"If there is to be any chance at all of success, there is only one way to strive for decency, reason, responsibility, sincerity, civility and tolerance, and this is decently, reasonably, responsibly, sincerely, civilly, and tolerantly" - Václav Havel
The Cuban Freedom March arrives in New York City, New York today on May 21, 2022 with a march from Good Morning America in Times Square to the Jose Marti statue in Central Park. The protest starts at 11:00am. Organizers have carried out successful marches in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Miami.
This is a means to demonstrate continued support for human rights and freedom in Cuba through the nonviolent exercise of an important and fundamental right: peaceful assembly.
No more opresión, no more misery, no more lies. They deserve what they risked all for last July 11th, FREEDOM!
— Cuban Freedom March (@cubanfreedom_) May 19, 2022
Join us in New York City this Saturday May 21st at 11am. Let’s march for FREEDOM!#SOSCuba
Thread | Hilo 1/2 pic.twitter.com/UJlHsy9TPs
The
values expressed by this youth movement thus far are in agreement with
the values expressed by the San Isidro Movement, the Patriotic Union of
Cuba, the Ladies in White and the Liberation Christian Movement in Cuba.
Non-violent resistance is an armed struggle but its weapons are not deployed to do violence or kill. These arms are psychological, social, economic and political weapons. Gene Sharp argues with much evidence "that this is ultimately more powerful against oppression, injustice and tyranny then violence. Historical studies are cited that demonstrate the higher success rates of nonviolent movements when compared against violent ones:
University Academics Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth in their 2008 study "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic on Nonviolent Conflict" compared the outcomes of 323 nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006. They found that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with just under half that at 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns. Finally there study also suggests “that nonviolent campaigns are more likely than violent campaigns to succeed in the face of brutal repression.”Therefore, if you want to help Cubans on the island than you owe it to them and to yourself to listen to them, review what they have done in the past, are doing today, the repression suffered, and learn as much as you can about the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence they have embraced for decades.
Beginning in the 1970s a nonviolent human rights movement emerged in the prisons and would win some battles against the dictatorship using grassroots civic resistance tactics and endure to the present day inspiring millions of Cubans on the island and around the world.
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