A Grand Illusion

Not always in Cuba. Also in Union City, New Jersey.

Because you know, the best way to defeat Castro is to act exactly like him.

Achy Obejas in The Root:

In the days leading up to the concert, Juanes promised that there would be no sloganeering, no hosts, no talking, just music. He said it would not be political.

But of course it was.

The surprise was the way it was political.

Scooter naps by the elliptical machine.

I wasn’t planning on blogging tonight. I had a long day at work, then went to the Fish game so I’m pretty spent. But that was all forgotten when I fired up my Google Reader and found this gem:

According to the Obama administration, Humana, which is a private corporation, does not have the right to express their opinion of Obama’s healthcare proposal if it is not in agreement with him. The Supreme Court has made it clear that as far as the constitution is concerned, corporations have the same rights as individuals. (emphasis mine)

In fact, the Supreme Court has actually said the complete opposite. In Central Hudson Gas & Elec. v. Public Svc. Comm’n, Justice Powell–who was appointed by Nixon–wrote for the majority:

In commercial speech cases, then, a four-part analysis has developed. At the outset, we must determine whether the expression is protected by the First Amendment. For commercial speech to come within that provision, it at least must concern lawful activity and not be misleading. (emphasis mine)

If that sentence sounds like the complete opposite of what you read on Babalu, that’s because it is. (Although the writer doesn’t provide us to a citation, we can only assume his authority comes from the obscure Supreme Court case Babalu’s Warped Mind v. Reality.)

The reality is that while the Supreme Court has said that corporations and other entities enjoy some constitutional rights–due process, for example–and some degree of personhood, the Court has said that commercial speech is due only limited First Amendment protection. One of those limitations is that the speech cannot be misleading. Or to put it another way, if a corporation lies, government can tell it to shut up.

I bet right about now the guys are Babalu are thanking their lucky stars their blog does not qualify as commercial speech.

I’ve been re-watching clips from the Juanes concert and reading the hundreds of thousands of words dedicated to the effect of the concert, what was said and what wasn’t, was it explicit or not, was it a call for change or a soon-to-be-forgotten divertimento?

To me the highlight of the concert was hearing Juanes and Miguel Bose reprise their collaboration in “Papito” with “Nada Particular”. As Bosé says in the intro “it was written many years ago, but it could have been written for you”.  Many people have pointed out the symbolism of the lyrics “Dame una isla, en el medio del mar, llámala Libertad”, but to me, there’s also very important meaning in the history of the song. It’s a song Bosé composed for his 1993 album “Bajo el signo de Cain”, the album where he embraced social and political themes. “Nada particular” was inspired by the fratricide war in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the breakup of communist Yugoslavia, where people who had been living side by side got caught in the maelstrom of political and ethnic resentments that degenerated in land-grabbing, displacement, war and genocide. So when I hear “Una vida y volver a empezar, no te pido una patria fugaz…” or “Que mi historia no traiga dolor, que mis manos trabajen la paz”, I too hope that we have one Cuba at the end, transcending a painful history through dialog and reconciliation and not through resentment and war among brothers.

At the end of the day, everybody is entitled to their own conclusions and will see the concert and what accomplished or not from their perspective. But I’ll hope there is a lasting message we can all agree on: the Cuban people are not their government and they don’t look at us outside Cuba as their enemy. Even those who supported it at one point, those who may still support it, those who may be afraid of losing privileges or rights after changes, those who are proud of their country and its institutions that they don’t see as part of a tyrannical regime. For Cuba to have a bright future it’s essential that “Una sola familia cubana” becomes a reality. Many detractors of the concert said “there can’t be peace without freedom”, but there can’t be freedom either if we are dragged into war.

Politics is a blunt instrument for change. It often comes with radical swings, protests, turmoil, winners and losers. Art, on the other hand, can inspire and unite with a message felt emotionally. After Obama’s election, a thawing has been predicted but so far the results are both timid and mixed, and the political rhetoric hasn’t changed much. But the concert showed unification is possible, even if it’s for five hours. At the risk of sounding naive, I think it’s time to let art accomplish what politics hasn’t been able to.

(Also: Check this awesome video from Patrick Hidalgo showing Cubans after the concert singing Charanga Habanera’s “Gozando en La Habana” another song with controversial lyrics that expresses well the nuances of the issue. It talks about a couple divided after the woman leaves for Miami, and how she is nostalgic for her friends and her country “llorando en Miami” while he is “gozando en La Habana”. After the song became a hit in Miami clubs, Charanga Habanera recorded a more conciliatory version saying she was enjoying Miami as well, but the previous version was still the most popular)

Gloom and doom, cynically cloudy crystal ball, glass half full delusions: Juanes is a commie, he’s in cahoots with Castro, he’s singing for the regime, only chosen people will be able to go, he’s endorsing the tyranny.

Reality: Juanes and Miguel Bose confront Cuban authorities in very strong terms and demand the front space in the concert be open for all, not the selected. Yes there was manipulation and control, but this is proof that the maligned organizers were not involved or complicit.

———————————————————

Update: From Penultimos Dias, a list of dissidents that were arrested, harassed or cautioned not to attend or do anything during the concert.

I passed the Florida Bar.

Suddenly, I no longer feel all that supportive of tort reform.

By the way, if you haven’t picked up the Beatles Stereo Box Set do so like now. It really is remarkable how good the albums sound. I’m hearing new melodies and flourishes in almost every song.

I wanted to go to Versailles yesterday, but had to work the whole weekend. A friend, visiting from Los Angeles, wanted to go see Vigilia Mambisa and their bulldozer. I told him it probably be the same tired crowd with the same tired camera hungry antics and it would be amusing at first, then infuriating, then he’ll want to cross the street and get in their faces and they’ll call him comunista or jinetero and he’ll yell back and it just wasn’t worth it. Some people are better left alone to wallow in their own irrelevance.

Boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Looks like I missed a pivotal moment in Miami exile history, the day the sidewalk in front of Versailles -their turf!- was conquered by the Cubans who don’t think in terms of here and there and don’t act according to what they think Castro is going to do.

Carlos Miller, who can always be counted on to be in the thick of the action, has a great recap and videos at NBC Miami. More pro-concert than anti-concert, in the heart of Cuban Miami. Things are changing indeed.

You saw that crowd of hundreds of thousands, maybe even over a million yesterday at Juanes concert in Havana? Here is how two very different people chose to see it:

Yoani Sanchez:

“Estuve en aquella explanada para comprobar cuán diferente puede ser un mismo espacio cuando alberga concentraciones organizadas desde arriba o cuando cobija a un grupo de personas necesitada de bailar, cantar e interactuar, sin la política de por medio. Fue una experiencia rara estar allí, sin gritar una consigna y sin tener que aplaudir mecánicamente  cuando el tono del discurso apuntaba que era el momento de ovacionar.”

and Humberto Fontova, Cuban American author and lately, one of the most rat-tat-tat hunhinged Babaluers:

“Rowdy Yates never had it so easy during a round up as the Castro brothers had it this Sunday.”

We are only one Cuban family, like Juanes said, and some people choose to play the set-in-his ways, cranky uncle part. It would be infuriating if it wasn’t equal parts amusing and pitiful.

From Yoani Sanchez (English translation is not available yet):

Mañana amanecerá como cada lunes. El peso convertible seguirá por las nubes, Adolfo y sus colegas tendrán otro día tras las rejas en la prisión de Canaleta, mi hijo escuchará en la escuela que el socialismo es la única opción para el país y en los aeropuertos nos seguirán pidiendo un permiso para salir de la Isla. El concierto de Juanes no habrá cambiado significativamente nuestra vida, pero  tampoco fui a la Plaza con esa ilusión. Sería injusto exigirle al joven cantante colombiano  que impulse aquellos cambios que nosotros mismos no hemos logrado hacer, a pesar de desearlos tanto.

Estuve en aquella explanada para comprobar cuán diferente puede ser un mismo espacio cuando alberga concentraciones organizadas desde arriba o cuando cobija a un grupo de personas necesitada de bailar, cantar e interactuar, sin la política de por medio. Fue una experiencia rara estar allí, sin gritar una consigna y sin tener que aplaudir mecánicamente  cuando el tono del discurso apuntaba que era el momento de ovacionar. Claro que algunos elementos sí se parecían a los de cualquier marcha por el primero de mayo, especialmente la  proporción de policías vestidos de civil dentro del público.

Ciertos detalles técnicos resultaron incómodos. El audio no se escuchaba bien, la pequeña pantalla que reproducía lo que ocurría sobre el escenario no se veía en la distancia y la hora elegida era inhumana, por coincidir con los peores momentos del sol. Por suerte se nubló después de las cuatro y los que estaban atrincherados debajo de los pocos árboles se lanzaron a bailar con Orishas. Son detalles a superar en la próxima presentación que hará Juanes en Cuba, esa donde no abundarán las fallas técnicas y en la que sí podrán cantar los excluidos de esta tarde.

Si vemos la presentación de este 20 de septiembre como el ensayo general del concierto que algún día tendremos, entonces hay que felicitar a los que participaron. Incluso si no hubiera otra y la Plaza retomara sus solemnidad y su grisura, al menos esta tarde de domingo vivimos algo diferente. En un sitio donde se ha sembrado sistemáticamente la división entre nosotros, Juanes –al caer el sol- ha gritado  “¡Por una sola familia cubana!” (emphasis mine)

But you know, she’s just one in a mindless mass of brainwashed, Communist cattle, so what does she know?

The Daily Beast has a short excerpt from Ann Louise Bardach’s Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana, and Washington. I enjoyed reading Cuba Confidential, and I will probably pick this up once I’m done with the juggling act of Moneyball and The Ascent of Money. Though I didn’t find anything new in the excerpt. Well, except for that whole Fidel-Castro-crying-after-his-surgery part:

After a life-saving colostomy was performed, Castro was deeply distraught. “Fidel was crying,” said a source who was present in the hospital. “He cried several times that first day. He was devastated.” Castro may well have been put on dialysis, as kidney failure is not uncommon in such surgical mishaps.

I honestly couldn’t care less about that. I’d much rather Castro face death stoically like Saddam Hussein and just die already, than get all weepy but continue to haunt the Cuban people.

Having said that, it is kind of funny to imagine that dirty beard with tears all over.