Let him sing, but it's not apolitical
BY DAMIAN PARDO
Pardo is a founder of SAVE Dade, a gay rights organization, and has
served on many local boards, including the Dade Community Foundation and
the Health Crisis Network.
As a Cuban American I have closely followed the ongoing debate regarding
the Juanes concert in Havana.
I appreciate strong positions on both sides of the issue.
In the end, for many this conflict is less about an actual concert
taking place and more about the undertow of Cuban politics.
I understand how a concert in Havana might bring awareness, hope and
needed solace to families and people downtrodden and repressed by an
arcane and barely tolerable system of government.
I further appreciate how people and families who have been prohibited
from returning to their homeland, persecuted for speaking their mind,
and suffered loss of property and life are outraged by the event.
Perhaps the issue might be less stinging had the concert been staged
somewhere other that the Plaza de la Revolucion -- the very same plaza
where many families were required to turn in the titles to their homes
and properties before departing Cuba.
If we step back a minute and consider the debate, we can analyze a
similar thread through this concert as with many other events, including
our participation in the Olympics when hosted in countries with
notorious human rights violations.
The debate in my view is: Should arts/sports/music be disassociated or
above politics?
When I was younger I certainly thought so. Then one day I visited the
Holocaust Museum.
In a dimly lit stall a reel was running depicting the head of the U.S.
Olympic Committee answering calls from the U.S. Jewish community to
boycott the Olympics. The protagonist eloquently explained how sport
(like art) was above politics and the games would build bridges.
The next shot in the reel was of a beautiful little girl with golden
locks handing a large crown of roses to Adolf Hitler in the middle of a
packed, crowded stadium hailing the Fuhrer in Berlin.
In the backdrop of the shot, the U.S. Olympic team waving our flag
marched behind his image.
Clearly unintentionally, our participation in some way furthered the
Nazi agenda of promoting the image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany at a
time when Germany was ``anything but.''
This subject and debate is not limited to the Cuban community. We have
seen the same theme time and time again in conflicts involving East/West
Germany, Israel and the Soviet Union. The vast majority of the Cuban
community has debated this issue publicly and privately, peacefully and
with respect.
Many newer arrivals from Cuba, who were raised in the communist system
and have little understanding of the use of such images as the ones in
Germany in 1936, associate the debate with opening minds in Cuba and
promoting dialogue among the Cuban people.
By contrast, many Cuban Americans focus on an erroneous message, much
like that given in the 1936 Nazi Olympics, of supporting the Cuban
government's campaign to promote the image of a peaceful, tolerant Cuba
at a time when Cuba is ``anything but.''
Consequently, the concert is seen by some as a symbol of disrespect to
many families and their ancestors who suffered and struggled at the
hands of the Cuban government.
I find it striking that the one event closely associated with the fall
of another arcane and dysfunctional system -- the East German government
-- was Ronald Reagan's speech at the Berlin Wall demanding Mr. Gorbachev
``tear down this wall.''
It was an indignant message calling for greater morality and justice, as
well as a decisive call to action. It was not a concert with
government-endorsed artists joining hands in Red Square.
Unfortunately, the only victims here, as usual, are the Cuban people.
They will have one or two nights of anticipation, excitement and
possible hope, only to return to the same oppressive, hostile world
where they spend every day trying to survive or escape.
The concert will feed their passive addiction to hope with no real
change as has occurred so often in the past amounting to nothing more
than cultural exploitation.
I suppose the only ``winners'' will be the recipients of the free
publicity and the significant corporate interests hoping to expand into
new markets.
Those of us (but especially Cuban Americans) who live in Miami will once
again feel the burden and darkness of a great divide that while only
spanning 90 miles from Key West has lasted longer and is much more
impenetrable than the Berlin wall.
As for the ``rah rah go concert'' faction and the ``stop the concert
yesterday'' crowd, I say let the concert go on, but with eyes wide open.
Let him sing, but it's not apolitical - Issues & Ideas - MiamiHerald.com
(20 September 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/issues_ideas/story/1241199.html
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