Looked to me like a nice afternoon of music that many thousands of Cubans enjoyed.
As I thought about all the huffing and puffing in
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Havana-Miami-Washington events and arguments and their impact on Cuba
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2009
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September
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- Talks in Havana
- Sanctions can feel great...
- Economic news
- Odds and ends
- The Diz in Cuba
- U.S.-Cuba final in World Cup baseball (Updated)
- Cuban doctors in Venezuela
- Odds and ends
- Obama's new rules on gift parcels to Cuba
- "The Americano"
- Odds and ends
- Juanes, the day after
- Juanes fills the Plaza
- Everybody's talking, everybody's happy
- Odds and ends
- Hemingway’s Cojimar
- Juanes, on his way to Havana
- Who says there are no capitalists in Cuba?
- Odds and ends
- On Prado, under construction
- The embargo, alive and well
- Nasty business
- “The Cuban people don’t want that”
- Odds and ends
- A veteran passes away
- Cuban hotels for Cubans too
- Public Internet services coming to post offices
- Resolution on Internet service
- Figure this one out
- Odds and ends
- Slow going
- Odds and ends
- Remittances by bank transfer -- a good first step ...
- Vamos pa' Cuba
- The new regulations explained
- Treasury regulations coming
- Odds and ends
- Closing the cafeterias (updated)
- Amnesty International: end the embargo
- Odds and ends
- More on the Geoffrey Sullivan case (updated)
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September
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21 comments:
Yes, Phil, everyone agrees the concert was a brilliant success. If any Cubans did disagree, surely we would have read about it in Granma, eh?
Your help in promoting the concert merits a nomination for the Lenin Peace Prize.
Phil - I have no problem with artists playing in Havana and I didn't huff too much but I did. My one and only issue is the name "Paz Sin Fronteras" It isn't just that exile artists were not invited but their existence was not even acknowledged. No artist was more associated with Cuba than Celia Cruz yet she is not even a thought. Despite her lack of artistic merit Gloria Estefan is the most popular artist of Cuban descent and there is no way that she would have been allowed to go. Granted I put a lot on her for not stepping up saying she wanted to go but it was a moot point.
Finally it is nothing short of disingenuous to say that arts and politics do not interact in Cuba. Are you telling me that if someone critiques the regime that they can receive state sanction? Why bother repeating what you already know...it was Fidel himself who set the standard in his infamous words to the intellectuals. Don't blame the exile for interjecting politics into the arts. I can download, buy and listen to Buena Vista, Van Van and anyone else from Cuba. But I doubt the government of Cuba allows artists such as Cruz, Estefan or Sandoval to be heard on the air or available for "purchase."
This was not about "music" but I don't care - let anyone who wants to play in Cuba play there. Just don't tell me that there is nothing political about it. Because if you criticize you won't be allowed to play.
Can you imagine if Bush 43 had instituted that dictum? Would you have complained then?
Everything that happens in the Cuban experience is politicized. This we know. I do not recall Peters denying this.
Just get over it. I sense that you feel defensive because of the "huffing and puffing in Miami" quote, but you must understand that this is how the world sees the Miami exile crowd. This crowd is growing more and more out of touch with the current reality. If this group were interested in winning support among the Cuban youth they would've positioned themselves differently on this issue. Either they misunderstood this or don't care. I believe it's the latter.
Yes, Peters, remind us again how your heart bleeds for the Cuban people. An extra ration of rice and beans at the end of the month and a bit of circus and who the hell has the right to complain? No, Peters, the more the likes of you deride those who want a bit more for the Cuban people, the more we will respond ten-fold.
chingon
"It isn't just that exile artists were not invited but their existence was not even acknowledged. "
Huh? I read somewhere that Juanes invited Willy Chirino and Gloria Estefan and they both declined to assist.
As for politics, I think the Cuban government won the upper hand by not politicizing the concert, specially after the circus organized by the nutters of Miami. They all looked as... well... nutters and did a wonderful job of embarrassing themselves and further tarnishing the image of the Cuban exile.
Is unbelievable that after 50 years they are still so politically stupid (or naive if you prefer a different term).
In a different note, if Willy Chirino and Gloria Stefan wanted to prove a point they should have accepted the invitation and let the Cuban government deny the permission.
At least that way they could prove that the Cuban government was in the wrong for opposing their participation in a peace concert in Cuba.
In the end perhaps the Cuban government would choose the lesser of bad and let them perform, but now the point is moot.
I totally agree with the poster regarding Gloria Stefan and Willy
Chirino! That's the sad part! If
they accepted, it would have a disaster for for the Cuban Government! Let me make this clear-
This concert was and i repeat was endorsed by various
political prisoners! They stayed and you left! I have a bit more respect for their opinions then yours!
Are you telling me that if someone critiques the regime that they can receive state sanction?
I think most of the people on stage have criticized the regime at some point on something... some in the last week. So this is simply a false and outdated notion.
From WaPo:
Juanes said he asked some artists to come, "but they were afraid. Latin artists, we live in Miami, and when you live in Miami, anything to do with Cuba is always a challenge. Some people in Miami are against anything to do with Cuba. Some are in the middle. And the young people, they definitely support cultural exchange."
I agree with the first anonymous and ac. I was not clear enough in what exactly bothered me. What bothered was not the concert itself and I certainly couldn't deny the "huffing and puffing"...actually they are still huffing. I was just trying to say that there was an element of the huffing that made sense - the name of the concert. Overall, I thought it was a fine event even if held under false pretenses - Peace without Borders? puhhhlease.
AC made the point that I made repeatedly to family and friends - if Chirino had a brain he would have put it out there that he wanted to go and made the Cuban Govt. look bad. The Estefans would never have gone that far - they are much more apolitical than people realize. That is on them - so they should just shut up.
As for Leftside I ask that he find one time in the last 40 years that Formell has ever said anything that could even be remotely construed as being critical of Castro or the regime.
oops didn't mention couple of other things...
a) I never left cuz I was never there.
b) I have long stated here and more vocally on Babablu blog that the future of Cuba belongs to those on the island. I have never criticized nor will I ever criticize any dissident speaking on issues related to Cuba or its future. That being said there was a divide even among dissidents on the concert - funny how the media in English only mentioned the former and the spanish speaking media in Miami played up the latter. Both sides were being hypocrites in not acknowledging that there were differences of opinion.
c) it should be noted that some in the exile community (and I don't mean Castro apologists) did support the concert. Unfortunately they were drowned by the far more entertaining and insanely lunatic fringe that seethe at the mere thought of anyone thinking that there is anything worthwhile in Cuba
Leftside said: "I think most of the people on stage have criticized the regime at some point on something... some in the last week. So this is simply a false and outdated notion."
Yes, this truth cannot be emphasized too often. Everyone knows that whatever unpleasantness formerly exisited in Cuba (all due to yanki aggression, it goes without saying!) has been left far behind. Under the leadership of Raul, a New Dawn has arrived.
Honestly now, has anyone noticed any news reports of repression in Granma lately? Case closed! It's time to move on! Right, Lefty?
only in cuba could a concert be politicized this much by the right wing side. it was a concert, people enjoyed it, music can be politics (see dixie chicks) but it seemed to me the cubans were having a good time.
it's too bad some just can't allow anything to slip by without polarization. another step closer, and the more this happens the louder the lunatic fringe will become.
good concert, let the extremists continue to stew. the rest of us know.
pidgen, you don't want more for the cuban people, you want less in the guise of moral superiority and baseless accusations. you'd rather see them suffer so much they overthrow the government, that's been the intention of the embargo since day one, admitted to by the American govt.
so pidgen, it is no surprise you object to a music concert, no matter how you spin it. if you care so much about the cuban people go back and help them, your crying como una nina does absolutely nothing to help. your whining makes you totally irrelevant.
see ya pidgen.
kudos to juanes and agpe love to the peope of cuba, shame on you miami big shots!
there is a better chance asking a stone to produce water, than asking willie, gloria, and emilio for love for their own people, their political agenda does not cost a thing to them, so they will continue to use that excuse not to provide for the cuban people. but watch a hurricane happen and the headlines will show pictures of them giving..hmmmmm how petty!
the ones who hate the cuban people through support of the embargo etal are the ones who claim to love them the most. fortunately it's so easy to see through their real intentions, and that's why they should never have any impact or influence on a post castro regime.
Anon, wow, five posts in a row...you're on a roll. You don't really expect us to to believe they were done by five different people, do you?
yeah actually they are from different people, trust me i know
"Anon, wow, five posts in a row...you're on a roll. You don't really expect us to to believe they were done by five different people, do you?""
Yes, Fat Matt is on a roll today. Maybe his frenzy is a result of ODing on Twinkies out there in California.
Is Matt fat? That could explain some things...self-loathing issues?
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