On August 26, the same day that
José Daniel Ferrer García of the
Cuban Patriotic Union was released after
being held since August 23, Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Front for Civic Resistance and
Disobedience was detained along with Julio Columbie Batista and Arturo Conde Zamora in Holguin. It appears that the announcement that the noncooperation effort is entering a new phase has upset the regime. Below is the text of the Campaign for a National General Strike
translated to English here. The document was originally made public on Antúnez's blog
on August 24, 2012 in the midst of the crackdown. It is a concrete call to national nonviolent action and the document bears close reading.
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| Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" detained |
The National General Strike is an important initiative sponsored by
the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Front for Civic Resistance and
Disobedience. As its name indicates, this initiative seeks a partial
paralysis of the entire national infrastructure through strong and
systematic actions by the forces of internal resistance. In its first
and second stages the General Strike is part of a continuing campaign of
non-cooperation. This strike can be successful only after a real and
resolute decision by a significant number of citizens to deny
responsibility for, or to cooperate with, the oppressive regime.
It must be made clear that, although the National Front is calling
for and sponsoring this crucial campaign, it can only be viable with the
participation of each and every constituency for change, whether it be
the National Front, political parties, movements, regional
coalitions — in other words the energetic forces of Cuban resistance,
which are the primary vehicle of democratic change.
The campaign for the National General Strike will use only peaceful
means so that no constituencies which take part can in any way confuse
the strike with economic sabotage, or the destruction of or attacks on
state or private property.
It is the policy of the General Strike to be dissuasive and
persuasive, acknowledging that, to succeed, we must work patiently,
motivated by great faith and certainty. The only true potential for
change comes from citizens who support us, as well as those who simply
look upon us with indifference, fear or admiration for what we are
doing. This includes those we see walking beside us, in line behind us,
from a private office, and even those attacking us in so-called acts of
repudiation. All can unite with us and contribute to the great day of
the General Strike.
The campaign for a General Strike can, in a powerful way, also help
to do away with the worrying fear of change that persists in many areas
of society, especially among those who are ill-informed and those most
compromised by the current regime.
The concept must be clearly understood, both by the promoters of the
General Strike as well as by those who hear its message. The purpose of
the strike is not to destroy, obstruct or cause damage to anyone or
anything. Its intention is to peacefully boycott the means of production
that confer profits on those who misgovern the millions of Cubans who
are hungry, oppressed, and without liberty or the right to protest.
The Strike is a decision and commitment by everyone, or by a great
and significant majority of Cubans, to say, “Enough!” The strategy of
the General Strike is in accordance with basic, universally recognized
rights and freedoms, which — together with the peaceful tactics it
employs — gives it legitimacy and puts it in harmony with human dignity
itself, something of primary importance.
Though a recent idea, one born that was born in Cuba, the strategy of
the General Strike Campaign is based on innumerable precedents and
inspired by similar actions around the globe. These have been successful
in spite of a number of differing circumstances, such as culture and
language.
The change which the General Strike seeks is viable under any
circumstance in the struggle against the oppressive and totalitarian
system.
The first phase of the campaign is outlined below:
To effect a total or partial strike before doing the necessary
preparation or raising public awareness is so unlikely as to be almost
impossible — even more so in a country like ours in which repression
affects everyone and is everywhere, where a sinister and comprehensive
system of repression controls, spies on, and penalizes the slightest and
most moderate expression of discontent or dissent.
It is unthinkable
and impossible to bring the country to a total or partial standstill
when little or next to nothing has been done domestically to
systematically provide information to the average Cuban, who is
misinformed and bombarded by the state media monopoly.
Therefore, the Orlando Zapata Tamayo Front for Civic Resistance
proposes an introductory phase to develop an intense and on-going public
awareness campaign. This program will present the citizenry with
mottoes and slogans with social themes, which will initially identify us
as being concerned with the needs of the people.
This will help convince Cubans of the nature of their situation, that
they have rights, and that these right must be respected. This
information blitz will be carried out through visible channels such as
text messaging, Twitter accounts, CD’s, flash drives, printed material,
as well as through pamphlets, placards and signs posted in visible,
public spaces.
We can also solicit support, through broadcasts and other media, from
friends who support the Cuban cause. This duration of this initial
campaign, to be called “Cubans, Defend Your Rights,” will be open-ended
if it is determined that it can— given its importance — be
postponed, or rather extended, to other phases of the larger campaign.
This first phase is one of outreach, both internally and externally,
to the public, which has the potential to play a leading role in the
very necessary and essential change. It will be launched in light of the
hard reality that most Cubans lack access to the internet, satellite
television or cable.
Regrettably, outside of Cuba a not insignificant number of people are
able to analyze Cuban reality from the viewpoint of an open society
with a free flow of information, one of numerous advantages common in
other countries. In Cuban society only the official version can be
published, and only when and how the governing elite decide to publish
it.
Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez
Secretary General of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Front for
Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience, who will neither be silenced
nor will leave Cuba, and who reiterates that his primary objective today
is the “National General Strike.”
Placetas, Cuba
August 24 2012
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