Across most regions of our planet, May Day is recognized as a date to
acknowledge the struggles of the working classes and their vital contributions.
In today's context of global economic, social and political crisis, more than
ever, it must be honored as a day of self-empowerment and collective agency
against a system plagued by the crude realities of furthering class divisions
and material inequalities through a concentration of wealth that benefits the
one percent plutocracy. As the most powerful nation in the world, the United
States is a symbolic microcosm that reflects some of the most egregious
inequalities in many aspects, presenting abysmal stratification and injustice.
However, the U.S. government pays little to no homage to this international
holiday. President Obama took the time on May 1st to instead continue an
odious, chauvinistic tradition known as "Loyalty Day," proclaiming:
"On Loyalty Day, we reflect on that proud heritage and press on in the
long journey toward prosperity for all."
But the reality reveals that this so called "journey to
prosperity" is at best unequal and partial, and it would be an
irresponsible inaccuracy to imply that the most disadvantaged classes are
headed in that direction. The celebration of this fabricated holiday
constitutes not only a blatant and willful neglect of May Day and the urgently
necessary national introspection, but it also serves to misguide the
socio-political debate onto a shallow, unquestioning practice of reverence for
the system imposed by the plutocracy. From the events that transpired last
Tuesday in Miami, we can say that there was little "loyalty" to basic
constitutional, democratic rights. We know this personally because while our
parents view our native countries' policies with disdain (Venezuela and Cuba's
statist elitism), we were among
seven participants who were arrested in January 12 this year for
organizing a music event meant to commemorate the victims of the 2010 Haiti
Earthquake.
Tuesday afternoon began with a meeting point at the Torch of Friendship
where friends, family members, and local community activists gathered to plan a
march across downtown. We took to the streets of Biscayne and Brickell -- armed
with nothing but signs, bullhorns and determination -- stopping momentarily at
major bank sites like Citibank, Bank of Americ and Wells Fargo to decry their
corruptive and abusive lobbying power, their tax evasion, home seizures and
their hoard of unspent wealth, which instead of being utilized for the public
good is being held onto for self-serving purposes. We continued to peacefully
march across the streets with a message in solidarity with the struggle of the
working classes and the dispossessed. The police had thus far cooperated,
respecting our space and methods. It was not until we stopped in front of a
Wells Fargo when they began to intimidate protesters with squad cars, coming
dangerously close to running over some of us, including an activist's pet dog.
Then, one of the officers decided that they had allowed enough political
expression for the day. What we personally witnessed was incredibly disturbing,
to say the least. He took out his billy stick and approached one of our own,
Brian Tangherlini, striking him to the floor and beginning to beat him
senselessly, which resulted in a brief scuffle. Amidst the chaos that ensued,
police also arrested another one of our own, Rolando Prieto, for not walking
fast enough. Finally, and perhaps one of the most dramatic arrests of the day,
was that of Alfredo Quintana, which played out similar to a conspiracy drama.
He was targeted, followed and pursued from the site of the first incident
(Wells Fargo corporate building) back to the Torch of Friendship. Soon after,
he was arrested on clearly illegitimate charges of battery.
In South Florida, we are presented with a staggering unemployment rate of 21.8 percent,
a poverty rate of nearly 17 percent (1 in 5 children in Broward County between
the ages 5 to 17 live in poverty),
rising costs of living, exorbitant tuition hikes
in local colleges and universities, a city that believes that feeding the
homeless should be punishable by law, and a Mayor that believes that
best remedy to economic crisis is laying people
off from their jobs. In the meantime, Brickell's financial district
remains one of the wealthiest districts in the country. But in a city that only
kowtows to menial cries about a baseball manager's comments regarding Fidel
Castro, it is no wonder why people are paralyzed by political apathy. The local
news outlets are no better. Functioning as auxiliaries of the ruling classes,
they only present to the masses pre-packaged, polished statements by police and
political authorities as a perspective whose credibility supersedes those of
others.
The message we gather from the arrests that occurred Tuesday is that anyone
who stands up to the corporate plutocracy that has seized the reins of
government, plundered the nation's wealth, continues to exploit the world's
resources, and even proposes to fund for-profit,
prisons is to be corralled, beaten, and arrested as part of a
broader aim to preserve the status-quo even if it takes deep budget cuts,
massive layoffs, and repression.
The incidents that unfolded on May Day compel us to reflect about a broader
systemic issue: the increasingly repressive, Orwellian approach of our
government against most forms of critical political expression. That the
purpose of law enforcement agencies should be to "serve and protect"
the citizenry and the public welfare and security is understood. But in the
face of their latest actions (which are consistent with a history of corruption
and abuse) what becomes evident is that in reality they are but an undignified
instrument, usurped by the political establishment and the corporations and
interest groups that control it, employed to "serve and protect"
their position of disproportionate power through intimidation, coercion and
persecution against any nascent form of dissent and independent collective
action. Consequently, what is at stake is not only the ideal of a political
culture that respects and cherishes diversity, freedom and debate, but also the
vision of a society in which we are autonomous and yet interdependent and
collaborative, where integral individual development is not conditioned to
material power and where equality of opportunity is not a fallacy, but a
work-in-progress through the social commitment of all.
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.