March 1st 1954

BLUE LOLITA STAR RICANSTRUCTED by vagabond ©

In the years following World War II the colonized nations who had fought and died alongside the imperial Allied powers began seeking independence and Puerto Rico was no exception. The US government was not interested in giving up Puerto Rico but it also didn’t want to be seen as a colonial power in the eyes of the world. In 1947 the US Congress passed a law allowing Puerto Ricans the ability to vote for their own governor. As the US Congress allowed Puerto Ricans the right to vote for their own governor they passed a gag law in 1948 known as Ley de la Mordaza. It made flying or displaying the Puerto Rican flag illegal and barred anyone from speaking, printing, publishing, organizing or advocating for independence. In 1949 Luis Muñoz Marin was elected the first Puerto Rican governor. The leader of the Nationalist Party Don Pedro Albizu Campos saw this governorship as a means of having Puerto Ricans administer US colonial interests.

As governor Luis Muñoz Marin immediately endorsed a proposal known as “Free Associated State” to try to get as much autonomy for the island as possible. “Free Associated State” granted some autonomy over Puerto Rico but nowhere near complete autonomy. Albizu Campos, the Nationalists Party and other independence supporters all agreed that “Free Associated State” simply put a Puerto Rican face on US colonialism. In response to all these developments Albizu Campos and the Nationalists Party began to plan an island wide insurrection. On October 30th of 1950 in the towns of Jayuya, Utuado, Arecibo, Ponce, San Juan, Mayagüez, Naranjito and Peñuelas there was an open armed revolution to rid Puerto Rico of the US imperialism it had suffered under since the Spanish American War of 1898. The revolution failed and Albizu and hundreds of other Nationalists were rounded up and arrested.

In 1952 the US Congress ratified “Free Associated State” status for Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico has existed in this very confusing and very nebulous state since then. While in prison for his role in calling for and leading the revolution of 1950, Albizu began writing a young Puerto Rican Nationalist woman named Lolita Lebron. In that correspondence he asked Lolita to lead an attack on the US Congress. She accepted the mission and along with Raphael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores and Andrès Figueroa she led an attack on the US Congress on March 1st of 1954. The date was chosen because it was the first day of the Interamerican Conference in Caracas, Venezuela and the attack was meant to draw international attention to Puerto Rico’s plight as a US colony especially to the Latin American nations meeting in Caracas.

Lolita, Rafa, Irving and Andrés got into the visitor’s galley of the Congress as it was in session. Lolita unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and screamed “¡Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” – Long Live A Free Puerto Rico! then the group shot into the Congress. Five Congressmen were wounded in the attack and the four Nationalists were captured. When Lolita was asked if it was her intention to kill she replied, “I didn’t come to kill, I came to die.”

Lolita, Rafa, Irving and Andrés all served 25 years in prison for the attack. At that time Lolita Lebron was the longest held female political prisoner in the world, a fact that did not go unnoticed during the Cold War. In 1979 President Jimmy Carter pardoned the Lolita Lebron and the other Nationalists after and a long and lengthy international campaign to free them. Carlos Romero Barceló the then governor of Puerto Rico was opposed to the pardon claiming that it would only encourage further acts of “terrorism” on the Puerto Rican government and US interests on the island. When the Nationalists returned home they were received as national heroes, much to Barceló’s chagrin.

Throughout the history of Puerto Rico’s long and complex colonial relationship with the US government  there have been many of these uprisings that, at the time of these actions, seem to receive very little support from Puerto Ricans. Yet the Puerto Rican people have always supported their political prisoners and have had an outstanding track record of garnering global support for them that has brought pressure to bear on the US government to free Puerto Rican political prisoners time and time again. If Puerto Ricans don’t want independence from the US then why do they want independence for the political prisoners and prisoners of war who fight to free Puerto Rico from US colonialism?

There have also historically always been massive outpourings of support for these independence leaders when they die. Many Puerto Ricans agreed with the ideas of the Filiberto Ojeda Rios, the independence leader assassinated by the FBI in 2005, even if they didn’t agree with his decision to use violence as a means of expressing those ideas. Puerto Ricans felt that Filiberto was worthy of their admiration. Filiberto’s funeral procession was the longest in Puerto Rican history. The same could be said for Lolita Lebron. When she passed away in August of 2010 it wasn’t only the so-called minority of Puerto Rican’s who want independence that mourned her passing but the whole Puerto Rico nation that mourned. It was also the Puerto Rican diaspora that mourned as well as the international community that has always supported Puerto Rico’s independence. Many will say that the violent actions taken by Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores and Andrés Figueroa on March 1st of 1954 can’t advance the cause of Puerto Rican independence but history has proven that this argument doesn’t hold up…

BLUE LOLITA STAR RICANSTRUCTED by vagabond ©

Flea wears a Lolita Lebrón RICANSTRUCTED T-shirt

http://www.ricanstructed.spreadshirt.com

The images of Lolita Lebron above are available as T-shirt’s and as 1″ button from my design company RICANSTRUCTED. There are other designs that can be found there of other Puerto Rican independence leaders there as well… You don’t need to believe in Puerto Rican independence to wear a shirt with an independence leader on it like you don’t have to be Argentinian or Cuban to wear a Che T-shirt… Show your support for the independence of Puerto Rico and get yourself a RICANSTRUCTED shirt…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-Xu

Puerto Rican PSA#1

Puerto Rican PSA#1 by Lisa Gonzalez Sanchez & vagabond ©

A T-shirt of the DEFIENDE LO TUYO is available from RICANSTRUCTED

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-V6

Alternatives To The Gap’s Manifest Destiny

ITEM FOUND SINCE 1840 by vagabond

“Never let your schooling interfere with your eduction”

“”I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.” – Mark Twain

“I first learned of Manifest Destiny in American History in Junior High School. To me it has always meant that one could set goals, work hard, and achieve their dreams. Having the opportunity to design for the Gap was the realization of one of my dreams. This phrase and they way I used it was in no way meant to be offensive or hurtful, and I apologize to those who might have interpreted it in that manner.”
– Mark McNairy designer of the MANIFEST DESTINY T-shirt for the Gap

If you’re looking for evidence of how stupid and racist American imperialism can make you, look no further than the MANIFEST DESTINY T-shirt that was released by the Gap. The designer Mark McNairy thought he was taking a political ideology of imperial empowerment and reclaiming it as a personal improvement slogan. Don’t know what Manifest Destiny is? … Then consider this to be a teachable moment for you…  The question is, is it possible for white people to go all through their lives and not know that touting the benefits of Manifest Destiny is not a good thing? It would seem so… But when you analyze it further it sadly doesn’t seem that far-fetched. When i think  about on my own schooling i remember how American imperialism was buffed to a shine so that it became easy to gloss over, slavery, women’s suffrage, the labor struggles of the late 19th and early 20th century, and the civil rights era, just to name a few things that come to mind. So the fact that Mark McNairy came out of Junior High School thinking that Manifest Destiny was a positive ideology is not that far off.

GAP ERROR 404 by vagabond ©

However it’s not just Mark McNairy who isn’t aware that Manifest Destiny is an ideology of imperialism with its roots firmly planted in racism, but everyone at the Gap and at GQ Magazine which seems to have had a hand in the collaboration between Mr McNairy and the Gap. It seems that this design got past everyone at the Gap and GQ and made it all the way to being a product that they were selling online. That is of course until an online petition started by AIM Southern California (AIM = American Indian Movement) got together a few thousand signatures and shamed the Gap into removing it from their stores. What’s shocking is that no one, at the Gap or GQ or even Mark McNairy thought even for a moment to do even the slightest research on Manifest Destiny before charging forward with this offensive idea. Or maybe they did and didn’t give a damn anyway? Either way that kind of thinking comes with the territory when it comes to white privilege. In the eyes of whiteness the world is designed (pun intended) and shaped by white people for their benefit. Manifest Destiny as an imperialist ideology rooted in racism that justified the slaughter of millions of indigenous people in the Americas and the Caribbean, is just a sidebar to the new brand of ironic hipster racism.

The implications of this are so wide and so deep that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where things went wrong… i’d like to throw the idea out there that things went wrong (and continue to go wrong) with the education system in this country. It’s a system that force feeds a warped white washed view of American history in order to indoctrinate the populace into pliability for the ongoing Manifest Destiny in Iraq and Afghanistan and the continued Manifest Destiny of American colonies like Puerto Rico. The problem with this kind of education is that it runs headlong into an opposing view outside of the classroom. In the real world Manifest Destiny is just as bad an ideology as Nazism. That however didn’t stop Mark McNairy from defending his MANIFEST DESTINY T-shirt design with this tweet as his initial response when the uproar began… MANIFEST DESTINY. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. The fittest, get it? The fittest…? As in T-shirt, as in fashion…? There seems to be no end to this ironic brand of hipster racism that comes from white people believing that the election of President Obama is the beginning of post-racism.

This won’t stop here, because American imperialism needs a compliant populace to support its imperialist adventures around the world and the seeds of that compliance are sown in the American education system. The recent naming of the mission to get Osama Bin Laden as Operation Geronimo is another example of the failure (or success, depending on your politics) of an American imperialist education. (Check out my thoughts on that in A Rejection of American Mythology Part I and Part II) The ongoing elevation and hero-worship of Columbus, who was the harbinger of the holocaust of indigenous people in the Caribbean and in the Americas. It’s an ongoing and never-ending assault. The saddest part to all of this, is not that this happened, but that it will happen again and again and again because what can be sown from imperialist seeds planted within the American educational system but the yielding of an imperialist crop…?

A few years ago i started a T-shirt company called RICANSTRUCTED dedicated to the independence of Puerto Rico from US colonial rule. i’ve done a few of my own designs that were created to created discussion and dialogue about some of these issues… If you’re looking for something for an alternative to the Gap’s Manifest Destiny and the rewritten version of America’s imperialist version of history, then look no further…

MANIFEST DESTINY RECORD COMPANY by vagabond for RICANSTRUCTED

To get more info on the Manifest Destiny Record Company check out Record OF Empire…

ENJOY COLONIALISM 1493 by vagabond ©

Enjoy Colonialism 1493 by vagabond for RICANSTRUCTED

DISFRUTA COLONIALISMO 1493 by vagabond ©

Disfrute Colonialismo 1898 by vagabond for RICANSTRUCTED

For more info on this design check out Enjoy Colonialism…

To order any of the designs above and  check out more anti-imperialist designs check out RICANSTRUCTED…

To check out some other designs of an anarcho nature check out AUDIO VISUAL TERRORISM…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-R2

A Punk Aesthetic For A Pawnshop Dream

We did a wardrobe fitting for PAWNSHOP DREAM with Alexis “Flea” Fernandez late last night. Flea who is not only my niece but the co-star of PAWNSHOP DREAM. Flea will be playing a younger version of former US Held Puerto Rican political prisoner and prisoner of war Dylcia Pagan. Who served 20 years in US prisons for fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico using any and all means at her disposal…

Dylcia is the inspiration for PAWNSHOP DREAM. She has always claimed her freedom even locked up within the bowels of prison but has never really ever fully owned it. It’s that complicated sentiment that is at the crux of PAWNSHOP DREAM. The film is a surreal comedic allegory about Puerto Rico’s complicated relationship with a freedom, that like Dylcia, it has always claims but has never owned. The colonial relationship Puerto Rico has  had with the US since 1898 is a complex one and is a metaphor for Dylcia’s life. It’s also a film about how capitalism colonizes all of us except the very few who benefit from such colonialism.

Flea will play a young version of Dylcia. i decided to go with a Punk Aesthetic for her character since Punk is such a strong and easily recognizable rebellious fashion. And what would fit a rebellious warrior like Dylcia better than Punk? So i turned to my girlfriend of many years Resister who dug into her closet and came up with this outfit. A red Che hoodie with green plaid bondage pants, green boots with thin orange laces, fingerless black star bondage gloves and a long sleeve Lion Of Judah Rasta T-shirt underneath it all… The RICANSTRUCTED baseball hat is a one of a kind sample that i wear all the time and Flea added that little bit of flavor afterward.

i think this outfit says it all… Defiant but fun and vibrant and full of life… Like Dylcia herself…

We are still struggling to make PAWNSHOP DREAM… We have only just reached (as i write now) the %10 mark in our goal to raise $5000 to make the film… Please think about sending in a donation of $25, $10 even $5 to help make this surreal comedy a reality…

Donations can be made at www.indiegogo.com/PAWNSHOP-DREAM and anything and everything is very much appreciated…

http://twitter.com/#!/vgbnd/status/155400887160938496

PAWNSHOP DREAM

Pawnshop Dream by vagabond ©

i just launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo for the latest film i wrote, PAWNSHOP DREAM. Its a follow up to my award winning feature film MACHETERO and it’s a surrealist comedy with its roots planted in the political soil of Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and heavily influenced by the surreal Nuyorican poet and playwright Rev. Pedro Pietri. The film follows a teenage girl (played by Alexis “Flea” Fernandez) who sees a beautiful box of sand in a Pawnshop that she wants to buy. She goes in and asks the owner of the Pawnshop what it costs but the Pawnshop owner refuses to tell her. He only tells her what that she can’t afford it. The teenage girl really wants the box of sand, so the Pawnshop owner offer to put it on layaway and the teenage girl accepts putting down whatever money she has.

The Teenage girl returns to the Pawnshop several more times to make her layaway payments and each time the Pawnshop owner strings her along telling her she still doesn’t have enough to pay for the box of sand. Years pass and the teenage girl grows up to be a young woman who comes in and makes her layaway payment on the box of sand. More years pass and an older woman, (played by former US held Political Prisoner & Prisoner Of War Dylcia Pagan) comes in to finally claim what has always been rightfully hers. The Pawnshop owner refuses to give it to her telling her she won’t get the box of sand until she’s done paying for it and at the same time refusing to tell her what the final cost actually is.

The older woman comes back into the Pawnshop one last time with a beautifully wrapped box. She tells the Pawnshop owner that she has brought him a gift. The Pawnshop owner is thrilled at first until he hears a ticking noise coming from inside the pretty package. He asks the older woman what it is and she tells him it’s his time running out. She tells him that he has very little time to do the right thing but the Pawnshop owner insists on continuing to collect on the box of sand. Before he can tell the older woman to leave the Pawnshop the box stops ticking…

Somewhere in this age of empire there is a an intersection where Colonialism and Capitalism meet and on that corner is a Pawnshop where dreams are bought and bought and bought but nothing is ever sold. This is the metaphor for the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. Puerto Rico is one of the oldest colonies on the planet. Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain for almost 400 years and has been a colony of the United States since 1898. The box of sand in the film is Puerto Rico and the Pawnshop owner is the United States government.

PAWNSHOP DREAM is all about simplifying the complex relationship between colonialism and capitalism. With a biting humor and a distilled political sense, the fog of understanding can be lifted to reveal the nakedness of the empire. With the occupation movements sweeping the US and around the world i think that the relationship between colonialism and capitalism is something that can be used to expose the empire. i think the beginnings of the rampant unchecked capitalism wrecking financial havoc around the world can be traced back to colonialism. i also think that the colonial situation of Puerto Rico is a metaphor for how capitalism treats each of us as individuals. It promises and promises and promises a better future if we work hard but never delivers on the promise.

Colonialism is a tool of capitalism and PAWNSHOP DREAM is a surrealist expose on the reality of that relationship. Colonialism and capitalism are historically intertwined. Although the film uses the “nationless nation” (as Rev. Pedro Pietri calls Puerto Rico) as an example of how capitalism uses colonialism to amass financial profits that metaphor can be applied to all the victims of capitalism… Each of us is colonized by capitalism’s false prophecy of prosperity…

We are trying to raise $5000 to make PAWNSHOP DREAM a reality… There are really only a few ways to help see this film come to fruition… Donate some loot… OR… Spread the love by spreading the word about the campaign to raise money for PAWNSHOP DREAM… If you are on twitter use the hashtag #PAWNSHOPDREAM… If you’re on Facebook post a link to the PAWNSHOP DREAM Indiegogo Campaign… If you have a blog and find the concept interesting write something about it or link this blog or reach out to Dylcia Pagan and or myself for an interview…

i can’t DIWO (Do It With Others) if there are no others to do it… i can’t DIWO, without you… Your help as always is a humbling endeavor for me and very, very, very much appreciated… For more info on the campaign and to follow our progress which will be updated frequently check out PAWNSHOP DREAM on Indiegogo…

The work on PAWNSHOP DREAM has already begun… Arturo & Joseph Rodriguez of RICANSTRUCTION got together a few weeks ago to record a part of the score at Terrordome Studios with DJ Johnny Juice of Public Enemy and X-Vandals at the controls. You can read all about it and check out a video of them recording the track from a previous post called Lunchroom Beats Vol. 1… Enjoy it.. It’s a lot of fun…

http://twitter.com/#!/vgbnd/status/141617736102068224

Freeing Puerto Rico One T-shirt At A Time

RICANSTRUCTED LOGO by vagabond ©

“This work is a torture on the rump, but a joy to the heart”
– Eduardo Galleano 

Puerto Rico has been a struggling against colonialism since 1493 when Columbus first landed on the island. It resisted colonialism by the Spanish for 400 years and it has struggled against US colonialism since 1898 when the Spanish handed Puerto Rico over to the over to the US after the Spanish American War. Throughout this struggle against colonialism (that has lasted over 500 years) there has always been a brutal repression against those who have sought independence. There is a long history of independence supporters being, persecuted, prosecuted, imprisoned, exiled and killed for their beliefs.

That history has made many people fearful of expressing their desire for independence. That fear of expression has metastasized into an epidemic of self censorship where people  don’t even want to think about independence. In resistance to that fear and self censorship I came up with the idea of starting a company that would make people proud to declare their independence for Puerto Rico to the world.

RICANSTRUCTED is a design company that i founded and that is dedicated to the independence struggle of Puerto Rico as a means of letting people express their support for Puerto Rican independence… All the designs are a reflection of both Puerto Rico’s historic struggle, and it’s continuing struggle for independence. Wearing a T-shirt or a Hoodie or Button may not seem like much in terms of resistance but it informs people who don’t know that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States. It may even be the beginning of a conversation. Many people don’t speak about the Puerto Rican independence struggle because they don’t know if others also believe in Puerto Rican independence. A T-shirt or a hoodie or a button allows people to show their support for independence… Hopefully it tares down the fear that still exists for others who are apprehensive to declare their support for Puerto Rican independence…

RICANSTRUCTED LOGO by vagabond ©

Before people go telling me that i’m pimping the struggle or capitalizing on the movement, let me explain something, because nothing could be further from the truth… There are faster ways to climb up out of the 99% to the 1% than designing independence T-shirts for Puerto Rico… i’m not getting rich doing this… i actually lose money when you consider the amount of time and energy i put into designing, maintaining and marketing RICANSTRUCTED…

i have dedicated the better part of the last 13 years of my life to the cause of Puerto Rican independence… i have written articles, painted murals, made documentaries, music videos, done paintings, designed posters, flyers and pamphlets… i have created, designed and maintained websites dedicated to the Puerto Rican independence struggle… i have organized Political Education classes, organized rallies, protests, concerts and spoken out in the media on the Puerto Rican independence struggle. i made my first feature film… MACHETERO about the Puerto Rican independence struggle… Most of that work was done when i worked with the Puerto Rican punk band RICANSTRUCTION which was a force in its own right. RICANSTRUCTED is not a means of pimping the struggle or exploiting the movement… it’s just a continuation of that struggle in a different form…

With the holi-daze coming up on us, there is a movement to support small independent businesses as opposed to large faceless corporations. In that spirit RICANSTRUCTED is offering two ways to save for the coming holi-daze… Order 5 T-shirts or Hoodies and pay for 4… or order 3 T-shirts or Hoodies and get free standard shipping… Either way you can spread the love to the ones you love… No matter how you slice it, it’s a good deal… Support a small, artist run, independent business, get something for someone that means something and save a few dollars while doing it…. But you need to order before November 24th to take advantage of these deals..

And by the way, you don’t need to be Puerto Rican to support RICANSTRUCTED… And you don’t need to be Puerto Rican to support Puerto Rican independence…

You can be linked to RICANSTRUCTED by clicking on the word or on any of the images…

Related Links from Nothing To Be Gained Here
FALN – Struggle Until Victory
The Birth And Attempted Assassination Of A Nation
A Record Of Empire
Enjoy Colonialism?
The Rebel History Kept Hidden From You
Arm In Arm With Arms: The Puerto Rican Uprising Of 1950

http://twitter.com/#!/vgbnd/status/137316729465470976

The History On The Wall

Lucha En La Pared (Struggle On The Wall)

In the spring of 1998 i designed, helped organize and painted what became known as the Dos Alas – Albizu/Che Mural on 105th Street & 3rd Avenue. Not4Prophet of the Puerto Rican Punk band RICANSTRUCTION and hip-hop duo X-VANDALS was also instrumental in the earliest stages of organizing and conceptualizing the mural. There were two other key artists who were brought on to the project, one was former Young Lord Carlito Rovira who has painted some really beautiful banners for a variety of causes from Puerto Rican independence to freeing political prisoners to trying to stop the execution of Mumia Abu Jamal. The other artist was Tato Torres who is also a talented musician and leads Yerba Buena a band that plays traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music.

The mural was organized by the Puerto Rico collective (a group of activists who were seeking independence for Puerto Rico) and the RICANSTRUCTION Netwerk (a group of anarchist leaning artist agitators). The mural managed to survive the weather, vandalism, and even the repointing of the brick face on the wall but was in need of a huge restoration. That’s when Marina Ortiz, Not4Prophet and Xen Medina formed the Luisa’s Liberation Artists Making Action LLAMA (llama – in Spanish means to be called). The organization was named after the great Puerto Rican anarcho-feminist Luisa Capetillo. One of the first projects to be undertaken by LLAMA is the restoration of the Dos Alas – Albizu/Che Mural.

On Thursday October 20th, the NY Daily News printed a Spanish language supplement called Hora Hispana and distributed it in the paper. The restoration of the Dos Alas – Albizu/Che Mural was a featured article on the cover of that supplement. The day before Hora Hispana was distributed on the 19th an english version of the article was posted on the NY Daily News website.

Daily News Supplement Hora Hispana With Dos Alas - Albizu Che Mural Restoration

The restoration is going beautifully. Marina Ortiz, Not4prophet and Xen Medina of LLAMA have brought together a group of artists and volunteers to bring the mural back to it’s former glory. The people who have been working diligently on the mural are marina Ortiz, Not4Prophet (who was one of the original organizers and painters from 1998) David Concepcion, Fernando Ruiz Lorenzo, Carlito Rovira, Tato Torres (another original painter from 1998), Xen Medina and George Acevedo. If you’re in El Barrio then make sure to pass by the Northeast corner of 105th Street and 3rd Avenue to see the Dos Alas – Albizu/ Che Mural.

http://twitter.com/#!/vgbnd/status/129235095369420800

The Rebel History Kept Hidden From You

“In this great future, you can’t forget your past.” – Bob Marley

“Puerto Rico has a history that is very heroic and prolific. Naturally, as a colony, there exists a history of double interpretation; the colony, and the history of the anti-colonial struggle. In reality, the colonial history does not apply to us. It is more fitting for the colonizer. Ours, the only one, is the anti-colonial history because it is the history of our native people who survived and are in constant battle to defeat the powerful colonial forces. It is the history of our Puertorriqueñidad.” – Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

On September 23rd of 1868 a few hundred Puerto Ricans marched into the Puerto Rican mountain town of Lares waving a flag with a white cross in the center dividing four rectangles, two blue rectangles on the top and two red rectangles on the bottom with a star in the left hand top blue rectangle. They marched into Lares with weapons and took over the municipality and declared Puerto Rico free and independent from Spanish colonial rule. That flag and the rebellion that carried it was designed by Ramon Emeterio Betances and sown by Marianna Bracetti and would become know as the flag of Lares and the rebellion that took Lares would become known as El Grito De Lares, The Cry of Lares.

This uprising was 12 years in the planning and was initially planned for September 29th, but had to be pushed up due to a betrayal the rebel forces suffered. However Lares was taken by these Puerto Rican revolutionaries without resistance and before the Spanish even knew there was a revolt. The Puerto Ricans immediately set up a provisional government with a President, Government Minister, Justice Minister, Minister of Treasury and Secretary of State.

Betances who was born in Cabo Rojo to a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother planned the revolt in exile from the Dominican Republic and was struggling to get arms and ammunition to Puerto Rico in time. On the next day, September 24th the Puerto Rican revolutionaries marched into the town of San Sebastiàn where the Spanish were prepared for them. The Puerto Ricans were defeated in San Sebastiàn. The betrayal which had pushed the attack on Lares up by six days prevented Betances from getting his shipment of arms and ammunition to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic in time to support the ongoing revolt.

Although the Puerto Ricans lost the battle they did not lose the war. Puerto Ricans continued to organize and fight for their freedom. In the following year slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans were eventually able able to negotiate their autonomy from Spain. In November of 1897 Spain granted Puerto Rico it’s autonomy only to have it revoked in July of 1898 when the United States invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. On December 10th of 1898 the Treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain and Puerto Rico was handed over to the United States as war reparations.

El GRITO CREW
This design is available as a T-shirt from RICANSTRUCTED
http://ricanstructed.spreadshirt.com

The United States is still a colonial power in Puerto Rico and the struggle that began with the father of Puerto Rican independence, Ramon Emeterio Betances, still continues. In the late 1960’s Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios took the battle for Puerto Rico’s independence into a new stage. It was Comandante Filiberto who was the father of the underground armed resistance movement in Puerto Rico and in the United States. In 1967 he founded MIRA, Movimento Independetista Revolucionario Armado (Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement). Shortly after that he had a hand in forming the FALN, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nationalista (Armed Forces for National Liberation) in the United States. He also founded the EPB, Ejercito Popular Boricua (Popular Puerto Rican Army) affectionately known as Los Macheteros. All of these groups used clandestine guerilla warfare tactics against the United States in an effort to free Puerto Rico from colonial rule and all of the groups were considered terrorist organizations by the United States.

All of this activity made FIliberto a target for the FBI.  When the FBI raided his home, he was put on trial for shooting and wounding an FBI officer in 1985. An all Puerto Rican jury found him not guilty by reason of self defense. In 1988 he was put on trial again, this time for the 1983 Wells Fargo Armored Car Robbery in Hartford Connecticut that netted $7 million for the Macheteros. On September 23rd of 1990, while out on bail and awaiting trial, Filiberto cut off the electronic shackle that monitored his movements and went into clandestinity. Until September 12th of 2001, Filiberto Ojeda Rios was the FBI’s most wanted man. On September 23rd of 2005 the FBI surrounded Filiberto’s home in Hormigueros a short ride from Lares where thousands of Puerto Ricans were celebrating El Grito De Lares and listening to a speech that FIliberto had recorded for the occasion. As Filiberto’s speech played in Lares the FBI shot and wounded Filiberto Ojeda Rios at his home in Hormigueros. The wound was not fatal but the FBI refused to approach his body for over 24 hours and Filiberto bled to death…

If you didn’t know the history of El Grito de Lares it’s through no fault of your own. This history has been kept from you so that you’re separated from your past. If you’re separated from your past then your future can belong to anyone who lays claim to it. If our colonizers can erase our past then they can re-write our future. Knowledge of the past is a means of securing the future. Knowing the secret rebel history kept hidden from you is a weapon that can be used to reclaim a future that is and has always been rightfully yours…

A Link Between Struggles by vagabond ©

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-dO

The Birth And Attempted Assassination Of A Nation

Los Gritos by vagabond ©

“While thousands of Puerto Ricans on the island/nation of Puerto Rico were commemorating El Grito de Lares, our national day of revolutionary struggle against Spanish colonialism, and were listening to the annual message of our Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios, the feds chose to begin their attack on his home. This was not a routine arrest of a “criminal”. On the contrary, it was a planned military assassination of one of our most important leaders in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence.”
– Dylcia Pagan former Puerto Rican political prisoner & prisoner of war

On September 23rd of 1868 in a mountain town of Lares in the center of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico a few hundred men and women led a revolt for independence against Spanish colonial rule. Since Columbus first landed on the island and “claimed” it as a possession of Spain in 1493 there has been a resistance to imperialism. The first struggles were waged by indigenous Taino populations and as the Spanish brought African slaves to the island they joined the Tainos and built communities around their resistance that were known as Cimarones or Maroon communities.

The mixture of Taino, African and European blood and culture had created something new and in the 1850’s Puerto Ricans began to act on seeing themselves as a distinct nation. The man who was known to have been the catalyst for this new paradigm shift into nationhood was Ramon Emeterio Betances. He planned and led the revolt on Spain in September of 1868 and because he did, he’s known as the father of the Puerto Rican nation. Although the revolt of September 23rd of 1868 better known as El Grito de Lares (the Cry of Lares), failed at it’s goal of achieving independence, in the short term, it galvanized support for independence and in the long run put Puerto Rico on the road to autonomy and independence from Spain. The failed uprising inspired other Puerto Ricans to organize for their independence and to protest against . There were times when the protests escalated into battles as was the case in Las Marias , Adjuntas, Utado, Vieques, Bayamon, CIeles and Toa Baja. And it’s for this reason that September 23rd of 1868, El Grito de Lares, will forever be known as the birth of the Puerto Rican nation.

Betances El Grito 143 by vagabond © for RICANSTRUCTED

Over time the Spanish were forced to make concessions and give Puerto Rico more and more autonomy. In 1898 just as Puerto Ricans were on the verge of negotiating their complete autonomy from Spain the Spanish-American War broke out and Puerto Rico went from being a colony of Spain to being a colony of the US.

In December 1898 the US took control of Puerto Rico and has since then been trying to justify the colonization to Puerto Rican’s, the world and itself. The resistance to Puerto Rico’s colonization that began with Spain continued with the US. In the 1960’s Puerto Rican independence leader Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios began organizing clandestine armed organizations like MIRA, Movimiento Independentista Revolucionario Armado the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement and the FALN, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional the Armed Forces Of National Liberation and the EPB Ejercito Popular Boricua the Puerto Rican Popular Army that would use military means to fight for Puerto Rico’s independence. Filiberto was the father of the clandestine armed movement for the liberation of Puerto Rico. All of these groups were considered terrorist groups by the US and Filiberto was a fugitive of US law enforcement and one of the top most wanted men by the FBI.

FIliberto’s El Grito 6 by vagabond © for RICANSTRUCTED

In 2005 on the 137th anniversary of El Grito de Lares while Puerto Ricans gathered to commemorate the birth of their nation (albeit one still struggling with colonialism) the FBI had found Filiberto. He had been living clandestinity in Puerto Rico for 15 years and throughout those 15 years he frustrated US law enforcement by giving radio and television interviews and writing articles for the newspapers and magazines about the colonial situation in Puerto Rico. On every Grito de Lares, Filiberto would send a message to the crowds that gathered to commemorate El Grito in Lares. While the crowd gathered to hear speakers and poets and musicians in Lares the FBI had Filiberto’s home in the small mountain town of Homigueros just a few miles away, surrounded.

The FBI started a shootout and Filiberto defended himself by returning fire. In the gun battle Filiberto shot and wounded an FBI agent. It was one man against 300 FBI agents. The FBI brought in a special sniper team that shot and wounded Filiberto. The FBI refused to give him medical attention and as he bled the pre-recorded speech he sent to Lares played. The FBI waited over 24 hours to approach Filiberto and as they waited the 73 year old man bled to death.

Filiberto’s assassination outraged Puerto Ricans. Even Puerto Ricans who didn’t believe in independence or didn’t agree with Filiberto’s decision to use violence in furtherance of independence were outraged by the circumstances of his death. Filiberto’s funeral was the largest funeral in Puerto Rican history. The route from the church to the cemetery was lined with Puerto Rican men, women and children every step of the way waiting to catch one last glimpse of him, yelling slogans of support for Puerto Rican independence and accusing the FBI of assassination. The trip from the church to the cemetery should have been 25 to 30 minutes but it took ten times that amount of time, it took five hours because the streets were clogged with people paying their last respects to a hero who had sacrificed everything for his people and their freedom.

Dylcia Pagan, herself a former member of the FALN and former US held Puerto Rican political prisoner and prisoner of war noted that the assassination of Filiberto on El Grito de Lares, a national Puerto Rican holiday, was not just an attempt to assassinate Filiberto but an attempt to destroy the spirit of the Puerto Rican independence movement. Filiberto’s assassination by the FBI was a message meant to discourage those who fought for Puerto Rico’s independence but it backfired. Instead of discouraging the Puerto Rican people they created another martyr to the cause of Puerto Rican liberation and what began with a birth on September 23rd of 1868 and survived an assassination attempt on September 23rd of 2005, continues today. Instead of destroying everything that El Grito de Lares stood for, the US government created it’s own Grito de Lares.

¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre y Soberana! ¡Filiberto Vive!

The designs above are Limited Editions that were for done for RICANSTRUCTED, a design company that’s dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican independence. The designs were done to commemorate both El Grito of 1868 and El Grito of 2005. The first design is of Ramon Emeterio Betances marks the 143rd anniversary of the uprising and the birth of the nation. The second design is of Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios who was assassinated by the FBI in an attempt to destroy the idea of nationhood for Puerto Rico and it marks the 6th anniversary of his death. The designs are limited to 25 each and are available on Men’s and Women’s standard weight T-shirts and on organic unisex T-shirts. On September 23rd people will gather in Lares once again to renew their resistance and to remember the sacrifices made for a nation that still seeks it’s freedom, get a shirt, plan a trip to Puerto Rico and join Puerto Ricans and other freedom loving supporters of Puerto Rican independence and let your voice be heard.

RICANSTRUCTED

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-dQ

A Record Of Empire

MANIFEST DESTINY RECORDS by vagabond

“I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.” – Mark Twain quoted in A Pen Warmed Up in Hell

When i was thinking about creating new designs for RICANSTRUCTED i thought about the saying “sick of the same old record”. That saying struck a chord in me in terms of US imperialism and how the colonization of  Puerto Rico over 100 years ago is not so different from the US imperialism of today. So i came up with a design of a record label that would encompass early American imperialism abroad. Outside of the battles with with indigenous nations and the war with Mexico, the Spanish – American War was the first imperial adventure for the US outside of North America . It was a war that proved to be very successful for American imperialism and put the US on the road to becoming a world power.

i designed this record label to tell the story of the colonization of Puerto Rico in keeping with RICANSTRUCTED’s mission as a design company to support the Puerto Rican independence movement. i created a fictitious record company called the MANIFEST DESTINY RECORD COMPANY. Manifest Destiny was an ideology that came about in the 1840’s and shaped and guided US imperialism westward across North America. The thinking behind it was that the US was destined to expand across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. (Check out a previous post in which i speak in greater detail on Manifest Destiny in the post – A Rejection Of American Mythology) Manifest Destiny was the guiding principle responsible for bringing the US to war with Mexico in 1846 and also drew the US into war with Spain in 1898.

Manifest Destiny Political cartoon from the late 1890’s

i set out to use a variety of design elements to tell the story of Puerto Rico’s colonization by the US in 1898. The illustration of the eagle was taken from a political newspaper cartoon, with a caption underneath that read, “Ten thousand miles from tip to tip -“. Nothing could illustrate US imperialism better so i decided to use it as a kind of logo for the Manifest Destiny Record Company. The title of the song on the record ‘PORTO RICO YOU BELONG TO ME’ was something that i used to showcase the shamelessness of US imperialism and the level of comfort a former colony had in it’s desire to build an empire. ‘UNCLE SAM & THE IMPERIALISTS’ are the fictitious group that i created for the record as a short hand way of charging the guilty with their crimes. The song is composed by the four commanding generals of the Spanish – American War Miles, Dewey, Shafter and Sampson.

1899 Racist Imperialist Balance Cartoon

‘Side A’ was something that i used to connote that there are always two sides to any story just like their are two sides to a record. ‘Side A’ is considered the first side so it only makes sense that it’s the side of US imperialism since this where the problem begins. The pistol is a gun that was used during the Spanish – American War and is symbolic of the violence that’s used in building the US empire. The term ‘LONG PLAYING’ alludes to the fact that Puerto Rico is still a colony of and that US imperialism is still an ongoing problem in the world.

The numbers underneath ‘LONG PLAYING’ separated by the bullet point are ‘725’ – July 25th the beginning of the invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898 by US forces and ‘1210’ – December 10th which was the day that the Treaty of Paris was signed with Spain affectively ending the war and transferring the nation of Puerto Rico from Spanish colonial rule (under which Puerto Rico had been negotiating and gaining it’s autonomy for over a year) to US colonial rule. The bottom of the label has a MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA title with the address of US House of Representatives beneath it placing the responsibility for this imperial adventure where it should be, squarely on the shoulders of the US government.

MANIFEST DESTINY RECORD COMPANY by vagabond for RICANSTRUCTED

Check out some of the other RICANSTRUCTED designs. And for those of you who aren’t Puerto Rican, realize that you don’t have to be Puerto Rican, to support Puerto Rican independence…

– vagabond

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-5G

Other related posts
Are You RICANSTRUCTED?
Enjoy Colonialism?
FALN – Struggle Until Victory
A Rejection Of American Mythology (Part One)
A Rejection Of American Mythology (Part Two)

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