Why bad faith with PR decolonization?
by José M. López Sierra – Puerto Rico
InfoAlDesnudo
I became involved in Puerto Rico decolonization, after becoming aware in 2011 that the United Nations’ (UN) Charter says that colonialism is a crime against humanity based on the laws generated by the Nuremberg Trails to try Nazis after World War II.
The United States’ government has been in continual violation of that Charter since 1945, and has since violated 36 UN resolutions asking it to immediately return Puerto Rico’s sovereignty to the Puerto Ricans. How could the UN allow this to happen?
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave its annual pep talk to its Decolonization Committee (C-24) on February 21, 2013. He talked about trying innovative approaches to eradicating colonialism, before its 3rd decade to accomplish that ends in 2020. Click on the following link to read what the Secretary General said: https://news.un.org/en/story/2013/02/432522-ban-calls-fresh-ideas-advance-decolonization-un-body-begins-annual-session#.WEMjUeYrKM8
I decided to help the C-24 accomplish its goal. I created a blog in late 2011 called United Comrades for Puerto Rico Decolonization to inform people about Puerto Rico decolonization.
I spoke before the C-24 in 2012 for the first time. To my surprise, I was the first speaker! I learned that the C-24 adopted a first come first served rule, that year, and that I had been the first one to request to speak. Click on the following link to watch my petition. I speak after 26 minutes of this hearing: http://bcove.me/0bknnjb2
I didn’t speak before the C-24 the following years, because I became aware that most New Yorkers were oblivious to the UN’s annual hearing on Puerto Rico decolonization. I decided instead to protest outside the UN in June 2013.
We then decided in 2014 to do both, the petition and the protest.
We realized in 2014 that the UN was not broadcasting live these hearings, and wondered why. We felt that broadcasting them would create national and international indignation that would force the US government to comply with the will of the international community.
We contacted the C-24 and the secretary general about broadcasting the June 2015 Puerto Rico decolonization hearing. The UN informed us that to do that, the petition would have to come from the member states of the UN. We contacted them all, but no one responded.
The C-24 chair stated in the morning session of the 2015 Puerto Rico decolonization hearing that the UN had told him that it would broadcast the hearing, but later informed him that it had decided not to. The morning session where the chair said that, and where I spoke was never posted on the UN’s Webcast. See the UN Webcast to verify that only the afternoon session appears: http://webtv.un.org/search/4th-meeting-special-committee-on-the-situation-with-regard-to-the-implementation-of-the-declaration-on-the-granting-of-independence-to-colonial-countries-and-peoples/4314285223001/?term=Puerto%20Rico&sort=date. The other one that appears is the same afternoon hearing but in English.
We decided to broadcast the 2016 Puerto Rico decolonization hearing ourselves with the help of Naked Information of New York City and BronxNet. When I went to speak before the C-24, the secretary informed me that my name was not on the list of petitioners. You could see me talking to the secretary about that in the beginning of the broadcast. I am wearing a blue shirt and white pants. Click on the following link to watch an interview about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAr6Ot0gDbw
I asked the C-24 chairperson and the secretary general for an investigation about my being taken off the list. They ignored me. Click on the following link to watch our broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otzBslJLbI0
The UN refused Naked Information and BronxNet to broadcast the June 2017 hearing. I should have been the first petitioner at that hearing, but I was put towards the end (number 52). See the petitioners’ list:
We are prepared to broadcast this year’s Monday, June 18, 2018 hearing with the collaboration of Naked Information, BronxNet, La Voz Latina, WBAI and Pacifica Radio. We are already getting resistance from the C-24.
The C-24 informed me that I had to re-submit my request after Monday, April 23, 2018. I asked why, since I followed the instructions exactly as they appear its C-24’s website. I stated that I saw no reason to not accept my March 1st request, since the instructions said nothing about waiting until that date.
After the C-24 asking me again to resubmit, and my refusal to do so on those grounds, it said that it will put the new requirements on its website.
I wrote 2 letters complaining about that to the C-24 chairperson and the secretary general. We will see whether I will be allowed to speak this year, and if so, what my position on the list is.
Why does the C-24 break its own rule, and deny a petitioner the appropriate order on the list, and why is the C-24 against broadcasting live the annual Puerto Rico decolonization hearings? That is not consistent with what Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in 2013.
“The Special Committee should be at the forefront in identifying possibilities for change and in promoting priorities in the decolonization process for the benefit of all. As the intergovernmental body exclusively devoted to decolonization, the Special Committee is expected to devise fresh and creative approaches to mobilize the political will to advance its agenda.”
I smell a rat! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1697349163904877/
