Cuba Diaries: State Propaganda

nuestra (4.00 / 4)

The young are the fundamental clay of our art - Che

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by: count @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:15:13 AM UTC

you're right nt (4.00 / 4)

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:23:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fixed (4.00 / 4)

Estoy muy embarazada! (Just kidding)

Sometimes my Spanish sucks.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:24:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Is there any cell in your body (4.00 / 4)

that still thinks your trip might have been a waste of money? Diaries have been great so far, and we aren't even to the conference yet!

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by: count @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:33:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

oh it was definitely worth the money (4.00 / 4)

although I have bad news: no conference. I didn't go. I sat outside the conference room and read a book. I'll give you a review of the book though. The projector in the conference gave me a headache and the translation wasn't good enough to make sitting there with a migraine worth my while.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:53:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

filo (4.00 / 4)

La libertad no se mendiga. Se conquista con el filo de un machete.

                     ---José Martí

"Freedom is not begged for. It is conquered with the edge of the machete."

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by: count @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:30:47 AM UTC

Thanks (4.00 / 4)

I updated the post.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 04:54:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

jill~ (4.00 / 4)

i had sent the link to this essay to a friend in Puerto Rico who has a Cuban partner. here is what he wrote me back:

please let Jill know that is was not José Martí, but Antonio Maceo (1845-1896, Cuba's Freedom Fighter) who said, "liberty is not something we must beg for. It is conquered with the sharp edge of the machete". I'm absolutely sure of this, even the "pic" next to the quote in the photo Jill took is of Antonio Maceo.

they also sent many thanks on your Cuba essays. Very happy to see pictures of "home" & look forward to more!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:22:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not Jill's error. (4.00 / 3)

The mistake was mine, for accepting something I read that said the quote is engraved on a Havana statue of Jose Marti. Will our need to do more research never end?

Thanks for the correction. (I'll follow up, though.)

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by: count @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:53:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The quote (4.00 / 3)

I am agnostic at this time about to whom that exact quotation can be attributed. Extensive collections of quotes from Marti do not include it. Marti wrote

Let those who desire a secure homeland conquer it. Let those who do not conquer it live under the whip and in exile, watched over like wild animals, cast from one country to another, concealing the death of their souls with a beggar's smile from the scorn of free men.

which does not fit easily on a sign. Marti also wrote

Rights are to be taken, not requested; seized, not begged for.

The quote might have come from Mateo, but searching for Mateo quotations or mottos does not bring it up, except for several references which all go to a speech by anti-Castro Luis Posada Carriles at a 2008 dinner in Miami, for his defense fund.

In looking for pictures of the two men, I found a 3/4 profile of Marti that looks exactly like the pic on the sign, except that no picture of Marti shows him with chin whiskers. Pictures of Antonio Maceo show him sometimes without chin hair, sometimes with. Silhouttes in cases like this usually become very standardized, so if someone with actual knowledge tells me that represents Mateo, I believe it.

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by: count @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 15:54:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

correction (3.67 / 3)

Maceo, not Mateo. Sorry.

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by: count @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 15:56:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

hey, count! (4.00 / 3)

sorry I got ya doing all this digging! my info comes from my partner, Juan, who grew up in Cuba. not saying he's an expert, but his actual knowledge is good enough for me!

when I showed him the photo, his immediate response was, "that's Antonio Maceo". and he did a bit digging himself and came up with this pic that convinced me - I'm Puerto Rican, so Cuban history isn't my strong point :O)

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by: newpioneer @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 20:23:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

digging (4.00 / 2)

How else will I learn stuff? Digging is fun. Example: while looking for that quote, I had the opportunity to read a lot of things Marti actually did say. I enjoyed that, because he was very thoughtful and a good poetic writer.

Also, it is only by doing some of my own digging, and sharing the results, that I can return a small measure of the effort other people make to educate me. Examples: almost everybody at LVL. This is a very educational place.

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by: count @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 21:15:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

thx (4.00 / 3)

I've fixed it

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 24, 2010 at 02:56:08 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I could be wrong, (4.00 / 4)

but, I believe these were the words of General Antonio Maceo (1845-1896) who said that, "liberty is not something we must beg for, it is conquered with the sharp edge of the machete." the "pic" next to the quote in the photo is also of Maceo.

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by: newpioneer @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:21:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

heh! (4.00 / 4)

i'm glad you joined up!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:23:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Welcome, newp! (4.00 / 4)

Great to see you here!

:)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:45:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

hey, Jay! (4.00 / 4)

signed up last year... sorry I haven't made the effort to come around more  :o(

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by: newpioneer @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:56:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cuba's elections (4.00 / 5)

Yes, Cuba has regularly scheduled elections, every 2 1/2 years for municipal ones, every 5 for higher offices. Here is an article by Arnold August, a Canadian who has been researching and writing about their elections for many years. It is about the election just concluded last month. http://cuba-l.unm.edu/?nid=78960  

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by: Dana @ Sat May 22, 2010 at 14:36:41 PM UTC

oh, Jill (4.00 / 4)

thank you so much for this series and all the pics. I don't have much time on the computer to write more for now, my partner Juan (he's from Cuba) is jumping up and down wanting to read and see everything you've posted about your trip!

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by: newpioneer @ Sun May 23, 2010 at 13:23:41 PM UTC

I'm so glad (4.00 / 3)

I'd love to hear his comments.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 24, 2010 at 02:57:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

billboards (4.00 / 3)

It's quite refreshing to spend time in Cuba and not be bombarded with ads selling things, whether it's on TV or signs on the road. The signs are more than politics. Billboards can be seen against littering, health care against H1N1, comparison of the cost of the blockade and what a day, a week, a month etc. can purchase, i.e. a dialysis machine, a child care center, etc. I remember one billboard with a car's hood up and a spoon feeding it corn saying that absurd 1st world (http://desdecuba.com/generaciony/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/absurdo_primer_mundo.jpg). There are numerous billboards supporting the Cuba 5, political prisoners in the US and heroes in Cuba and those against Posada Carriles, an admitted terrorist walking freely on the streets of Miami. I recommend a Google image search for Cuba +billboards to see the range of signs.

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by: Dana @ Mon May 24, 2010 at 17:10:50 PM UTC