Urban/Global Politics – Page 3

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics

Like most members of the Puerto Rican diaspora, I couldn’t reach my family and friends on the island for more than a week after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20. All I had to work with was a quick phone call my mother’s neighbor had made to my sister. The neighbor said that my […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

In Puerto Rico, Disconnection and Chaos, but Grace Under Pressure

With almost no power and shortages of water and medicine, this island is full of people suffering from PTSD. By Ed Morales October 13, 2017 San Juan—As Donald Trump’s rule-by-disinformation strategy intensifies, three weeks after Hurricane Maria, a reeling Puerto Rico is becoming more of a sideshow for his callous stereotyping and ruthlessness. He is […]

Urban/Global Politics

Hurricane Maria Means More Media

The aftermath of Hurricane Maria has created an unprecedented focus on Puerto Rico by the mainstream and alternative media in the last month or so. It’s been rather bewildering how much energy has been devoted to covering Puerto Rico after what has been essentially a media blackout for most of the island’s tenure as a […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico: Belonging to, But Not Part of

The Trump administration’s delay in sending real aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria is a distasteful display of colonialist racism. But it’s par for the course: our citizenship has always been second-class. “We’re American citizens. How can Trump turn his back on us?” This is one of the pleas I’m hearing over and […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico Needs Massive Emergency Aid Now—and an End to Austerity

The island has become a target not only for rapacious vulture funds but also for exponents of Katrina-style “disaster capitalism.” September 27, 2017 Hurricane Maria has created a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. Much of the capital city of San Juan is flooded; there is contaminated water in the streets, shortages of gasoline and […]

Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Republican Party politics, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico’s Oversight Board Is About to Slash Government Workers’ Hours—and Pay

August 31, 2017 The most recent meeting of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB)—known colloquially as “La Junta”—was held Friday, August 4, at the luxurious Hotel El Conquistador of Fajardo, a remote fishing town on the island’s northeast corner. Far from the urban milieu of protest in the capital city of San Juan, […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latin Music, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics

Residente vs. Tempo: Reggaetón Battle Of The Century

What’s revealed when two Puerto Rican MCs face off Beefs and clap-back answer songs are a tradition in hip-hop, from Biggie versus Tupac and Jay Z versus Nas all the way back to Roxanne Shanté versus The Real Roxanne. But the recent clash between Puerto Rican MCs Residente (a.k.a. René Pérez Joglar), formerly of the […]