Puerto Rican Student movement update id WAA05917; Mon, 29 Sep 1997 22:41:08 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: kahliljf@uclink2.berkeley.edu Sat Sep 27 15:31:50 1997 Update from Puerto Rico...On September 10, 1997 we had a general assembly at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. Over 2,000 students attended, out of the 15,000 students enrolled, which is a good turn out. The students took over a street that passes through campus and called it, "Street of Consciousness." They took out buckets of paint and everyone got busy writing whatever flowed, with no censoring. They wrote about things affecting the students, the independence of Puerto Rico, God, political prisoners and whatever was on their minds. The security on campus did not interfere, while over 100 students painted all over the street. The next day everyone was reading what each other wrote. A radical literacy event! (very Freire) It would be a cool thing to do in on your campus--like with chalk if paint would lead to unwanted arrests. The General Assembly focused on student concerns, and the student body president (a women), along with several other student leaders ran the assembly taking resolutions from the two open mics. One of the main concerns was how to change the governing body of the university. Currently there is an appointed board, kind similar to the Board of Regents, but the students want to change the governing body to the academic senate. In the resolution passed the students are also demanding equal representation within the senate. Currently there are 3 faculty representatives for every one student, but the students are demanding an equal 3 to 3 ratio. The students also passed resolutions for amnesty for the Puerto Rican political prisoners, against the military and against privitization. They also talked about how ROTC was kicked off of campus by the student movement of the past and that there has been recent violations of this resolution.This assembly was truly jammin'. The students met for over 5 hours and demanded that the university extend the academic recess until the assembly was over. We are still waiting to see how these resolutions will be played out, but if they are not met students will be going on strike. Also, on Sept 16, the Governor Rosello of Puerto Rico, (who wants Puerto Rico to become a state), came to the University to meet with student organization that is pro-statehood, and things went off. It was not announced that he was coming--it was supposed to be a secret meeting to discuss selling the public telephone company to private US investors. There is currently a campaign in Puerto Rico backed by the PNP (the party which is in power and that backs statehood for PR) to sell the telephone company, public schools, hospitals, prisons, and public housing [to private investors]. A group of students found out about the meeting and started protesting in front of the building he was speaking. Eventually, some students who oppose privitization attempted to enter the meeting but were not allowed in. They explained that they had the right to enter the meeting regardless of their political ideologies. The University guards and the Governor's private security started pushing students (there are no police on campus due to a resolution passed by the student movement in the late 1970's after the murder of a student by the police. Several students were hit and started fighting back. After the scuffle, students started writing graffiti expressing their frustration (fuck Rosello, no privitization ect.). We then held a meeting to talk about the incident. We are planning several activities to denounce the actions of the guards and security. Things are really starting to pick up. There has not been a student movement like this in years. Hopefully we can win some battles and claim our rights. All the different communities of Puerto Rico are coming together to organize a national strike on Oct. 1 against privitization. We have also been organizing towards 1998 which will mark the 100th year of colonialism in Puerto Rico. Just wanted to let you know whatz up in Puerto Rico. We are trying to make sure that shit that happens in California (UC Regents->prop 209) does not happen here. Tell me what you think. La lucha sigue. Palante Siempre Palante. Peace...Kahlil Also check out the homepage for more info http://server.berkeley.edu/abc http://server.berkeley.edu/abc/protestpr.html ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.29.97-22:41:32-15654