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href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/upr160211.html">World Day of
Solidarity with UPR to Mark 40th Anniversary of March 11</A></SPAN><BR><SPAN
class=style2>by RedAcción | Puerto Rico</SPAN>
<P>February 16, 2011 -- Networks of sympathizers with the ongoing student strike
at the University of Puerto Rico announced today that they will stage
simultaneous demonstrations in solidarity with the UPR in cities around the
world on Friday, March 11, 2011, and invited all supporters to join them,
coordinating their own activities in their respective towns. Those
interested in self-organizing demonstrations can email <A class=style5
href="mailto:redaccion@gmail.com">redaccion@gmail.com</A> to sign the
Declaration, or visit <A class=style5
href="http://redaccion-pr.net/">redaccion-pr.net</A> for information on already
scheduled activities. Event organizers urged people to send in videos,
and/or statements of support, from their demos. The full text of the
Declaration follows. </P>
<P><STRONG>A Call to Conscience and Historical Memory</STRONG><BR><STRONG>World
Day of Solidarity with the UPR</STRONG></P>
<P>"Antonia, peoples never forgive." -- <A class=style5
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSbu3p4OEVA">Antonio Cabán Vale "El
Topo"</A></P>
<P>March 11, 1971 was one of the bloodiest single days in the history of the
University of Puerto Rico. The main campus at Río Piedras was occupied by
the Puerto Rico Police, unleashing violent confrontations that ended the lives
of two police officers, including the then chief of the notorious Tactical
Operations Unit, and one student. </P>
<P>Barely one year before, on March 4, 1970, during a student demonstration,
student Antonia Martínez Lagares was shot dead by police. These tragedies
influenced a series of decisions that helped reduce the intensity of on-campus
conflicts during the following decades, including the removal of the United
States' Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), and an institutional
commitment to resolving conflicts without police intervention. </P>
<P>Forty years later, the UPR community, led by the students, still struggles
for a democratic and accessible institution, against the abusive and
exclusionary policies of the latest colonial government. Among these,
aside from its clear intention to privatize higher education as much as it can,
said government has laid off over 25,000 public employees, and intends to build
a gasoduct across the island that will displace entire communities and impact
areas of high ecological and archeological value. </P>
<P>In this context, the Río Piedras Campus once again lived several months of
police occupation, with the open support of the government and university
administrators, in reaction to the strike democratically declared by the Río
Piedras General Student Assembly, rejecting an unjust and arbitrary $800 hike in
the cost of studying. The eyes of the world watched as Puerto Rico Police
officers tortured peaceful civil disobedients with impunity, sexually accosted
and attacked women students, discriminatorily harassed student leaders, and
savagely beat people, even under custody, all before the television cameras.
</P>
<P>There can be no doubt that the recent decision by Governor Luis Fortuño to
withdraw the bulk of the police force from the Río Piedras Campus is a partial
victory for the students, who with their bravery and determination have raised
the political cost of sustaining that level of repression way too high for the
government to afford. However, now is not the time to lower the guard.
It wouldn't be the first time that the Fortuño administration temporarily
curtails its use of brute force, only to return even more violently under any
pretext. We are convinced that if the Puerto Rico Police is not removed
immediately, completely, and permanently from all UPR campuses, it will only be
a matter of time before another March 11. </P>
<P>In addition, we are united by the firm conviction that the demands of the UPR
community are just. The strike is still in effect, and the struggle (its
current phase) will continue until the $800 hike is eliminated. In the
longer term, we support a real democratization of the decision-making process in
the UPR, so that it is the community that determines the best way to handle the
institution's financial and administrative problems. </P>
<P>For all of these reasons, Friday, March 11, 2011, the fortieth anniversary of
that fateful March 11, will be World Day of Solidarity with the UPR. On
that day we will hold, in our respective cities, simultaneous demonstrations
together with individuals and organizations that support just causes. At a
time when the powerful voice of the brave Egyptian people and all Arab nations
is still ringing around the globe, we are confident that the people of
consciousness of the world will welcome this initiative and organize their own
activities of solidarity on that day. </P>
<P>We enthusiastically urge you to sign on to this Declaration, and send us
video, images, and statements of support from your World Day of Solidarity with
the UPR demonstrations. </P>
<P>STRUGGLE YES, GIVE IN NO! <BR>POLICE OUT OF THE UPR! <BR>ZERO HIKE! </P>
<P>Contacts: <BR><A class=style5
href="mailto:redaccion@gmail.com">redaccion@gmail.com</A> <BR><A class=style5
href="http://redaccion-pr.net/">redaccion-pr.net</A></P>
<P>Amsterdam -- Antonio Carmona Báez, +31 634 492 261, <A class=style5
href="mailto:carmonabaez1@yahoo.com">carmonabaez1@yahoo.com</A> <BR>Barcelona --
Josean Laguarta Ramírez, +34 653 841 946, <A class=style5
href="mailto:jalaguarta@gmail.com">jalaguarta@gmail.com</A> <BR>Madrid -- Laura
Rodríguez; +34 671 461 356, <A class=style5
href="mailto:larod98@gmail.com">larod98@gmail.com</A> <BR>Manchester -- Félix
Aponte-González; +44 755 474 7801, <A class=style5
href="mailto:feivapo@gmail.com">feivapo@gmail.com</A> <BR>New York -- Ángel
González, +1 (917) 842 0381, <A class=style5
href="mailto:gee.lee21@verizon.net">gee.lee21@verizon.net</A> <BR>Chicago --
Elías Carmona, +1 (773) 885 1967, <A class=style5
href="mailto:eliascar@gmail.com">eliascar@gmail.com</A> <BR>Boston -- Stanley
Rosario, +1 (617) 755 1457, <A class=style5
href="mailto:yelnats_02@hotmail.com">yelnats_02@hotmail.com</A> <BR>Philadelphia
-- Alicia Rivera, +1 (267) 978 3096, <A class=style5
href="mailto:cicia.rivera@gmail.com">cicia.rivera@gmail.com</A> <BR>Hartford --
Papo Castillo, 787-662-7202, <A class=style5
href="mailto:papocastillo2@gmail.com">papocastillo2@gmail.com</A></P>
<HR>
<SPAN class=style3>See, also, <<A class=style5
href="http://www.facebook.com/RadioHuelga">www.facebook.com/RadioHuelga</A>>.</SPAN>
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<SPAN class=style3>URL: <A class=style3
href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/upr160211.html">mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/upr160211.html</A>
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