Cold winds blew at the end of 1989, a particularly biting spell for Havana. The sensation of loneliness gripped us all…a sensation that would last —in the sense of its newness and depth— for at least three more years.
Read MoreFortunately, my genes were never that xenophobic and were quite rebellious. Though an absurdly strong rejection of everything Slavic could have developed within me, this didn’t happen. In the same way, the absence of my mom and dad in my early childhood didn’t cause “little Armando” to hate Central America for stealing them away for a libratory cause.
Read MoreHoward Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010), a militant anarchist, social activist, historian and American political scientist, has left on a new journey.
Read MoreThis pronouncement was not from the socialist voices of Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn, nor from those like Johns Rawls or Richard Rorty of the liberal stripe. It was US President Barack Obama.
Read MoreTo maintain both forms of partisanship (official and dissident) outside the electoral process and to prevent police interference in the community would be examples of respect for civic will and for the legitimacy of perhaps the only level in the nation where popular participation still plays a leading role (and not mere ornamentation).
Read MoreExcept for such tragicomic incidents, my young Cuban friend summarized the emotion of the encounter in a single phase. “They spoke about the divided family, the nostalgia… and I was happy to be able to rekindle that, to see new people and rediscover old faces… singing, shouting and standing up for a better future for our generation…”
Read MoreWe lack the necessary “international safeguards” capable of protecting and assisting countries at risk of being destroyed by climate change or confronting emergency situations in cases of disaster. At the summit we witnessed only rhetoric, an absence of vision and flimsy commitments to the future.
Read MoreIn my mind -trained by the rigors of academia, contemplative art and traditional Party activism- they seemed half-crazy…these “black hippies” dressed in tunics, skirts and sometimes turbans or construction helmets.
Read MoreThe Copenhagen Summit is now knocking on our doors. However, due fundamentally to the irresponsibility of the major powers (those both imperial and emerging), who are the principal emitters of polluting gases, world leaders have not reached the necessary consensus prior to this conference.
Read MoreIn this period marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall -filled with such grief, silence and commemoration- it’s worth re-visiting other, more personal storylines of communist utopia.
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