Hi Comrade,

This is Stevie Elepan, here to tell you about International Coalition Building Mission. Every year I plan on traveling to one region to connect and work with organizations working against capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and neo colonialism.This year on July 1st i plan to travel back home to Boriken (Puerto Rico). With the cooperation of KBOO Community Radio 90.7 FM, i will be writing about life in Boriken under colonialism, its history, the fiscal control board, the local elections,Afrikan and Indigenous identity, LGBTQ activism and the independence movement.

I would be leaving on July 1st just in time for US Independence day celebrations or lack of. Every week there will be a broadcast with an interview on life on the main island and the outer inhabited island towns of Culebra and Vieques. I will almost daily be updating my blog with photos and glimpses into life in a colony. On this part of my mission I will be finding out just what my people truly want and what we are doing to get it and how folks in the US can help and right past wrongs.

Citizens of empires are proud or ambivalent about their empire but they all deny their colonies and live in willful ignorance of these places. Fortunately there is an audience in cities like Portland where European settler folk are interested in dismantling capitalism on an international scale. Mainstream media covers resistance in other countries and sensationalize the struggles of people of color over seas. Why look so far when you can take a domestic flight from the US mainland and find colonialism still alive and well in this new millennium? With the help of family, community and comrades such as yourself we can give my people a voice here on the left coast.

All funds will go to travel and minimal living arrangements, travel and one meal a day and any adequate recording equipment (digital audio recorder, used iphone 5, etc.). Any surplus will be used to help host and local organizations. I would be returning on november tenth, shortly after the US and Puerto Rican elections on november 8th.

The only gain in this for myself is the pleasure of being reunited with my people and being of service to them.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I need some where to crash while I work on my project.

Interests

Decolonization, resistance, studying, writing, organizing and helping others.

• arts
• coloring
• traveling
• blogging
• cycling
• martial arts
• communications
• teaching
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

REALLY?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I biked alone for 95 miles to a place I never been, but I think riding in a bus for 13 hours helping kids write their speech for Afrikan Day of Liberation was better than the bike ride.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am an English teacher for internationals in Portland, OR. I am great at cleaning bathrooms and I am always up for talking about how much capitalism stinks and how we can empower each other to seize the means of production.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories