Prof. Angel Martinez
Head of Education and Culture Ab

Thank you, brother, and greetings to everybody all over the globe for a global matter that is definitely worth our attention and time, especially in times like this, really call for rather radical action as a means of saving the planet and saving lives, saving life. I just want to begin: I’m here in New York City, and I just want to share my own experience, so this comes from my interesting vantage point here, or should I say perspective.

I remember, as a boy, my parents would take me to visit the UN headquarters for the first time and I was very much awestruck by the experience. Just being able to go inside, my first time understanding this place to be international territory.
As a young boy, this was all very new to me, and I was fascinated. It was also the first time practicing writing the date before the month, and actually fell in love with it. So some classmates thought I was crazy for writing the date before the month. So it’s a practice I’ve adopted to this very day.

And I bring this up especially because we’re looking at a moment where oligarchs want to take as much as they can from people and from the Earth. And the great irony here is that it was an oligarch – Nelson Rockefeller – who made sure the land was available to the original United Nations headquarters. So it kind of comes full circle; Nelson Rockefeller was the grandson of John Rockefeller, the robber baron.

So we’re here to talk about what to do about the possibility of moving the United Nations. And I just want to say coming from over here that I can hear a lot of liberals screaming “no, no, you can’t do that!” But I think that the security of people doing work around the world is looking for that . I mean, I even hear reports of the Commission on the Status of Women that are expressing problems trying to get people to get visas to come into New York and that would be a terrible loss for anybody not being to come because one administration says no, you can’t come in here. Any inability to communicate is a terrible loss.

So that’s one consideration to make. Another consideration to make is, there is precedent when you think about it. I remember when I used to collect stamps and I used to collect not just from the New York office but from the Vienna and the Geneva offices of the UN as well. So that was the first time I learned that the UN had places around the world, so the idea of going outside the United States is not totally a far-fetched idea.

It just takes a lot of work, it just takes a lot of people understanding that this takes a lot of agitation. One thing I definitely [derive from] the UN is that during the [General Assembly] and during the Decolonization Committee that happens every June, there’s always big protests right outside in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza for different causes. And that’s a place where we all go every year to show solidarity with the oppressed and especially the Decolonization Movement, it’s very convenient for the large Puerto Rican population to come out in support for the decolonization of Puerto Rico, for 128 years as a US territory. That has been a point of convenience for us.
But that being said, I believe that we need this conversation because, again, where can organizations like the UN and its affiliates can do the most positive work? Because we’re in a moment that people have to be educated to know why this is happening. Obviously, again, liberals will be screaming that this will be more “red meat” for the MAGA fascists that are constantly causing trouble for this. And at the same time, there is rupture within the MAGA behemoth that are worth considering, that I really appreciate Zeynel putting the quote from [Antonio] Gramsci that “this is the time of monsters.” And if the monsters are even fighting each

other: look at what the Epstein Files are causing, for example. It all shows why we need bodies to hold people who commit crimes across nations responsible for their actions. And that’s why I think a strong international body that has the teeth to do this, without interference from forces, from those monsters that want to stop us from achieving anything. That’s why I think this is something that we need to talk about, to educate people about, and help them understand that where it’s possible to do more that we have to consider why this is a measure to be considered. I guess the rallies will still continue, and I think that the only major change that I could think of that territories that are seeking independence have to go to another place to do it. But I think any opportunity for international solidarity is because, if it’s easier to gain international solidarity in another place – we see conferences happen all around the world, then I think this is something to seriously think about. And I’m saying this as a New Yorker too, so I support what we are talking about here because we need to imagine what that’s going to look like, so we need to think about ways that, again, keep people doing positive work, safe and able to do without interference from monsters that want to bring us down. Because we’ve seen over in Minneapolis with the martyrdom of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, that looks like it’s calling for international bodies to step in actually to just say no. This needs to stop: “you cannot do this, you need to be held accountable.” And if that means making sure it’s done in a safe zone geographically, then that’s what it’s going to have to take. The whole concept of “America First” is useless on stolen Indigenous land, and Indigenous peoples are seeing threats of their treaties inside US borders, being threatened constantly. It’s taking prioritization, for example, to expand land for Indigenous peoples all around the United States, and they’re putting up a fight within the US borders. I appreciate your time and energy and thank you for bearing with me going all over the place because this is something that is quite holistic to talk about. Thank you.