Message for the Rolling Stones from Gorki and a new song from PPR "Down with you know who"

A message from punk rocker Gorki Águila to the Rolling Stones on their upcoming concert in Cuba and the nature of music censorship in the island.


"Ehhh, listen to what I gotta say, my brother. We, when you go over there, I’m talking with you Mick Jagger, yes, you, look over here, over here, you and your band. When you go over there and when Obama goes over there to Cuba. We will probably be stuck in a cell in the MININT (Ministry of the Interior). 

I don’t know if we’ll be able to play a small concert in the cell, but most probably they’ll put each musician in his own cell and we won’t be able to hear each other, you see? I’m a musician that’s censored in Cuba. I’m a musician that doesn’t have the right that you have to play where you want, understand? So at least inform yourself. That’s all I ask. Yell whatever you like but inform yourself.

And if you want to play because you want to play in a tyranny, do whatever you want to do but this; hopefully this gets to you, what I’m talking about here. 

"In Cuba musicians are censored." - Gorki [Artwork by Sergio Lastre]

 In Cuba musicians are censored. There are musicians that aren’t allowed to play; there are women that are beaten [by the Castro regime]. And I would love to tell it to the artists, my brother, inform yourselves first about what’s going on in Cuba and at least let out a “down with Castro” you know, a little one, my brother. Come on Rolling Stones, go for it, my brother. Ah Keith Richards! Keith Richards, he’s crazier. Keith Richards, say something, my little brother, say something, go for it with 100,000 watts, 'Down with you know who!'” 

The new song from Porno para Ricardo, "Down with you know Who" exposes Castro regime's anti-rock n roll and censorship back ground.


When people ask if progress has been made on the music scene in Cuba, an important question arises. "What does it say about the regime in Cuba that British and American rock bands are now heard over the airwaves in Cuba and The Rolling Stones are playing a concert tonight in Cuba and at the same time the music of Cuban musicians of the stature of Celia Cruz and Olga Guillot remain censored in Cuba, even though they passed away years ago?"

Claim were made in 2012 that the censorship of these artists had been quietly ended but official channels internally confirmed that it was not true. On August 21, 2012 Tony Pinelli, a well known musician and radio producer, distributed an e-mail in which Rolando Álvarez, the national director of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión (ICRT) confirmed that the music of the late Celia Cruz would continue to be banned. The e-mail clearly stated: 

"All those who had allied with the enemy, who acted against our families, like Celia Cruz, who went to sing at the Guantanamo Base, the ICRT arrogated to itself the right, quite properly, not to disseminate them on Cuban radio." 

The irony that it was the Castro regime, that acted against Cuban families dividing them for over half a century, in 1962 denied Celia Cruz's request to return to Cuba to attend her mother's burial. She never again tried to return to Cuba after that and passed away in exile in 2003. Three years after John Lennon's statue was unveiled by Fidel Castro in a park in Havana, Cuba.

 

The British take Havana again: The Rolling Stones rock Cuba

It's only rock n roll

The British empire invaded and occupied Havana in March of 1762. They traded Havana back to Spain in exchange for all of Florida in 1763 and two hundred years later another British invasion, this time with rock n roll music, not military fleets invaded and conquered the world. The Rolling Stones were one of the shock troops of British rock n roll.

Their music and presence banned from Cuba by Fidel Castro during their heyday in the 1960s through the 1990s only now when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are both 72, Charlie Watts 74, and Ron Woods 69 will Cubans be able to finally see them play in Havana. This is because the Rolling Stones came into existence in 1962, and the following year in Cuba that kind of music was forbidden.

On March 13, 1963 Fidel Castro gave a speech were he openly attacked “long-haired layabouts, the children of bourgeois families,” roaming the streets wearing “trousers that are too tight,” carrying guitars to look like Elvis Presley, who took “their licentious behavior to the extreme” of organizing “effeminate shows” in public places. The Cuban dictator warned: “They should not confuse the Revolution’s serenity and tranquility with weaknesses in the Revolution. Our society cannot accept these degeneracies.”

The punk rock band Porno para Ricardo summed up the old official attitude with the chorus from the one of their songs La Puerca Roja: It's only rock n roll pero te molesta (but it bothers you)

Bit sad really.  This band has been rocking the world for six decades and only now has been allowed to play Cuba three days after President Obama's historic visit to the island. 

The British invasion arrives in 2016: The Rolling Stones in Cuba

Sadder still Cuban musical icons, loved the world over, are still banned on the official airwaves posthumously because they didn't like the government.

It was pretty cool that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed by the University of Miami to jam with music students earlier this week. Members of the band have always had a well earned reputation of being pretty cool.

Not too shabby after six decades touring and making music.

Still remember seeing The Rolling Stones during the Steel Wheels Tour in Miami in 1989. Amazing show 27 years ago and they seriously rocked the entire stadium.

Rock n roll fans in Cuba have addressed the difficulties they had getting to listen to the Rolling Stones and some current rock n rollers, who are being persecuted have made a call out to the band. 

The playlist below mixes together some classic Rolling Stones and Cuban rockers sending them a message.

Cuban punk rockers tear it up at Churchill's

 "It's only rock n roll but it bothers you." - Porno para Ricardo

Porno para Ricardo tearing it up at Churchill's on Saturday night (March 5, 2015)

Cuba's best known punk rock band, Porno para Ricardo, played a blistering set at Churchill's last night in Miami's punk Mecca. They maybe a Havana based band but their anarchic spirit and punk rock attitude fit right in with this South Florida landmark which has hosted everyone from Marilyn Manson and Social Distortion to Dick Dale and Agent Orange.

Porno para Ricardo founded in Cuba has been a fixture there in the music scene since 1998. The lead singer Gorki Águila has paid the price for his critical lyrics being sentenced to four years in prison in 2003 on trumped up charges and got out in 2007. Only to face one year later the charge of "dangerousness" with the potential for another four year prison sentence, but the mobilization of punk rockers and human rights activists around the world and in Cuba succeeded in saving him from another prison sentence in 2008.

However short term arrests, threats and the occasional beating by the secret police still continue. For example in 2015, according to the Danish human rights NGO, Freemuse, Gorki was arrested on three occasions and in one of them beaten up by Castro's agents for demanding the freedom of Cuban artist Daniel Maldonado "El Sexto" who had been jailed for 10 months beginning in December of 2014 for trying carry out a performance art piece critical of the Cuban dictatorship. He was freed in October of 2015 and on March 2, 2016 kicked off an exhibition of his art work on South Beach with his performance art piece and Porno para Ricardo performing a set of their music. However, the concert in Churchills was special because for the first time the entire band (Gorki Águila, Ciro Díaz, Lia Villares, and Renay Kairus) was able to play together outside of Cuba.

If you missed this great performance you have one more chance today at 6pm in Little Havana at Cubaocho Museum and Peforming Arts Center where they will be playing. The band returns to Cuba later this week.

Porno para Ricardo plays Cubaocho Museum and Performing Arts Center (1465 SW 8th Street, Miami FL 33135) today, Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 6:00pm

Freemuse Report 2016: Cuba among top 10 countries registering serious artistic freedom violations

Cuba in 2015 was the tenth country in the world with most serious violations of artistic freedom reports Danish NGO Freemuse, February 22, 2016.

 

 Freemuse Annual Statistics on Censorship and Attacks on Artistic Freedom in 2015

Full Freemuse report available online in pdf format

CUBA — WITHIN THE REVOLUTION EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED

Cuba remains a classic dictatorship. The Cuban Constitution allows freedom of speech and press, as long as it follows the purposes of the socialist society as understood by the Cuban government. The Cuban government has gained a reputation for its limited tolerance for public criticism, and the Communist Party is mandated to give prior approval for printing almost all publications and to censor public screenings and artistic performances.


Freemuse in 2015 documented 21 cases of violations on artistic freedom of expression in Cuba, including imprisoning one artist and keeping two in prison, detaining two artists and prosecuting another.

Throughout 2015 the Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, the legislative parliament of Cuba, announced a “recommendation” of restricting free public spaces from vulgarity and the denigration of women in order to stop foreign influence contrary to Cuban values. The assembly also “advised” comedians to avoid “irresponsible humour”. The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), a state monopoly, amplified this statement. The president of the ICRT, Danilo Sirio, emphasized that “under no circumstances will artistic content that denigrates women, or incites vulgarity, obscenity or offensiveness, or what is contrary to the Cuban values will be broadcasted”. Sirio also suggested that some materials, such as foreign television series, should be accompanied by comments from a Cuban specialist.

 RAP & HIP-HOP AS DISSENT
On 28 January 2015, rapper Maikel Oksobo “El Dkano” (real name Maikel Castillo Pérez) was sentenced to one year in prison in Havana. It is generally believed he was targeted for having used his music to express dissenting political opinions. El Dkano was sentenced under a charge known as the “peligrosidad predelictiva”, translated as “dangerousness that is likely to lead a crime”, which is used to imprison dissidents for longer periods.

In April 2015 a group of Cuban hip-hop artists were expelled from the Cuban Rap Agency (ACR). In an open letter sent out on 28 June2015, the group denounced Minister of Culture Julián González Toledo for deteriorating Cuban hip-hop both inside and outside the country. The group also said that the Cuban Institute of Music made “promises that never came true”, and that Cuban hip-hop is being censored more than ever. Some of the artists stated that the real reason of their expulsion was their participation in Panama in the Summit of the Americas, a set of international summits organized by the Organization of the American States bringing together leaders of countries in the Americas. The hip-hop artists who participated in the summit were Soandry, Hermanos de Causa, Renovación Urbana, Maikel y El Fonky, La Alianza, Raudel Escuadrón Patriota, Ruta 11, Bárbaro el Urbano, Charly Mucha Rima, Cuentas Claras, Carlitos P and P, Yimi con Klase, and Onda Libre.

PASSPORT RETURNED TO BRUGUERA
US-based performance artist Tania Bruguera was not allowed to leave Cuba during the first six months of 2015. The artist was first detained in December 2014 after trying to stage a work entitled ‘Tatlin’s whisper #6’, in Havana’s Revolution Square. Bruguera was harassed several times in 2015, and was also detained for a few hours in May 2015 after reading passages from Hannah Arendt’s ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’ outside her home in Havana. Cuban authorities didn’t file formal charges, but Bruguera had her passport confiscated. In mid-July 2015 authorities returned her passport.

In October 2015, graffiti artist and activist Danilo Maldonado Machado, El Sexto, was released after being detained for 10 months. The artist was first detained in December 2014 after police officers found a drawing of two pigs named Fidel and Raul that the artist was planning to use in a performance. Authorities explained to the artist’s family that El Sexto was detained because they considered him “counter-revolutionary”. During this period the artist didn’t face any trial or sentence.

Gorki was detained on three occasions in 2015 and physically attacked

 
GORKI ÁGUILA DETAINED AGAIN ... AND AGAIN

Gorki Águila, leader of the band Porno Para Ricardo, has never had an easy relationship with Cuban authorities. A controversial figure, Gorki has been arrested or detained many times during the past 15 years; sometimes because of his role as an activist, sometimes because of his artistic work, and sometimes due to the combination of both his art and activism — or “artyvism” as some call it. 2015 was no exception for Gorki. On 23 May Gorki was arrested outside Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts by Cuban authorities after carrying a banner with the image of the graffiti artist El Sexto and the word “libertad” (freedom) on it. Gorki was incarcerated for 23 hours and said police physically attacked him while in their custody.

In July, Gorki dedicated a song to the Damas de Blanco (Women in White), a citizen movement that gathers wives and relatives of political prisoners. Gorki declared that “it seems that the Cuban government planned to dismantle the Damas de Blanco with intimidation and violence, but what the governmental interference did was to only unite them even more”.

On 5 August 2015, some weeks after his presentation, officers of State Security waited for Gorki outside his home and detained him again for a couple of hours. A State Security officer warned him that, if he continued to attend opposition meetings, the government could restrict his travels to other countries. However, Gorki stated that the State is “violating every right, one after another: the right to pacific protest, to freedom of speech, to travel, and that the detentions in the island are totally arbitrary”.

On 7 November 2015, Gorki was again detained, along with two journalists from tv channel France 24, for several hours in Havana. The musician and the two journalists were brought to the Playa Municipality police station, where Gorki made a phone call to digital independent media outlet 14ymedio, and reported the situation. After hours of detention, all three were set free without charges.

In November 2015, Cuban authorities suspended theatre director and filmmaker Juan Carlos Cremata’s permission to work following the ban of his theatre play ‘El Rey se Muere’ (The King is Dying). Later, in December, Cremata wrote in his BBC-syndicated blog that Cuban authorities tried to expel Eliecer Ávila, an opponent of the Castro regime, from a meeting about Cuban cinema at the Cultural Center Fresa y Chocolate. According to Cremata, officials were spying on the event for a while before discretely trying to take Ávila away from the crowd. When people at the event asked for an explanation, officers just said that the event was “meant to be for film makers and revolutionaries only”. The day after, the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC) defended the position of the officials in a letter, stating that: “there can’t be place in our forums for those who are enemies of the Revolution”.

Cuban artists and musicians put on performance "PORK" on South Beach

Performance art, rock n roll and Andy Warhol too...

On Thursday February 25th beginning at 7:30pm until late in the evening in South Beach Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado (El Sexto) was finally able to carry out his performance art piece that cost him 10 months in a Cuban prison. Two pigs named Fidel and Raul where at the center of an exhibition of drawings and paintings. In addition, Andy Warhol's acclaimed film The Life of Juanita Castro was projected in Miami's Market Gallery along with a performance by the Cuban punk rock band, Porno para Ricardo.


The exhibit will be open to the public from February 26 to March 17, from 12:00pm - 12:00 am daily. Market Gallery, 1420 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL, 33139

Danilo Maldonado addresses the crowd with Ladies in White leader Bertha Soler

The event was organized by Market Gallery, Pollock Fine Art, and Human Rights Foundation.

Free Danilo: Music video calls for freedom of imprisoned Cuban artist

"Video for the campaign for the freedom of the artist in opposition to the Castro regime, Danilo Maldonado. An unpopular government represses. An insecure government fears artists." - Porno para Ricardo, over youtube March 6, 2015 

Gorki Águila with the Ladies in White demanding Freedom for Cuban artist Danilo

Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado "El Sexto" has been arbitrarily detained since December 26, 2014. His alleged crime? He bought two pigs for an art project and wrote on them "Fidel" and "Raul" and was on his way to a public park to release them when he was arrested before his performance art piece could be performed. Still jailed El Sexto has been indicted for "disrespect" that carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Ladies in White call for the freedom of Danilo Maldonado jailed since December 26

The Cuban punk rock band, Porno para Ricardo, has released a new song and video titled: Free Danilo. The lyrics tell the story about his arrest and below they are loosely translated to English from the original Spanish:

What did Danilo do? 
What did you do when the police took him away? 
He took a risk for wanting to express himself. 
He took two pigs to Central park, and they want to give him three years for that. 
Three years for two. 
Thats not just. 
Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two. 
Three years for two pigs. No. 

What did you do watching the television?
You didn't even find out what happened.
Raul and Fidel the pigs are called. 
For art alone they lock him up.

If we unite we can take them out both: the pigs and Danilo

Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two. 
Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two.
Don't give him three for two. 
Don't give him three for two. 
Don't give him three for two. 
 
 
Three years for two pigs. No.

Freedom for Danilo!
Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
 

Music Freedom Day 2015

Around the world today musicians and advocates for uncensored music are gathering and holding activities on what has come to be known as Music Freedom Day. An action organized by the Danish based non governmental organization, Free Muse. Events were organized in Barcelona, Casablanca, Harstad, Oslo, Peshawar, Dakar, and New York City.

Freemuse has documented the plight of punk rocker Gorki Águila imprisoned for two years and threatened with new trials for his anti-government lyrics and Cuban rappers Rodolfo Ramirez, known by his rapping name as El Primario brutally beaten by regime agents and Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga, known best as “El Critico” imprisoned and brutalized from March 2013 and was  was released on January 9, 2015. 21 days later another rapper, El Dkano, took his place in prison when he was sentenced on January 28 to a year in prison for "pre-criminal dangerousness."

The impact of the Castro regime on music in Cuba goes beyond jailing musicians and includes systematic censorship that threatens the island's musical legacy. This process has been described as a  Cuban cultural genocide that is depriving generations of Cubans of their heritage.

According to the book Shoot the singer!: music censorship today edited by Marie Korpe there is increasing concern within the international music community that post-revolution generations are growing up without knowing or hearing these censored musicians and that this could lead to a loss of Cuban identity in future generations. One of the musicians to undergo this process is Olga Guillot. 

 On August 21, 2012 Tony Pinelli, a well known musician and radio producer, distributed an e-mail in which Rolando Álvarez, the national director of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión (ICRT) confirmed that the music of the late Celia Cruz would continue to be banned. The e-mail clearly stated:

"All those who had allied with the enemy, who acted against our families, like Celia Cruz, who went to sing at the Guantanamo Base, the ICRT arrogated to itself the right, quite properly, not to disseminate them on Cuban radio "

Below is a sampling of some of the music banned in Cuba over the years and the artists who have become unpersons but first there is a video on what is music censorship.

Cuban Punk Rockers say: "Free El Sexto"

Punk Rockers in solidarity with imprisoned Cuban artist


The Cuban punk band "Porno para Ricardo" has a new basist and her name is Lia Villares, who has also been at the forefront of a campaign to free Danilo Maldonado, an unjustly imprisoned Cuban artist. He has been jailed since December 26, 2014 for wanting to engage in a performance art piece involving two pigs named Fidel and Raul. On January 26, 2015 the one month mark of Danilo's imprisonment the band released the above music video titled "A Day For Cuba"calling for his release.

  On February 5, Lia tweeted that messages sent via this e-mail or in comments left on this page would reach him in prison. A month earlier on January 4th, Lia Villares tweeted an image of El Sexto" with a signed text that read: "To beat me you need arms, police, prisons. For me to beat you I only need spray paint and this little paper. - El Sexto".

Uncommon Sense on January 22, 2015 offered an overview of the December 26th detention of Danilo Maldonado and the privations that he continues to suffer including now serious health concerns:

Despite the recent giddiness by some about Cuba, there remain in the Castro gulag numerous political prisoners, including at least one -- Danilo Maldonado -- arrested after the Dec. 17 announcement by President Barack Obama that the United States and Cuba were well on their way toward normalized relations. Maldonado, a grafitti artist better known as "El Sexto," was arrested Dec. 26 while driving two pigs to a Havana park. In Cuba, where pork for the masses is scare, that he had two pigs is probably a crime in itself. But El Sexto's worse transgression is that he had painted on the pigs the names "Fidel" and "Raul," and that they were to be used in performance piece.

Lia Villares: #ITooDemand #FreeElSextoNow 1 artist deserves the attention of future free generations.

 Police charged El Sexto with "insulting" and threw him in jail, where he remains while awaiting trial. Laritza Diversent, a dissident lawyer, tried to win El Sexto's release by filing a writ of habeas corpus arguing that El Sexto had been arrested aribitrarily. Also, she wrote that "Fidel" and "Raul" are common names and anyway, the government should not be so sensitive to criticsm. Officials rejected her arguments. Meanwhile, Diario de Cuba and other sources reported Wednesday that El Sexto has developed pneumonia and is not receiving needed medical care.

Danilo Maldonado, "El Sexto", making art

Maleconazo: A rumor of freedom that shook the Castro dictatorship

"We now know that any method or model which purportedly aims to achieve justice, development, and efficiency but takes precedence over the individual or cancels out any of the fundamental rights leads to a form of oppression, to exclusion and is calamitous for the people." - Oswaldo Paya, Strasbourg, December 17, 2002

Near the Havana Sea Wall on August 5, 1994

Cubans have been fleeing the dictatorship in Havana for decades, but there is one episode that stands out that shook the Castro regime to its very core. It has become known as the Maleconazo. Less than a month after the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre of July 13, 1994 a thousand Cubans were marching and shouting for freedom. On that same night as the uprising, Fidel Castro, was re-framing the circumstances surrounding the attack and sinking of the tugboat that claimed the lives of 37 men, women and children. The following account is taken and translated from the Spanish newspaper ABC and from testimony by "13 de Marzo" tugboat survivor Sergio Perodin.



What happened? 
500 Cubans gathered on August 5, 1994 on the pier "de la Luz", to take the launch that goes to Regla and Casablanca because there was a rumor that it would again be diverted to Florida. It was a rumor of a path to freedom that these 500 people had seized upon. 

Cubans marching and shouting for freedom on August 5, 1994

Military trucks arrived and announced the suspension of the launches departure and dispersed the crowd.  People walking along the Malecón (The Havana Sea Wall)  joined the dispersed crowd and gathered near the  Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force). A thousand Cubans began to march shouting Freedom through the streets of Havana. 

That 500 Cubans would gather to flee the island is not a new phenomenon but that another 500 would join them  to march and call for freedom was something new and an unexpected development for the security services.

After marching for a kilometer, a hundred Special Brigade members and plain clothes police confronted the protesters.

Plainclothes regime agent aiming his gun at protesters August 5

The demonstrators dispersed into the neighborhood of Central Havana, burning rubbish bins, smashing the windows of the dollar stores and clashing with the police with stones and sticks. Regime agents responded with physical beat downs, several gun shots and their own mobilization of repressive actors.

That same day Fidel Castro took to the official airwaves and as usual blamed the dictatorship's problems on the United States but had to address the event that took place on July 13, 1994 saying:

 "...it [the United States] wants at all costs to undermine the country's economic effort, as part of its overall plan to destroy the Revolution.  Radio broadcasts, subversive propaganda, all of this is spearheaded from outside and is encouraged abroad.  But, to be sure, this concrete fact--this phenomenon--has been much more clearly in evidence in recent weeks, starting with the accident involving the tug '13 de Marzo'.  I believe that one of the most infamous and most grossly cynical acts of the United States Government occurred because of this accident."

An exhaustive investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the events of the attack and sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat on July 13, 1994 found that "[t]he evidence clearly shows that the sinking of the tug "13 de Marzo" was not an accident but rather a premeditated, intentional act," and held the Cuban State responsible for violating the right to life of all those killed that day aboard the tugboat. 

The beginning of the massacre had been witnessed from the Malecón and according to one of the survivors, Sergio Perodin: "People in Havana Malecon (a popular seafront place), couples, fishermen, began to shout asking the Polargo's crew not to sink us." 

Twenty three days later 1,000 Cubans were marching through the streets of Havana and clashing with regime officials and Fidel Castro was trying to justify the events surrounding the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking portraying the perpetrators of the massacre as heroes and defaming the victims.

ABC newspaper in Spain outlines what happened on August 5, 1994

Mass arrests followed and on Saturday, August 6, 1994 the Malecón and various Central Havana streets were closed off. Communist youth patrolled the streets. Several police officers and demonstrators hurt during the protests were hospitalized.  

It appears that what had started provoked by a rumor of freedom frustrated by repressive forces then combined with outrage from the previous month's massacre of innocents turned into a popular protest that initially caught the Castro regime by surprise. For the first time in 35 years a mass popular protest was able to sustain itself long enough to be reported on by international media before it was crushed by the regime's repressive actors.

Two decades later and the Maleconazo is still remembered in the popular consciousness of Cubans. The Cuban punk rock group, Porno para Ricardo named a song and album after the protests. Below is a video the banned group produced for the 18th anniversary of the August 5th uprising in Cuba.

Anti-Political Politics, Solidarity, Nonviolence and Saving a Cuban Rocker from a Stalinist Show Trial Tuesday

"I would rather die as a poet then live as a politician." - María Elena Cruz Varela,
El País(1993)
 
I favor "anti-political politics," that is, politics not as the technology of power and manipulation, of cybernetic rule over humans or as the art of the utilitarian, but politics as one of the ways of seeking and achieving meaningful lives, of protecting them and serving them.  - Václav Havel, Politics and Conscience (1984)

Gorki Águila faces a Stalinist show trial on February 11, 2014. Please help him!

"What are the rights of revolutionary or non-revolutionary writers and artists? Within the Revolution, everything against the Revolution, no rights at all." - Fidel Castro, Speech to Intellectuals (1961)

There are moments when circumstances and context crystallize and underline an idea. Beginning Friday night listening to María Elena Cruz Varela present her self titled book in Coral Gables where she explained that what drove her to defy the Cuban dictatorship was not politics but a question of living in truth and saying what she thought. In a May 27, 1993 interview with the Spanish newspaper El País she bluntly stated: "I would rather die as a poet then live as a politician" Listening to her now one can understand that the vision she has of politics is one focused on power. In a multi-party democracy politicians have to appeal to voters to get elected but are fundamentally driven by getting into and staying in power. In the case of a totalitarian regime power is maintained through terror and repression and politics dominates everything including inter-personal relations. 

On Saturday, Rose Tang also wrote about another courageous artist living under a totalitarian regime in main land China, Cui Jian who is not only considered the father of Chinese Rock but also an icon for Chinese rebels. He played his songs for students during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the lyrics were critical of the regime in power there. Twenty five years later and he's still protesting injustices in China. One of his albums is titled "The power of the powerless" which is the title of Václav Havel's best known essay. 

Like María Elena, Václav Havel was a writer not a politician but unlike her Havel ended up being the president of his country while expressing a vision of politics at odds with the experience of what passes for politics both in Washington DC and in Havana which he explained in a 1984 essay Politics and Conscience:

One such fundamental experience, that which I called "anti-political politics," is possible and can be effective, even though by its very nature it cannot calculate its effect beforehand. That effect, to be sure, is of a wholly different nature from what the West considers political success. It is hidden, indirect, long-term, and hard to measure; often it exists only in the invisible realm of social consciousness, conscience, and subconsciousness, and it can be almost impossible to determine what value it assumed therein and to what extent, if any, it contributes to shaping social development. 

 Gorki Águila, and the group Porno para Ricardo, produced a song "I don't like politics, but she sure likes me comrade"and titled their album the same way. Gorki and his band are in the same "anti-political politics" that Havel, Jian and Cruz Varela address. In a totalitarian society when you reclaim the right to express yourself and to exist as a person you are not setting out to commit a political act, but because of the totalitarian context it does become political. The question that arises is why do the Castro brothers fear a poet such as Cruz Varela and send mobs to break her mouth trying to force feed a moderate petition for change that she and a handful of intellectuals made to the government? Why are the Castro brothers organizing surveillance around Gorki's home and organizing a smear campaign and show trial against the front man of a Cuban punk band? Havel offers a possible answer in the same 1984 essay and five years later history proved him right:

It is, however, becoming evident-and I think that is an experience of an essential and universal importance-that a single, seemingly powerless person who dares to cry out the word of truth and to stand behind it with all his person and all his life, ready to pay a high price, has, surprisingly, greater power, though formally disfranchised, than do thousands of anonymous voters. 

Tonight, came across the lyrics of a powerful video embedded below that are a re-interpretation of a
Catalán call to arms and resistance by Luis Ilach into a call for nonviolent resistance by Gorki and his band Porno para Ricardo. The idea that there are no rights outside of the revolution is a rotten idea because it places a particular political instance above universal rights and duties that transcend governments and ideologies.  Gorki and PPR's answer is to push back and bring the whole thing down to be free.

This leads to the inevitable question, "What can we do for Gorki?" and Havel had the answer thirty years ago:

 A great deal, to be sure. The more support, interest, and solidarity of free-thinking people in the world we enjoy, the less the danger of being arrested, and the greater the hope that ours will not be a voice crying in the wilderness.

Please let others know about his plight, sign a petition for his freedom, and join in the social networks to demonstrate your solidarity.


Below is a loose translation from the original Spanish:

The Stake (La Estaca)

Composer: Lluis Llach, Re-interpreted by Ciro Diaz Penedo

Old Felix spoke to me  
With dawn at the gate  
While we waited for the sun  
Watching the tanks pass by  

He says you don't see the stake  
To which our feet are bound  
If we can't free ourselves  
We shall never be able to run  

If we push it, it will fall  
It just cannot hold out anymore  
Surely it will  fall, fall, fall  
Because it's very rotten  

If you push it over here  
And I push it over there  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall  
And we can  free ourselves  

But some time has passed now  
My hands are bleeding  
When I surrender for an instant  
It makes itself heavier and bigger  
I very well know that it's rotten  
But despite that it weighs a lot  
That sometimes my strength gives away  
I sing this song louder.  

If we push it, it will fall  
Its that it cannot last anymore  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall  
Because it's very rotten  

If push it over here  
And I push over there  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall  
And we can  free ourselves  

Old Felix does not speak to me now  
A bad wind took him away  
He knows where 
While I'm still here waiting for the sun  
And when I see the boys of today pass  
I raise my voice and start to sing again  
The song that he taught me.  

If  we push it, it will fall  
Its that it just cannot last anymore  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall  
Because it's so very rotten  

If I push it over here,  
You push it strongly over there,  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall,  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall,   
Surely it will fall, fall, fall,  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall,  
Surely it will fall, fall, fall, 

Now! Now! Now!

Cuba: Punk rocker Gorki reportedly again faces years in prison

 

On 30 September 2013, Cuban punk rocker Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco, lead singer of the band Porno para Ricardo, was arrested. On a citation for summary judgement dated 27 January 2014, Gorki has now been called to attend a summary trial on 11 February 2014. Exiled Cuban bloggers and reporters are all convinced that the prosecution is politically motivated.

According to the blog Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter, Gorki faces a 10 year prison sentence for his political lyrics, though the official charges are on possession of drugs.

“Looking at the details, the government’s case falls apart,” wrote John Suarez: “Gorki is an epileptic and a doctor has prescribed medication. All of this is backed up by the prescription itself and the notarized letter by the physician. Unfortunately, in Cuba a fair trial is an impossibility but international attention and pressure can still save the day. Below is a video from Gorki explaining the need for solidarity and the danger that he faces. The video is in Spanish but beneath it is an English translation of what he is saying.”

 

Published on youtube.com on 4 February 2014

Gorki: “…I have been an opponent of the regime for a long time. They don’t miss the opportunity to try link us and discredit us in common crimes in order to silence us in some way. They are going to hold a trial on the 11th of February at 8:30am in Marianao in the hall of a trial. It is a summary trial. It is a trial that I believe is profoundly unjust because the defense does not have access to the case files of the prosecution. These types of trials are customarily done in totalitarian countries. They are extremely fast trials done in a series and are fabricated and decided beforehand. That’s why I appeal to all who want to show their solidarity because this can be very dangerous for me since they always want to find ways to jail me…”

Excerpt. Translation by Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter

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Petition to the Minister of Justice in Cuba, Maria Esther Reus González

“The idea of silencing a man whose only crime is free expression and writing songs which lyrics are against the government is savage and unacceptable.
Hereby I call Maria Esther Reus Gonzalez, the Minister of Justice in Cuba to withdraw those absurd charges against Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco and return him his freedom. I demand from Cuban authorities the respect of Gorki’s right to treat his disease and his basic human rights.”

» Sign the petition: avaaz.org

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» Cuban Exile Quarter – 5 February 2014:
Take two minutes during the Amnesty Concert and save a Cuban musician

» Home page of Gorki’s band:
www.pornopararicardo.info

» Profile of Gorki on Wikipedia, the open encyclopedia:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorki_Águila

http://freemuse.org/archives/7205

Help Stop February 11 Summary Show Trial for Cuban Punk Rocker Gorki Aguila

  "Summary Trial...Injustice" - Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco, over Facebook, February 3, 2014

 On September 30, 2013 agents of the Castro regime arrested Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco and confiscated medication prescribed to him by a Mexican doctor for epilepsy that the Cuban punk rocker has suffered with since childhood. In a Cubanet interview on October 16, 2013 Gorki explained his situation: "I don't know what they accuse me of, nor do I have a trial date." That has now changed. On a citation for summary judgement dated January 27, 2014 Gorki is called to attend a summary trial on February 11, 2014 where he will stand as the accused. Under the rules of the game of the Castro regime he is already guilty. It is up to all of us to campaign for his freedom.

Citation for Gorki Aguila to attend summary trial on February 11, 2014

Gorki the lead singer for "Porno para Ricardo" posted the following messages over facebook along with a photo of the citation:

Citation for summary judgement...one of the many planned injustices of the regime .... For February 11 in the summary hall of Marianao.

The regime in a "prudent" way waited for the CELAC event to end in order not to have the discomfort of a media frenzy as it did in 2008.

SUMMARY TRIAL...INJUSTICE!

Gorki Luis Águila Carrasco is a Cuban punk rocker and front man for the group "Porno para Ricardo" that translates to "Porn for Richard." His music is loud, fast paced, political, and an anathema for the dictatorship in Cuba.

He has been jailed at different times for hours, days and years. In 2003 the dictatorship accused him of drug trafficking and sentenced him to four years in prison but at his summary trial no evidence was presented to back up the charges of the political police. Gorki is not a drug trafficker.

Free Muse an independent international membership organization founded in 1998 that advocates and defends freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide took up Gorki's plight and campaigned for his freedom. In 2008 they saved him from years in prison under the charge of social dangerousness. 

They failed to imprison him in 2008 with the dangerousness charge and have manufactured once again the drug trafficking charge used against him in 2003 and this time are using the posession of medicine prescribed by a doctor for his epilepsy. Below is a copy of the prescription and a notarized affidavit from the doctor confirming its validity.

Prescription for Gorki Aguila for medication for his epilepsy

 In Castro's totalitarian Cuba there is no such thing as a free and independent trial. Gorki's guilt and the length of his imprisonment will only be determined by the political calculations of the dictatorship. Its up to people of good will around the world to give a shout out for Gorki in order to save him again as was done in 2008.

Affidavit confirming validity of prescription

There is a petition online by Aleksandra P. from Poland on Avaaz for the freedom of Gorki below is the text in English:

On Saturday, September 30th police officers arrested Gorki Aguila. He has been suffering from epilepsy since he was a child and had with him two pills of the medication for his disease.
He has documents which prove that those medications were prescribed by a Mexican doctor. The authorities want to bring him to trial for the possession of controlled drugs in Cuba.
The idea of silencing a man whose only crime is free expression and writing songs which lyrics are against the government is savage and unacceptable.
Hereby I call Maria Esther Reus Gonzalez, the Minister of Justice in Cuba to withdraw those absurd charges against Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco and return him his freedom. I demand from Cuban authorities the respect of Gorki’s right to treat his disease and his basic human rights.

Please sign the petition and get the word out on Gorki's plight. Help save a life.

Below one of the videos that upset the dictatorship and have led this Cuban musician to be unjustly imprisoned in the past and targeted again now.