Comments on: Artifacts for Survival: A Review of Diana Block’s Arm the Spirit http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/04/artifacts-for-survivala-review-of-diana-blocks-arm-the-spirit/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:48 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Victor http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/04/artifacts-for-survivala-review-of-diana-blocks-arm-the-spirit/#comment-42589 Victor Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:37:34 +0000 http://dissidentvoice.org/?p=7556#comment-42589 Thanks to Ron for calling our attention to an important book. As a long-time supporter and activist of Puerto Rico's independence I have felt a sense of awe for the incredible acts of solidarity (whether at times effective or not) that many North Americans expressed for our struggle. Recently, a group of activists toured the West of the United States and found an unexpected surge of support, this time the audiences were not the white middle class radicals of the 1970s-80s but the Latino/Chicano immigrant organizations rising in U.S. communities. Unfortunately, for many North American activists the lack of political organizations with that "underlying philosophy to bind these issues together and present a systemic analysis" in the continental US, did not provide a support network for those who chose to re-engage with the above ground struggle for liberation and justice. Fortunately, for Puerto Rican revolutionaries they have, in most instances, been supported, welcomed home and have re-engaged in work and activism and have become admired activists in the movement, whether in Puerto Rican communities in the US or in Puerto Rico. There is a lesson here, no movement that will energize the left can afford to ignore, as is happening today, the colonial case of Puerto Rico (leading to President Obamas tepid statements on the issue), the feminist struggle, workers and immigrant struggle and the need for a multi issue broad organization (not a party) that can link the diversity of single issue organization into a network/matrix that can wield power in this strategic time. Thanks to Ron for calling our attention to an important book. As a long-time supporter and activist of Puerto Rico’s independence I have felt a sense of awe for the incredible acts of solidarity (whether at times effective or not) that many North Americans expressed for our struggle. Recently, a group of activists toured the West of the United States and found an unexpected surge of support, this time the audiences were not the white middle class radicals of the 1970s-80s but the Latino/Chicano immigrant organizations rising in U.S. communities.

Unfortunately, for many North American activists the lack of political organizations with that “underlying philosophy to bind these issues together and present a systemic analysis” in the continental US, did not provide a support network for those who chose to re-engage with the above ground struggle for liberation and justice. Fortunately, for Puerto Rican revolutionaries they have, in most instances, been supported, welcomed home and have re-engaged in work and activism and have become admired activists in the movement, whether in Puerto Rican communities in the US or in Puerto Rico. There is a lesson here, no movement that will energize the left can afford to ignore, as is happening today, the colonial case of Puerto Rico (leading to President Obamas tepid statements on the issue), the feminist struggle, workers and immigrant struggle and the need for a multi issue broad organization (not a party) that can link the diversity of single issue organization into a network/matrix that can wield power in this strategic time.

]]>