The Bronx is ‘Gaza West’

Rebuilding Starts Here — and There

Town Hall | Nov. 2 | 3PM

My name is Jose Vega. I just turned 27 this year, and I am running to challenge the AIPAC mouthpiece Ritchie Torres in New York City’s 15th congressional district, in the Democratic primary. For years, I have been intervening on politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties, along with the mainstream press, because they have condemned the people of this district to a second-class life, out of an imperial arrogance and narrow-mindedness that must be opposed and defeated. My opponent, Ritchie Torres, represents the worst of the Democratic Party, which has neglected the Bronx for nearly 50 years.

While residents in Ritchie Torres’s own district suffer building collapses — like the one at Mitchel Houses on the first of this month — he has voted to send over $95 billion given by a corrupt Congress abroad to Ukraine and Israel in just the past year, not to “win freedom” or “combat antisemitism,” but to balance the accounts of the Military-Industrial Complex for weapons they have already deployed in those areas. In doing so, Torres acts, not for the people of the Bronx, but against us, and innocent women and children in the Gaza Strip who are being bombarded daily by the war criminals currently leading Israel.

While we fund war abroad, take a look at the South Bronx, and the district as a whole. You will see that my district, the 15th Congressional District, is the poorest in the country. There are currently 278,534 people, 36.2% of the people in this district, living below the poverty line. There has been little to no population growth in the district since the 1970s, and those that have moved into the Bronx, largely immigrants from other countries, have unjustly carried the burden of 50-year-old problems that have been purposely unsolved. Then, look at Gaza, the place Ritchie Torres is condemning to hell. The entire population is being removed from their own land, having their houses destroyed, their medical infrastructure blown up, and their water treatment pipelines set on fire by Israeli troops occupying the region. Does that remind you of something?

I know that just like Gaza, there is no solution that can come from the Bronx itself, unless the people reverse course, rise up, and reach out to the people of the world. The Bronx population, like Gaza, is set up to fail, and then be condemned for failing. But I don’t go for that, and I won’t do it. I want you to join me, Nov. 2, on Sunday, 3pm. I want to meet you and address your questions, and also talk more about the policies needed to reconstruct both the Bronx and Gaza. I will be joined by friends of mine, both of whom have been fighting the genocide taking place in Gaza, but have also been trying to awaken the national consciousness of people in the United States.

Speakers:

• Jose Vega, congressional candidate for NY-15 challenging incumbent Rep. Ritchie Torres
• Col. Anthony Aguilar, former Special Forces Green Beret, GHF whistleblower. Worked in Gaza as a private contractor and witnessed crimes committed against innocent Palestinians.
• Josephine Guilbeau, Former U.S. Army All-Source Intel Analyst. Served for 17 years; cybersecurity expert for U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) & Cyber National Mission Force

Duration: 2 hours
Time: 3pm
Location: Register for details
Cost: Free (donations welcomed to support organizing efforts)