In Puerto Rico, according to official statistics collected by the Office of the Women's Advocate, 178 women have been murdered by their partners or ex partners between 2001-2008. This year, already 16 women have been murdered in cases of domestic violence in an Island with a population of roughly 4 million people. There is an average of 20,000 domestic violence incidents reported to the police every year. Those are only the ones that are reported. In their latest study (2007), the government's Center for Victims of Rape calculated that 18,000 people, mostly women and girls, are victims of sexual violence every year.

There are many other forms of violence embodied in unequal wages, lack of access to health care and education, homophobia, and racism.

Poster of march against violence at the University of Puerto Rico. Republished with permission of the organizers.

There are also many women, and men, resisting violence in creative and innovative ways. Today, November 25, on occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, that marks the first day of the world-wide annual campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, feminist bloggers in Puerto Rico have written posts on how violence affects their lives, their families, and their communities.

They have written poetry, in-depth analyses, and intimate reflections. They have written about structural, discursive, domestic, and sexual violence. They have written about unequal power relationships, public policies, laws, poverty, democracy, the economy, and even about violence against women in film. Let's see their faces, read their texts, and listen to their voices.

In her blog Mujeres en Puerto Rico [ES], feminist lawyer Verónica remembers how violence against women she knew, or was separated from by degrees, has touched her life since she was a child:

En mi temprana adolescencia, convencí a mi madre para que me permitiera hacerme mi primera manicura. En cuanto obtuve la ansiada autorización, corrí a un salón de belleza y allí conocí a Ada, la dueña del lugar. Simpática, agradable, sonriente, siempre trabajadora, Ada. Su socio era también su esposo, así que lo recuerdo a él también, entrando y saliendo del salón, mientras Ada trabajaba con mis manos. Un día, de repente, el salón de belleza amaneció cerrado. Ada había sido asesinada por su esposo. Se abrió la caja de pandora. Por primera vez, en mi vida escuché de primera mano sobre cómo la distorsión de lo que es una relación amorosa puede terminar en muerte. Perdí la inocencia.

In my early adolescence, I convinced my mother to let me have my first manicure. As soon as she gave me permission, I ran to the beauty parlor where I met Ada, the owner. She was nice and kind. She was always smiling and working. Her business associate was also her husband, so I also remember him entering and leaving the parlor while Ada worked on my hands. One day, suddenly, the beauty parlor closed. Ada had been murdered by her husband. For me, Pandora’s box was opened. For the first time in my life, I learned how a twisted sense of love can end in death. I lost my innocence.

Feminist activist Amárilis Pagán denounced in Brujas y Rebeldes [ES] the multi-dimensional aspects of violence perpetrated by the State.

Estamos de pie ante un sistema de gobierno que se ha convertido en el principal agresor de las mujeres en Puerto Rico. De pie y resistiendo por nosotras y por otras poblaciones que son igualmente vulnerables. De la misma manera en que la violencia doméstica se trata de una cuestión de poder y control, la violencia actual del Estado en contra de las mujeres de la Isla es un asunto de poder y control matizado por una perspectiva acartonada de lo que son- y deben ser- las mujeres a la luz de una concepción judeo-cristiana de corte fundamentalista que se ha entronizado en la esfera gubernamental. Este 25 de noviembre, Día Internacional de No Más Violencia Hacia las Mujeres, es obligatorio hablar de la violencia hacia las nosotras en sus expresiones más amplias y profundas. Esa violencia no se limita a la violencia en relaciones de pareja (violencia doméstica) y es, en realidad, una violencia que se ha filtrado a través de muchas otras facetas de la vida de las mujeres. Pensar que la violencia doméstica es el único tipo de violencia que se inflige a las mujeres de la Isla es simplificar un asunto mucho más complejo.

We are resisting a governmental system that has become the primary aggressor against women in Puerto Rico. We are resisting in order to defend ourselves and other vulnerable sectors of society. The same way in which domestic violence is an issue of power and control, state violence against women is also about power and control. In this case, it is framed by a limited vision of who women are, and are supposed to be, according to the Judeo-Christian fundamentalism that has invaded the government. This November 25, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is necessary to talk about the varied and profound ways in which violence is committed against us. This violence is not limited to violence perpetrated in intimate relationships (domestic violence). Other forms of violence have seeped through other facets of women’s lives. To believe that domestic violence is the only kind of violence inflicted on women in this Island is to simplify an issue that is much more complex.

Performance denouncing violence against women in Puerto Rico. Video by Insula TV.

Feminist activist Nahomi Galindo-Malavé analyzes the multiple manifestations of gender violence in Poder, Cuerpo y Género [ES]:

En el mes de No más violencia hacia las mujeres, es importante recordar que todo acto de violencia encarna una red de relaciones de poder: en este caso, relaciones de género. Es por ello, que el objeto o “víctima” de la violencia de género no necesariamente es siempre una “mujer”.  Un ejemplo reciente de ello es violento asesinato del hombre gay de 19 años, Jorge Steven López. Para comprender este suceso como crimen de odio y como violencia de género, es importante entender cómo se despliegan a través de él las relaciones de poder y la construcción de las masculinidades… La violencia contra las mujeres es producto de las relaciones de poder que existen en nuestra sociedad. Se trata por tanto de una de las manifestaciones de la violencia de género, que se dirige contra todo aquello que no es inteligible, que rompe, que no se subordina, a las normas de lo masculino y lo femenino. Diferentes formas de violencia de género son las violencias domésticas, la violencia económica, los feminicidios y los crímenes de odio.

During the month of No More Violence Against Women it is important to remember that every act of violence embodies a network of power relationships. In this case, gender relations. This is why the object or “victim” of gender violence is not necessarily always a woman. A recent example is the violent murder of the gay 19 year-old Jorge Steven López. To be able to understand this murder as a hate crime and as gender violence, its important to understand how power relationships and the construction of masculinities work… Violence against women is the product of power relationships in our societies.  Therefore, it is one of the manifestations of gender violence directed to everything intelligible, that breaks with and does not bend to masculine and feminine norms. Domestic, economic, femicides and hate crimes are different forms of gender violence.

In El rincón de la cinefilia [ES], RDLC, who describes himself as a feminist man, does a critique of the films “What's Love Got to Do with It?” and “North Country”. He concludes that:

La violencia en contra de la mujer, ya sea en el ámbito íntimo del hogar o en donde trabaja, está mal. Podríamos pensar que luego de años y años de concienciación a la sociedad esta enfermedad hubiera culminado. Sin embargo, aquí estamos: año 2009 y las estadísticas sobre actos violentos en contra de féminas siguen más altas de lo que quisiéramos. Por ello, les recomiendo ambas películas basadas en hechos reales donde féminas (famosas y no famosas) luego de ser confrontadas con la violencia, supieron sobrepasar dignamente el epíteto “víctima”, convertirse en heroínas y llevar un mensaje claro: no más violencia contra las mujeres. PUNTO.

Violence against women is wrong, be it in the intimacy of the home or in the workplace. We would like to think that after so many years of consciousness raising, this disease should have been eliminated. But, here we are, in the year 2009, and the statistics of violence against women are still much higher than expected. This is why I recommend both of these movies based on true events in which women, famous and not famous, transcended from being “victims” to become heroes. They deliver a clear message: no more violence against women. PERIOD.

Feminist law student Mariana Iriarte discusses discursive and symbolic violence in Con otro y otras en el mundo [ES]:

Importante es entonces ser conscientes y concientizar a otras mujeres que la violencia física siempre es antecedida por la violencia simbólica, que antes de agredirte física o sexualmente, preparará el terreno discursivamente para que te sientas acorralada y sin salida, que anterior al golpe te hará sentir que no eres humana, que no vales nada, que eres un apéndice de él y más que su compañera eres su pertenencia. Reconocer que los roles que se te han asignado como mujer fueron construidos por los hombres para garantizar su dominio sobre las mujeres y que, sobre todo, nada de eso es normal. Por eso, hoy y siempre di no a la violencia contra las mujeres y sábete libre para hacer de tu identidad lo que te dé la gana.

It is important, therefore, to be aware and make other women aware that physical violence is always preceded by symbolic violence. That before you are beaten physically or sexually, the ground has been discursively prepared in order for you to feel surrounded, and without an exit. That before the blow he will make you feel inhuman, worthless, and that your are his appendage and his property. It is important to recognize that this is not normal, and that these roles assigned to you were constructed by men to guarantee women’s submission. This is why, today, always say no to violence against women and feel free to reinvent your identity as you please.

Movimiento Amplio de Mujeres de Puerto Rico.

In Poder, espacio y ambiente [ES] environmentalist and feminist law professor Erika Fontánez analyzes different forms of institutional violence against women:

Exigimos que se atienda la violencia, las violencias todas, las violencias de esta sociedad directas e indirectas, las obvias y las estructurales, contra las mujeres. Exigimos el cese de políticas excluyentes que tienen el impacto de fomentar nuestra exclusión y perpetuar la violencia, las violencias. No bastan las ‘palabras de hombre', no las queremos, queremos el reconocimiento en igualdad de condiciones y en igualdad de poder. Exijamos nuevas relaciones de poder en todas las cotidianidades que rompan con los ciclos de las violencias. No más violencia institucional ni de ningún tipo contra las mujeres.

We demand that violence be addressed: all forms of violence against women, direct and indirect, the obvious and the structural. We demand the elimination of policies that promote exclusion and perpetuate violence: all forms of violence. ‘Men’s promises and pledges' (an imported campaign promoted by the government of Puerto Rico) are not enough. We do not want them. We want equality in power relationships and living conditions. Let's demand different power relationships that break with the cycles of violence. No more institutional violence against women.

In El diario de El Curio [ES], Yolanda Velázquez has posted poetry. The blog of the coalition Movimiento Amplio de Mujeres [ES] has information on the feminist movement in Puerto Rico.

Photo by Sylvar. Reprinted under CC License.

Days after the murder, 26 year-old Juan Martínez Matos confessed. According to local news reports, Martínez Matos said he went looking for a prostitute in the streets of Caguas, Puerto Rico, when Steven approached him. Martínez Matos said he “didn't know” Steven Mercado was a man until they arrived at his apartment in an another town (the victim was allegedly dressed as a woman). Gay activists Ada Conde and Pedro Julio Serrano have publicly stated that the sector where Steven Mercado was picked up is mostly frequented by transsexual and transvestite men. Martínez Matos said he killed Steven in “self defense” after they got into a fight. He then mutilated his body, and left it in a desolated area miles away from his house. Martínez Matos also stated he hated homosexuals because he had been raped when he was in jail for committing domestic violence. Gay activists were outraged when the police officer in charge of the investigation said: “Someone like that, who does those kind of things, and goes out in public, knows full well that this might happen to him.” They have demanded the officer's immediate removal from the case. Martínez Matos has been charged with murder and bail was set at $4 million USD.

Since Puerto Rico is a United States territory, federal laws apply. Two Puerto Rican United States Congress Members from New York have asked for this crime to be prosecuted under new federal hate crimes laws. The Federal Investigations Bureau (FBI) is monitoring the investigation. In the 1980s the serial murderer Ángel Colón Maldonado, known as the “Angel of the Bachelors”, killed 27 homosexuals in the Island. Recently, gay actvists have also warned about another murder against a gay man in San Juan, the country's capital.

Bloggers have reacted to this terrible crime. The human rights actvists and spokesperson of the LGBT organization Puerto Rico para Tod@s (Puerto Rico for Everyone), Pedro Julio Serrano [ES], condemned the religious leaders' and the politicians' silence:

Ante uno de los asesinatos más horrendos en la historia del País, el silencio ensordecedor de los líderes políticos y religiosos es una vergüenza de marca mayor. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no hacer expresiones de solidaridad hacia la familia y allegados de Jorge Steven. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no solidarizarse con las comunidades lésbica, gay, bisexual y transgénero (LGBT) ante el odio que produjo este crimen. Les tiene que dar vergüenza de no condenar la homofobia en este caso y las acciones prejuiciadas del agente investigador. Les tiene que dar vergüenza que han olvidado su obligación constitucional de instrumentar la igualdad para todos los seres humanos.

We are before one of the most horrendous murders committed in the history of this country, therefore the silence of political and religious leaders is even more shameful. They should feel embarrassed for not expressing their solidarity with Jorge Steven’s family and friends. They should feel embarrassed for not expressing solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for the hatred that this crime has produced. They should feel embarrassed for not condemning the police officer in charge of the investigation. They should feel embarrassed for having forgotten their constitutional duty of defending equality for every human being.

In Saadaya [ES], Hiram, a Puerto Rican blogger from Chicago, lamented the long history of homophobia in Puerto Rico:

Pero el crimen no es lo único chocante. Nada sucede en un vacío: todo tiene raíces, todo tiene causas y efectos, y Puerto Rico como sociedad ha nutrido por generaciones el odio hacia los gays, lo han nutrido los líderes cristianos desde los púlpitos, los padres al criar a sus hijos, las autoridades policíacas y jurídicas […] y los políticos que tienen un convenio ilícito con las iglesias que no es muy bien disimulado. En una isla así, que quepa en el pecho de un muchacho matar a otro por ser gay del modo tan mórbido en que lo hizo no debería ser chocante: es algo que Puerto Rico llevaba tiempo cocinando.

But the crime is not the only shocking thing. Nothing happens in a vacuum: Everything has its roots, its cause and effect. Puerto Rico as a society has promoted hatred against the gay community to generations of people. Christian leaders have promoted hatred from their pulpits. Parents have instilled hatred in their children. Law and order agencies…and politicians have an illicit agreement with the church that they do not conceal very well. It should not shock us that in an Island like this, a man can murder another man for being gay in such a horrendous way. This hatred has been brewing in Puerto Rico for a long time.

This Sunday there will be a vigil in New York City in remembrance of Jorge Steven Mercado.

*Photo by Sylvar republished under a CC License. Please visit Sylvar's photostream on Flickr.

A selection of books from and about the Caribbean. Photo by Nicholas Laughlin, originally posted at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

The anglophone Caribbean's small but energetic literary blogosphere has taken notice of a new arrival to its conversation. Caribbean Book Blog, created by the St. Lucian journalist Tony Williams, aims to “inform writers and readers about the latest developments in the international book trade and how they are likely [to] affect the literary communities in the Caribbean and other small-island states.” Since launching on 11 October, 2009, Caribbean Book Blog has posted a series of thoughtful, statistics-laden essays on the issues facing Caribbean publishers, writers, and readers, at a time when literary publishing around the world is grappling with financial hardship and technological change. Williams's posts have provoked thought and discussion both in the blog's comments fields and elsewhere.

Caribbean Book Blog began with an essay titled “Breaking the Shackles”, analysing the state of Caribbean publishing and the market for Caribbean books.

… if you speak to many booklovers in and outside of the Caribbean, or check out some online message boards where the topic of discussion is Caribbean literature, you’ll find people bewailing how difficult it is to find good books by Caribbean writers, whether it’s in the region itself or in the metropolitan markets.

… there’s need for change — massive change. Otherwise we may well be faced with a situation where our literary griots end up being relegated to a state of obscurity and irrelevance. To avoid this they must find new mediums to draw attention to themselves and their work.

In his second essay, “Now Is the Time”, Williams proposes that “a group of intellectual, editorial and IT visionaries with … pioneering spirit and the entrepreneurial drive” ought to “take up the challenge of creating an online home for our struggling writers and poets to help them stand on their feet so they in turn can help usher in a new dawn of knowledge and enlightenment.”

Several writers based in the Caribbean have joined the discussion by leaving comments. Antiguan novelist Joanne C. Hillhouse writes:

It does take away from the time and energy I have to give to my writing, and I’m still working on finding that balance, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that self-promotion (ugly word) is part of the process and the Internet is in many ways leveling the playing field.

Jamaican poet Tanya Shirley echoes these sentiments:

I think as Caribbean writers we are now living in an age where we have to be more proactive in the process of marketing our work and using all the resources at our disposal to do so.

The Miami-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp — also one of the Caribbean's most prolific literary bloggers — responds on his own blog, with a proposal:

What is needed is a web site that is devoted full-time to Caribbean writing. The site as I envision it would be a clearing house for books published by Caribbean writers. Publishers would submit their catalogues, writers could upload their photos and reading dates, and readers could subscribe via RSS, newsletters, or email.

Philp also lists well over a dozen Caribbean literary and scholarly journals online, some of them traditional printed journals that also maintain a web presence, and some entirely web-based. Together with a few dedicated litbloggers and writers-who-blog, these sites, Philp suggests, could evolve into the nucleus of a future web-based Caribbean publishing community.

In the three and a half years since Global Voices last comprehensively surveyed the Caribbean literary blogosphere, a handful of new journals has emerged, based online and in many cases using blogging software to publish quickly and inexpensively. tongues of the ocean, based in the Bahamas and running on Wordpress, was launched in early 2009 as a poetry journal, but by its third issue it also included short fiction. Editor Nicolette Bethel (who also writes at her personal blog) in an interview with Antilles, the blog of the Caribbean Review of Books, described being inspired by online journals based in other parts of the world:

I was impressed by these journals’ integration of media into their offerings, which made them a substantially different, more alive, animal from the printed page.

What was missing among them? An online Caribbean journal for Caribbean writers with the kind of turn-around and quick publishing record that these other online journals had.

In mid-2009 another blog-based magazine project went live: Zafra Lit, which translates short fiction by contemporary Cuban writers into English. Edited by David Iaconangelo, a student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and running on Blogger, Zafra Lit draws on the efforts of student translators who volunteer their time and skills. An even more recent arrival is Town, launched in October 2009. Based in Trinidad, it publishes short poems and fiction both online and via broadsides — posters — which readers can download as PDFs and print at home.

Other bloggers have responded to the shortage — or absence — of serious literary and cultural coverage in the Caribbean press by turning their blogs into virtual magazines. At Tallawah, Jamaican journalist Tyrone S. Reid posts reviews and articles covering books, music, art, and film, in an effort to “help facilitate constructive discussion.” New Jersey-based literature teacher Charmaine Valere reviews Caribbean and especially Guyanese literature at Signifyin' Guyana — in a recent post she tackled the question “Why review?” And PLEASURE, a new blog by Trinidadian writer Andre Bagoo (who also has a personal blog, Tattoo), covers “art in all its forms”, including a recently launched interview series which began with UK-based Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo.

The most energetic recent arrival in the Caribbean online literary scene may be Repeating Islands, an arts and culture blog run by two literary scholars with roots in Puerto Rico, Ivette Romero-Cesareo and Lisa Paravisini-Gebert. Covering literature, visual arts, music, performance, cultural studies, and more, Repeating Islands posts up to six or seven new items daily: links to articles and interviews, information about new books and exhibitions, and fascinating oddments. Covering all the Caribbean's language areas — English, Spanish, French, Dutch — the blog plays an increasingly important role in spreading information and ideas. An online writing and publishing network like the one Caribbean Book Blog and Geoffrey Philp imagine will need this kind of breadth and enthusiasm.

The causes of the explosion are still under investigation.

Video of the explosion posted on YouTube by ZuperJ.

In Haciendo punto en otro blog [ES], journalist and blogger Carmel Ruiz comments:

On Thursday night the Gulf Oil refinery in the nearby town of Cataño blew up. The blast and shock waves were felt twenty miles away. It was a sound like nothing I had ever heard in my life (the shock wave actually opened my bedroom door). In the four or five seconds after the explosion, the fireball was as bright as the three o'clock sun The fire is still burning, the plume of smoke is like nothing ever seen in Puerto Rico.

View of the tunnel of smoke caused by the explosion. Photo by Alberto Marty.

Historian and blogger Ivone Acosta was also affected by the blast, as she expresses in Sin mordazas [ES]:

No me atrevo salir. Ya dos amigas que conocen mis alergias me llamaron para advertirme eso mismo, que no salga porque el aire contiene demasiados particulados peligrosos y que cierre todas las ventanas. Como quiera, no me interesa ver la histeria de la gente que por menos que eso se paniquean. Ya he visto comentarios en el periódico en línea acusando a “los socialistas de siempre”.

I dare not venture out. Already two friends who know about my allergies have called me to warn me that I should not leave the house because the air has too many dangerous particulates. They said I should close the windows. Anyway, I am not in the least interested in seeing people in hysteria who enter in panic with even less important things. I have already seen comments in the newspapers accusing the “same old socialists” of the explosion.

To understand Acosta's comments, some context is necessary. Just as recently as last October 15 there was a national strike in Puerto Rico. Government officials have accused demonstrators of being terrorists.

In Observations from the “Island of Enchantment”, blogger Adriana remembers how she felt when she heard the explosion:

Yesterday, when I woke up, I heard the distant sounds of helicopters flying. I though to myself, well, maybe something's going on in the housing projects (caseríos). A short while later, I found out about the explosion. Although it had occurred in Cataño, which is just outside of San Juan, I saw the black clouds from my house. The magnitude of the explosion registered a 2.8 on the richter scale. Thousands of people had to be evacuated. Law enforcement officials are currently investigating the causes of the explosion. I can't imagine what the environmental, health and economic consequences will amount to. Luckily, no deaths have been reported.

The conversation in Twitter is running under the the hashtag #explosionpr. For photos you can check El Difusor. Alternative media outlets Diálogo and Prensa Comunitaria are offering minute-by-minute coverage, as are mainstream media Primera Hora, El Nuevo Día and El Vocero.

*First video by Luis Andrei Muñoz posted on Flickr. Republished under a Creative Commons License.

Demonstration in Puerto Rico. Photo sent to GV by a participant.

The organizers of the event estimated that 150,000-200,000 people participated in the massive demonstration that started from different points in the heart of the metropolitan area of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, particularly from the financial district, and converged in the immediate surrounding of Plaza Las Américas, the largest mall of the Caribbean and whose owners contributed to governor Luis Fortuño's campaign. There have been no official estimates, although government officials minimized the number. The Governor and his Chief of Staff, Marcos Rodríguez Ema, immediately stated that the law (Law 7 of Fiscal Emergency) that made the lay-offs viable would not be repealed. There were no incidents, although at the end of the demonstration there were moments of tension between students and the police.

"Revolution Now" Photo sent to GV by a participant.

The methodist bishop Juan Vera, one of the keynote speakers of the demonstration and a member of the coalition of civil society organizations Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico, declared that the country would be in a “state of pacific insurrection” until the government changed its policies and that there would be more acts of civil disobedience and resistance. Other organizers of the event are already talking about future strategies and another strike that would paralyze the entire Island.

Photo sent to GV by a participant.

The Puerto Rican twittersphere was extremely active. The conversation flowed under the hashtags #paropr and #twittericans. The people at @caribnews, @qiibo, and @microjuris, among many other citizen journalists, were constantly tweeting updates and news about the strike, and providing links to photos and videos. Many twitterers proclaimed the strike was the first event in which Twitter was used as a platform to transmit Puerto Rico to the world. These are some examples of the conversation:

@edwinvazquez: Este es el día que Puerto Rico pasó el curso Twitter 101. #ParoPR (This is the day Puerto Rico passed the Twitter course 101)

@blogdiva I thought liberation theology was a thing of the past - am glad it still has influence. #ParoPR

@comatoso
Para quedar claros: denuncio el incumplimiento de la unicameralidad, la mala administración, el sabotaje al Colegio de Abogados. #ParoPR (I want to make clear that I denounce the non-compliance of unicamerality, bad administration and the sabotage of the Bar Association)

Pero si respaldo la reducción de empleados de gobierno y no tengo nada en contra de las APP si logran generar empleos y bajar costos.#ParoPR (But I do support the reduction of government employees and I have nothing against the APP if it generates employments and reduces costs)

@elchascas Consigna anticipada en #ParoPR: Si la poli da cantazo, contrarresta con twitazo! (The message for the day in #paropr: If the police gives blows, counteract with a tweet!)

@zerock: No apoyo a los mantenios. Que van a su trabajo de empleado publico a bochinchar y no hacen un carajo. #ParoPR ( I do not support people who don't work. People who go to their jobs as government employees to gossip and do nothing)

@elsorbeto Fortuño has Bush's same trickle-down stimulus. Stimulate rich friends pockets and trickling-down on everyone else. That's why we #ParoPR

Flows of information, opinions, videos and images also traveled through the Puerto Rican blogosphere like lightning. Here are some reflections on the national strike.

In his blog Sobre la comunidad LGBT y el mundo [ES], José Joel Degado comments:

Hoy las diferencias se fueron a un lado. Jóvenes, adultos, pastores evangélicos, metodistas y católicos, homosexuales, lesbianas y transgéneros, estudiantes, profesionales, abogados, médicos, independentistas, PNP's y populares; todos unidos en un sólo reclamo. No hubo incidentes mayores, aunque hubo intentos de provocación.
Puerto Rico se levanta del letargo. Es hora de que exijamos nuestros derechos de pie, de frente y sin miedo.

Today differences were set aside. Young people, adults, Evangelical ministers, Methodists and Catholics, homosexuals, lesbians and transgendered people, students, professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who believe in Puerto Rico’s independence, statehood, and commonwealth status, joined under one single claim. There were no major incidents, although there were some acts of provocation. Its time that we demand our rights, with our heads up, and without fear.

Feminist blogger Amárilis Pagán talked about solidarity in Brujas y rebeldes [ES]:

Hemos estado sufriendo las agresiones continuas de un gobierno caracterizado por la violencia sicológica e ideológica. Todavía hoy, ese mismo gobierno menosprecia nuestra inteligencia y cree que somos un pueblo manipulable a través del miedo y del individualismo. Por eso, han hablado de terrorismo, de independentismo, de minorías supuestamente violentas y malintecionadas. Están apelando a prejuicios que en el pasado le han servido para hacernos creer que el pueblo carece de poder y que el gobierno de turno es la única entidad con la inteligencia suficiente para tomar decisiones a nombre de todas y todos. Quieren que nos miremos unos a otras con sospecha y que nos atrincheremos en causas fragmentadas para que abortemos un movimiento democrático sin precedentes en nuestra historia…Estamos ante un muerto que aún no se ha reconocido como tal y que está dando sus últimos aletazos de desesperación para detenernos. Es sólo un fantasma opresivo al que hay pasar por el lado fijando nuestra mirada en la equidad y la justicia que están vivas y necesitando nuestra acción solidaria.

We have been suffering continual aggressions of a government characterized by its psychological and ideological violence. Still, today, this same government undervalues our intelligence and thinks we can be manipulated through fear and individualism. That’s why they have talked about terrorism, independence, and of allegedly violent and malicious minorities. They are appealing to prejudices that have served them well in the past in order to make us believe we are powerless, and that the government is the only entity with enough intelligence to decide for us. They want us to suspect each other and divide us into fragmentary causes so we forget about a democratic movement that has no precedence in our history. But the only thing that has died is the idea that the government is infallible…We are before a dead entity that has not recognized itself as such and that is desperately trying to stop us. Its just an oppressive ghost that we must ignore while we look towards ideals of equity and justice that are alive and need our solidarity.

Gil the Jenius has another take:

We are already too late protest. That level of activity had a window that slammed shut back when two stupid men were shot by viciously stupid policemen. Since then, We've been largely spectators in a victimization society, both observers and victims, sheep watching wolves fleecing “others,” unwilling to see that “they” are also “Us.” Who's the target We should be aiming at? Even We can figure that out now… But We don't want to. It sucks to grow up and learn to accept responsibility, right?. Like We have a choice…

In Cargas y descargas [ES] Biology professor and blogger Edwin Vázquez made a list of his 10 reflections on the strike. One of them is:

A la prensa estadounidense no le importa lo que sucede en Puerto Rico, a menos que haya tiros y catástrofes.  Lo sucedido prácticamente pasó desapercibido en EEUU.  CNN le dedicó más de una hora a seguir un globo donde no estaba el supuesto niño perdido (el niño apareció escondido en su casa) y quizás una línea al paro histórico nacional de Puerto Rico.

The Unites States' press does not care about what happens in Puerto Rico, unless there are gun-shots or a catastrophe. What happened in Puerto Rico was practically was ignored in the United States. CNN dedicated more than an hour to follow a globe that was supposedly carrying a lost boy (the boy later appeared in his house where he was hiding), and maybe a sentence to the historic national strike in Puerto Rico.

Cuerpo de Documentación has uploaded photos and videos of the strike. For context about the national strike and the situation in Puerto Rico, please see previous posts “A Crisis with Many Names”, “Such is Life”, “The Battle over Public Lands,” and “Ready for the National Strike”. The people at the nonprofit Center for the New Economy have also been  posting in-depth analyses on the Island's economic situation.

A group of people created the project Cuerpo de Documentación on YouTube where they have posted videos of the strike from different points of the Island. The Puerto Rican twittersphere was extremely active. The conversation flowed under the hashtags #paropr and #twittericans. The people at @caribnews, @qiibo, and @microjuris, among many other citizen journalists, were constantly tweeting updates and news about the strike, and providing links to photos and videos.

Protesters in the national strike. Photo sent to GV by a participant.

The demonstrators converged in the immediate area surrounding Plaza Las Américas, the largest mall in the Caribbean and whose owners, the Fonalledas Family, were important contributors of the Governor's campaign. The mall was closed for the day. Organizers of the event and several media outlets have estimated that around 150,000 -200,000 people participated in the massive demonstration. While the Governor's Chief of Staff, Marcos Rodríguez Ema, stated that the strike was ineffective because the decision to lay-off employees will not be overturned. There were no major incidents, although there were moments of tension between students and the police.

Photo sent to GV by a participant.

For context about the national strike and the situation in Puerto Rico, please see previous posts “A Crisis with Many Names”, “Such is Life”, “The Battle over Public Lands,” and “Ready for the National Strike”. The people at the nonprofit Center for the New Economy have also been regularly posting in-depth analyses on the economic situation in Puerto Rico.

In the last months hostility has grown between the government and different civil society groups: eviction orders in socially and economically disadvantaged communities, police brutality, and the dismantlement of community initiatives such as the Fideicomiso del Caño Martín Peña. There have also been a string of comments from government officials considered offensive and insensitive, such as the now sadly famous “such is life”, and more recently, when the Governor's designated Chief off Staff Marcos Rodríguez Ema compared demonstrators to terrorists. This is the context of the national strike on Thursday. In response to this comment, Tito Otero has posted a video of a boy playing the violin in front of the Congress. We can hear the boy say: “I am not a terrorist. I believe in justice for my country.”

Bloggers and twitterers are getting ready for the strike which aims to paralyze the country for one day. In Cargas and descargas [ES] Edwin Vázquez has covened bloggers and citizens to use Twitter and Facebook to circulate information the day of the national strike. Already, the people at @caribnews are asking followers for hashtag suggestions, and the conversation has started under #twittericans.

Letters from Grenada writes:

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s so damn beautiful my nipples are hard.

Then I sent my brother a text message telling him the news. He texted me back. ‘For what? Ending Iraq? Ending Afghanistan? Closing Gitmo? Making universal health care a reality? Ensuring our right to electronic privacy?'

She continues:

Listen. Obama’s not perfect. I know a lot of people who support him are disappointed by some of the things he has not accomplished. I just want to remind everyone that the Nobel Peace Prize is an international award. It has nothing to do with our domestic concerns. And if you don’t think Obama has made an enormous difference in our image on the international scene, if you don’t think he’s given people all over the world hope enough to dream of a better tomorrow…then I just don’t know what.

Barbados Free Press, meanwhile, wonders whether the whole thing is “too much, too soon”:

Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for what he believes, and the hope people have in him – not for what he has accomplished or even tried to accomplish.

You might want to remember that Barack Obama was nominated for the prize in February of 2009 after serving less than two weeks as President.

As I write this the announcement from Oslo is only an hour old and thus far the overwhelming response from the world has not been congratulations, but puzzlement and concern that the always-politicized Peace Prize has now become even more a political tool designed to influence policy rather than a prestigious award in recognition of efforts that changed the world.

Living in Barbados adds:

Truly Amazing. Perhaps premature. Remember that nominations closed two weeks after Senator Obama became president. Nice work, if you can get it.

We do live in interesting times.

Bloggers from the Cuban diaspora were less diplomatic about their reactions. Blog for Cuba calls it just another example of the “Orwellian world we now live in”, while Tomás Estrada-Palma says:

PLEASEEEEEEEE! Give me a break. How does the man who drops drone delivered bombs into the living rooms of innocent children in his undeclared war on the tribal areas of Pakistan get a peace prize?

But Along the Malecon takes a different view:

This is something else. A real stunner.

Seeing the Nobel prize go to Obama underscores that the American president has been busy with huge and important global issues - and he has made progress.
U.S.-Cuba relations seems minor when compared to some of the other issues Obama has tackled.
It is heartening to see that the international community once again has respect for our president.
It's sad to see that so many Americans don't appreciate how exceptional Obama is.

Caribbean diaspora blogger Tobias Buckell first heard the news on Twitter:

When I woke up this morning I checked my twitter feed and everyone was going ‘Obama awarded a Nobel, WTF?’

So did I (much like Scalzi, here). While I agree it’ll probably be a liability in terms of the criticisms that he’s a celebrity president and so on, I’m actually cracking up about this because of the completely predictable response from the GOP party machine and spokespeople: instant condemnation. Like celebrating the failure to host the Olympics just because it was a cause Obama championed. You see, when else will the Republican party line up in complete and utter agreement with Hamas (Scott points out below I may have gotten that quote out of context, so grain of salt for Hamas there) and the Taliban and various terrorist groups that are anti-American?

Fellow diaspora blogger Liza has been listening very closely to the entire debate and quips:

You hear that? It's the collective sonic boom of republican heads exploding.

Back in Barbados, Cheese-on-bread! is firmly in the pro-Obama camp:

Of course the US networks are falling over themselves asking if he deserves this honour.

He didn't award himself the prize, so suck it up, critics.

Letters from Grenada adds:

Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful. More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.

But Barbados Free Press still isn't convinced:

The Nobel Prize Committee has again lowered the value of the award with a controversial decision that history may see as foolish. When will the people of the Nobel Prize Committee discover that they cannot predict or control world events?

Are they saying that they will agree with everything the Obama administration does until the end of his term? What if the United States military ramps up the war in Afghanistan and overtly goes into Pakistan? What if Obama decides to take out an Iranian military installation?

Is the Nobel Prize Committee trying to control upcoming US policy in the near future through the awarding of the 2009 Peace Prize? They will be sorely disappointed and embarrassed.

The controversy in the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize is not really about Obama – it is about a Nobel Prize Committee that has become too full of itself and detached from reality.

Civil disobedients in front of the Governor's Mansion. Photo by José Antonio Rosado from Prensa Comunitaria.

Photo by José Antonio Rosado from Prensa Comunitaria.

There have also been acts of utter frustration. While leading a press conference in the eastern zone of the Island, the Governor was egged by a man called Roberto García. The Governor dodged the egg. García was charged on attempted assault and was set free on bail. He later said that even though he had voted for the Governor, he was extremely disappointed by his decision to lay off thousands of government employees. Women's organizations have denounced the lay-offs, saying that they disproportionately affect women, especially single mothers who are the only bread-winners of their families.

Demonstrations in San Juan. Photo by José Antonio Rosado from Prensa Comunitaria.

Comments and analysis on the precarious political, social and economic situation that Puerto Rico is enduring have flooded the blogosphere. Sergio Marxuach, Policy Director of the Center for the New Economy, a nonprofit think-tank dedicated to progressive economic solutions based in Puerto Rico, analyzed the situation in the organization's new blog [ES]:

Todos los economistas están de acuerdo que el resultado de despedir 20,000 empleados públicos en una recesión va a tener los siguientes efectos:  1. Aumentar la tasa de desempleo a mas de 18%;
2. Agudizar la recesión, ya que habrá 20,000 empleados menos, lo que reduce el consumo agregado;
3. Aumentar la demanda por servicios públicos, por ejemplo, educación y salud;
4. Desempleo prolongado ya que el sector privado no va a reclutar masivamente en medio de una recesión; y
5. En el caso específico de Puerto Rico, empeorar la situación los bancos, ya que 46% de los empleados públicos tienen hipoteca.

All of the economists agree that laying off 20,000 public employees during a recession will have the following effects:

1.    An 18% increase of the unemployment rate;
2.    Worsen the recession, because there will be 20,00 fewer employees, and that decreases aggregate consumption;
3.    Increase the demand for public services, for example education and health;
4.    Prolonged unemployment due to the fact that the private sector will not recruit massively in the middle of a recession;
5.    In the specific case of Puerto Rico, local banks’ situations will worsen because 46% of public employees hold a mortgage.

In Ventanasur [ES], Reinaldo Millán comments:

El partido de gobierno está de plácemes, no tiene oposición y los medios de comunicación son de manufactura conservadora, lo que le ayuda enormemente ya que los inversionistas de los medios son parientes de los ejecutivos de empresas que se beneficiarán del mantengo corporativo de la ley de Alianzas Público Privadas, mediante la cual le transferirán no solo la responsabilidad de los servicios públicos que hagan falta ofrecer ante la eliminación de las agencias de gobierno sino la administración de fondos públicos que antes correspondían a esas dependencias gubernamentales.

The Government is utterly happy: they do not have a political opposition and the mainstream media are conservative. This helps them greatly because the major media investors are related to the executives of the firms that will benefit from the Public-Private Coalition Law. This law transfers the responsibility of certain public services to the private sector, and it also permits the private sector to administer public funds that were previously handled by public agencies that have been eliminated.

Demonstration in San Juan. Photo by José Antonio Rosado from Prensa Comunitaria.

In her blog Poder, espacio y ambiente [ES], lawyer Erika Fontánez questioned the reasons the Government offered in order to justify the lay-offs. Government officials said the cuts would ultimately benefit the population.

Necesitamos saber, por ejemplo, si variables como el género y los puestos que tradicionalmente responden a un género particular fueron tomadas en cuenta. ¿Sabemos cuantas de esas 17,000 son mujeres? ¿Cuántas madres solteras? ¿A cuanto asciende el % de mujeres desempleadas? ¿De qué sectores son? ¿Cuál es el costo de que más personas se queden eventualmente sin plan médico que cubra los servicios de salud? ¿Cuál es el número de los costos vs. los beneficios en atender más problemas de salud mental, del aumento en suicidios, de seguridad, de personas que se vean en el riesgo de perder sus viviendas y tengan que acudir a solicitar vivienda pública, lo que también está en el colapso? Números, sí, queremos números.

We need to know, for example, if variables such as gender and the jobs that women traditionally occupy were taken into account. Do we know how many of these 17,000 people are women? How many of them are single mothers? What is the percent of women?  What sectors do they belong to? What are the costs to cover people who will eventually have no health plans? What is the number of costs vs. benefits of attending to more mental health problems, an increase in suicides, insecurity, of people who may lose their houses and may need public housing (which is also collapsing)? Numbers, yes, we want numbers.

PhD student in Planning and International Development, Deepak Lamba-Nieves, also offered his insights in (Trans)actions: (Trans)acciones:

Part of the measures to cut back on government spending have included: incentivized retirement packages, voluntary reductions of work hours, the suspension of previously negotiated collective bargaining agreements, and the layoff of public employees. Asides from these draconian measures, they have pounced over the poor and destitute by displacing residents from informal settlements, curtailing the advancement of progressive grassroots efforts, and deploying police riot squads to deal with minor manifestations of civilian unrest…For now, it’s hard to imagine how this chapter of the story will end. My impression is that a good number of people are fed up what’s happening in their country. Some feel the pain more than others, but as anyone who has been injured knows, after a while, and if things don’t improve, those around you start feeling your pain. I don’t think the current administration has a good grasp of what is at stake here. Public unrest can lead to many different negative outcomes and even if the economy starts  bouncing back, certain damages (and images) are not so easy to remedy (or erase).

Anti-censorship poster posted at Flickr by Andréia

The Department of Education of the government of Puerto Rico recently eliminated five books from the eleventh grade curriculum of the public school system: Antología personal, by José Luis González; El entierro de Cortijo, by Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá; Mejor te lo cuento: antología personal, by Juan Antonio Ramos; Reunión de espejos, an anthology of essays edited by José Luis Vega (all Puerto Rican authors); and Aura, by Carlos Fuentes from Mexico. The public agency justified its action by saying that the books “contain unacceptable language and vocabulary, which is extremely coarse and vulgar.”

The governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, supported the decision: “I think I have been very clear, and that all of the mothers and fathers out there understand perfectly that the books that an 18-year-old can read should not be read by a 12-year-old.” Numerous writers and artists in Puerto Rico publicly voiced their concerns and described the government's action as censorship. The Federation of Teachers also condemned the decision and stated that it “reflects ignorance about the social reality that our students live in, and a backward-looking vision of modern literature as part of the academic curriculum.” After such public pressure, the Department of Education said they had only permanently eliminated one book, but were still evaluating the rest.

The Association of Journalists of Puerto Rico joined writers, professors and artists in an act of protest in front of the Department of Education in Hato Rey, where they read fragments of the books that were removed. Footage of a demonstration against the elimination of books in public school system was posted at YouTube.

Bloggers have also been commenting intensely.The writer Mayra Santos Febres says in Lugarmanigua [ES]:

Temo a la censura. Sobretodo le temo cuando se utiliza “la formación integral de nuestros niños y jóvenes” como excusa para privarlos del contacto con experiencias y sobretodo con libros que los ayuden a desarrollar herramientas para pensar. La reflexión tiene que hacerse en un contexto amplio, sin verjas ni “no pases”. Es imposible pensar: es decir, “sopesar ideas”, cuando estas ideas diferentes, divergentes son sacadas de en medio desde un principio. Cierto es que la educación debe tener en consideración la capacidad de jóvenes y niños para asimilar y digerir información. No vas a servirle churrasco a un bebé de cuatro meses que no tiene dientes. Pero los muchachos de undécimo grado que configuran el estudiantado de Escuelas Públicas de nuestro país, a su edad, ya tienen dientes. Tienen dientes, uñas y garras. Algunos ya tienen bebés de cuatro meses. Ya pueden comer churrasco.

The legal scholar recently turned blogger Dora Nevares-Muñiz analyzed the controversy from a legal standpoint:

La censura de textos literarios de parte del Departamento de Educación es inconstitucional y viola derechos de los estudiantes… La censura, aparte de coartar el libre flujo de las ideas y la libertad de expresión atesorada en nuestra Constitución, constituye un acto de violencia de parte del Ejecutivo hacia unos estudiantes que tienen el derecho a recibir una educación que propenda al pleno desarrollo de su personalidad y al reconocimiento de los derechos y libertades fundamentales. El acto de censurar es de por sí un atentado a la libertad de pensamiento y expresión, típico de sociedades intolerantes y totalitarias…La censura no debe tener espacio en el sistema educativo. Una de las metas del sistema escolar debe ser que el estudiante internalice actitudes de tolerancia y respeto ante la diversidad y las personas que tienen ideas discrepantes. Este es uno de los primeros pasos para prevenir la violencia. Los libros censurados se leían en grado undécimo. Se trata de obras reconocidas en Puerto Rico y en el extranjero por su calidad literaria. Un estudiante de Escuela Superior debe tener desarrolladas las destrezas de pensamiento crítico y análisis lógico necesarias para analizar esos libros.

In his blog Lecturas urbanas [ES], Javier Valentín Feliciano remembered his experience in the public school system in Puerto Rico:

Cuando cursé mis doce años de estudios en la escuela pública nunca conocí a ninguna de estas autoras puertorriqueñas, tampoco conocí a escritores hispanoamericanos que estaban en todo su auge como Gabriel García Márquez, el propio Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Luisa Valenzuela, la lista es inmensa. Tuve que esperar muchísimos años para poderme reconocer como hispanoamericano con estos autores. En la escuela pública no los leí, nunca los asignaron. Quién sabe y nunca los hubiera descubierto.

*Bloggers posts were translated by the author. The picture is from Andréia's Flickr photostream and has been republished under a Creative Commons licence.