"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
On this day in 1975 in New York City: Havana-backed Puerto Rican terrorists, the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), placed a bomb in Fraunces Tavernand exploded it at 1:29pm killing four, and wounding over 50 at the historic tavern.
In November 2017, recently freed Puerto Rican terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera traveled to Cuba where he was honored by the dictatorship.
In the audience where members of the WASP network, including Gerardo Hernandez, who had been convicted of murder conspiracy for his role in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down, and had his sentence commuted by Obama in 2014.
One of the men responsible for this terrorist bombing eluded, and still eludes justice, harbored by the communist dictatorship in Cuba.
The FALN bomb maker, William Morales, fled U.S. custody, following a shoot out in Mexico, he ended up in Cuba where he continues to be harbored by the dictatorship today, a fugitive from American justice.
Bearing witness. Survivors, family members of victims of 1975 Fraunces Tavern FALN bombing, and law enforcement that pursued terrorists gather to continue to seek & demand justice. pic.twitter.com/8qdYzUy8Bw
Today bore witness as survivors, family members of the victims of the 1975 Fraunces Tavern FALN bombing, and law enforcement that pursued terrorists gathered to continue to seek and demand justice.
Family, friends, and law enforcement gathered at Fraunces Tavern
They gathered together in the space in the Fraunces Tavern where the bomb had exploded killing Alejandro, Frank, James, and Harold, and injured over 50 others.
At 1:29pm they held a moment of silence outside of the Fraunces Tavern, and held a press conference demanding justice for the victims.
"The socialists and communists say, they can do nothing to bring about
economic equality today. They will just carry on propaganda in its favor
and to that end they believe in generating and accentuating hatred." - Mohandas Gandhi, Gandhi's interview with Nirmal Kumar Bose, November 9 - 10, 1934
Photo of a drawing at the King Center in Atlanta, GA. Matt Lemmon 2008
Today,
over social media, the debates and exchanges with different sides
attempting to claim Martin Luther King Jr. as their own. Yet, when he died on April 4, 1968
he was being targeted by all sides. Today, as in 1968, the words
communist and socialist get thrown around a lot.
Many are aware of Reverend King's radical criticisms of Capitalism, but how many remember his radical criticisms
of Communism? Radical is defined here as going to the roots. Below are
some of the key statements made by Reverend King on communism over the
decade he was most politically active.
"You cannot solve the problem by turning to communism, for communism is
based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no
Christian can accept. You can work within the framework of democracy to
bring about a better distribution of wealth." - Martin Luther King Jr. Paul's Letter to American Christians (1956)
"Communism, avowedly secularistic and materialistic, has no
place for God.4
This I could never accept, for as a Christian I believe that there is a
creative personal power in this universe who is the ground and essence
of all reality—a power that cannot be explained in materialistic terms.
History is ultimately guided by spirit, not matter." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"Since for the Communist there is no divine government, no
absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles;
consequently almost anything—force, violence, murder, lying—is a
justifiable means to the “millennial” end.5
This type of relativism was abhorrent to me." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"Constructive ends can
never give absolute moral justification to destructive means, because in
the final analysis the end is pre-existent in the mean." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"In communism the individual ends up in subjection to
the state. True, the Marxist would argue that the state is an “interim”
reality which is to be eliminated when the classless society emerges;
but the state is the end while it lasts, and man only a means to that
end. And if any man’s so-called rights or liberties stand in the way of
that end, they are simply swept aside." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"His liberties of expression, his
freedom to vote, his freedom to listen to what news he likes or to
choose his books are all restricted. Man becomes hardly more, in
communism, than a depersonalized cog in the turning wheel of the state." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"Man is not made for the state; the
state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to
the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a
person. Man must never be treated as a means to the end of the state,
but always as an end within himself." - Martin Luther King Jr. Stride to Freedom (1958)
"Listen to Lenin as he says 'Lying, deceit, violence, concealing and
withholding the truth are all justifiable means to bring about the end
of the classless society.' This is the great weakness and tragedy of
communism and any other system that argues that the end justifies the
means, for in a real sense, the end is pre-existent in the means; the
means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process. In the
long run of history, immoral means cannot bring about moral ends.
Destructive means cannot bring about constructive goals." - Martin
Luther King Jr. Address to Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa (1962)
“If
today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to
the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying
that country's antireligious laws.” - MLK Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
"This
is the faith I commend to you Christians here in Berlin. A living,
active, massive faith that affirms the victory of Jesus Christ over the
world, whether it be an Eastern world or a Western world." - Martin Luther King Jr. East or West – God’s Children (1964)
"There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with
bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. This kind
of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism." - Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam (1967)
"We must not engage in a negative anticommunism, but rather in a positive
thrust for democracy [applause], realizing that our greatest defense
against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice." - Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam (1967)
"We
must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty,
insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed
of communism grows and develops." - Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam (1967)
"As
I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have
told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their
problems."- Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Martin Luther King Jr had a radical critique of American society.He repeatedly challenged the United States to live up to its own aspired ideals and sought through nonviolent action and democratic norms, reforms to end segregation and ensure voting rights for African Americans. Reverend King's political outlook could best be described as falling within what is called Christian Democracy. This political school occupies the center with parties on the center left and the center right, but like Reverend King are based on a Christian view of humanity in which "every individual is considered unique and must be treated with dignity."
Mohandas Gandhi, who greatly influenced
King, also spoke of social responsibility and trusteeship. He also
warned that the state was a "soulless machine" that did not look out for
the poor. Gandhi, a self-described socialist,
was not an enthusiastic proponent of an expanded social-welfare state.
Reverend King spoke of social democracy with an emphasis on democracy,
but he also spoke of the need to shift "from a thing-oriented society to
a person-oriented society."
The critique made by both King and Gandhi
of a "thing-oriented" society or the state as a "soulless machine"
looks to the person or the individual not an economic mechanism or
economic class. The focus is on the human person and polices that
recognize and respect the uniqueness of each human being and their
dignity.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation in their publication Christian Democracy: Principles and Policy Making
offers a vision of this made reality in what is known as the social
market economy. This is a departure from a strict market economy,
focused on individuals
as economic units and one that is arrived at through a process of
reforms, not revolution.
This was a challenge to the existing order of both the United States and the Soviet Union, but one
that rejected communism, violent class struggle, and that was rooted in the Christian
tradition.
Perhaps, this is what scared so many powerful people.
Why do you think both the FBI and the KGB targeted Martin Luther King Jr.?
"America
is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful nation
because Martin Luther King, Jr., became her preeminent nonviolent
commander." - President Ronald Reagan, 11/2/83
Remarks on Signing the Bill Making the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a National Holiday November 2, 1983 The
President. Mrs. King, members of the King family, distinguished Members
of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, I'm very pleased
to welcome you to the White House, the home that belongs to all of us,
the American people.
When I was thinking of the contributions to our country of the man that
we're honoring today, a passage attributed to the American poet John
Greenleaf Whittier comes to mind. "Each crisis brings its word and
deed." In America, in the fifties and sixties, one of the important
crises we faced was racial discrimination. The man whose words and deeds
in that crisis stirred our nation to the very depths of its soul was
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King was born in 1929 in an America where, because of the
color of their skin, nearly 1 in 10 lived lives that were separate and
unequal. Most black Americans were taught in segregated schools. Across
the country, too many could find only poor jobs, toiling for low wages.
They were refused entry into hotels and restaurants, made to use
separate facilities. In a nation that proclaimed liberty and justice for
all, too many black Americans were living with neither.
In one city, a rule required all blacks to sit in the rear of public
buses. But in 1955, when a brave woman named Rosa Parks was told to move
to the back of the bus, she said, "No." A young minister in a local
Baptist church, Martin Luther King, then organized a boycott of the bus
company—a boycott that stunned the country. Within 6 months the courts
had ruled the segregation of public transportation unconstitutional.
Dr. King had awakened something strong and true, a sense that true
justice must be colorblind, and that among white and black Americans, as
he put it, "Their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and their
freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom; we cannot walk alone."
In the years after the bus boycott, Dr. King made equality of rights his
life's work. Across the country, he organized boycotts, rallies, and
marches. Often he was beaten, imprisoned, but he never stopped teaching
nonviolence. "Work with the faith", he told his followers, "that
unearned suffering is redemptive." In 1964 Dr. King became the youngest
man in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. King's work brought him to this city often. And in one sweltering
August day in 1963, he addressed a quarter of a million people at the
Lincoln Memorial. If American history grows from two centuries to
twenty, his words that day will never be forgotten. "I have a dream that
one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood."
In 1968 Martin Luther King was gunned down by a brutal assassin, his
life cut short at the age of 39. But those 39 short years had changed
America forever. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had guaranteed all
Americans equal use of public accommodations, equal access to programs
financed by Federal funds, and the right to compete for employment on
the sole basis of individual merit. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had
made certain that from then on black Americans would get to vote. But
most important, there was not just a change of law; there was a change
of heart. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land,
people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as
fellow Americans.
And since Dr. King's death, his father, the Reverend Martin Luther King,
Sr., and his wife, Coretta King, have eloquently and forcefully carried
on his work. Also his family have joined in that cause.
Now our nation has decided to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by
setting aside a day each year to remember him and the just cause he
stood for. We've made historic strides since Rosa Parks refused to go to
the back of the bus. As a democratic people, we can take pride in the
knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action
to correct it. And we should remember that in far too many countries,
people like Dr. King never have the opportunity to speak out at all.
But traces of bigotry still mar America. So, each year on Martin Luther
King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to
the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shall
love thy God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as
thyself. And I just have to believe that all of us—if all of us, young
and old, Republicans and Democrats, do all we can to live up to those
Commandments, then we will see the day when Dr. King's dream comes true,
and in his words, "All of God's children will be able to sing with new
meaning, '... land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride,
from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'"
Thank you, God bless you, and I will sign it.
Mrs. King. Thank you, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Majority
Leader Baker and the distinguished congressional and senatorial
delegations, and other representatives who've gathered here, and
friends.
All right-thinking people, all right-thinking Americans are joined in
spirit with us this day as the highest recognition which this nation
gives is bestowed upon Martin Luther King, Jr., one who also was the
recipient of the highest recognition which the world bestows, the Nobel
Peace Prize.
In his own life's example, he symbolized what was right about America,
what was noblest and best, what human beings have pursued since the
beginning of history. He loved unconditionally. He was in constant
pursuit of truth, and when he discovered it, he embraced it. His
nonviolent campaigns brought about redemption, reconciliation, and
justice. He taught us that only peaceful means can bring about peaceful
ends, that our goal was to create the love community.
America is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful
nation because Martin Luther King, Jr., became her preeminent
nonviolent commander.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his spirit live within all of us. Thank God
for the blessing of his life and his leadership and his commitment.
What manner of man was this? May we make ourselves worthy to carry on
his dream and create the love community. Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 11:06 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.
“I will never be able to go back to Sweden without knowing inside myself
that I'd done all a man could do to save as many Jews as possible.”
- Raoul Wallenberg, Letter and Dispatches 1924 - 1944
"From
mid-May to the beginning of July 1944, some 440,000 Hungarian Jews were
deported to Auschwitz – the fastest, cruelest, and most efficient
killing field in the Holocaust. Wallenberg arrived as a member of the
Swedish Legation in Budapest in mid-July 1944. In a remarkable
demonstration of ingenuity and inspiration, bluff and bravado, he
rescued some 100,000 Jews in the last six months of 1944 and the
beginning of 1945, more than any other single government or
organization."
Nonviolent resistance to the radical evil of the Nazis by courageous Danes and German housewives also worked and saved thousands of Jewish people from the Holocaust.
It should come as no surprise that Wallenberg was abducted by Soviet Communist forces. The Nazis and the Soviets had been partners in the partition and conquest of Poland six years prior, in September 1939.
Today, on #RaoulWallenberg Commemorative Day, we honour the enduring legacy of Swedish diplomat and hero of the Holocaust Raoul Wallenberg, a hero who refused to be a bystander. We also mark 80 years since his disappearance into the Soviet Gulag- a profound and ongoing injustice.… pic.twitter.com/54p7TdQRFb
— Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (@TheRWCHR) January 17, 2025
Let us honor Raoul Wallenberg for all the lives he saved, and let us also continue to demand justice for him, who had his life taken by Josef Stalin. The Russians refuse to reveal what they did to Wallenberg, and his family has filed a lawsuit against them. In 2016, Sweden declared him dead.
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg.
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg displayed outstanding civil courage and bravery when he saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust.
Cuba has been under a dictatorship for 73 years. On March 10, 1952, Fulgencio Batista brought an end to Cuban democracy. Carlos Prio, the last democratic president, and his first lady were forced into exile. An increasingly unpopular authoritarian and corrupt regime ruled Cuba for the following seven years.
The
hope for the restoration of democratic governance came to an end when
Batista refused to cede power nonviolently through a dialogue process, opening a path for Fidel and Raul Castro to take it by force. Although they had repeatedly pledged to restore the 1940 Constitution, and Cuban democracy they imposed a communist dictatorship.
Cuba's official motto was
changed from Homeland and Liberty (Patria y Libertad) to Homeland or
Death, We Shall Triumph (¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!).
Presidents of Cuba from 1902 to 1952 and dictator Batista
Since the beginning of their struggle on July 26, 1953, the Castro brothers
promised a democratic restoration, but all along planned a
Marxist-Leninist takeover. They imposed a totalitarian communist
dictatorship, killing tens of thousands of Cubans. The Castro regime systematically denied human rights to all Cubans while exporting their repressive model to Africa and Latin America, creating misery for millions more.
The communist regime has re-written the history of Cuba, creating myths to justify its tyranny. One of them is the so-called Cuban blockade, and the above documentary seeks to expose the false narrative.
From 1959 till now, generations of Cubans have resisted this communist dictatorship.
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans risked everything in July 2021, taking to the streets in nonviolent protests demanding an end to the dictatorship. The Castro regime responded
by firing on unarmed protesters, imprisoning over a thousand, and condemning
many of them to 20 and 30 year prison sentences for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.
Remembering this sad past, we resolve to work even harder to bring democracy back to Cuba, replacing Homeland or Death (¡Patria o Muerte!) with Homeland, Life, and Liberty (Patria, Vida y Libertad).
Both petitions are addressed to members of the international community.
Wishing
you all a happy new year in 2025, and through the continuing work and
struggle for a free Cuba may freedom be restored that will finally fulfill Cuban exiles goal of "this year in Havana!"
Posts
