Issue is freedom not the occasion

Posted on Sun, Mar. 19, 2006

Quick, somebody, find a copy of the constitution and read me the part
where Major League Baseball and the organizers of the World Baseball
Classic have the right to censor politically motivated signs and shirts
inside Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico.

Issue is freedom, not the occasion

Show me the part where it says a fan who is causing no physical harm to
himself or others must refrain from holding up a sign that reads,
''Abajo Fidel,'' which loosely translates to, ``Down with the dirty son
of Satan Fidel.''

The folks at the WBC and the promoters of the tournament in Puerto Rico
got their hackles up last week when a lone fan decided to hold up that
beacon of free speech. The act, beamed on television around the world
including inside the freedom-starved island of Cuba, caused an immediate
uproar.

One of the thugs in the Cuban team's delegation confronted the
sign-waver because that's how things are done in Fidel Castro's prison
that doubles as an island nation.

You can survive as long as you offer zero dissent against the illegal
and immoral government. But have a dissenting opinion, and the thugs
show up at your door.

Anyway, the whole thing became something of an international incident
because the Cuban delegation protested -- funny how protests are OK as
long as they promote Fidel's agenda.

The Castro media parrot known as Granma wrote an editorial decrying the
``cowardly incident.''

Wanting to avoid further problems, the actual cowards in all this, the
tournament officials and organizers, moved to appease the Cuban
delegation and its bullies by disallowing signs or banners of a
political nature.

A sporting event, even a widly nationalistic and international event as
the WBC, is no venue to make a political statement, they reasoned.

No doubt those officials would have also denied Rosa Parks her right to
protest for her civil rights during that long-ago bus ride because,
well, a bus is not the right place to make a political statement.

The point here is no venue is exempt from a righteous protest against evil.

Rickety old stadiums that host a repressive country's baseball team are
as much in bounds for a protest as a drugstore counter that doesn't
serve blacks.

Not dissuaded, more Cuban patriots returned to Hiram Bithorn -- did I
mention it's a dump? -- wearing T-shirts that spelled out,
"A-B-A-J-O-F-I-D-E-L.''

The partisan Puerto Rican fans started chanting ''Fuera, fuera,'' or
``Get out, get out.''

Those chanting fans seem blind to the fact that, not for a sheer
happenstance of geography, Castro might have been born to them, making
him their oppressor rather than Cuba's.

Nonetheless, those same chanting fans had the right to voice their opinion.

That's how things are in places where free speech is the rule.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/14136051.htm