After what happened last Friday--my kidnapping and beating by plainclothes State Security agents--I decided to bring to light a series of pictures of people who watch and harass me.
My relationship with the movies has always been from the seats in the shadow of a room where you can hear the sound of an old projector. It kept on like this until I started to live in my own movie, a type of thriller of the pursuers and the pursued, where it is up to me to escape and hide. The reason for this sudden change from spectator to protagonist has been this blog, located in this wide space--so little touched by celluloid--that is the Internet. I woke up two years ago with the desire to write the true script of my days, and not the rosy comedy they show in the official newspapers. I went, then, from watching movies to inhabiting one.
I have my doubts whether some day I'll see the curtain come down and be able to leave the movie theater alive. The long film that we have been living for decades in Cuba does not seem to be close to the point where the credits are shown and the screen goes blank. However, the spectators are no longer interested in the interminable filmstrip shown by the authorized projectionists. Rather, they seem captivated by the vision of those who create a blog, a blank page where they record the questions, the frustrations and the joys of citizens.
Believing myself Kubrick or Tarantino, I have begun to post a testimony of these creatures who watch and harass us. Beings from the shadows who, like vampires, feed on our human happiness and inoculate us with terror through punches, threats and blackmail. Individuals trained in coercion who could not foresee their conversion into hunters who are hunted, faces trapped on camera, mobile phones, or in the curious retina of a citizen. Accustomed to gathering evidence for this dossier about each of us kept in some drawer, in some office, now they are surprised that we make an inventory of their gestures, their eyes, a meticulous record of their abuses.
Here is a series of photos taken earlier this year near my house.
Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
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I also remember that it was the Cuban exiles who were supporting the segregationists in the South and fought against freedom for us in the USA. They were perfectly happy to deny their American opponents THEIR freedoms and supported dictatorships throughout Latin America. For them to pretend that they are for freedom is ABSURD. So I can fully understand black folks of my age having nice things to say about Castro since HE was FOR civil rights, while his opponents were AGAINST freedom. Given the violent nature of Castros opponents who used murder as their chosen tool to make political points, I have to agree with the use of force against them. They fully got what they deserved. The SAME does NOT apply ih this case! What was done to her was WRONG and there is no excuse for such measures and a one party state.
Like Fidel, both I'm sure are just misunderstood. Particularly if you got in their way.
Mississippi 1950??? .....no dear friend Cuba 1999.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CrDqFIacLk
as an american, the cubans i talked to, always were looking over their shoulder, and afraid of being seen talking to me
until we were somewhere private they never completely relaxed
i couldnt imagine living like that
fidel, you can take your free health care,
i'll take my freedom
besides we'll have healthcare AND freedom,
you, mr castro, just have a (justifiably) paranoid populace, many who hate you, but are afraid to say so, and all who fear you
live in fear?
no thanks...
living in fear in the USA is an option
in Cuba, where the threats, from the government are real,
living in fear is not an option
its just the way things are
say something bad about bush or obama in public in the USA,
nothing will happen to you
say something bad about castro in cuba,
its very possible that the police will come and arrest you
it is also possible that you might be jailed or killed.
so, i would say thats a pretty big difference.
also, if you really dont like America, you have the option of just leaving
not so in cuba
once again, a pretty big difference.
if you want to compare the USA to any number of other countries and make the case that they are better, or have more freedom.... then depending on the country, you might have a case
...but please, comparing the level of freedom, and the level of fear that the populace live in in the USA to cuba
not even close.
i can criticize my government, associate with whomever i want, i am not held a prisoner, unable to leave our borders, i can worship anywhere, with any religion, or have no religion at all. i can eat any food that i could ever possibly imagine, start a business, or work for someone else of my choosing. i dont need a "permission to travel permit" to go to other parts of my own country, i am permitted television with as many channels as i want, as opposed to just the 4 allowed by my government.
i can fight to change the government, i can protest, i can say the leader is a dictator, or that i don't like him, in public and private.
quite frankly, the list of freedoms is virtually endless in the USA
all the freedoms listed above (and many more) do not exist, or are extremely limited in cuba.
a great country, great people, shackled by a corrupt dictator, who won't allow dissent, freedom of speech, of association, of travel, and keeps his populace prisoners on what he thinks of as "his" island.
truly an evil man, and anyone who thinks otherwise, is a victim to his propaganda.
Are there policies, and politicians that i disagree with?
of course,
and i fight against them with all my might,
.... but having a problems with some things in America is hardly the same as saying we have no freedoms, we might not be perfect, but personal freedom is certainly not something we lack.