Tales of Decolonization #14: A Colonial Crisis
But what type of crisis this is or the causes of it are
almost always lost in the discussion. The usual colonial or developing nation
narratives ties problems like this to why islanders can’t take care of
themselves. In this way, the problems Puerto Rico is having are about local
corruption, political immaturity and a cultural unwillingness to become more
civilized. All of these things lead to the notion that Puerto Rico must
therefore be saved by those who are politically or economically better than it.
Curiously enough, throughout recent human history, this sort of discussion is
largely self-serving and the saviors tend to be those who lust after the lands
of others, or are already trying to justify their control.
More than 100 years of being a territory of the United
States points, far more than anything, to the crisis in Puerto Rico as being a
colony one. It is an example of how colonialism, that most wretched of human
institutions, can still lurk beneath a façade of friendliness or benevolence.
On Guam, this is something of which we must be wary. Even though there is a
difference in name between Puerto Rico and Guam, with one being a Commonwealth
and the other an unincorporated territory, we occupy the same basic subordinate
status, as being possessions of the United States.
There are cries by some on Guam that we should enhance our
current status by writing a new Constitution or even just rewriting parts of
the Organic Act to serve as our foundational document. This debate was thought
to be settled decades ago when voters decided na ti maolek anggen un na’fo’na i kareta kinu i karabao, but it
continually resurfaces as a seemingly easy or simpler way of solving a complex
problem. The crisis in Puerto Rico does not give much hope for this thinking,
as the Constitution of the territory and the problem with crafting one while
still a colony is the source of most of their problems.
Submitting a constitution to your colonizer doesn’t end the
colonial relationship and doesn’t really improve it. It simply legitimizes it.
It adds a veneer of formality and respectability to something the United
Nations and the majority of the world’s nations have decried should be eradicated.
Under Guam’s current status, any Constitution is supposed to be submitted to
the US Congress for their approval. But far more than simply approve it, the US
Congress would have the right to reject it or change it as they see fit. This
is tragically true for Puerto Rico, which over the years has been restricted
and hindered in its own ability to self-govern by various provisions that have
been inserted into their foundational document.
In the Puerto Rican constitution, there is a clause that
prioritizes the payments to the debtors of the territory over any other
obligations. This means that instead of using what funds it has to protect the
people of Puerto Rico and ensure that they are safe, healthy, educated,
employed, the government is constitutionally required to take money away from
all other needs to pay its debts first. Another issue is that according to US
law, Puerto Rico is simply not allowed to file for Chapter 11 or declare
bankruptcy in order to restructure its debt or its finances. The current
representative has sought to gain this right from the US Congress, but the body
has refused to consider it.
These restrictions are all tied to the island’s
long-standing status as a laboratory of neoliberalism and neocolonialism.
Various predatory social and political policies that have become common in the
ways in which First World and extra-national economic bodies deal with the
developing world, were tested in Puerto Rico. These economic restraints are
just another example of the ways the United States has sought to keep the
island open and friendly to the interests of US corporations and hedge funds,
even at the expense of the millions that live there.
Recently the US Congress proposed a bill named PROMESA which
means Promise in both Spanish and Chamorro. It stands for “Puerto Rico
Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act” and it is meant to stabilize
Puerto Rico prior to its possible default on almost all of its debt at the
start of next month. The key feature of this bill is the creation of a
seven-member oversight board that could theoretically have control over the
laws of the island and its public and natural resources. The bill itself
empowers this oversight board, with authority that supersedes any local laws of
Puerto Rico.
The use of the word PROMESA in the title of the bill is
meant to refer to the obligation the United States is supposed to have to their
poor Caribbean colony, to save it from itself and keep it a lucrative cash cow
for US corporations and hedge funds. I find this to be ironic because the
promise that the United States should be recalling and taking seriously, is
their obligation as a nation that claims to stand for freedom and democracy, to
decolonize their own territories.
Comments