Why are leftists against the privatization of Puerto Rico?
Before Maria, Puerto Rico was a third world country. Wouldn't it be a good thing if capitalists heavily invested in modern infrastructure and then an organized left can take over and nationalize the newly built services?
Just like the Soviet Union was too rural for a successful transition into socialism, Puerto Rico is too underdeveloped. A capitalist phase between colonialism and communism can help the island.
It does have a modern infrastructure and economy. The island just isn't very useful to the federal government anymore because its main value used to be political, due to its convenient geographical location. The feds don't care so shit is going unmaintained, and in the current political climate, Congress would happily let them rot if it means muh tax cuts.
If anything, Puerto Rico is a textbook example of late capitalist decay.
wat. You clearly have no clue about the history. US govenrment did precisely that from the 1940s by encouraging companies to set up factories and other stuff there with low tax enticements and subsidies. iirc it was an attempt to make it a showcase of capitalist success vs. threat of socialism and nationalism in latin america
shit b8
Puerto Ricans are subhuman
Nice bait, faggot.
HOWEVER TO ALL INTERESTED:
PR is a Welfare society used as an example on the benefits of cooperation with the US, it was used as a propaganda piece against Cuba. A combination of welfare, emigration and light industry burgeoned the economy from the 40s-70s. However once Vietnam and China opened up their labour forces these factories booked it and now only the Welfare state remains. Its a completely dependent society in which 60% of its shrinking population depends on some sort of Federal Aid, a figure most likely to rise since austerity politics have been the mainstream of the local government for over 20 years now. Its in the process of becoming Hawaii 2.0, a wall of hotels, foreign agricultural companies (i.e. Monsanto) and banks will take hold of the island, taking over the old residual Peninsular elite while the remainder of the population will be forced deeper abject poverty and servitude as a population of shoe-shiners, maids, nannies, and cooks in order to satisfy the hotels the foreigners come and settle in.
Source: Im a Puerto Rican. Feel free to ask anything about the island, i dont think many here would know too much since most users are gringo about one of the remainders of classical colonialism today
I bet I can turn this shit bait thread into something good
umm sweetie a gringo already posted before you
(me)
I know brad, but I havent made a thread about PR because it depresses me too much, but since a shitposter did i want to steer it away from being sewage bait
I understand. What else depresses you besides what you've described above? I'm curious to read more about the island. Do you live in PR? Has the hurricane really changed stuff?
woops
It's funny, more people in PR speak English than in Miami.
...
Our public university system is in process of being privatized, right now theyll fouble the cost of attendance an d it will be the most expensive university from the cheapest. Keep in mind that the UPR is recognized ad one of the best systems in the hemisphere an recognized worldwide in Humanities, Social Sciences and STEMs, rivaling gringo universities like MIT abd Georgia Tech. Last time i checked there were 100 scientists graduated from the UPR working in NASA, all this coming from one of the poorest regions under gringo control. Apart from being one of the last bastions for communist /independentist studies. Im in 2nd year studying History and before ill die im going to have to see it become a milquetoast liberal uni for the wealthy from its life as a genuine force of education and research, badically every boomer was educated there and the gulf is gigantic when you compare the private vs the UPR
on top of that you have 20 yrs of austerity politics culminating in an impository Fiscal Board by the gringos to manage our 76 bl usd debt, debt that was inescapable thanks to the underlying structure of the colonial system in which 80-90% of everything consumed is imported, and importing goods ate shackled to the US Merchant Marine, the most expensive fleet in the world.
I could go on but since theres so much youd need to be more specific in your questions or else ill end up writing an essay.
To put it in perspective we had more political an economic freedoms/privileges in 1898 under the Autonomic Charter of the Spanish gov than today
It's questions like these that know no answer
Most everyobe understands at least a lityle thanks to aculturization but speaking fluently is another thing entirely
Id really wish there was a way mods could replace images, cause then id ask them to use this flag instead of that generic hispanic image op used
Also I was born here, my fathers' side were cane-cutters from the western part of the island while my mother's side were poor urban dwellers, my mother's mother is daughter of two catalonian refugees that fled franco, thankfully i managed to obtain my spanish citizenship from it just in case i really need to book it.
The hurricanes Irma and Maria (we were hit back to back with barely a week in between) simply ripped off the image of bountifulness and wellness that gringo ownership has brought us, the recovery effort was a complete joke. It hasnt been enough however, people here think they live in some sort of paradise, thankful that they dont live in *those* places where tinpot dictators live, live Venezuela, Cuba, or Nicaragua (lol). Needless to say theyre pozzed as FUCK, incredibly ironic considering that the Nationalists (both left and right wing) were the biggest political force in the island till the 50s when the industrialization really kicked in as well as the whole cold war shebang.
bumpin cuz i wanna do dis :d
shut the fuck up puta you're all fucking spoiled brats. I'd fucking kill for birthright citizenship, do you realize all the shit I've had to go through just because I'm an undocumented citizen? At least your joke of a "country" gets to be #51 and you can all escape to Florida meanwhile I'm constantly under the gun just because I was born outside the US.
X_D
Are you afraid of Trump?
am I afraid of someone pulling me out of bed while I'm sleeping, beating my parents to death in front of me then placing me in a foreign country that I can't even speak the language of? yes
How does being an illegal work? How do you earn income, use services like a bank etc?
You have to go back.
I don't use a bank, all my jobs pay me in cash. Currently I'm employed as a community peace officer, I spend most of my time writing parking tickets and arresting homeless people when they smear shit on playground equipment.
why don't you go back to Zig Forums?
thanks for the replies guys
is there any hope for leftists on the island? whats your opinions about statehood? what happened to all the industries are there post industrial remains scattered across the island? would the country ever be able to wean itself of US imports and are there any ways to undermine that?
where in florida do you live
I don't live in Florida, I live in California and I'm able to work because I got my AB60 ID card.
same me, is me
Veeery difficult, seeing as the old guard leftist are dying out and few are moving in to replace them. I just dont see the conditions for leftist movements every surfacing unless we have some sort of foreign involvement, like China.
NO NO NO NO NO. Also anyone who believes in it is an absolute collaborator, pathetic traitor, vende patria, scum, scab, larper, ignorant fuck. FUCK statehood and FUCK people who want it and FUCK the gringo state and its supporters. I feel I can truly say I hate this and the people surrounding it
The factory owners realized they could make more profit by not playing the Fed's game of welfare state and decided to book it to other countries whose state institutions would be more pliable to their interests
The most prominent ones are the gigantic sugar cane chimneys that are left standing as a historical monument. These things are several stories high and were basically dick measuring contests between competing sugar cane processors to see who could build the largest and bestest chimney for their factory
US imports are the moneymaker for the island. The feds spend about 7 bil in "aid" for the island in the form of welfare coupons, state budgets, etc, while once adding up all the taxes paid and goods/services consumed it ends up as 76 billion in profits for the gringo economy. To put it in perspective we're the 5th largest market for american goods, AND we're a captive market
Competition and buying local, but good luck finding competition. There was a huge investment by local capitalists to create local rice farms (our staple foodstuff) and be self sufficient in food some decades back (we import 90% of our food) but once word got out the rice importers slashed their prices and flooded the market with cheap rice. Same thing happened to our meat industry, milk industry, tobacco industry, etc, etc etc. Theres no way we can compete, faithfully (implying there is faithful competition) or otherwise.
i mean is being independent even worth pursuing in this day and age? economic nationalism in general? or is the utter scorn of some amount of "autarky" by the pundits nowadays a sign of global capitalism's hold on us? Is there anything good to be said about being self dependent if growing your own food stuffs makes prices higher? or is this sudmitting to capitalist logic and ignoring that economic independence hedges against disruptions in supply systems?
again, appreciate the answers btw
First and foremost its an anti-colonial struggle, so yes. Being independent would let us pursue policies in our favour which are obviously curtailed by the colonial structure. Of course theres much to be said about having self elected presidents but foreign bankers. In the end id rather us become with China what Cuba became with the USSR, it would be a much less painful existence. Ultimately autarky must come first and foremost as our limited land mass and geographical location makes us more susceptible to disruptions, or lack, of resources.
Puerto Rico has incredibly fertile soil, some of the most fertile in the world. I believe there are sectors that are within the 3% most fertile. Compounded with the fact that grapefruit trees, quite common foodstuff around here, bear fruit twice a year self sufficiency in food production is an easily attainable feat. Puerto Rico even exported food to places like Santo Domingo, the capital of the Spanish viceroyalty of the area way back before monocultivation became the norm in the 19th century. Putting aside the economic aspects becoming independent of our own food, mind you the most basic practice of any economy, is comparable of being free of foreign banks. Just take a look at Venezuela, its precisely in this situation because its food procurement depended on importation, an exposed artery.
Thanks for being interested, user
Shoulda said "putting aside the monetary aspects instead of economic aspects"
also keep them questions comin
It is a matter of principle, you dipshit.
People who did nothing
ok i'll think up more today
(wrong, fug)
Ill eagerly await your correspondence user
bamp
Why do communists oppose expanding markets?
Privatizing doesn't encourage development. It retards it.
I'm sorry user I take too long:
what is your class position and what perspective does that give you of your environment? do you have contact with other leftists and sympathizers? what do you study? is the countryside depopulated and most of it dedicated to monoculture or are there equal amounts for eco tourism for rich americans? what would you envision as the best way to fix the problems of the island? would you say there are unique experiences and capitalist contradictions and ironies only found on your island? how is the political mood of the island, is it mostly apathetic people? are the middle classes and above thoroughly americanized in culture? what is your perspective on americans from your experiences? are they any better or worse than the natives or are they pretty much clueless? have you ever spent time abroad in the US or elsewhere?