Remembering Gustavo Arcos: Eight Years Later

The Cuban Revolutionary who broke with Fidel Castro and became a Human Rights Defender

Gustavo Arcos Bergnes (1926- 2006)

 Eight years ago today Gustavo Arcos Bergnes passed away in Havana, Cuba at the age of 79 from a heart attack. He was originally from a small town in central Cuba called Caibarién. As a young men he attended the University of Havana and studied diplomatic law. However, his studies were abruptly interrupted by Fulgencio Batista's coup on March 10, 1952. This is where he met Fidel Castro and later joined him on the July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada military barracks. Gustavo was shot in the back, touching his spine and damaging the sciatic nerve, and left partly paralyzed by the wound suffered in the assault. [ Anita Snow reported in the Associated Press on Wednesday, May. 18, 2005 that "His sciatic nerve was damaged and has deteriorated over the years, making walking difficult, especially up the one flight of stairs from the street."]

Luis Arcos Bergnes killed in 1956

Brother Luis killed by Fulgencio Batista's forces 
Gustavo was sentenced to ten years in prison but was pardoned and released 22 months later in 1955 and went with the rest of the group to organize a rebel army in Mexico. He traveled through Latin America and the United States gathering money and munitions. His brother Luis Arcos Bergnes was killed when the Granma expedition landed in Cuba in 1956 and were met by Batista's forces.

Gustavo Arcos was appointed Cuba's ambassador to Belgium following Castro's arrival to power in 1959. Wounded in the Moncada assault with a martyred brother, he could have easily remained a privileged member of the revolutionary elite, but that was not why he had taken up arms against Fulgencio Batista. He had fought for an end to dictatorship and the restoration of a democratic Cuba. When he returned to Cuba in 1964 he saw not only that the government had turned communist but that Fidel Castro was another dictator.  At the time Raul Castro personally offered Gustavo a position in the regime leadership. Gustavo rejected the offer. He was already disenchanted and preferred to remain in the diplomatic corps, away from Havana.Gustavo expressed his dissent privately.

"They shot a lot of people," Mr. Arcos told the Associated Press in 2005 during the summary trials held after the revolutionaries took power. "They shot people who could have easily been imprisoned." 

 On March 15, 1966 he was detained and in 1967 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. for alleged counterrevolutionary activity. He served three years in prison before being released after a long hunger strike in 1969, but was not allowed to leave the country.

Logo of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights

 Joining the Cuban Committee for Human Rights
In 1982 at the Combinado de Este prison he and his younger brother, Sebastián Arcos Bergnes, joined the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, formed in 1976. The brothers had been imprisoned in 1981 for trying to leave the country illegally. Soon thereafter, the Committee began to send out proclamations denouncing the deplorable conditions in which political prisoners were kept. By 1986, due to international pressure, the Cuban government was forced to allow a few concessions such as visits by several international human rights organizations and the release of several prisoners, who then extended the work of the Committee to the streets of Havana. Shortly after his release from prison in 1988, Gustavo Arcos succeeded the committee’s executive director, Dr. Ricardo Bofill, who was forced into exile.


In 1990, against the protests of many Cuban exiles, Gustavo Arcos issued a statement to Castro asking him to convene a "National Dialogue," which would include all segments of Cuban society, on the island and in exile. During his address to the Worker's Congress on January 28, 1990, Castro issued his response noting that "the Cuban people" will take care of those activists.

On March 5, 1990 government sponsored mobs attacked Sebastian Arcos's home. On March 8 another mob, led by future Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, attacked Gustavo's home. From exile, many old friends asked Gustavo to dissolve the Committee to save the activists' lives. Gustavo replied: "The Cuban Committee for Human Rights will continue its work, even if it costs us our own lives...no terror, nor propaganda will be able to deter the development of humanistic ideas in our country."

On January 13, 1992 the executive board of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights again issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to nonviolence and calling for dialogue:   "Violence is not and cannot be the solution to our problems... We will not tire from insisting that the only possible solution is civilized discussion of our differences. This is an appeal to Cubans for wisdom and common sense... No act of violence is justified... Let us say no to violence and learn to live in peace."

Gustavo Arcos Bergnes, Sebastián Arcos Bergnes and Jesús Yanes Pelletier were arrested at their homes in Havana on the evening of 15 January 1992. Both Gustavo and Yanes Pelletier were released after approximately 24 hours. However, Sebastian Arcos Bergnes was charged with "enemy propaganda" and "inciting rebellion," he was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail. He was transferred to Ariza Prison in  Cienfuegos Province,  more than 130 miles from Havana, where Sebastian was imprisoned alongside dangerous criminals and was systematically denied medical attention. In 1993 the regime offered him a deal: Sebastian would be released immediately if he only agreed to leave the island for good. Sebastian rejected the deal, becoming the first documented case of a political prisoner choosing prison in Cuba over freedom in exile.

Sebastian Arcos Bergnes: Death by medical neglect

Brother Sebastian killed by medical neglect while arbitrarily imprisoned
After an international campaign that included his designation as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and a request by France Libertés, the organization founded by former French first lady Danielle Mitterrand, Sebastian Arcos was released in 1995. A few weeks after his release, Arcos was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the rectum, for which he had previously been denied medical care in prison. After a Cuban doctor was fired from his post for treating Arcos, he traveled to Miami for further care.



In 1996, Sebastian Arcos Bergnes testified before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. Sebastian Arcos Bergnes died in Miami surrounded by relatives on December 22, 1997.

Due to his worsening health in his last years he lowered his profile and ceded much of the work to exiled members of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights. Nevertheless, he met with US Senators visiting Cuba in 2000, with former President Carter in 2002 and signed a letter in 2003 denouncing the unjust imprisonment of 75 Cuban dissidents imprisoned in the Black Cuban Spring.

In the 2005, Associated Press article, Anita Snow reported that he stayed in touch with other dissidents and spoke "frequently with Oswaldo Paya, a devout fellow Roman Catholic who led a signature-gathering effort called the Varela Project, which sought a referendum asking voters if they favored civil liberties such as freedom of speech and the right to business ownership." The article concluded with Gustavo's concern that he would not live to see the return of democracy saying : "I do hope I will see the end of this, but I'm not sure if I will.

When the news agency EFE called me on August 8, 2006 and asked me about the legacy of Gustavo Arcos I responded: "It is with great sadness that Arcos will not be able to be there the day that we expect a democratic transition in Cuba. We will always remember that he was one of the founders of the Cuban dissidence, of great courage, coming from a family that sacrificed much and that fought so much against dictatorship both Fulgencio Batista's and Fidel Castro's." Also made the observation that he left a "strong legacy that will continue to grow" while "in these moments that a giant of the Cuban dissidence has died we have projects that he basically initiated." Compared the call in 1990 by the Arcos brothers to a national dialogue so that "all segments both inside the island and in exile could analyze the Cuban problem and have proposals for the future" with "how presently one sees, 16 years later how  Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas following that example of a national dialogue was able to elaborate a document for transition designed by Cubans in the island and the exiles, in a process of nearly three years."  I also addressed his principled stand and how he entered the dissident movement outlined above and concluded: "We are talking about a man with courage and who is an example of  non-cooperation with the Castro regime."

 Michael N. Nagler, an expert in principled non-violence has observed that nonviolence always works because even when it is not immediately self-evident it leaves seeds and fruits that are always positive. For example, today, Cuban dissidents visited Gustavo's widow, Teresa, and Havana, Cuba and remembered his life and example and continue to be inspired by his principled nonviolence.

The Khmer Rouge, the Killing Fields, U.S. Relations and Justice

"You should also tell the Cambodians (i.e., Khmer Rouge) that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs, but we won’t let that stand in our way. We are prepared to improve relations with them. Tell them the latter part, but don’t tell them what I said before.”  - Henry Kissinger, The Secretary's Dining Room, November 26, 1975

“We will burn the old grass and the new will grow.” - Pol Pot, leader of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (1975 - 1979)

Victims of the Khmer Rouge

Today, August 7, 2014 two of the most senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge dictatorship, Khieu Samphan, and Nuon Chea, were found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. 

On July 26, 2010 Kaing Guek Eav whose revolutionary name “Duch” was obtained in the 1970s with the Khmer Rouge and oversaw the infamous S-21 prison was found guilty of war crimes in Cambodia and sentenced to 35 years in prison by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

 Khieu Samphan, left, and Nuon Chea as their verdicts were delivered.
Photo by: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

The Khmer Rouge murdered a quarter of the entire population of Cambodia in under four years. Between 1975 and 1979 nearly 2 million people were killed. Thirty five years later and finally there is a measure of justice for the dead and their loved ones. Justice may have been delayed but it was not denied.

Nevertheless, for what were called strategic reasons at the time Secretary of State Henry Kissinger engaged in diplomatic outreach in 1975 with the Khmer Rouge who he himself recognized were murderous thugs and this "friendship" was maintained through the Carter years. 

Victims of the Khmer Rouge were photographed and numbered prior to execution

 President Carter's former US National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, on China and the Khmer Rouge, 1979 despite a policy supposedly predicated on human rights explained: “I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could.” 

Chinese leader Jiang Zemin lunching with his employee Henry Kissinger in 2011

However, the true nature of the alleged realpolitik policy of the United States under the influence of Kissinger may, in fact, not have been policy decided by the United States but by the Peoples Republic of China. 

Phyllis Schlafly, who co-wrote with Chester Ward in 1975 Kissinger on the Couch, a 846 page expose on the Secretary of the State, in December of 2002 wrote a column exposing what really happened in the negotiations with the Soviets in the early 1970s:

John Newhouse's 1973 book "Cold Dawn: The Story of SALT" confirmed that every substantive provision of the 1972 U.S.-Soviet agreements was dictated secretly to Kissinger by the Kremlin without the knowledge of our U.S. negotiating team, was accepted by Kissinger, and was then rationalized by Kissinger to the President and Congress. Newhouse's book showed how Kissinger was personally and solely responsible for promising the Soviets that we would not build an anti-missile defense, even though the offensive- weapons provisions of the SALT I agreements guaranteed the Soviet Union superiority in numbers of missiles. In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kissinger personally endorsed Newhouse and called his book "outstanding." This made Newhouse's book the authentic historic account of the Moscow agreements.

In the same way that Kissinger advanced Soviet interests while passing them off as his own ideas in the SALT I negotiations he may have done so with Mainland China. Considering that he eventually became a paid consultant of the Chinese communist government only serves to underline that the idea is not so farfetched.

Incidentally at the same time he was reaching out to Pol Pot, Henry Kissinger was also advocating lifting the embargo on Cuba and normalizing relations with Fidel Castro.  Kissinger has also had a close relationship with David Rockefeller, a man who always opposed sanctions on Fidel Castro and hosted the Cuban tyrant at a dinner at the Rockefeller family's Westchester County, N.Y., estate in 1995. 

Henry Kissinger's amoral foreign policy legacy was repudiated by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and today in Cambodia he is considered a war criminal who should be placed on trial along side his "friends" in the Khmer Rouge.

Unfortunately, the Kissinger legacy of self interested enrichment crosses party lines and can be seen to be continued by the Clintons.

Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton

Below are declassified excerpts from the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Thailand were the U.S. Secretary of State expressed the desire for friendship with the Khmer Rouge while recognizing their murderous nature.


Date: November 26, 1975
Time: 1:00p.m.
Place: The Secretary's Dining Room

Subject: Secretary's Meeting with Foreign Minister Chatchai of Thailand

Participants: 

Thailand
 
Foreign Minister Chatchai Chunhawan
 [...]

US

The Secretary (Henry Kissinger)
The Deputy Secretary
Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Philip C. Habib
Mr. Brent Scowcroft, National Security Council
[...]

(At this point, the group went into the Madison Room for lunch.)

The Secretary:  What is the Cambodian attitude?

Foreign Minister: The Cambodians want salt and fish. They wanted to barter for these items.

The Secretary: Did Ieng Sary impress you?

Foreign Minister: He is a nice, quiet man.

The Secretary: How many people did he kill? Tens of thousands?

Mr. Habib: Nice and quietly!!

Foreign Minister: Not more than 10,000. That's why they need food. If they had killed everyone, they would not need salt and fish. All the bridges in Cambodia were destroyed. There was no transportation, no gas. That's why they had to chase people away from the capital.

The Secretary: But why with only two hours' notice?

Foreign Minister: (Shrugs.)

The Secretary: What do the Cambodians think of the United States? You should tell them that we bear no hostility towards them. We would like them to be independent as a counterweight to North Vietnam.

[...]

We would support this. You should also tell the Cambodians (i.e., Khmer Rouge) that we will be friends with them. They are murderous thugs, but we won’t let that stand in our way. We are prepared to improve relations with them. Tell them the latter part, but don’t tell them what I said before.” 
 

More victims of the Khmer Rouge

Maleconazo at 20 years and the Associated Press

"Freedom did not come that August, but nothing would be the same."- Regis Iglesias, spokesperson, Christian Liberation Movement

On the Avenida del Puerto in Havana shouts of "Cuba Si, Castro No!"and "Freedom!"

 20 years ago today, a thousand Cubans marched through the streets of Havana chanting "Freedom!"and "Down With Castro!" They were met with brutal repression, including regime agents shooting at unarmed demonstrators. Little has been reported on this, but the images and sounds remain. After things were under control the dictator Fidel Castro appeared on the scene and opened the borders. Before that announcement fleeing refugees had confronted snipers and grenades. The end result was another mass exodus of Cubans.


It appears that the Associated Press for example has had other priorities than to report on this important anniversary and its significance for Cuba. Over the years numerous journalists have been expelled from the island for accurately reporting on the situation there but Andrea Rodríguez doesn't seem to have that problem with the Cuban dictatorship. For example the Associated Press didn't have time to report on the Maleconazo because it was on its third major "story" spinning news in a favorable light for the Cuban government that has met with skepticism in some quarters in Cuba.

Plainclothes state security agents with their guns out and pointed at the protesters on August 5

What happened?
Five hundred of the Cubans had arrived at the Havana sea wall (El Malecon) to board a launch that was rumored was going to be taken to Miami.  These people were not seeking to overthrow the dictatorship but did want to live in freedom. They were met by the Castro dictatorship's state security agents using force who told the crowd to disperse. Instead of diffusing the situation another 500 Cubans joined in and  they began to march along the Malecon chanting "Freedom!"and "Down With Castro! After marching for a kilometer, a hundred Special Brigade members and plain clothes police confronted the protesters. 

Police and plainclothes in Cuba detaining a demonstrator on August 5, 1994

 What is amazing is that 20 years later and the full details of what transpired remain unknown the pictures of regime officials pointing their handguns at the demonstrators combined with reports of the sounds of gun shots and wounded protesters have echoed down through the years in anecdotal stories about that day. 

Ignacio Martínez Montero: Present at Maleconazo

Eyewitness account  
The testimony of Ignacio Martínez Montero posted on la voz del morro allegedly gives a first hand account of what happened that day:

Then came the year 94 One hot August of that year's day, I'd arrived at my mother in laws home in Cuba and Chacón in the heart of Old Havana, near the Malecón, for that reason alone, after visiting my mother in law, I sat , like many, on the wall of the bay, very close to where still today the famous Casablanca launch travels in and out. That year was turbulent, constantly talking about boats diverted to Miami, and the tugboat. Maybe that's why the special brigade trucks arrived and attacked all of us who were sitting. 

Our response to this aggression was only to clamor for freedom. It has been said that we threw stones; but all that is a lie, the truth was that we were tired of so much aggression and without agreeing to we began to walk together screaming, Enough, Down with the revolution ... And before reaching Hotel Deauville, a battalion waited for us that attacked us with sticks and iron rods. It was they who made the big mess. They broke my left eyebrow and left me semi-lame. Yes, there were assaults and the aggressors had guns, but not among the civilians. One of the boys who went with us, who was called the Moor, even while handcuffed, they shot him in the torso and it was a miracle that he did not die. Who do you think paid for that? No one. 

They put us in a truck where they received us with beatings only to convince us to scream "Viva Fidel." They took us to the police station located at L and Malecon. Hours later I was taken to Calixto García hospital. There they attended to my foot and I treated the eyebrow wound; the medical certificate, never appeared. From there we boarded another bus and were taken to the prison 15/80, I could say "kidnapped" because nobody knew where we were. Some kids and nephews of my dad, who were with us, were released immediately. A boy could not take it and ended up hanged. No one learned of this; but we are many the witnesses who know what really happened that August 5th 1994, the day of Maleconazo.

Twenty years later and the Castro regime remains firmly in power terrorizing, beating, torturing and murdering nonviolent dissidents, but at the same time the dictatorship's state security apparatus has been extremely effective at using its agents of influence to downplay its brutal nature and distract international attention. For example on the 20th anniversary of the largest anti-Castro uprising in the past half century there were only two stories referencing the Havana uprising of August 5, 1994 and sixteen that mentioned the Maleconazo compared to 12,600 results for USAID and Cuba thanks to the Associated Press and its well timed release of this questionable story.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who it appears was extrajudicially executed by state security agents along with Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012 less than a year earlier on September 20, 2011 had videotaped his interview with Andrea Rodriguez of the Associated Press and released it because he believed that what he had told her was not fairly reflected in the article she had written.He provided a transcript along with the video below of the interview. It is still extremely relevant today. 

Oswaldo spoke truth to power while maintaining at all times his nonviolent and principled stand while denouncing those advocating a fraudulent change that did not empower Cubans in their own country and is demonstrated in the excerpt below:

"Where in the world does a woman dressed in white walking down the street constitute a provocation? Only in a fascist-communist regime like this.
Therefore the victim gets criticized because no one dares to criticize the executioner. There is a real “moral inversion,” in what the foreign media, intellectual circles, ecclesiastical circles, diplomats and politicians are doing against the people of Cuba and against the dissident right now. They judge the persecuted, the poor, those who are silenced, but they do not dare to judge the government. And what the government needs to be told is what we say in “the People’s Path”. Hold free elections; change the law so Cubans can express themselves, so they can choose. But what they want is to keep their privileges while they say that everything has been agreed upon. This joke will go very wrong because the people of Cuba are not stupid, and the majority are still poor and distressed.

But the worst is that the foreign media, intellectual circles, ecclesiastical circles, and entire states are accompanying the Cuban government in setting up this fraud, this joke that will bring only confrontation and pain to Cubans, and that is keeping the majority of the Cuban people silent and gagged while this virtual scenario for change is being created.

We are trying to draw attention to this but also demanding and saying that, after 52 years of totalitarianism, we want what all peoples want: freedom, rights, and free elections. The opposition is focusing on that direction: fundamental rights so citizens can organize and express themselves, and free elections."

 Today, as we observe this historic cry for freedom on the streets of Havana, Cuba that was heard around the world. We must remember that it was due to the courage of those who succeeded in video taping and photographing what took place and getting it out to the rest of the world. What is worrying is that 20 years later reporters preferring not to be expelled from the island might think twice before documenting and reporting on such an important story. Instead it is left to independent dissident journalists, who risk prison, to report on what is really happening including breaking the story on the first cholera epidemic since colonial times in Cuba. The independent journalist who broke the Cholera story was imprisoned for seven months and recognized as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.

Twenty years later the spirit of freedom lives on in Cuba and one day Cubans will win back their country and their freedom from the dictatorship currently in power despite what the Associated Press reports.

Professor Dominguez you are wrong. There are still political prisoners in Cuba

"Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."- Hebrews 13:3

 Back on July 31, 2014 wrote about how Harvard professor Jorge Dominguez had let the cat out of the bag on U.S. - Cuba relations but failed to highlight a glaring inaccuracy in his interview. Fortunately, Capitol Hill Cubans highlighted the false claim that there were no political prisoners remaining in Cuba and provided a list which is reproduced below:

... Dominguez's claim that "the number of political prisoners is effectively zero" -- is both dangerous and irresponsible.

It's exactly what the Castro regime wants -- for the world to forget those it has unjustly imprisoned.

We understand that Dominguez is sometimes unfazed by tyrants -- like when he went to Damascus to deliver a speech at an event "under the esteemed patronage of Her Excellency Mrs. Asma al-Assad, The First Lady of Syria."

Thus, for the sake of clarity, below is a list of nearly 100 Cuban political prisoners (and the date of their arrest) currently serving long prison terms.

Despite Dominguez, they will not be forgotten.

Marcelino Abreu Bonora (2012)
Harold Alcala Aramburo (2003)
Anoy Almeida Perez (2013)
Claro Fernando Alonso Hernandez (1996)
Miguel Alvarez (2012)
Lewis Arce Romero (2003)
Mercedes Arce (2012)
Yohanne Arce Sarmiento (May 2014)
Ariel Arzuaga Pena (2011)
Jose Asencio Lopez (2013)
Lazaro Avila Sierra (2003)
Ernesto Borges Perez (1998)
David Bustamante Rodriguez (May 2014)
Juana Castillo Acosta (2012)
Eliso Castillo Gonzalez (2012)
Jorge Cervantes Garcia (2012)
Maikel Delgado Aramburo (2003)
Jose Angel Diaz Ortiz (2003)
Darian Ernesto Dufuss Preval (May 2014)
Ivan Fernandez Depestre (2013)
Alexander Fernandez Rico (2012)
Angel Figueredo Castellon (May 2014)
Carlos Figueroa Alvarez (May 2014)
Enrique Figuerola Miranda (2012)
Eider Frometa Allen (February 2014)
Angel Frometa Robaina (2012)
Haydee Gallardo Salazar (April 2014)
Sonia Garro (2012)
Alexander Gonzalez Estrada (2003)
Alcibiades Guerra Marin (February 2014)
Miguel Guerra Astie (2013)
Alexis Guerrero Cruz (April 2014)
Ramon Henry Grillo (2003)
Jose Herman Aguilera (1993)
Mario Hernandez Leyva (May 2014)
Roberto Hernandez Barrios (2013)
Eugenio Hernandez Hernandez (2012)
Ricardo Hernandez Ruiz (2011)
Hector Hierrezuelo Marquez (March 2014)
Luis Enrique Labrador Diaz (2011)
Wilmer Ledea Perez (2003)
Rider Lescay Veloz (2007)
Jose Leyva Diaz (2013)
Ruberlandis Maine Villalon (2013)
Sandalio Mejia Zulueta (May 2014)
Yordenis Mendoza Cobas (June 2014)
Juliet Michelena Diaz (2014)
Vladimir Morera Bacallao (2013)
Reinier Mulet Levis (2013)
Ramon Munoz Gonzalez (2012)
Vladimir Ortiz Suarez (2014)
Alexander Otero Rodriguez (2013)
Wilberto Parada Milan (2013)
Leonardo Paumier Ramirez (June 2014)
Ricardo Pelier Frometa (May 2014)
Jorge Perez Puentes (2003)
David Piloto Barcelo (2011)
Emilio Plana Robert (2012)
Daniel Quesada Chavieco (2013)
Jorge Ramirez Calderon (2013)
Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga (2013)
Rolando Reyes Rabanal (May 2014)
Francisco Reyes Rodriguez (2003)
Aracelio Ribeaux Noa (2012)
Niorvis Rivera Guerra (2012)
Ernesto Riveri Gascon (2012)
Osvaldo Rodriguez Acosta (2012)
Osvaldo Rodriguez Castillo (2012)
Jose Rodriguez Navarro (2013)
Lazaro Romero Hurtado (2012)
Yoelkis Rosabal Florez (May 2014)
Cesar Sanchez Perez (2010)
Angel Santiesteban-Prats (2013)
Rolando Sarraf Trujillo (1995)
Ruben Sintes Rodriguez (2009)
Miguel Angel Tamayo Frias (May 2014)
Ernesto Tamayo Guerra (May 2014)
Yoanny Thomas Gonzalez (2003)
Juan Antonio Torres Fernandez (2011)
Miguel Ulloa Guinar (2013)
Alexei Vargas Martin (2012)
Diango Vargas Martin (2012)
Bianco Vargas Martin (2012)
Juan Carlos Vazquez Osoria (2012)
Julio Vega Santisteban (2013)
Hector Velazquez Gomez (2013)

 Source: Capitol Hill Cubans

First World War Centenary: Time to take nonviolence seriously

 “The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”  - Martin Luther King Jr.  

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." - Rom. xii. 21. 
  

One hundred years ago this month on August 4, 1914 World War I began, a conflict that destroyed Western Civilization, out of which emerged empowered the toxic ideologies of Communism and Nazism.

This conflict paused between 1918 and 1939 only to explode again in September 1939 in what became known as World War II and is viewed by some academics as a continuous process. Today, the peoples of the West are living in the ruins of a once great civilization after what some describe as a wasted century.

World War One was supposed to be the “war to end all wars”, but instead it turned out to be the suicide of the West. Nazi Germany and Communist Russia emerged out of the ashes and together plunged the world into another total war on September 1, 1939. 

The weight of this history fills one with sadness. However, at the same time one must not despair recalling while there is life there is also hope and that Martin Luther King Jr. was right, we do have a choice between nonviolence and nonexistence.

The above mentioned southern civil rights leader, and decades earlier the Indian national independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, demonstrated that nonviolence could confront and overcome powerful governments such as the United States and the British Empire without firing a shot.

First World War (1914 - 1918)                     Salt March (1930)

Furthermore that at the core of Western Civilization is found the doctrine of Jesus Christ whose whole ministry was a testament to nonviolent resistance and living in truth challenging evil and injustice. Reclaiming this ministry is at the heart of saving the West and taking nonviolence seriously as a means for creating, preserving and defending a system rooted in justice that protects human rights and dignity.

This is not  pacifism or passive aggressiveness but rather nonviolent resistance to evil and injustice. In the run up to World War II in many quarters passivity was practiced before the great evils of Communism and Nazism. There is nothing passive about nonviolent resistance.

The best manner to confront and defeat evil is not denouncing or destroying one's adversary but producing and preserving that which is true and having a constructive program. On September 11, 1906 in South Africa, as part of a contest, Mohandas Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha which translates into English literally as "holding firmly to truth."
 
Nonviolent resistance calls for having an aggressive attitude in confronting injustice while at the same time refraining from hating your enemy or seeking to do them or their property harm.
Martin Luther King Jr. listed the six principles of nonviolence that remain relevant today:

SIX PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE

Fundamental tenets of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence described in his first book, Stride Toward Freedom. The six principles include:

(1.) Nonviolence is not passive, but requires courage;

(2.) Nonviolence seeks reconciliation, not defeat of an adversary;

(3.) Nonviolent action is directed at eliminating evil, not destroying an evil-doer;

(4.) A willingness to accept suffering for the cause, if necessary, but never to inflict it;

(5.) A rejection of hatred, animosity or violence of the spirit, as well as refusal to commit physical violence; and

(6.) Faith that justice will prevail.

The struggle for civil rights in the United States demonstrated the superiority of nonviolent resistance over violent resistance. The early and sustained successes of the nonviolent civil rights movement contrast sharply with the failed and sterile violence of the later black power movement.

On the international front beginning in 1989 with the freedom of Poland, the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 were all achieved through mass movements that nonviolently resisted brutal and violent regimes.

Advocates for waging the First World War claimed it was the "war to end all wars" but should have called it "the war to debase human life" and would continue to find new lows in the 1930s and 1940s with gulags, death camps, and nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Despite the century of horror  unleashed by this conflict the twentieth century was not a wasted century.  Nonviolence was able to demonstrate in high profile and well documented instances throughout that century around the world in India, the United States, the Philippines, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Chile and many other places that it could liberate millions at a fraction of the human cost found in violent conflicts. 

In Cuba nonviolent exemplars demonstrated that it was possible to live the life of a free individual under the most extreme totalitarian regime

In these uncertain times nonviolence is more relevant than ever and its study is needed to confront and transform violent and unjust regimes. At the same time nonviolent art and imagery is desperately needed in this world bombarded with extreme and violent images.

The choice to embrace nonviolent resistance as a method to confront and defeat evil is a development critical for the survival of the human race and will conclusively demonstrate that the 20th century was not a waste of time, lives and a prelude to human extinction. It comes down to a question of non-violence or non-existence: civic resistance or nuclear holocaust.