Culture As An Act of Resistance
I was listening to a CD that just came out from Puerto Rico called "La Nueva Escuela" (The New School). It is a CD of protest music just released and it pays homage to the recently murdered Comandante Filiberto Ojeda Rios of the clandestine group the Macheteros. I was struck by one of the cuts in the CD, a speech by Comandante Che Guevara who in 1964 he addressed the United Nations and spoke in support of Don Pedro Albizu Campos and the independence struggle in Puerto Rico. I was struck by how his statements still ring true today.
In his speech he talks about Don Pedro Albizu Campos having spent a lifetime behind bars, tortured, alienated from his family and people and all the while resisting US Imperialism. Don Pedro's actions he goes on to say, are symbolic of the fact that the people of Puerto Rico have steadily resisted the attemps by the U.S. to destroy Puerto Rican culture and replace it with North American culture. That the people of Puerto Rico have maintained their language even though with the introduction of English words and phrases into everyday speech. The act of Puerto Rican's maintaining their Spanish and maintaining their culture is an act of resistance to Yankee Imperialism.
The statements by compañero Che Guevara struck me because here we are, a Puerto Rican community, in 2007, in the United States, en las entrañas del monstruo as they say, and we are still resisting the destruction of our culture. The very act of holding an arts and crafts festival is an act of resistance. The fact that this past year we saw the largest crowds come out to support Puerto Rican culture in El Barrio's Trova Festival, at the Bomplenazo at Hostos Community College, at the Comite Noviembre Artisans Fair at Hunter College and at numerous other places where Puerto Ricans gathered to show off to the world the beauty of Puerto Rican culture is proof that Puerto Rican's support their culture and would like it to fluorish. In addition, the success of music groups like Los Pleneros de la 21, Tato Torres' Yerbabuena and the other groups that play bomba and plena around the city and the nation is further proof that Puerto Rican culture will fluorish in the decades to come-and not just in NY.
The increasing popularity of these festivals demonstrates that to raise the Puerto Rican flag once a year is not enough. We need to step back and look at the flag itself. Raising the Puerto Rican flag was a crime in Puerto Rico before 1948. Many people when to jail for an act that we now take for granted. They were resiting US Imperialism. Many Puerto Ricans wear their flag as if it were an article of clothing or a decoration for the car. But, of course we know its more than that, it as another act of resistance yet this message has gotten lost in the commercialism and spectacle of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, el desfile as we say. Unfortunately many Puerto Ricans seem to think that to raise the flag once a year and scream Puerto Rico with pride is enought to show you're Puerto Rican.
To really support our culture and let everybody know you are Puerto Rican you have show more than just a flag. You have to support the artists and artisans who sacrifice their time and energy to learn a new craft or the perfect the perfect bomba rythm or to paint the faces that give character to our nation.
Now, whether Puerto Ricans realize it or not we are resisting Yankee Imperialism. We may not see it that way, we may not even recognize it and I am sure some of you out there may even think that I am losing touch with reality. Nevertheless, the fact that we have many people out there who are dedicating a large part of their lives to conserving traditions handed down from generation to generation is testament to the existence of a community that wants to maintain its identity.
The very act of promoting Puerto Rican culture is an act of resistance.
In his speech he talks about Don Pedro Albizu Campos having spent a lifetime behind bars, tortured, alienated from his family and people and all the while resisting US Imperialism. Don Pedro's actions he goes on to say, are symbolic of the fact that the people of Puerto Rico have steadily resisted the attemps by the U.S. to destroy Puerto Rican culture and replace it with North American culture. That the people of Puerto Rico have maintained their language even though with the introduction of English words and phrases into everyday speech. The act of Puerto Rican's maintaining their Spanish and maintaining their culture is an act of resistance to Yankee Imperialism.
The statements by compañero Che Guevara struck me because here we are, a Puerto Rican community, in 2007, in the United States, en las entrañas del monstruo as they say, and we are still resisting the destruction of our culture. The very act of holding an arts and crafts festival is an act of resistance. The fact that this past year we saw the largest crowds come out to support Puerto Rican culture in El Barrio's Trova Festival, at the Bomplenazo at Hostos Community College, at the Comite Noviembre Artisans Fair at Hunter College and at numerous other places where Puerto Ricans gathered to show off to the world the beauty of Puerto Rican culture is proof that Puerto Rican's support their culture and would like it to fluorish. In addition, the success of music groups like Los Pleneros de la 21, Tato Torres' Yerbabuena and the other groups that play bomba and plena around the city and the nation is further proof that Puerto Rican culture will fluorish in the decades to come-and not just in NY.
The increasing popularity of these festivals demonstrates that to raise the Puerto Rican flag once a year is not enough. We need to step back and look at the flag itself. Raising the Puerto Rican flag was a crime in Puerto Rico before 1948. Many people when to jail for an act that we now take for granted. They were resiting US Imperialism. Many Puerto Ricans wear their flag as if it were an article of clothing or a decoration for the car. But, of course we know its more than that, it as another act of resistance yet this message has gotten lost in the commercialism and spectacle of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, el desfile as we say. Unfortunately many Puerto Ricans seem to think that to raise the flag once a year and scream Puerto Rico with pride is enought to show you're Puerto Rican.
To really support our culture and let everybody know you are Puerto Rican you have show more than just a flag. You have to support the artists and artisans who sacrifice their time and energy to learn a new craft or the perfect the perfect bomba rythm or to paint the faces that give character to our nation.
Now, whether Puerto Ricans realize it or not we are resisting Yankee Imperialism. We may not see it that way, we may not even recognize it and I am sure some of you out there may even think that I am losing touch with reality. Nevertheless, the fact that we have many people out there who are dedicating a large part of their lives to conserving traditions handed down from generation to generation is testament to the existence of a community that wants to maintain its identity.
The very act of promoting Puerto Rican culture is an act of resistance.
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