For the first time since I began chronicling Babalú's follies 16 months ago, I am reproducing in toto a post published there and with my entire approval. I will not praise Marc Másferrer because doing so will only make him enemies at Babalú and he already walks a thin line there. I will say that it is inconceivable to me that a fairminded man could think any other way. It is my hope that there are other fairminded men (and women) at Babalú and elsewhere who believe that to impute the manhood of Cuban men is to second Castro's work. We shall not hasten the day of Cuba's liberation by insulting her future liberators. They are not animals to be goaded into action by insults and kicks. No man has the right to ask another man to be a martyr unless he is willing to put his own head on the chopping block first. Martyrdom is not incumbant on any man and yet Cuba has had her share of martyrs and then some throughout her history and never more than in the last 50 years. We don't need more martyrs. What we need are men willing to live for Cuba. We cannot turn our country into a desert and call that victory. Cuba is more than her natural beauty great as that is; more than all our collective memories; more even than the graves of our parents. Cuba is first and foremost her people. They are her greatest asset and only hope. To spare their blood should always be our first concern. To honor the men and women who fight and foil the tyrant every day that they survive is our highest duty to our country. We cannot emulate their courage but we should at least offer them our support. Anything else is villainy.
July 27, 2008
Cuban men with balls
No one has the right to question the courage of the Cuban people, for it is not in doubt. Those who would question the testicular fortitude of the Cuban people, specifically, its men, are wrong on two points.
First, the doubters of Cuban manhood ignore the bravery it takes to just survive the daily tortures — the economic deprivation, the political repression, etc. — of life during dictatorship. I know I cannot imagine it, and I expect the same holds true for most of the people reading this. I sometimes share the frustration of those waiting for a mass uprising, for ultimately, it is the Cuban people's fight. But it borders on the immoral to suggest that they are not deserving of liberty because they choose not to carry out an uprising or other suicide mission. Honestly, if I lived in a police state as brutal and effective as Cuba's, I might stay at home, too.
And secondly, the doubters of Cuban manhood ignore that there are plenty of Cubans who have chosen not to stay at home. They work as journalists and librarians and human rights and democracy activists, battling against tremendous odds to challenge the dictatorship and to testify to its brutality. Their spirit is strong, and their courage is unmatched. The respect they are due is not lessened just because they choose to fight and live.
In fact, it is their responsibility to live for it is they who one day will lead a free Cuba.
Few Cubans on the island are braver than those prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners locked away in the castro gulag. They fight with courage and dignity against the worst of a dictatorship committed to extinguishing the light of good that each one of them represents.
Tonight, please remember political prisoners Alfredo Rodolfo Domínguez Batista, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Luis Mariano Delís Utria and Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta who are on hunger strike at the Holguín Provincial Prison to demand better living conditions and greater respect for human rights in Cuban prisons. Herrera has even sewn his mouth shut to demonstrate his resolve.
Without question, they are Cuban men with balls.
(Cross-posted at Uncommon Sense.)
Posted by Marc at July 27, 2008 06:42 PM
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13 comments:
Without question, they are Cuban men with balls.
(Cross-posted at Uncommon Sense.)
Posted by Marc at July 27, 2008 06:42 PM
El Señor Marc tiene balls, pero El Señor Val Prieto No tiene bolas . Parece que Marc le va a salir duro a Val, ya mismo lo veremos por aca escribiendo regularmente
Señor Manuel por favor podra usted traducir el post en Español. El idioma de todos los cubanos
Ok, fantomas. You did not insult Cuba's heroes and martyrs, so this unauthorized excursion will be allowed.
To answer your question: Since I translate the works of others for a living, I can't afford to translate my own.
Cuban men with balls
Tal parece que a usted le faltan de esas. Le pregunte varias cosas en un comentario anterior y hasta ahora todo lo que usted contesta es que yo soy los fantomas o fantomas . Le digo y le repito no soy ningun fantoma ni los fantomas ni se quien es esa persona
Por favor si puede escribir en el idioma cubano se lo agradecere. Mi ingles es muy limitado
Ok, fantomas, time to go back to the Annex with the nice men in the white jackets.
Indeed they have balls, most in the island are passively resisting, resistance has been in place from the very begining, is all that's left to them, the political prisoners are further proof that resistance is alive in Cuba.
Time to start squashing the cockroach, I see fantomas is up to his old tricks, if he cannot do it anonymously he will register with different names, are we not lucky!!
Vana:
At least we can say this much: the picture is the man.
Todavia espero respuesta señor Manuel, por favor en español el idioma de todos los cubanos
Señor Manuel usted me va a permitir debatir en los comentarios o me piensa acusar de ser los fantomas o fantomas cada vez que entro aqui
Usted esta equivocado conmigo
Por favor respondame en español el idioma de todos los cubanos
Ahora la vas a cojer con eso del idioma, solo pa' joder, ese es tu lema, cucaracha asquerosa.
You have fantomas' real picture as your signature.
What else am I to think?
I am glad that you understand everything that I write in English. I was never quite sure if fantomas could read English.
MAT,
Rubber Head so called recovery reminds me of the title song from a musical that played in Broadway many years ago. The musical was The Man of la Mancha and the song was The Impossible Dream.
One cannot cure a congenital mental defect such as squizofrenia.
Agustín:
Fantomas is a fugitive from The Madhouse. He has not been cured and will be returned there as soon as he can be apprehended. The application of purgatives no longer seems a viable course, however. Electro-convulsive treatment now appears to be the only course open to us. Fortunately, we purchased just such a machine from Romania last year but were not able to use it because it arrived after Babalú's kidnapping of fantomas from our fine institution.
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