Join the vigil to protest the Obama-Castro Pact

 Stand up for your rights
 

Cuban Memorial at Tamiami Park (Next to Florida International University)

Time for students to again stand up for freedom in Cuba and to denounce the freeing of Gerardo Hernandez, a Cuban spy responsible for four deaths who was serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. Sign this petition and take part in a vigil to protest the Obama-Castro pact at the Cuban Memorial in Tamiami Park on Thursday, January 22 beginning at 5:00pm organized by the Cuban Resistance Assembly, of which the Free Cuba Foundation is a member.

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was born 86 years ago today on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia and was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. Today we remember his words: "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

What: Vigil to protest the Obama-Castro Pact
When: Thursday, January 22, 2015 starts at 5pm
Where: Cuban Memorial, Tamiami Park 11201 SW 24 Street, Miami, FL (Next to FIU)
Who: Organized by the Cuban Resistance Assembly

No More Che Day Student Initiative

Cubans suffer the weight of the myth created by the mega-operation of intelligence of exportation called Cuban Revolution, that has turned murderers like Che Guevara into global youth icons. - Rosa María Payá Acevedo  Iberoamerican Vanguard Summit Octuber 14, 2013.

No More Che Day 2014

October 9th marks the day in 1967 when an icon of hatred and political intolerance met his end violently in the jungles of Bolivia. It is easy to understand why the dictatorship in Cuba celebrates his memory and death but it is not so easy to understand why UNESCO does. The Argentine Maoist's legacy is a lamentable one that spread death and repression across the Americas and Africa:

Che Guevara was an admirer of Mao Zedong and his formulation of guerrilla warfare is adapted from the Chinese leader. Che published influential manuals Guerrilla Warfare (1961) and Guerrilla Warfare: A Method (1963), which were based on his own experiences and partly chairman Mao Zedong's writings. Guevara stated that revolution in Latin America must come through insurgent forces developed in rural areas with peasant support. His international legacy of glorifying violence through an erroneous analysis of guerrilla warfare, based on his experiences led to bloodbaths in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chiapas, Congo, Angola and decades of military dictatorship and political violence. Nevertheless it could have been worse. Another disciple of Mao Zedong who adapted his theories was Pol Pot, who unlike Che achieved power in 1975 after a guerrilla struggle in Cambodia. He carried out a radical revolution modeled after Mao and ended by killing 25% of the entire population of his country: Cambodia.

In 2010 the Free Cuba Foundation had as a guest speaker Félix Ismael Rodríguez, the CIA agent responsible for capturing Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. This year we will distribute posters and fliers exposing the facts about Ernesto "Che" Guevara as part of No More Che Day organized by the Young America's Foundation that exposes who he was: 

"Che Guevara was an international terrorist and mass murderer. During his vicious campaigns to impose Communism on countries throughout Latin America, Che Guevara trained and motivated the Castro regime's firing squads that executed thousands of men, women, and children. "

We will make the case for boycotting those who use Che as an "icon" of rebellion at the same time we'll advocate rejecting the Che icon in favor of embracing more authentic figures of resistance such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas.

Gandhi, King and Payá: Three Resistance Icons Worth Honoring

International Day of Nonviolence, Gandhi and the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment." - Mohandas Gandhi

Logo by Siuham Tse

Yesterday, members of the Florida International University community wore yellow and some carried an umbrella in solidarity with protesters in Hong Kong. The Umbrella Movement is nonviolent in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. Occupy Central with Love and Peace on September 30, 2014 issued the following call to action:

 The courage, determination, peacefulness and orderliness shown by the spontaneous democratic occupy movement in Hong Kong in the past few days, have written a glorious page in the development of Hong Kong’s democracy. The Hong Kong people’s demand for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down and the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) to withdraw its framework for fake democracy is loud and clear. In order to consolidate the results we have achieved, the students and Occupy Central With Love and Peace (OCLP) urges all Hong Kong people to join us in guarding the main thoroughfares of our major sites of democracy: Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok.

Incidentally, today is the International Day of Nonviolence, recognized as such by the United Nations in honor of Mohandas Gandhi's birthday on October 2, 1869.

Fairy sure its a montage of Gandhi with an umbrella

 The spiritual legacy of Bapu seen on the streets of Hong Kong 145 years after his birth demonstrates the continued relevance of nonviolence and hope for humanity at such a difficult time.

Showing solidarity with the Umbrella Movement at FIU

 Last  Friday, the world renown Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei opened an exhibition with seven installations called @Large Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz exploring human rights, freedom of expression and the plight of victims of repression. Among the 176 individuals he profiled in the installation Trace there is a Cuban prisoner of conscience whose name is Iván Fernández Depestre.

This should be a reminder to all people of good will that we are in this together. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. on April 16, 1963 explained it powerfully in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea.

 The people of Hong Kong are risking all for their freedom and need your solidarity. Please do what you can and take action. Below is a life feed from Occupy Central in Hong Kong, China.

Gandhi King Payá Season for Nonviolence: January 30 - July 22

Gandhi King Payá Season for Nonviolence: January 30 - July 22

174 days to honor three icons of nonviolent resistance with the dates of their assassinations marking the start, midpoint and end of a series of events and exercises. Inspired by the 64 day Season for Nonviolence initiated by Dr. Arun Gandhi in 1988 and continued to the present day this event will focus on three icons of nonviolence who were martyred: Mohandas Gandhi on January 30, 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 and  Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas on July 22, 2012. Each left behind a body of writings and a lifetime of activism that still inspire today. This effort falls within the guidelines of the 64 day Season for Nonviolence:

"The Season for Nonviolence represents a successful new model called, 'omni - local' conscious action: 'Engaging large numbers of self - empowered leaders and groups in a collective intention, supplied with strategic sharable tools, adding their own local resources to work globally with singular purpose.'"

Beginning on January 30, 2014 with this announcement we will focus on a number of actions that span the physical, the psychological and the spiritual. Dates that will involve concrete actions are the following:

January 30 - 66 year observance of the killing of Mohandas Gandhi

February 23 - Four year observance of the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo on Hunger Strike

February 24 - 18 year observance of the killings of four members of Brothers to the Rescue

April 4 - 46 year observance of the killing of Martin Luther King Jr.

May 8 - Three year observance of the killing of Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia

May 25 - 42 year observance of the death of Pedro Luis Boitel on hunger strike

July 13 - 20 year observance of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat sinking that killed 37

July 22 - Two year observance of the killings of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante

The Objectives 

Our objective is to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and community. Through an educational and community action campaign, we will recognize those who have and are using nonviolence to build a community that honors the dignity and worth of every human being. By identifying “what works” in these new models for reconciliation and human harmony, this effort will demonstrate that every person can move the world in the direction of peace through their daily nonviolent choice and action.

The Vision

The Gandhi - King - Payá Season for Nonviolence 

As a human family we are asking the question: “How can any act of violence be recognized as a solution to the consequences of violence that we face today?” Violent actions and reactions are t he scars of social, educational, and economic wounds... the voices of a spiritually inarticulate culture. The practice of nonviolence is initiated by choice and cultivated through agreement. The time has come to agree upon this as a global community as if our lives, and those of our children’s children, depended on it. Our vision is of a better world for all human beings. To this end, we undertake the “Gandhi - King Payá Season for Nonviolence” by applying our efforts and resources to identifying, then bringing focus to the spectrum of grassroots projects and programs by individuals and organizations who are pro - actualizing a peaceful social order.


Day 1 of the 174 Days of Gandhi King Payá 

Watch the following to videos related to Mohandas Gandhi. The first recorded in 1931 was the first interview given on camera to Mohandas Gandhi. The second video is a biography of the non-violent Indian icon. The final video is in Spanish and is by Sara Marta Fonseca, a recently exiled Cuban dissident and she speaks about the importance of Gandhi for activists in Cuba.

 Mohandas Gandhi interviewed in 1931

 Gandhi biography: Pilgrim of Peace

Sara Marta Fonseca speaks about the legacy of Mohandas Gandhi

A Season for Nonviolence: Honoring Gandhi, King and Payá through action

“There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything. I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen Power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is unlike all that I perceive through my senses.” - Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you...  Martin Luther King Jr., A Christmas Sermon for Peace on Dec 24, 1967 

The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. - Oswaldo Paya, December 17, 2002 

Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's grandson, began the Season for Non-violence in 1998 at the United Nations observing the 64 days on the calendar between the January 30, 1948 assassination of Gandhi and the April 4, 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Fifteen years later it is still observed and open for all to take part. Participants are asked to take a pledge of nonviolence which involves respecting yourself and others, communicating honestly, listening, to engage in forgiveness, respecting nature, playing creatively, and to be courageous.

The Free Cuba Foundation, a student movement founded at Florida International University, observed the first and tenth Season for Non-Violence with essay contests, panel discussions and films on Gandhi, King and Jose Marti. Unfortunately, the untimely death of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, on July 22, 2012 lifted him into the pantheon of martyred advocates of nonviolence.

Three things you can do right now in solidarity with Oswaldo, Harold and the Christian Liberation Movement:

1. Sign the petition and let others know about it. (Its in English and Spanish)

2. Follow the Christian Liberation Movement and Rosa Maria Payá on twitter.

3. Generate your own blog entry about Oswaldo and Harold and send us your ideas for future nonviolent actions.

Over these 64 days take a moment each day to reflect on both  your power and the power of nonviolence and what you can do to make the world a better place. First, sign the pledge, print it out and keep it where you can see it each day as a reminder.

Season for Nonviolence: Honoring figures of nonviolence in Cuba

"If what we do for Cuba, we do not do for love, better not do it." - Bishop Agustin Roman

"Forty Ladies in White marched through the Fifth avenue promenade in Miramar, Havana and dedicated the march to Jose Marti and Mohandas Gandhi." - Angel Moya, January 27, 2013

Both in 1998 and 2008 the Free Cuba Foundation organized gatherings and activities to reflect on the shared values and ideals of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jose Marti. At first blush it appears that Marti would be the odd man out who died in battle on horseback in the 19th century fighting for Cuban independence, but then we read his words and the life that he lived and realize that he rejected hatred and saw violence as a last resort not to be entered into lightly.

An essay published in Spanish in the El Nuevo Herald by a La Salle student outlined the lives of the three men. It is in José Martí's writings that the reader finds a man who loved freedom, rejected hatred -even of one's enemy- and only embraced violent conflict as a last resort. One wonders if instead of riding into battle on horseback if he would've been the trailblazer of nonviolent resistance. What would have Cuba's political culture been like if as in the case of Havel the Cuban poet and writer would've lived to have been president and guide the new republic in the first years of its existence?

Its been said that when a friend betrayed him to the police José Martí sent him the following poem:

Cultivo una rosa blanca

En julio como en enero,

Para el amigo sincero

Que me da su mano franca.

Y para el cruel que me arranca

El corazon con que vivo,

Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,

Cultivo una rosa blanca.  

It translates to English as follows:

I cultivate a white rose 

In July as in January 

For the sincere friend 

Who gives me his hand frankly. 

And for the cruel person who tears out 

The heart with which I live, 

I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns: 

I cultivate a white rose.

The Season for Non-Violence spans the 64 days on the calendar between the martyrdom of Mohandas Gandhi on January 30, 1948 and Martin Luther King Jr.'s on April 4, 1968. For Cubans this period of time is also particularly impacting because one day earlier, January 29 marks the birth of Harold Cepero and in late February the anniversary of the birth of Oswaldo Paya,  the deaths of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and four members of Brothers to the Rescue. All of these men are nonviolent martyrs who struggled for freedom with love and without hatred. Let us join in honoring them over these next 64 days.