the governor resign. But, the
resignation of the one who lives in the Fortaleza [residence of the
Governor – translator’s note] is only a symptom of the
true evils that a society based on economic inequality (capitalism)
generates. It is not about replacing Ricky with an equal or worse
one. Our true struggle is a class struggle against the injustice of
the super-exploitation suffered by our working people. Whether by the
corruption of the local people or of the foreign private companies,
it does not matter who is in power while a system based on
exploitation rules us that is for the economic benefit of the rich
class at the expense of the wage slavery of the working people.
We must reflect on this because once
the governor leaves, the conditions of poverty, exploitation,
injustice and misery will remain. Then we must raise the level of
consciousness of the people beyond the immediate. This fight reflects
the outrage over the rampant corruption that enriches a handful of
friends of the elite that governs the country; over the imposition of
the PROMESA Law and the fiscal control board, over the closure of
schools and poor education, over our dead from Hurricane Maria; over
prejudices towards the LGBT community; over discrimination against
the poor, black, elderly, obese, immigrants; over inadequate or
almost nonexistent health services, over the loss of pensions, over
unemployment, over the so-called labor reform; over the foreclosure
of mortgages leaving thousands homeless, over the thousands who have
had to leave their island, and over all the imposed austerity
policies, known as neoliberal policies, that impoverish our people
and are nothing other than neo fascism.
We have seen that they say that we live
in a democracy, however the past elections were annulled by a board
created by Washington and Wall Street to defend the interests of the
bondholders above the interests of the Puerto Rican working people.
This board has a greater mandate than the governor himself, who was
supposedly democratically elected. So much for the democracy of the
champions of democracy!
We see how the struggle of the people
wearing masks in Venezuela against a government that was legitimately
elected is called just and necessary, and yet in Puerto Rico our
people in masks are criminalized by the same governor who lent
himself to creating an anti-Maduro movement in that brother country.
Hypocrites, opportunists and double standards. Our people who protest
have the right to do as they wish, using all available means,
including wearing masks. We cannot criminalize methods of struggle
without taking into account the historical past during the era of
creating files. Someone wearing a mask does so to protect his
identity, to avoid persecution or having a file kept on them by the
state; also for reasons work, for legal reasons, to protect his
family, for whatever reason! Please respect the people who cover
their faces and do not lead yourself to do the work of the state and
repressive forces. This would be equivalent to collaborating and
being a state informant.
This fight is
only the beginning. Let's maintain our strength, unity and focus.
Take care of each other. In revolutionary spirit, until Victory!
Long live Communism!
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