Hey,
I just sent you an e-mail seconds ago. But when I got it myself I couldn't
open up the attachment so I figure it may be messed up for you too. So pardon
my spamming you but here it comes again. Thanks, Dave
Hey there,
I’m tired from a week of little or disturbed sleep so pardon me if I ramble.
For example last night I couldn’t sleep because right before going to sleep in
our tent Bea and I were told that 500 Marine MP’s, SWAT teams and Federal
Marshalls were on the other side of the fence and they would probably be
cutting off the chains on the fence and dragging us into the base at dawn to
arrest everyone.
Allow me to back up. In 1941, the US Navy expropriated around 3/4 of the land
of the island of Vieques just east an hour and a half ferry ride from Puerto
Rico. Since then, they have used it to conduct military exercises as well as
renting it out to munitions manufacturers to test their weapons. I don’t need
to explain how bad this is, you can imagine.
Zip through the next 50 something years of history and there is consisitent
resistance to the base by the Viequenses which flares up from time to time,
but is pretty much ignored by the main island. Then in April of this year a
500 pound navy bomb fell on and killed David Sanes, a Vieques resident who
worked as a security guard on the base. The next day there was a protest in
the plaza and the next day a vigil at the entrance to the navy base. And then
a group of 60 viequenses entered navy territory by boat, planted a cross and
re-christened the site where he died as Monte David. That night an activist
from the main island stayed behind to camp out for the night and re-claim the
land. Within a week a permanent encampment of protestors was built on Monte
David. Today there are 9 different camps each sponsored by a different group
(teachers, university students, the independentista senator Ruben Berios,etc)
all on the beaches. All refuse to leave until the navy leaves.
Last Friday a new camp was built not on the beach but roadside in front of the
gate of Camp Garcia. It was started in response to Clinton’s latest offer. He
proposes to bomb the island 90 days a year and give $40 million dollars in
assisstance. The money is all ear-marked for projects that would help the
military like a new pier. The offer is laughable in many ways but the best
joke was that the navy will maybe stop bombing in no less than 5 years UNLESS
the people of Vieques want them to continue. The offer was completely rejected
by Puerto Rico. And by Puerto Rico I mean all of it. There are few politicains
willing to poke their heads out and say Keep Bombing, but they are a lonely
group ridiculed by TV comedians and kept hidden by the over-whelming political
consensus. A few examples of this consensus: you got Tito Trinidad with Peace
for Vieques signs as he enters the boxing ring to fight Oscar De La Hoya and
you’ve got a prominently displayed banner at the women’s college volleyball
championship televised the other night declaring Marines Out!, you got Ricky
Martin declaring he is with Vieques on the Billboard’s award show last night ,
the recently elected Miss Universe PR wants to get arrested with Ruben on the
beach, the state-hood candidate said he will be arrested if bombing starts
again(he won’t), town festivals and Christmas concerts are dedicated to the
cause, and the other day a mini-contraversy as La Taina, a scantily clad TV
personality, declared her support for the cause while wearing not much more
than saran wrap.
So this new camp at the gate is where every Saturday night since April there
has been a vigil sponsored by various groups. I’ve been to two and they ROCK!
They last from 7 til midnight or later. Hundreds of residents bring lawn
chairs to hear a few speeches, listen to the musical guests, and mostly to
chat and picket. This is a raucous half hour of keyborads and drums
punctuating a call and response series of chants that is more like a dance
than a picket. There are about three pickets per night.
The most amazing and important thing about the vigils is the chance to
communicate. Vieques has 9,000 people, with only three ferries a day each way,
no movie theater. And these vigils are a social scene. Families come together,
with the kids running around, teenagers sporting their flashiest clothes, the
grammas and grampas sitting in clumps. Over the course of the night they share
news and opinions on strategies for their movement. It is a collaborative
process through and through. And the consensus on Vieques is much stronger and
immediate than on the main island. They are all there to evict the marines
from their land. Nothing less. They are all adamant and in no mood to compromise.
At last Saturday’s vigil, a ceremony was conducted in which the lock and chain
on the gate were cut off. A new chain was put on and the keys to the lock
given to three Vieques women. (I don’t need to explain how bad the treatment
of women by the Marines has been, you can imagine.) Thus from then on whenever
a security guard had to come or go he would have to ask one of the women
encamped to open it for him. (By the way the relationship between the guards
(these 60 security guard jobs are the ONLY economic support the marines give
the island) who are local men and the porotestors is very friendly and
respectful. On an island of 9,000 everyone is either someone’s neighbor or
cousin.) Later that evening, the gates were opened by the women to allow 20
local horsemen who had snuck into the base to exit triumphantly (what other
word sums up the sight of twenty men on horseback entering a cheering group of
several hundred). They carry a banner demanding the marines leave and lead a
pony with anti-marine slogans painted on it. And the sense is that these
people have won already. The marines are done for.
The next couple days were quiet and RAINY as the camp was built with palletes
from the grocery store as a floor, a propane stove installed, latrines built,
banners hung. Women would come by in the evening with dinner,coffee and hot
chocolate. Security guards would come and go, cars would honk their horn or
drop by for a chat. And about 10 folx would sleep there at night. On Monday
Bea and I took the ferry home to get some work done and get some sleep.
That night we turned on the TV news to see Doña Isabel Guadalupe, 82, poking
her cane through the fence at the marines. She is surrounded by hundreds of
other viequensens confronting the marines and winning. The Feds had shown
up(three hours after we left) while only six people were at the camp to cut
the lock. Immmediately two of the people left to call people to the site.
Within a half hour two hundred people were there to defend the gate. Mothers
with children in their arms, kids in their school uniforms, construction
workers still wearing their t-shirts from work. By nightfall 800 people were
sitting at the gate now locked 6 times over with thick chains from boat
anchors and the marines retreated except for a few guys to watch and video
tape. Hundreds of people stayed until three in the morning.
The next day Bea and I hop in the car and ferry and arrive about 6ish. A
couple hundred people were hanging out, coffee in the kitchen, some picket
fun. And then comes the nasty misstep by the protesters that will hopefully be
put behind. The local priest arrived. He is involved with the coordinadora,
the over-arching group made up of the fishermnen’s group, the women’s
alliance, the church, the resistance camps and the community organizers. It is
mostly a tool of communication rather than direction. He announced that the
coordinadora had decided to cut the locks themselves and sit in front of the
gate in the spirit of Gandhi etc. Not only was it a bad decision (only one day
after 800 people had defended the locks!) but he delivered his sermon in a
patronzing way saying how sometimes the parents need to tell children what to
do even if they don’t like it.
What happened next was in retrospect democratic involvement at its finest.
While it was happening however we were on the verge of tears watching as this
united community suddenly split. People who had built the camp said they were
leaving and never coming back. Residents who had come to every single vigil
yelled at the priest. They disagreed with the strategy and how it was made.
After several hours of discussions in small and large groups and angry
accusations, it was announced that the gate would remain locked until people
could meet up agin the next day. The next day the coordinadora said we made a
mistake, the gates will remain locked. They then took out the wire cutters and
cut the keys in half.
What happened next was in retrospect vile and cynical provocation at its
worst. The bishop arrived. Several hundred people had gathered to discuss and
picket and eat. After the first picket the bishop was introduced and what
followed was a half hour sermon in which he denounced the chains and locks as
violence, anti-christian, anti-democratic (how anyone from the catholic church
can complain about lack of democracy…)The crowd stood quietly and then a group
of singers the bishop brought began singing a song in which the chorus was
repeated ad nauseum: Christ breaks the chains, Christ breaks the chains… A
short standoff at the gate ensued with residents standing in front of the gate
so that Christ would be unable to use his snippers. The bishop meanwhile
played to the cameras and denounced the camp as violent provocation.
After a picket in which the Marina Fuera! ‘s seemed a bit more emphatic from
some (this morning at the camp a couple people had nearly lost their voices),
the camp fell into more discussion. And then the news that 500 Navy MP’s,SWAT
teams and Federal marshalls were stationed inside took on new meaning. The
bishop was the last warning, no? Many of the folx who stayed stayed awake all
night waiting. Dawn came and morning came and nothing except for a lot of
tired and frustrated people.
We’re now back in San Juan and the news is on soon. What this ramble does not
convey in the least is the emotional rollercoaster this week has been. It’s
hard for me to describe the depth of the viequenses conviction. They have been
fighting this fight their entire lives.And their fight is focused and
specific. They are a poor and isolated island who have taken on the world’s
biggest military power and have shut them down for eight months and counting.
They have tasted peace and have no intention of trading it back. And this
camp, has been such an honest and open attempt at direct participatory
resistance. And the kindness of all to us. And the stories they have told.
And the steel drum musician serenading protestors and marines alike, and the
kids drawing pictures of Pokemon with slogans against the Marines, and the
woman whose mother and grandmother died of cancer and she herself now has
cancer who when she is arrested and they aske her name is going to say Vieques
Libre, and the school bus that drives by the camp slowly with all the students
hanging out the windows chanting Marina No Vieques Si, and talking with one
woman about the future "Sometimes I think that maybe like David and Goliath we
on this little island can have some affect, because every empire must end some time."