My fellow progressive Boricuas,
I’ve been promoting an idea that is not popular. However, I think it is based on the actual current global situation. I will continue to say more about it, but here is the message…..In the 21st Century, national sovereignty, the goal of european and american colonies starting in the 18th till the 20th century is dead. It is dead as a robust means to the end of the well being of a population.
I know its hard to accept, but sometimes the world just doesn’t go along with what you think. Independentismo is a 19th and 20th century idea. It is advocacy of a particular means to the end of the well-being of the Puerto Rican people. It has the longevity that it has had because of the relative similarity to the situation of other people’s. It also has currency, because its better than nothing. In my opinion, this century has not evolved for people’s around the world a new effective means to this end in the era of globalization. Basically, to riff on the golden rule of the Toxic Avengers, in the absence of a plan, the old plan is THE plan.
This old means-to-an-end, which I will henceforth refer to as MTAE, has many benefits. You have a relatively long tradition of heroic independence struggles especially in Latin America. Great emotional uplift. You have defiance against tyranny, sacrifice etc. All that really pumps up the emotional juices. Since humans are, borrowing a phrase from Peter Watts, “…feeling machines that sometimes think”, all this works well with a segment of the population.
However, the evolution of the global order has rendered those emotions sterile. I think people suspect this deep down, but want to have something to believe in in this increasingly fucked up world.
So why are these noble sentiments sterile? They just don’t mean much anymore. Why? Because, as far as the evidence indicates, national sovereignty doesn’t mean what it used to and probably never will again.
To quote a paper I’ve read recently….
“More explicitly, economic globalization, in its most recent form, has been limiting the capacity of states to determine their own policy outcomes in three main ways: through trade and economic integration; financial markets; and the competition for employment. Due to the increasing pressure of international competition in trade markets as well as the increased mobility of capital and multi-national corporations, states are incentivized to cut labour costs, to reduce the price of goods and services, reduce taxation to make their domestic market more competitive, and to decrease the size and scope of the welfare state. ….”
She goes on to ask the question which just underscores that, as hard as it may be to swallow, as depressing as it may be, there are no good answers! I would remind you that she is writing here about the UK!!
“If the state no-longer has the capacity to provide the economic and social rights its citizens demand, the question is, what or who will?”
So here’s my message….We can still be Boricuas who love ourselves and our people, but we have to take stock of reality as it is now. The reality is that the world has changed and our methods haven’t. The old MTAE isn’t reliable any more in these changed circumstances. We still have the problem of finding a reliable MTAE, but its harder now. That’s all.
pepitothinking 
Very interesting thoughts. But separatist sects will never surrender and they make a lot of noise. I wish Catalan people Will be able to enjoy their life without his local goverment spending valuable resources, efforts and money in sterile wars and borderbuilding.