By María Torres-López and the MVC Diaspora Network Team
The MVC Diaspora Network was born out of the love that the Puerto Rican Diaspora has for those we left behind. It was also born out of frustration with the lack of accountability prevalent throughout our home country’s governing systems. Puerto Rican residents frequently join the Diaspora due to financial desperation as our government has failed us, just as it has failed those who stayed. We are a group committed to acting on Puerto Rican and other issues related to migrant people. We are not blind to how Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and elsewhere can improve our listening of Puerto Ricans in the archipelago, nor are we willing to compromise the hard-earned rights—arduously fought for by our compatriots—to being heard in the U.S. Congress. Nor are we blind to the decades-long support that the Diaspora has provided in progressive campaigns in Puerto Rico. We shall continue to address head-on the organizing that we summarize in what follows, while ensuring that we grow in accountability to each other: we must come together now, both for each other’s sake and for the sake of our Nation and future generations!
As MVC Diaspora Network, we strive to create deep connections between the multiple generations of Diasporicans and archipelago-based Puerto Ricans. We have been able to accomplish this in a financially responsible way, thanks to the internet and language justice employed when connecting Diasporicans to the Island side. We are also accomplishing this by traveling back and forth and directly organizing with grassroots groups and electoral campaigns. As one of the four networks that make up the MVC “Super Network” (or la Red de Redes del Movimiento), we were pivotal in the electoral work undertaken during the 2020 election season. Our team of volunteers made thousands of calls during the Absentee Ballot campaign and hundreds of calls during the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaign. We financially supported candidates by directly fundraising for their campaigns to ensure they had the resources to outdo the competition. Our Defend the Vote and Defend Democracy campaigns made waves in and out of the U.S. This success led to more in-depth conversations with allies about why hundreds of thousands of volunteers now follow this new Movement in the Diaspora and Puerto Rico. These conversations help us shift minds to the idea of self-determination by the Puerto Rican people rather than by Congress.
As we look forward to 2021, we see our current chapters growing in size and many new chapters forming. Our MVC Diaspora Network Night School and MVC-DN Chapter Formation Training will begin within the next few months. With them, our presence among the Diáspora Boricua and allies will grow. Many have heard the call! And now that Puerto Ricans in the archipelago have united beyond political status, the Diaspora is ready to support the new revamping and rebirth of the Boricua nation!
#ElCambioLlegó y la Diáspora lo apoya.
