Speech given by Mike Paradela, board member of the Collins Foundation / San Jose Peace & Justice Center, at the January 10 rally in San Jose
Thank you for coming to this event. It is absolutely critical that we stand up to the sheer injustice that our government has been and is currently imposing both abroad and within our own communities.
If you will humor me for a bit, I am going to tell you about an idea we may not know by name, but many of us have certainly thought at one point, and it is one that is dangerous to our government. It is this: the people of the Americas, North, Central, and South, are one people divided by pointless borders and united by a common history of colonization. It is the idea that no one country or people is superior to another and that we should respect and appreciate other cultures, learn from each other, and, more importantly, defend each other. Venezuelan revolutionaries first articulated this idea as they fought for their independence from the Spanish, and they were inspired by our fight against the English and the Haitian fight against European attempts to re-enslave them. They used it as a rallying cry to encourage resistance to colonization and economic exploitation. They called it Pan-Americanism.
Our government, too, agreed with the idea, but disapproved of some of their demands. They responded by codifiying the Monroe Doctrine. Our government claimed that the Doctrine was meant to defend our Latin American siblings from colonization, but they consistently failed to defend them from French and British colonization, particularly in Central and South America. It was used to bully, deceive, invade, and overthrow Latin American governments. It was this very doctrine that Trump invoked to justify his kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and to bomb and sanction Venezuela. Why did they do it? Was it for oil? That is one aspect to consider, and I know many of the speakers after me will talk about it in more depth.
The other side of it was Venezuela’s commitment to Pan-Americanism, specifically through their economic and political cooperation known as ALBA-TCP or, in English, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty. It encourages and fosters cooperation, freedom of movement, cultural exchange, and political solidarity among Latin American nations and people of the Caribbean. Our government interprets this as a threat because it shows a different way forward. It shows that the bullied will not be bullied, and they only want prosperity and human dignity.
The Monroe Doctrine created the very conditions that we see today. Since World War II, our government has forcibly overthrown over 50 governments in Latin America, all of which it supposedly justified. Constant government destabilization would cause anyone to flee their country and find haven, which often is the United States. Often times, they will come here through various means, which are none of our business. What matters is they are human beings who deserve respect and dignity. It is this very reason why Renee Good stood up against ICE and for that, she was murdered by criminals and fiends. The government is doing everything they can to protect the murderer Jonathan Ross from his crimes.
Her death will not be in vain; we will continue her fight. It does not stop here. We must be organized not just to honor to but to defend our siblings not just in the Americans but across the globe. We must contact our congress members and city government officials and raise hell. We must hold protests calling out the crimes of our government. We must host rapid response network and know your rights trainings. We must vote for progressive candidates and build working class power in our workplaces. We must change the laws for the better. We must join political parties or organizations that fight for a better world. We must also learn from each other and appreciate one another.
A world ravaged by chaos must be met with a call for peace, prosperity, unity, and justice.