Using tragedy to promote dependency

I wrote the post below in response to an attempt to use Camacho’s death for partisan purposes. The original post I read appeared in the otherwise admirable blog “Repeating Islands.” But it had first come from Time.com, written by Tim Padgett

“I am surprised to see such a partisan and pro-colonial (and ahistorical) post in this blog. The pro-statehood movement on the island has been on an evangelical-like impetus that ignores the facts for the “positive” vision.

The main reason Puerto Rico, as well as much of Latin America, has sunk into what it seems as social disarray (as seen in the surge of violence) is in fact because of its colonial status and the neo-liberal policies affecting the entire region. Adding Puerto Rico to the integral political structure of the colonial master (statehood) would not only miss the goal of producing a solution to the problems affecting the region, but it would simply be impossible.

Understanding the nature of nation-building and nationalism would help explain why the U.S. would find it impossible to assimilate the island as an equal. There are plenty of historical examples that would also highlight the foolishness of this idea. France in the Caribbean is perhaps the most salient one, where the colonial territories have been integral and full members of the French political apparatus (unlike Puerto Rico’s “commonwealth” status, which by the way, it reads radically different in the Spanish version).

And yet, the French “Overseas Departments” have not been nor will be in the same social or political level as the rest of France. They are rather dependencies “well treated,” or better yet, “people hanging from the borders of the more progressive nation that is France” (which happens to thrive at the historical expenses of their colonial possessions). No wonder the French have not accepted them as real social equals.

The U.S. seems farther behind the French in admitting this possibility with Puerto Rico–even less of accepting Puerto Ricans as full members of their society (in the continental U.S., they are considered “immigrants” in the process of becoming “Whites” as the Irish and Italians once were, if they are willing to shed away most of their cultural traits and join the “melting-pot”). So, there are enough evidences showing the final destination of the “statehood” pipe-dream.

Puerto Rico has a long history of reactionary and pro-colonial support, and this post seems to follow in such a tradition (this thought also relates to plantation owners in Cuba who sought union with the U.S., and discredited Dominican caudillos who wanted the U.S. to re-colonize their country in the 19th Century).

Yet, there are also traditions of more genuinely native and more creative lines of thinking that put a premium on emancipation, collaboration and fair equality rather than on pernicious social hierarchies. I suggest that we tap on these latter traditions, improve on them and rethink our future more brightly than joining a cause of futile begging for acceptance.”

Filed under: Caribbean, Colonialism, Dominican Republic, Imperialism, Puerto Rico, Unites States Tagged: Caribbean, Colonial Gaze, Colonialism, Imperialism, Independence, Post-Colonial, Puerto Rico, Statehood

Is This the End? - NYTimes.com

Is This the End? - NYTimes.com.

The topic of the environment has gripped me since Al Gore's documentary. Increasingly, I see it bearing in everything I do.  Notwithstanding my dedication to protecting the environment, the critical scholar of religion in me emerged while reading this wonderfully written piece.

The obvious: the current environmentalist rhetoric (the movement for protecting the environment), its sense of urgency, its totalitarian impulses, together with the movement's tendency towards fragmentation, fits naturally within the Western eschatological tradition.

And perhaps, this is even more so within the United States' model. Those familiar with the Millenarianism texts of the so-called Second Great Awaking, particularly those of the Millerist type (William Miller), will recognize the similar emotional effect of doom. It was not until the disaster-like pitch subsided and gave way to more practical and social concerns (i.e., social health, family issues) that these movements became lauded reforming forces in society (i.e. Adventism).

Some of the most interesting current environmental literature seems closer to a particular action-driven Abolitionist/Anti-slavery rhetoric. The 1820s began seeing a grassroots reaction against the traditional gradualist approach. Some Black and White anti-slavery/abolitionists began putting forward freedom projects with broad appeal among Blacks that challenged the status quo (Unfortunately, social and political structural problems particular to the U.S. highjacked this collaborative movement).  Abolitionism, in all its forms, is doubtlessly part of the Christian eschatological tradition, but for the most part it placed more emphasis on a rhetoric of action than on annihilation. This  experience may serve us well today.

As we near the imminent environmental crisis an increasing number of films and publications will hammer on our sense of guilt and fear, pressing those primal buttons of horror, and crippling those who consume it. In a way, we have been here before. The inevitable result, unfortunately, will be what is currently starting to happen:

Running against the pro-environmental education is an ever growing dubious yet popular literate of deniers. And then, there is the large majority of people who simply cannot be bothered with issues they feel out of their control.

Instead, we should develop a rhetoric that would accompany a broad and practical campaign for change and reform. It should be one that empowers people and clearly show them a path they can take. Shedding the extreme sense of doom for a more action-led vocabulary should be the first step.

Coming Back from the hole. Entrando de nuevo al mundo

Hypothyroidism can be a profoundly crippling condition. Even with medication, it can swing you to extremes and leave you shattered. Yet, it should not paralyze me. After about two years of conscious efforts against it, the path is clearer, and this I say daily to myself:

"Simply retrying will not do. The essence of coming back is recapturing the dreams once lost; it is becoming inspired so intensely that you would feel it in the bones; It is remembering wisely: remembering the victories with bliss so it would be easy to repeat them, but coldly citing the failures to learn from them without letting them get to you; it is believing in yourself so it would seem you are going to explode with the urge of getting things done; it is falling into routines that would help maintain this attitude; it is surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and keeping those relationships healthy; it is plowing away each day with doable challenges and celebrating even the smallest of the accomplishments; it is getting to work right now!"