Puerto Rico and Hurricanes: More Colonized AND More Determined than Ever Before

One week ago, Hurricane Fiona struck another devastating blow to the people and island of Puerto Rico. The island is not anywhere close to having recovered from the catastrophe caused by the 2017 Hurricane Maria, not to mention from the horrors and devastation of US colonization since 1898, and Spain before. To give some background to the impacts of Hurricane Fiona, listen to the following excerpt from the Colectivo Ile statement following Fiona: “Since Hurricane María in 2017… We have endured insults in our most vulnerable moment, discriminatory policies by FEMA at our time of greatest need, and sleazy contractors and speculators promising solutions that were never delivered. Poverty in the Island has been exacerbated while people are being displaced by gentrifiers disguised as liberals and progressives. Our own colonial government could not even acknowledge the loss of more than 3,000 lives caused by the hurricane and agencies’ inaction, nor did they lead us through any process of national grieving. Our people were left defenceless and without hope that an elected government could detain the waves of corruption that followed.” My guest today is Maria Reinat-Pumarejo, a long-time feminist, anti-racist, anti-oppression organizer and the Founder of Colectivo Ilé, an organization committed to anti-oppression organizing in Puerto Rico. She also has been my feminist sister in the struggle against US militarism and US bases. Most impressive to me is that her work and organizing are always rooted in her love of life. To listen, Places to Donate 1. Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos – refugio de mujeres, violencia de género https://casajulia.org/ 2. Comuna Caribe – anti capitalism/patriarcado/supremacía blanca/colonialismo abogacía y derechos de inmigrantes ATH Móvil +1 (787) 484-3523 https://www.facebook.com/ComunaCaribe indicar en la nota: “Donativo Recuperación Fiona” 3. Espicy Nipples – transfeminist media https://www.espicynipples.com/ 4. La Goyco – vecinos de Machuchal y la Calle Loíza construcción de sus comunidades, iniciativas culturales y de salud, Santurce https://www.lagoyco.org/ 5. La Conde – Parceleras Afrocaribeñas para la Transformación Barrial (Patba), Saint Just, Trujillo Alto/ trabajo comunitario, cultural, educativo/restauración/arte/equidad https://www.parcelerasafrocaribenas.org 6. El Hangar – LGBTQA+, transformación social y cultural, arte como herramienta educativa, Santurce ATH Móvil: 787-245-1274 PayPal: elhangarensanturce706@gmail.com 7. Colectivo Umoja –proyecto de investigación ciudadana con sabor a bomba, servicio comunitario/ distribución de artículos de primera necesidad PayPal: colectivo.umoja@gmail.com 8. Colmena Cimarrona – soberanía alimentaria, siembra, ecología, Vieques https://lacolmenacimarrona.org 9. Mujeres de Isla – Desarrollo sostenible, coordinación y agente unificador de esfuerzos dirigidos a la Isla de Culebra www.mujeresdeislas.com 10. El Ancón – Preservación cultural, gestores culturales, desarrollo comunitario, antirracismo, Loíza Colectivoanconloiza@gmail.com 11. PAYE – comedor comunitario/seguridad alimenticia, Piñones https://www.facebook.com/pinonesaprendeyemprende/ 12. Colectivo Ilé – trabajo antirracista y decolonial en PR https://colectivo-ile.org Biography María Reinat-Pumarejo is an organizer and Founder of Colectivo Ilé, an organization committed to anti-oppression organizing in Puerto Rico. She co-developed and is a senior trainer of Cambio Integral's Latino Challenges Toward Racial Justice workshop, and was for almost three decades a trainer with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. An anti-racist educator, organizer and a women’s advocate, María has work with women’s organizations in Puerto Rico and internationally to support and join the leadership of other women of color. For her anti-racism work and social transformation solidarity, as part of 1000 Women for Peace, she was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, which was collectively awarded the City of Guernica 2006 Award for Peace and Reconciliation. She has conceived and coordinated women’s initiatives such as África en mi piel, África en mi ser: si no la llevas en la piel, la llevas en el ser (Africa on my skin, Africa in my soul), an anti-racist leadership process for women in Puerto Rico, el Censo dice que somos blancos, y abuela ¿qué dice? (the Census says we are white and grandma, what does she says?); and the US campaign Don’t be eRACEd by the Census: Black, Brown or Light, Latin@s/Raza just ain’t white, dealing with the changing definition of race in the United States and the negative impact to Latinx people in the US. In 2016 she received the Martin Luther King medal from La Mesa de Diálogo Martin Luther King for her Anti-Racist work. With a background in education, counseling and history, María is co-author of Arrancando mitos de raíz: guía para la enseñanza antirracista de la herencia africana en Puerto Rico, (Uprooting Myths: A Guide for the Anti-Racist Teaching of Puerto Rico’s African Heritage), a contributing author to several books such as Women Warriors of the Afro-Latina Diaspora, and articles addressing racism and decoloniality.

How Do Authors Know Where to Start and End Their Stories? with Kate Raphael

 

How do authors know where to start and end their stories? If you’re writing a novel based on your own experience, do you have to do research?

 

What’s the difference between “Young Adult” and “Adult” fiction? Join me for an in-depth conversation with three wonderful writers: Malinda Lo, author of the National Book Award winner Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Yang Huang, Juniper Prize-winning author of My Good Son, and multiple Lambda nominee Lucy Jane Bledsoe, whose forthcoming No Stopping Us Now fictionalizes her adventures as a teen demanding (and winning) school sports programs for girls in Portland.

It's Valentine’s Day, and these authors say every book is ultimately about love.

The show also features music by Mary Lou's Apartment and Emma's Revolution (who are doing a Heart of the Revolution Valentine's Day concert tomorrow as well!).

Tune in Monday, February 14 at 1:00 p.m. PST on KPFA 94.1 FM in the Bay Area and online anywhere at kpfa.org. (After broadcast, catch it in the archives at http://kpfa.org/program/womens-magazine)

Also, next Monday, February 21, KPFA will be presenting a full day of special Black History Month programming (from 6:00 am - 6:00 pm). Be sure to tune in for that! And February 22, our winter pledge drive begins.  A pledge of any size during the Monday 1:00 pm hour lets the station know you value feminist voices and helps keep the station on the air in these critical times. 

 

Thanks for all your support.

Guahan (Guam) and Okinawa Peoples: COVID Another Source of US Military Contamination

 

 

 

We hear a lot of news about the COVID transmission, prevention, and infection rates here in US and even about a few European countries. We rarely hear about the transmission of the virus by the US military in two parts of the world dominated by the US military presence: the island nations of Okinawa and Guahan (Guam). Today we are in conversation with Suzuyo Takazato of Okinawa, Neaka Flores of Guahan (Guam), discuss the horrors of COVID infections on their small island nations  and Kozue Akibayahsi of Japan provide political context of the US military free reign in Okinawa. 

 

To listen, click here (58 Mins)

 

About Our Guests

Suzuyo Takazato is a driving force behind the crucial question posed to the present militarized global security system: for whom does the military provide security? She is a long-time feminist peace activist who has analyzed the interplay between sexism and militarism from the experiences of women in Okinawa. Her work has inspired global feminist peace movements for structural understanding of violence against women. Suzuyo helped create Okinawa’s first rape crisis center to provide hotline and face-to-face counseling to victims of sexual violence, and in 1995, Suzuyo’s activism led to a large-scale protest by people of Okinawa against US military bases. She is a founder and co-chair of Okinawa Women Act against Military Violence.

 

Kozue Akibayashi is a feminist researcher/activist, has worked on issues of gender and peace, and is longtime supporter of Okinawa Women Act against Military Violence. She is a professor at Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan,  a member of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom,

 

Monaeka (Naek) Flores (she/they) is a queer CHamoru artist and activist. Naek is a member of dynamic community organizations that focus on CHamoru self-determination, environmental justice, and the protection of sacred sites: Prutehi Litekyan – Save Ritidian, I Hagan Famalåo’an Guåhan, and Independent Guåhan, all of which are part of the Fanohge Coalition 

 

All three are members of the International Women's Network against Militarism.

 

Additional Resources

"The military as a neglected pathogen transmitter, from the nineteenth century to COVID-19: a systematic review"

"Okinawa chief rips U.S. military over spread of Omicron variant" Asahi Shimbun

"Okinawa, hub for US military bases in Japan, reports record number of COVID-19 infections" The Hill

"Will We Have Enough?": Women, Aging, and Economic Well Being

Today is the live "5th Monday Show" hosted by members of the Women's Magazine Collective, Jovelyn Richards, Margo Okazawa-Rey, and Vylma J. 

We discuss the topic of women and aging,examining the influences of not only gender, but also race, class, and region where women live. Our starting point is the findings from the December 26, 2021 New York Times article, "Why Older Women Face Greater Financial Hardship Than Older Men." In it they state, "In a troubling picture, American women are looking at a rockier road to secure retirement than their male counterparts."

 Listen, click here. 58 mins

Read the article here, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/health/older-women-financial-hardship-retirement.html?searchResultPosition=1

Palestinian Women Political Prisoners Part 2

  “I steal moments of happiness but it’s never complete....” Abla Sa'adat

 

 

 

 

 

Today, in the second part of the two-part series on Palestinian women political prisoners, I am in conversation with two women directly affected by the incarceration of their loved ones. Abla Sa'adat is a feminist activist and wife of Ahmad 'Sa'adat,  general director of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who is serving a 30-year sentence in Israeli prison for his political activism. Shirin Abu Fannouneh is the eldest daughter of Shatha Odeh who was arrested and imprisoned in July 2021 as "security threat." 

 

In this two-part series, my goal is to reveal the multiple layers of incarceration itself, the experiences of women prisoners, and the harmful impacts on them, their families, and wider Palestinian society. Listen to a detail discussion of the prisoners' and families' experiences of being trageted by the Israeli militarized political system intent suppressing political activism and all other civil society attempts by Palestinian people to free their country.

 To listen, click here  58 min.

To listen to the interview with Khalida Jarrar in Part I, click here.

 

Interview with Painter Lauren Hana Chai

 On January 17, Host Jovelyn Richards of The Space Between Us

Interviews painter Lauren Hana Chai.

Click here To listen   58 mins

About Our Guest

For more information about Lauren Hana Chai, click here

 

 

A Tribute to Gloria Watkins bell hooks 1952 - 2021

 

“All too often women believe it is a sign of commitment, an expression of love, to endure unkindness or cruelty, to forgive and forget. In actuality, when we love rightly we know that the healthy, loving response to cruelty and abuse is putting ourselves out of harm's way.” 

 

“A generous heart is always open, always ready to receive our going and coming. In the midst of such love we need never fear abandonment. This is the most precious gift true love offers - the experience of knowing we always belong.” 

bell hook, All about Love 

 

 

In the first Women’s Magazine of 2022, host Vylma V pays tribute to the prolific feminist writer, scholar, social critic, and inspiration to many of us, Gloria Jean Watkins-- bell hooks--who passed away on 12-15-2021. During the show’s second half, she opens the KPFA phone lines asking for your reflections and ideas about hooks's work, legacy, and passing and about how we may transform the sadness, frustration, and rage from another year of an seemingly unabating pandemic and deepening inequalities and violence into joy, positive action, and hope for 2022. She will be joined by Women's Magazine 4th Monday host Margo Okazawa-Rey. 

 

To listen click here  (58 mins.)

 

For more information

bell hooks bio

 

Conversation with Professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall 

 

Conversation with john a. powell on Belonging