Hondurans Seek Revenge at the Ballot Box
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Hondurans Seek Revenge at the Ballot Box
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
The deceptive trickery of the bourgeois governments sponsored by the United States has no limits. A few hours were enough for the candidate for presidential re-election in Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOA), to convert, a difference of 5% of the votes counted in favor of his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, into an advantage of for him that would proclaim him reelected President.
JOA had remained in an electoral campaign throughout his government. While locking up, banishing or burying his adversaries, he gave away balls, cardboard houses, bags of beans labeled with his photograph and the logo of his party and other sacramental gifts “blessed with the blood of Christ”. He distributed even 50 Lempiras (equivalent to 2.5 dollars) to all impoverished voters.
Depressing was the surprise for him and his cohort when, at the end of the November 26 vote, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that the candidate of the Free Alliance-PINU, Salvador Nasralla, was ahead of him by 5 points.
A few minutes later, the TSE suspended the count due to “technical problems of the system” and shortly thereafter announced that, in a new calculation, JOA was ahead of Nasralla by 1 point.
Popular protests immediately broke out. Hondurans could not placidly accept the monstrous fraud, which came to fill the cup of humiliation that infringed the nation’s coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.
Ollantay Itzamná, a Quechua nomad, son of Pachamama, activist and reflective defender of human rights and of Mother Earth, who also trained as a lawyer, anthropologist and theologian in Western science, has narrated, as a brilliant journalist, an understandable synthesis of the historical background of the phenomenon that is taking place in Honduras.
“The State of Honduras, in its almost 200 years, has been controlled and governed by an elite of landowners and self-designated conservative and liberal merchants. During the first 100 years, the leaders of Honduras were selected by means of bayonets and shotguns. At the beginning of the 20th century, the conservatives, to make the pantomime appear democratic, created the so-called Liberal party and, from that, Honduras lived a whole century under National-Liberal bipartisanship.
With the politico-military coup d’état of 2009, the rich in power accelerated their own political destabilization. In fact, the emergence of the social movement that became the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), demanded the return to power of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya. It proposed profound structural changes in impoverished and alienated Honduras.
Beginning in 2012, the FNRP gave birth to the current political party Freedom and Free Refoundation, made up mostly of former liberal politicians, who, in its first participation in elections, took second place in the general elections of 2013, with 37 deputies from the 128 that make up the Congress of the Republic.
But the government of JOA, co-author of the coup d’état, which had control of the legislative and judicial powers, and made political life almost impossible. Not only did it exclude them from parliamentary committees, it systematically blocked their legislative initiatives.
After the 2009 coup, Honduras experienced a systematic “democratic” dictatorship, where illegality, corruption and the dissolution of rights were constantly promoted.
The illegality of the JOA dictatorship reached its maximum expression when, contrary to the provisions of the country’s Political Constitution, the presidential candidate announced he was seeking re-election, under the slogan: “The best life for Honduras can not stop”. Something unlikely in a country that has conquered the world record as “the country with the most violent war in the world,” and where the level of poverty worsened more than 10% after the 2009 coup.
Dissent or disseminating a critical thinking has been punished with harsh penalties and disrespect for human rights. It took on a murky look with massacres and selective killings, such as the murder of Berta Cáceres which was denounced worldwide.
“In these conditions, Honduras was forced to return to the ritual of the polls. The dictator, believing that his victims were defeated, tried to re-elect himself in the polls claiming to be ‘s anointed by God to continue governing Honduras for Christ. “
But, the resistance was not dead. It returned to him to ashes and defeated the dictatorship of fear, the dictatorship of the media and the divine dictatorship in which the oligarchy enrolled even the Cardinal, bishops, priests, pastors and apostles, says Itzamna.
At the end of this article, and without knowing the final pronouncement of the TSE, everything seemed to indicate a new confrontation between the oligarchy at the service of US imperialism and the mocked people. It could now be more violent and bloody than in 2009, if the poor don’t win electoral vengeance.
November 30, 2017.
VENGANZA HONDUREÑA POR LA VIA DE LAS URNAS
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, México.
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, México.
La prestidigitación de los gobiernos burgueses patrocinados por Estados Unidos no tiene límites. Unas pocas horas bastaron para que el candidato a la reelección presidencial en Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández (JOA), convirtiera, una diferencia del 5% de los votos computados a favor de su contrario, Salvador Nasralla, en una ventaja suya que lo proclamaría Presidente reelecto.
JOA se había mantenido en campaña electoral durante todo su gobierno. Al tiempo que encerraba, desterraba o enterraba a sus adversarios, regalaba pelotas, casitas de cartón, bolsitas de frijoles rotulados con su fotografía y el logo de su partido y otros regalitos sacramentados y “bendecidos con la sangre de Cristo”. Distribuyó incluso 50 Lempiras (equivalente a 2.5 dólares) a todos los empobrecidos electores.
Deprimente fue la sorpresa para él y su cohorte cuando, al término de la votación del 26 de noviembre el Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) anunció que el candidato de la Alianza Libre-PINU, Salvador Nasralla, le aventajaba por 5 puntos.
Algunos minutos más tarde, el TSE suspendió el conteo por “problemas técnicos del sistema” y poco después dio a conocer que, en un nuevo cálculo, JOA iba delante de Nasralla por 1 punto.
Enseguida estallaron las protestas populares. Los hondureños no podían aceptar plácidamente el monstruoso fraude, que venía a colmar la copa de la humillación que infringió a la nación el golpe de estado que defenestró al Presidente Manuel Zelaya en 2009.
Ollantay Itzamná, nómada quechua, hijo de la Pachamama, activista y defensor reflexivo de los derechos humanos y de la Madre Tierra, formado también como abogado, antropólogo y teólogo en la ciencia occidental, ha narrado, como brillante periodista que es, una comprensible síntesis de los antecedentes históricos del fenómeno que está teniendo lugar en Honduras.
“El Estado de Honduras, en sus casi 200 años, estuvo controlado y gobernado por una élite de terratenientes y comerciantes auto titulados conservadores y liberales. urante los primeros 100 años, los dirigentes de Honduras eran colocados por medio de bayonetas y escopetas. A principios del siglo XX, los conservadores, para hacer aparecer democrática a la pantomima, crearon el denominado partido Liberal y, a partir de ello, Honduras vivió todo un siglo bajo el bipartidismo Nacional-Liberal.
Con el golpe de Estado político-militar de 2009, los ricos en el poder aceleraron su propia desestabilización política y, de hecho, el surgimiento del movimiento social que significó el Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP) que exigía la restitución en el poder del depuesto Presidente Manuel Zelaya y proponía cambios estructurales profundos en la Honduras empobrecida y enajenada.
A partir del 2012, el FNRP dio origen al actual partido político Libertad y Refundación Libre, conformado en su mayoría por políticos ex liberales, que en su primera participación en comicios, ocupó el segundo lugar en las elecciones generales del 2013, con 37 diputados de los 128 que integran el Congreso de la República.
Pero el gobierno de JOA, coautor del golpe de Estado, tenía el control de los poderes legislativo y judicial, y les hizo la vida política casi imposible. No sólo les excluyó de comisiones parlamentarias, sino que les impidió sistemáticamente sus iniciativas legislativas.
Después del golpe de 2009, Honduras vivió una sistemática dictadura “democrática”, donde la ilegalidad, la corrupción y disolución de los derechos fueron constantemente promovidas.
La ilegalidad de la dictadura de JOA alcanzó su máxima expresión cuando en contra de lo dispuesto por la Constitución Política del país, se autoproclamó candidato presidencial buscando su reelección, bajo el lema: “La vida mejor para Honduras no puede parar”. Algo inverisímil en un país que conquistó la marca mundial de “país sin guerra más violento del mundo”, y donde el nivel de pobreza empeoró más del 10% tras el golpe de Estado de 2009.
Disentir o difundir un pensamiento crítico se ha castigado con duras penas y el irrespeto a los derechos humanos cobró visos dantescos con las masacres y asesinatos selectivos, con el caso del homicidio de Berta Cáceres como el más repudiado mundialmente.
“En estas condiciones, la hondureñidad fue obligada a volver al ritual de las urnas. El dictador, creyendo que sus víctimas estaban vencidas, intentó reelegirse en las urnas alegando ser el ungido del Dios para seguir gobernando en Honduras para Cristo”.
Pero, la resistencia no estaba muerta. Volvió sobre sus cenizas y derrotó a la dictadura del miedo, la dictadura de los medios de prensa y la dictadura divina en la que la oligarquía enroló hasta al Cardenal, obispos, curas, pastores y apósteles, señala Itzamná.
Al cierre de este artículo sin conocer el pronunciamiento final del TSE, todo parecía indicar un nuevo enfrentamiento entre la oligarquía al servicio del imperialismo estadounidense y el pueblo burlado, que pudiera ser ahora más violento y cruento que en 2009, si se desconoce esta venganza electoral de los pobres.
Noviembre 30 de 2017.
Beyond Just Saying ¨No¨
Beyond Just Saying “No”
By David Brooks, US correspondent for Mexico’s LA JORNADA daily
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Danica Roem became the first trans woman elected to a legislative position in the United States. Photo taken of Rosa Sheep.
Faced with the increasingly obscene and dangerous political landscape in this country, we hear responses that are moving from the simple no to Trump and his agenda, to something that could generate a progressive change in this country.
The most recent state and local elections in various parts of the country held on November 7 were what some expected, wished, prayed for … that is, a first warning of what could be a wave of repudiation and even progressive change through the the polls in the intermediate elections (federal legislative and several governorships) in 2018 and through new, or renewed, decentralized but allied social movements.
Not only did the Democrats sweep away Republicans in states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and others, but many of the electoral winners were not only Democrats but progressives, and in many cases these victories had a tinge of divine vengeance.
For example, Lee Carter, a marine veteran of the Iraq war, who identified himself as a democratic socialist, defeated a Republican to take his place in the lower house of Virginia, and celebrated that night by inviting everyone to sing Solidarity Forever, the hymn of trade union movement.
Also winning a seat in that same chamber wasa Danica Roem, defeating a Republican who had promoted anti-transgender measures and who had declared himself the main anti-homosexual in the state; She is now the first transgender state legislator in the country. Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala became the first Latinas to become state legislators in Virginia’s history.
In Hoboken, New Jersey, the new mayor is Ravinder Bhalla, a Sikh lawyer, who declared: I am everything Trump hates: a dark man in a turban, and a proud American with the knowledge to stop his assault on the values of our country. . In Helena, Montana, the progressive Wilmot Collins is not only the first African-American to be mayor in the history of the state, but is a refugee from Liberia who won against the Republican mayor who opposed to the entry of refugees to this country.
In Philadelphia, perhaps the most radical district attorney in the country, Larry Krasner, civil rights lawyer, fierce critic of the massive incarceration in this country and who has represented Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street activists was elected. In the Atlantic County commissioner race in New Jersey, Ashley Bennett defeated the Republican in that position; She decided to challenge him at the polls after he via Facebook if they would return home in time to cook their. dinners.
Braxton Winston, who won a seat in the city council of Charlotte, North Carolina, is an activist whose image went viral: his fist held high in front of a battalion of riot police before being arrested in a demonstration against the death of an African-American at the hands of police. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the next mayor will be progressive Tim Keller, who replaces the outgoing conservative Republican.
The progressive triumphs were remarkable, as they offered more evidence of a growing sector within the Democratic Party outside the centrist leadership. Electoral organizations such as the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) together with the growing diaspora of the support movement for the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (still the most popular national politician in the polls), Our Revolution and new networks as Indivisible, they were key to generating these triumphs.
But it was also the result of new alliances between social groups, especially immigrant organizations that promoted candidates who directly faced the xenophobic policies of pro-Trump Republicans and other civil rights defense organizations such as Black Lives Matter, along with organizations defending the rights of women and environmentalists.
What happened in the November elections with hundreds of progressive local and state candidates is the beginning of a wave (…) a massive repudiation of Donald Trump, said Joe Dinkin of the Working Families Party. Independent experts, such as the influential Cook Political Report, indicate that the polls, for now, indicate that a political wave in favor of the Democrats is being glimpsed in 2018, implying that they could retake control of one, and even both houses of Congress.
The wide range of active resistance against Trump is showing its potential to go beyond being just opposition to the populist and at the same time plutocratic right-wing agenda and pushing forward a progressive agenda both at the polls and in the social sphere, where some claim it is growing a movement of many movements, varied and decentralized, as described by LA Kaufman in The Guardian. He argues that, in addition to established progressive organizations that have seen their membership grow (as in the case of Working Families and DSA), an impressive number of local grassroots groups have flourished -but at the same time, adding to national networks as Indivisible- that as a whole are six times bigger than the Tea Party (the most influential rightwing current within the Republican Party).
And not everything is manifested or has an end in the electoral field, with these movements -inmigrants, indigenous people, anti-war military veterans, defenders of freedoms and civil rights, environmentalists, professional athletes, artists, students, workers’ organizations and trade unions- fighting in several fronts, but with more and more solidarity among them, which makes them very dangerous for the guardians of power.
The “no” that defined the initial resistance to the seizure of power by Trump and his allies is now seeking to invent, to invite, to a yes.
(Taken from La Jornada )
My Last Farewell to Armando Hart
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My Last Farewell to Armando Hart
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Tonight I will go to the Marti Studies Center of Cuba to give my last farewell to revolutionary combatant Armando Hart Dávalos, who died in Havana of a heart attack.
To say Armando Hart in Cuba is to invoke some of the most transcendental works of Fidel Castro’s revolution. Especially in the fields of education, culture, journalism and politics. Before meeting Armando Hart, I had had very casual relationships in the insurrectional camp with his brother Enrique Hart, whom I admired a lot but worked with very little, because although we both were active in the same revolutionary organization, the 26th of July Movement, my level in its hierarchy was far from from that which Enriquito and Armando had reached.
During my six years as Cuban Ambassador in Romania from 1962 to 1968, I used to do what I jokingly called “courtesy visits” to several colleagues with whom I had developed friendly relations at the time of the insurrectional struggle against the Batista dictatorship. which I consolidated during the period from 1959 to 1961 when I worked as “Introducer of Ambassadors”, a position that is also called Director of Protocol, in the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, then headed by the Chancellor of Dignity, Raúl Roa.
One of those habitual friends contacted during my always short vacation in Cuba was the young Armando Hart, at that time Minister of Education, with whom I exchanged my new diplomatic experiences, with his as minister and political leader.
Each annual meeting with Hart was for me a master class that left me better prepared to contribute to the revolutionary cause in my country while I felt that the experiences in international politics that Armando narrated were also well received.
When I finished my mission as an ambassador in Bucharest and introduced myself to Roa, the foreign minister informed me that, by indication, President Osvaldo Dorticos would go to work in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) with Armando Hart, who was then the Organization Secratary of the PCC. From then on, I served as head of the (unipersonal) section of international information of the Cuban party organization in a function that basically meant serving as Party spokesperson in permanent exchange with those responsible for international information of accredited national or foreign press organs.in Cuba.
For me, this was great news. It allowed me to continue for a few more years developing my intellect, which is the main benefit received by those who have had the honor to work as collaborators with Armando Hart.
A short time later, at Hart´s suggestion, I was selected Director General of the Prensa Latina news agency. There I maintained close working and friendship relations with this extraordinary Cuban revolutionary intellectual whose footprint will remain indelible in the history of the country.
In recent years I have shared with Dr. Armando Hart the role of collaborator with newspapers PORESTO! and a strong friendship with its General Director Mario Menéndez Rodríguez.
November 26, 2017.
MI ÚLTIMO ADIÓS A ARMANDO HART
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
MI ÚLTIMO ADIÓS A ARMANDO HART Por Manuel E. Yepe
Esta noche acudiré al Centro de Estudios Martianos de Cuba a dar mi último adiós al combatiente revolucionario Armando Hart Dávalos, fallecido en La Habana a causa de una crisis cardiaca.
Decir Armando Hart en Cuba es invocar algunas de las obras más trascendentales de la revolución de Fidel Castro. En especial en los terrenos de la educación, la cultura, el periodismo y la política. Antes de conocer a Armando Hart, había tenido relaciones muy eventuales en el campo insurreccional con su hermano Enrique Hart, a quien admiré mucho pero traté poco, porque aunque militábamos en la misma organización revolucionaria, el Movimiento 26 de Julio, mi nivel jerárquico distaba mucho del que habían alcanzado Enriquito y Armando.
Durante los seis años que me desempeñe como Embajador de Cuba en Rumanía 1962 al 1968, acostumbraba a realizar lo que yo llamaba jocosamente “visitas de cortesía” a varios compañeros con quienes había desarrollado relaciones de amistad en la época de la lucha insurreccional contra la dictadura batistiana, que consolidé durante el período de 1959 al 1961 cuando trabajé como “Introductor de Embajadores”, cargo que también se identifica como Director de Protocolo, en el Ministerio cubano de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba, entonces encabezado por el canciller de la dignidad, Raúl Roa.
Uno de esos habituales amigos contactados durante mis siempre breves vacaciones en Cuba era el joven Armando Hart, a la sazón Ministro de Educación, con quien intercambiaba mis nuevas experiencias diplomáticas, con las suyas como ministro y dirigente político.
Cada encuentro anual con Hart era para mí una clase magistral que me dejaba mejor preparado para aportar a la causa revolucionaria en mi país mientras sentía que las experiencias en política internacional que narraba a Armando también eran bien recibidas.
Cuando terminé mi misión como embajador en Bucarest y me presenté ante Roa, el canciller me informó que por indicación el Presidente Osvaldo Dorticós yo pasaría a trabajar en el Comité Central el Partido Comunista de Cuba con Armando Hart, quien era entonces el Secretario de Organización de esa colectividad. Serví a partir de entonces como jefe de la sección (unipersonal) de información internacional de la organización partidista cubana en una función que básicamente constituía servir de vocero del Partido en intercambio permanente con los responsables de información internacional de los órganos de prensa nacionales o extranjeros acreditados en Cuba.
Ello constituyó, para mí, una gran noticia que me permitió continuar algunos años más desarrollando mi intelecto, que es el beneficio principal que reciben quienes han tenido el honor e trabajar como colaboradores de Armando Hart.
Poco tiempo después, a propuesta de Hart, fui seleccionado Director General de la agencia de noticias Prensa Latina en cuyo desempeño mantuve estrechas relaciones de trabajo y amistad con este extraordinario intelectual revolucionario cubano cuya huella permanecerá indeleble en la historia de la patria.
En los años más recientes he compartido con el doctor Armando Hart la función de colaborador con los periódicos PORESTO! y una fuerte amistad con su Director General Mario Menéndez Rodríguez.
Noviembre 26 de 2017.
A short note after hospitalization
CUBAN CHRONICLES
A short note after hospitalization
by Walter Lippmann
November 25, 2017
Got out of Cira Garcia hospital yesterday afternoon. Feeling better and following doctor´s recommendations, which seemed reasonable and appropriate when I got them. Hoping to write a longer report ony stay in the hosptal which specilizes in providing care for foreigners and Cubans who reside abroad. But not today. Got out and walked to this hotel (Paseo Habana) one block to check a bit of mail.
Tomorrow´s a big day in this country, the municipal elections all across the island. So many people abroad have the impressionm they´ve been given in the hostile media that there are no elections here, but that´s just not true.
Lucky me, Cuba is probably the easiest place on the planet to vote. Indeed, it´s hard NOT to vote here, so big is their GOTV activies, but voting isn´t mandatory. The polling place near where I live is, literally, in the very building where I live, downstairs on the front facing the street (Calle 15, e/A and B), so I may go down stairs and watch for a bit.
Must go now. Need to send a couple of other items to CubaNews and FB.
Thanks to everyone who has called and written to wish me well. I´m definitely better.
A report I wasn’t planning to make
CUBAN CHRONICLES
A report I wasn’t planning to make
by Walter Lippmann
November 22, 2017
Please bear with me on the formatting of this note. It’s a report I wasn’t planning to make but I’m glad that I can make it now. Last night I was admitted to the hospital here in Havana the doctors set tell me that I have a thrombosis in my right leg.
I’m not sure where it comes from but here it is. The doctors tell me that I cannot get out of bed at all at, and that if I start walking I could die! Sounds a little bit dramatic but I think I better follow the doctor’s instructions. I’m sure they know better about these things than I do.
Well, I’m really trying to follow them and haven’t gotten out of bed except once for the entire day and I’m trying to avoid getting out of bed. They tell me I’m going to be here at least 2 or 3 days and I know that that’s the case because today, one of the nurses came around and asked me what I wanted to eat tomorrow and Friday.
So that tells me they are planning to keep me here. And, of course, I am planning to stay. I’m not used to using this marvelous capability of speaking into the cell phone in order to write a letter but here I am that is.. That is why I asked you to bear with me on the formatting okay?
There isn’t much to say except that this hospital is clean and the staff is pleasant, professional, and personable. A few of them speak reasonable English and I am using my passable basic Spanish to communicate with them.
Oh, I have to keep my legs elevated and that’s why they don’t want me to get out of bed. In fact, for the very first time in my life, or at least that I can remember, I have a shower today with assistance from somebody else while sitting in a chair.
Anyway, now you know why you have not received anything from the Cuba news list since yesterday. This Hospital does have a WiFi capability and I’m able to use it.
I rarely give any thought to subjects like mortality, but I do occasionally keep in mind the fact that we human beings are all connected with one another in some way or other and sometimes we really need those human connections much more than we otherwise would.
Here in this hospital I am using their WiFi capability and also using the capability of this cell phone to transcribe my spoken words into written words. I don’t think I’ve engaged in dictation since my days as a child protective services social worker when I had to dictate Court reports in Los Angeles California.
Anyway I know that many of you will be concerned about my health and I’m very grateful for that. I’m not going to be able to answer any of your messages if you write to me privately or on the list I will not be able to approve everything from herr.
Maybe that’s all I need to say for the moment I just wan you to know that I’m feeling as okay as one can be when being confined to a hospital bed. I feel great confidence in the care that I’m receiving and I am very appreciative of the terrific staff in this Hospital well. Well, that’s about it thank you very much.
Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood Predator
Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood Predator
Last October, when The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times brought to light allegations by several women who claimed to have been sexually harassed by the producer, the Hollywood panorama shuddered.
By Luis Autié Cantón
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Harvey Weinstein has a crazy look about him and an ogre’s face. If we framed his face in a “Wanted” poster, typical of 1920s America, nobody would question his links to the Mob. Until only a month ago, from his perch at the top of the Weinstein Company, his opinion could elevate or bury the career of anyone who throws himself into the choppy sea that the world of cinema is. Like the ancient Roman emperors. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Pollice verse or pollice convert. Success. Failure. Imperator Harvey. But Weinstein is, first of all, a predator, a womanizer.
Last October, when the New Yorker magazine and the New York Times brought to light the complaints of several women who claimed to have been sexually harassed by the producer, the Hollywood scene shuddered. The strangest thing of all is to see how the investigation of the case provides evidence that, apparently, Weinstein’s “odd habits” were not recent or new whims. Reports indicate that, since 1980, he had his way with actresses, almost always, on the rise in their careers. Or he tried, at least.
Hollywood is a complex ecosystem of relationships, handshakes, winks, smiles, favors and pats on the back. And the insolence of Harvey Weinstein shows that, in addition to the rottenness and moral pustules that are now visible, collusion is rampant in that great cinematographic industry.
Nobody paid any attention when, in 2013, in front of the audience gathered at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, actor Seth MacFarlane joked while announcing the candidates for the Best Supporting Actress award. MacFarlane, after pronouncing the names of the lucky ones, said something that, although it raised a laugh in the audience at the time, today it produces a bitter sensation of guilt and regret: “Congratulations to you five, for you won’t have to pretend that you feel attracted to Weinstein any more». Spooky.
Italian actress and director Asia Argento made public, on her personal Twitter account, a list that includes herself along with 81 other women who were victims of harassment and sexual abuse by perhaps the most influential producer in what is considered the Mecca of cinema.
Among the most recognized names are Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Cara Delevigne, Kate Beckingsdale, Angelina Jolie, Heather Graham, Lupita Nyongo and Lena Headey. The latter enjoys a notable reputation today, thanks to her role as Cersei Lannister in the famous television series Game of Thrones.
Gwyneth Paltrow in the multi prizewinning picture Shakespeare in Love.
The famous actress Angelina Jolie
This sinister vox populi reveals a deplorable connivance as it is induced by fear. The fact is that, in a high percentage of the women involved, fear of failing professionally if they denounced the producer prevailed over the determination to put an end to such annoyance at the time.
Weinstein was born in Queens, New York, in the winter of 1952, within a Jewish family. Since 1970, he leaned toward film sets more as a business than for artistic reasons, when he produced a series of rock concerts in Buffalo. With the money raised, he founded, together with his brother Bob, a small film distribution company that they called Miramax. The name comes from the union of Miriam and Max, their parents. And so, with their new company, the brothers continued along the line of making films about concerts. Eventually, in 1980, they adapted a British film to fit the tastes of the American public. The result? The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, the company’s first great success.
The talented Cara Delevigne.
During the rest of that decade, Harvey and Bob kept reaping fame in the cinema world until 1989, when director Steven Soderberg’s award-winning film Sex, lies and Videotape turned Miramax, overnight, into the main independent producer in the United States.
In 1996, Miramax won its first Oscar with The English Patient, a prize that consolidated his fame, later increased with titles like Shakespeare in Love or Good Will Hunting.
Almost ten years later, in 2005, the brothers left Miramax to found the Weinstein Company, along with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodríguez and Colin Vaines. From The Weinstein Company, Harvey’s own company, he was fired by his own brother Bob, after the scandals. It’s like that. Thumbs up. Thumbs down.
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.
It was then that Harvey tried to cling to his boat to ride out the swell, but the water was already up to his neck. Through his spokeswoman, he has tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to ease the tension, but no one is likely to believe his words. “(…) The way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it”, he said. But what would have happened if his predatory adventures had never been disclosed?
Around those days, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Hollywood held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the producer’s future. Logic prevailed: Harvey Weinstein is no longer a member of the famous cinema institution, at least in the United States.
But there is still some doubt: how far can the moral cover-ups go within Hollywood? Harvey’s is by no means an isolated, ephemeral case. Let us bear in mind that two stars of the cinema firmament like Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby were also in the eye of the storm for similar behavior. Even more recently, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey fell from grace following a pedophilia scandal.
In view of these facts, and knowing the conduct inside that industry, it is very probable that Weinstein’s sexual setback will become a ghastly box-office hit. It has all the sleazy ingredients of Hollywood’s formula for success. And the theaters will be full. Do not doubt it.
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EDITOR’S NOTE:
In the print edition the day this article appeard on page 6, it was referenced on the front page with a photo of Gwyneth Paltrow.
NOTE FROM FLUENT SPANISH-SPEAKING
CUBAN TRANSLATOR i CONSULTED:
| Now, regarding the expression: I had never heard of it, so I went to Wikipedia and found this:
Pollice verso or verso pollice is a Latin phrase, meaning “with a turned thumb”, that is used in the context of gladiatorial combat. It refers to the hand gesture or thumbs signal used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator. But what I consider an extremely interesting thing about it is, and I quote: Homeland or Death, |
Cuban Chronicles, November 19, 2017
CUBAN CHRONICLES
by Walter Lippmann
Sunday, November 19, 2017, 8:00 PM
It’s been an exceptionally busy week. Having been away from Cuba for almost a year, my first interest was in seeing and checking in on various friends, and delivering the various things I brought for a range of them. One of my favorite things here is NOT having a car. My main form of transportation is what I like to call the “sistema de transporte dos pies” (the two-foot system). I use it as much as practical, but not being used to the mixture of heat (not too, too bad right now) and humidity, it’s not always practical.
For example, a couple of nice young people from Ocean Press, the Australian publishing company which specializes in Cuba-orianted books, picked me up at the airport and brought me directly to the casa particular in which I’m staying.
My first stop the morning after my arrival was with Sandra Gonzalez and her son Damian Donestevez, two Cuban friends I’ve known the longest. Damian was a translator at my very first adult trip to Cuba, the 1999 US-Cuba Yoga Encuentro in November 1999. Sandra was working when we met, and caring for her own mother at home. She worked at the petroleum planning ministry, and was the primary caretaker for her own mother. She has since retired.
Sandra, almost my age, has experienced a raft of health issues, and isn’t doing well, phyically. Sandra’s mom died years ago, and Sandra has gotten to look a lot like her mother. Damian is now Sandra’s primary caregiver. For them I brought a stethoscope, to monitor her blood pressure, and adult diapers, not yet available here.
Have also been in touch with Juan Jacomino, who heads the English department of Radio Havana Cuba. He spent five years as the media liason at the Cuban embassy in Washington. To him I brought good wishes. The station’s elevator, fixed a few years ago after being out of service for quite a few years, works well.
Back in the day, I used to tell friends that the broken elevator was “Fidel Castro’s Involuntary Exercise Program”. The English Department of RHC is up on the sixth floor, so imagine what it was like to walk up and down at least four times daily (lunch is served in a staff cafeteria across the street.)
Some over-the-counter US medicines are very popular and very hard to find locally, so friends ask friends to bring them these rare and appreciated products. Among the ones I brought this time were Ibuprofen, Advil and Tiger Balm (not made in the US, of course). Ramón Labañino, one of the Cuban Five who are now designated Heroes of the Republic, came by one evening to pick up Advil, Tiger Balm and garlic pills. Walter Tillow and his wife Kay, who’d helped Ramón’s family when they came to visit him in prison, sent these much-appreciated items.
Among the many other things I´ve brought on this trip was last Sunday´s NY TIMES, for Gerardo Hernandez. When they were in US prisons, they received the NYT every day after that full page add many of us contributed to in the campaign to secure their freedom.
He´s also going to receive a copy of the just released biography of Thomas Sankara, the leader of the revolutionary forces in Burkina Faso by Ernest Harsch. You can order it from Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Burkina-Faso-History-Protest-Revolution/dp/1786991357/
It´s always good to order such items from your local independent bookstore, or places like Eso Won in Los Angeles, our last remaining Black owned and Black oriented bookstore. You´ll pay a little more at Eso Won, but you´ll also be supporting a valuable institution, and not the behemoth corporation. http://www.esowonbookstore.com/
This is an incredibly beautiful day here in Cuba´s capital city. After doing my morning exercises (about that another time), I went over to the agro market at 19th and B to get some cooked food to keep in my room (in the refrigerator). Been keeping yogurt, mango juice and bottled water until today.
Now I´ve got some delicious smoked pork (lomo ahumado in Spanish). 19th and B is considered the best local agro market, a mixture of state and private dealers. I bought it from one man, and another neatly sliced it into individual cutlets, a service for which I pay separately (2 CUC). It´s from the same butcher I always use here, a very tall black man named Kiki whose dreadlocks go all the way down to his waist, and who is always helpful.
On to the Internet place (20 machines, 18 working, no waiting line at all. So nice, peaceful and quiet it´s a joy to work here. The price of Internet service has declined FIFTY PERCENT from last year (down from $2.00 to $1.00 CUC per hour, so I can take my time and work at my leisure. Rushed work is sloppy work, often containing annoying errors (mine).
Met a couple of interesting men who were visiting with the owner of my casa particular. One directs a program for universities who are having study abroad programs here. The other is an art professor at the New School in New York City. Hope they´ll join the CubaNews list and share their impressions about Cuba during their time here.
Had lunch yesterday at a new (to me) paladar on 25th and G streets, EL PRESIDENTE. A small place with but half a dozen tables, and a large bar adjacent to the tables. Good service, good food, reasonable prices (for those who can afford them ($28 CUC for two people). Most interesting was that my friend and I were the ONLY foreigners in the place. All the rest were locals.
This is a graphic example of the process of social differentiation which has been steadily taking place over the past couple of decades. Without interviewing any of the people at the other tables, I can say with confidence that such people are successful casa particular and other small business owners, or people who receive remittances from abroad, or both.
Also this week I made a run out to my favorite CD and DVD bootlegger, Roly, whose kiosk is just north of 23rd and 12th. The laws of the market helped this customer. Last year he was charging 1.50 CUC per disc. Now the price is down to 1.00 CUC each. I´m not sure when I´ll get around to watching these, probably not while here, but for a mere 9.00 CUC I´m now the owner of these movies:
ATOMIC BLONDE with Charlese Theron
THE FOUNDER with Micheal Keaton
LOOKING FOR FIDEL by Oliver Stone
COMANDANTE by Oliver Stone
INCONCEIVABLE ith Gina Gerson, Faye Dunaway and Nicholas Cage
ROUGHT NIGHT with Scarlett Johansson
LION staring Dev Padel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman
WONDER WOMAN with Gal Gadot
VESTIDO DE NOVIA by Marilyn Solaya
SOLO EN BERLIN with Emma Thompson, Brendon Gleeson and Daniel Bruhl
Who knows when, or if, I´ll ever get to see them, but at this price, they will always be available should I find the time.
Today is International Men’s Day. It’s been observed in various ways here for several years. Nothing was announced for today, but yesterday there was a premiere of a new documentary film about fatherhood. I misread the announcement in yesterday’s paper, and so missed the showing which was at one of the main theaters here in Havana, the Yara. With luck perhaps I can post a translation of some of the Cuban media reports. Here are links to the Spanish:
http://www.mujeres.co.cu/art.php?NTY0OA==
Soy papá… de cualquier manera próximamente en los cines
http://www.cubacine.cult.cu/articulo/2017/11/09/soy-papa-cualquier-manera-proximamente-cines
Buffalo Bill and the NRA
Buffalo Bill and the Other’s Revolver
Author:
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
On the 100th anniversary of his death, it has to be agreed that it was the spectacle, “show business”, that turned Buffalo Bill (1846-1917) into a legendary being and, at the same time, one of the par excellence promoters of firearms in the United States.
Buffalo, which was actually called William Frederick Cody, served as an army scout in the conquest of the West and also as a bison hunter to supply meat to the workers of a railway company. Having participated in the 1876 Sioux War allowed him to wear showman’s clothing for 20 years in a show that toured his country and Europe.
The two decades during which “Buffalo Bill conquered the West” came be the number one of the international shows that triumphed at the time, including Ringling [Brothers] Circus. It could be seen there, always in an excellent version in heroics, the old explorer fighting the Indians, among whom was Chief Toro himself seated, converted, or reduced by then, to one of the attractions of the troupe.
Numbers of cowboys, persecutions, beautiful galloping horses, all inspired by the border law, established thanks to a policy of territorial expansion carried out with the support of modern weapons. Standing in the center of his circus, holding a rifle, Buffalo Bill made an apology presenting them as heroes in the conquest of the West.
“Only one weapon in the hand will stop the other,” he used to condemn as a forerunner of an ideology of violence that would later become a cultural reasoning enthroned in much of American society. A firearm is a right and a protection “has been tried to make citizens believe, along with the support of an entertainment industry that extols each other’s death for the sake of life. This, unfortunately, translates into a staggering figure: 117,000 people are shot in the United States each year, statistics that involve both aggressors and defenders.
Buffalo Bill’s time coincided with the creation of the National Rifle Association (1871) that had in the showman one of its champions. It is an entity that, to this day, and from its economic power, has not ceased to foster close relations with American political power.
Now, on the 100th anniversary of the death of showman Buffalo Bill, another showman, President Trump, defending “bang-bang” culture”, makes us remember the extinct persecutor of Indians. He declares, to the bewilderment half the world -and referring to the shooting in Texas, in which a young white man killed 26 people in a church and wounded 20- “fortunately, someone else had a gun and fired in the opposite direction”.
Some Very Preliminary First Re-Impressions
CUBAN CHRONICLES
November 15, 2017, 6:35 PM
Some Very Preliminary First Re-Impressions.
by Walter Lippmann
Though I really want to share with you some of my many first impressions on arriving back in Cuba after nearly a year away, this Internet office (Sala de Navegacion as they’re called), will close in a half hour, so a fuller report simply isn’t practical today. Hope to get something fuller out tomorrow. Still…
There were only 55 passengers on the 160 seat Alaska Airlines plan which flew direct from Los Angeles to Havana yesterday. The crew loved it. Probably the company isn’t thrilled because they must be losing money. On the other hand, they made a commitment to provide this service, and probably signed a contract, so I say, “good for them” for keeping up the service.
Today I’ve visited with several friends, begun to deliver medicines and various other things which I brought for them. There are a few more to be delivered, and that will get done.
Spent a lot of time today walking the streets, sucking up first impressions (mostly quite positive), which I’ll try to detail tomorrow.
Am working in a very nice new Internet office. TWENTY machines, flat-panel screens. Quiet place, good for work. No blackouts. Friendly staff. People coming in and out during gmy time here. I’ve been working for about 2.5 hours and will stay a bit longer.
The city is about as clean and as dirty as it always is. There are more new small restaurants. Some which were here last year have gone out of business already. Others (A wonderful restaurant called Doña Laura, on H between 23rd and 21st in Vedado) are expanding their services.
You can get a FULL MEAL at Doña Laura for 30-40 pesos (1.25-1.50 CUC!), served on porcelain plates with metal knives and forks, a wonderful bargain and good food (imagine, a glass of mango juice for 5 pesos, a glass of guava juice for 3 pesos (twelve US pennies!).
Now, if you want to feed a minimum of FIFTEEN people, they will deliver a complete meal to your home, including a pig leg, for $80.00 CUC. I’m not sure where I could host such a party, but you can see things are moving right along here. I’ll write a longer report, maybe post a picture at some point.
There’s so much to say, but rushed work is guaranteed to be sloppy, so that is all for today. Been delivering presents to friends and dealing with a few bureaucratic tasks. Hopefully, more will be possible tomorrow. There’s a LOT to report.
Stay tuned.
“Tatuarte” in Holguin
“Tatuarte” in Holguin
By: Juan Pablo Carreras
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project, at the headquarters of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), in the city of Holguín. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
With the presence of researchers, specialists and defenders of body-art, the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project was developed. It was held at the House of the Young Creator of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), in the city of Holguín.
Gilberto González Carcacés (Yiki), founder and organizer of the event, said that this edition was attended by plastic artists, young creators and more than a dozen developers of this art in the country.
He said one of the distinctive features of the gathering is seen in the stimulation of the tattooed crutch, a technique that has disappeared today. It goes back to the origins of this artistic manifestation, consisting of a stick and two needles to achieve the desired drawing by hand.
The defense of the aesthetic and artistic values of the tattooed as a mode of expression within the plastic arts. This was the main objective of the discussions after the presentation in theoretical workshops of presentations on the ritualistic tattoo and the policies of the written body, by Vladimir Hechavarría and Danilo Guerrero, respectively.
Yudith Figueredo Domínguez, a young assistant, who offered the possibility of being tattooed at no cost, saod that the approach to this practice means assuming in the body a manifestation of the art that one will carry for life.
At the same time, Enrique Hernández Castellón, an artist from the province of Matanzas, said he was pleased by the reception of the AHS in the territory. He commented on the rise of this culture in Cuba which is experiencing an advance along with technological development, because every day better equipment, inks, and all kinds of materials become available.
During the closing day, a children’s workshop for screen printing and recycled paper was developed’ This theoretical event on muleta tattooing, in addition to the jam session by of the troubadours Raulito Prieto, Manuel Leandro and Leiner Verdecia.
The tattoo in the Cuban society of the 21st century still has as many detractors as followers and, although its origins go back to the emergence of the main civilizations, it is still subject to taboos and prejudices.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project, at the headquarters of the AHS, in Holguín. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Sesión de tatuado durante la segunda edición del proyecto de arte corporal Tatuarte. Foto: Juan Pablo Carreras/ ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.
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