***The Roots Is The Toots-The Music That Got The Generation Of ’68 Through The 1950s Red Scare Cold War Night

 

Peter Paul Markin comment on this series:

 

I recently completed the first leg of this series which is intended to go through different stages of the American songbook as it has evolved since the 19^th century, especially music that could be listened to by the general population through radio, later television, and more recently the fantastic number of ways to listen to it all from computers to iPods. That first leg dealt with the music of my parents’ generation, that being the parents of the generation of ’68, those who struggled through the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s. This leg, centered on the music of my generation growing up in the Cold War 1950s, is a natural progression from that first leg since a lot of what we were striving for was to make a big musical break-out from the music that was wafting through many of our houses in the early 1950s.

The pitter-patter sound of stuff from Tin Pan Alley and sometimes from Broadway if they were not one in the same once they hit our muffled ears. You know Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree, Rum and Coca Cola, Tangerine, I’ll Get By, If I Didn’t Care, tear the goalposts down, grab a Tennessee waltz, and swing and sway with Big Buddha and some guy chomping on the chop sticks. The music of our “square” parents which was driving us to desperation for a new sound just in case those threatened bombs that we kept being warned about actually were detonated. At least that musical jail-break is the way we will tell the story now, although I, for one, have a little more tolerance for some of their music, those square parents still square but maybe there was hope if the listened to the Ink Spots crooning away at about seven million different songs with that great harmony, or the Duke taking that A train or better, much better sweet junkie Billie swaying a dark fruit, day and night, all of me, and whatever else Cole Porter could button up the night with. Some, I said, since I am unabashedly a child of rock and roll, now denominated classic rock. Jesus.   

Whether we liked it or not, whether we even knew what it meant, or frankly, during that hellish growing up absurd teenager time in the 1950s trying to figure out our places, if any, in the cold war red scare world, if there was to be a world, and that was a close thing at times, or whether we cared, our tribal music was as dear a thing to us, we who were in the throes of finding our own very different musical identities. Whether we knew it or not in the big world- historic picture scheme of things, knew what sacred place the music of the 1950s, rhythm and blues, scat be-bop, rockabilly, doo wop, flat out pure rock and roll those tunes held a primordial place in our youthful hearts. That was our music, our getting through the tough times music of post-World War II teen alienation and angst, that went wafting through the house on the living room radio (when the parents were out), on the family record player (ditto on the parents), or, for some, the television (double ditto the parents out, especially when American Bandstand hit us like a hurricane and we breathlessly rushed home very afternoon after school to make sure we were hip to the latest songs, the latest dances, the latest hair styles, boys and girls, and whether that brunette with the boffo hair-do and showing an edge of cleavage was ‘going steady” or whether we has a dream chance at her, or her “sister,” same boffo hair-do sitting across from you in seventh grade English class), and best of all on that blessed transistor radio, compact enough to hide in shirt pockets but loud enough when placed next to your ear to block out that mother-father-brothers buzz that only disturbed you more,  rear a that allowed us to while away the time up in our rooms away from snooping parental ears. Yes, that was the pastime of many of those of us who constitute the now graying fading generation of ‘68.

Some of us will pass to the beyond clueless as to why we were attuned to this music when we came of age in a world, a very darkly-etched world, which we too like most of our parents had not created, and had no say in creating. That includes a guy, me, a coalminer’s son who got as caught up in the music of his time as any New York City Jack or Jill or Chi town frat or frail whose father busted out of the tumbled down tarpaper shacks down in some Appalachia hills and hollows, headed north, followed the northern star, his own version, and never looked back and neither did his son.

Yes we were crazy for the swing and sway of Big Joe Turner snapping those big fingers like some angel- herald letting the world know, if it did not know already, that it did not mean a thing, could not possibly matter in the universe, if you did not whether your young febrile brain caught any or all of the not so subtle to experienced ears sexual innuendoes that drove Shake, Rattle, and Roll, if you did not rock with or without Miss La Vern Baker, better with, better with, her hips swaying slightly, lips moistened, swirling every guy in the place on Jim Dandy vowing be her man just for that smile and a chance at those slightly swaying hips. Mr. Elvis Presley, with or without the back-up boys, better with because they held the key to the backbeat that drove Elvis just a little bit hardy, rockier, and for the girls from about ten to one hundred sexier, belting out songs, knocking down walls, maybe Jericho, maybe just some teen-struck Starlight Ballroom in Kansas City blasting the joint with his Jailhouse Rock to the top of the charts. Elegant Bill Haley, with or without that guy blowing that sexy sax out into the ocean air night in some Frisco club, blowing out to the Japan seas on Rock Around The Clock. Bo Diddley, all banded up if there is such a word, making eyes wild with that Afro-Carib beat on Who Do You Love. A young Ike Tina-less Turner too with his own aggregation wailing Rocket 88 that had every high school girl throwing dreamy nickels and dimes into the jukebox, with or without fanfare. Buddy Holly, with or without those damn glasses, talking up Peggy Sue before his too soon last journey. Miss Wanda Jackson, the female Elvis, with or without the blues, personal blues, strung out blues too, singing everybody else’s blues away with that throaty thing she had (and that long black hair and ruby red lips to make a schoolboy dream funny dreams), that meaningful pause, on yeah, Let’s Have A Party. Miss (Ms.) Patsy Cline, with or without the bad moments, making grown men cry (women too) when she reached that high note fretting about her long gone man on She’s Got You, Jesus. (And you not caring for all the strung-out emotion, or hubris, still wanting Patsy for a last chance last dance close up song to take a whirl at that she you had been eying until your eyes got sore all night.)   

Miss (Ms.) Brenda Lee too chiming in with I’m Sorry. Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis doing a million songs fronting that wild piano off the back of a flat-bed truck in High School Confidential calling out, no preaching out the new dispensation to anybody who wanted to rise in that rocking world, with or without a horde of cashmere sweater girls breaking down his doors, putting everybody else to shame. The Everly Brothers, always with that soft -spoken refrain catch that nobody seemed to tire of, getting everybody nervous, everybody who had gone past curfew looking for a little, well, looking okay, and not reflecting enough on damn reputations except in the school pecking order determined first week of  ninth grade in the girls’ lounge and boys’ “lav,” doing teary Wake Up Little Susie. The Drifters with or without those boardwalks. The Sherilles with or without the leader of the pack, the Dixie Cups with or without whatever they were doing at that chapel. Miss Carole King, with or without the boys, writing the bejesus out of last gasp Tin Pan Alley. Yeah, our survival music. 

We, the generation of ’68, baby-boomers, decidedly not what Tom Brokaw dubbed rightly or wrongly “the greatest generation,” decidedly not our parents’ generation, finally could not bear to hear their music, could not bear to think anybody in the whole universe would think that stuff was cool. Those of us who came of age, biological, political, and social age kicking, screaming and full of the post-war new age teenage angst and alienation in the time of Jack Kennedy’s Camelot were ready for a jail-break, a jail-break on all fronts and that included from “their song” stuff. Their staid Eisenhower red scare cold war stuff (he their organizer of victory, their gentile father Ike), hell, we knew that the world was scary, knew it every time we were forced to go down into some dank school basement and squat down, heads down too, hoping to high heaven that the Russkies had not decided to go crazy and set off “the bomb,” many bombs. And every righteous teenager had a nightmare that, he or she, was trapped in some fashionable family bunker and those loving parents had thoughtfully brought their records down into the abyss to soothe their savage beasts for the duration. Yelling in that troubled sleep please, please, please if we must die then at least let’s go out to Jerry Lee’s High School Confidential.  

We were moreover, some of us anyway, and I like to think the best of us, driven by some makeshift dreams, ready to cross our own swords with the night-takers of our time, and who, in the words of Camelot brother Bobby, sweet ruthless Bobby of more than one shed tear in this quarter, quoting from Alfred Lord Tennyson, were “seeking a new world.” Those who took up the call to action heralded by the new dispensation and slogged through the 60s decade whether it was in the civil rights/black liberation struggle, the anti-Vietnam War struggle or the struggle to find one’s own identity in the counter-culture swirl before the hammer came down were kindred. To the disapproval, anger, and fury of more than one parent who had gladly slept through the Eisenhower times. And that hammer came down quickly as the decade ended and the high white note that we searched for, desperately searched for, drifted out into the ebbing tide. Gone. But enough of that for this series is about our uphill struggles to make our vision of the our newer world, our struggles to  satisfy our hunger a little, to stop that gnawing want, and the music that in our youth  we dreamed by on cold winter nights and hot summer days.

The Latest From The Partisan Defense Committee Website- And A Personal Appeal From The American Left History Blog - Remembering The Class-War Prisoners During The Holiday Appeal     

 

James P. Cannon (center)-Founding leader of The International Labor Defense- a model for labor defense work in the 1920s and 1930s.

Click below to link to the Partisan Defense Committee website.

http://www.partisandefense.org/

Reposted from the American Left History blog, dated December 1, 2010, updated December 2014.

Markin comment:

I like to think of myself as a long-time fervent supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, an organization committed to social and political defense cases and causes in the interests of the international working class. Cases from early on in the 1970s when the organization was founded and the committee defended the Black Panthers who were being targeted by every police agency that had an say in the matter, the almost abandoned by the left Weather Underground (in its various incantations) and Chilean miners in the wake of the Pinochet coup there in 1973 up to more recent times with the Mumia death penalty case, defense of the Occupy movement and the NATO three, and defense of the heroic Wiki-leaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley).

Moreover the PDC is an organization committed, at this time of the year, to raising funds to support the class-war prisoners’ stipend program through the annual Holiday Appeal drive. Unfortunately having to raise these funds in support of political prisoners for many years now, too many years, as the American and international capitalist class and their hangers-on have declared relentless war, recently a very one-sided war, against those who would cry out against the monster. Attempting to silence voices from zealous lawyers like Lynne Stewart, articulate death-row prisoners like Mumia and the late Tookie Williams, anti-fascist street fighters like the Tingsley Five to black liberation fighters like the Assata Shakur, the Omaha Three and the Angola Three and who ended up on the wrong side of a cop and state vendetta and anti-imperialist fighters like the working-class based Ohio Seven and student-based Weather Underground who took Che Guevara’s admonition to wage battle inside the “belly of the beast” seriously. Others, other militant labor and social liberation fighters as well, too numerous to mention here but remembered.

Normally I do not need any prompting in the matter. This year tough I read the 25th Anniversary Appeal article in Workers Vanguard No. 969 where I was startled to note how many of the names, organizations, and political philosophies mentioned there hark back to my own radical coming of age, and the need for class-struggle defense of all our political prisoners in the late 1960s (although I may not have used that exact term at the time).

That recognition included names like black liberation fighter George Jackson’s present class-war prisoner Hugo Pinell’s San Quentin Six comrade; the Black Panthers in their better days, the days when the American state really was out to kill or detain every last supporter, and in the days when we needed, desperately needed, to fight for their defense in places from Oakland to New Haven,  as represented by two of the Omaha Three (Poindexter and wa Langa), in their younger days; the struggle, the fierce struggle, against the death penalty as represented in Mumia’s case today (also Black Panther-connected); the Ohio 7 and the Weather Underground who, rightly or wrongly, were committed to building a second front against American imperialism, and who most of the left, the respectable left, abandoned; and, of course, Leonard Peltier and the Native American struggles from Pine Ridge to the Southwest. It has been a long time and victories few. I could go on but you get the point.

That point also includes the hard fact that we have paid a high price, a very high price, for not winning back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when we last had this capitalist imperialist society on the ropes. Maybe it was political immaturity, maybe it was cranky theory, maybe it was elitism, hell, maybe it was just old-fashioned hubris but we let them off the hook. And have had to fight forty years of rear-guard “culture wars” since just to keep from falling further behind.

And the class-war prisoners, our class-war prisoners, have had to face their “justice” and their prisons. Many, too many for most of that time. That lesson should be etched in the memory of every pro-working class militant today. And this, as well, as a quick glance at the news these days should make every liberation fighter realize; the difference between being on one side of that prison wall and the other is a very close thing when the bourgeois decides to pull the hammer down. The support of class-war prisoners is thus not charity, as International Labor Defense founder James P. Cannon noted back in the 1920s, but a duty of those fighters outside the walls. Today I do my duty, and gladly. I urge others to do the same now at the holidays and throughout the year. The class-war prisoners must not stand alone. 

CUBA-End The Bockade

Republicans are hyperventilating over Pres. Obama’s move to normalize relations with Cuba – along with a dwindling generation of Cuban exiles and counter-revolutionaries in Florida.  Opinions may differ on the nature of the Cuban political and economic system, but concern for “democracy” had nothing to do with US hostility. Our government had cordial relations with the pre-Castro Batista/Mafia dictatorship; it continued to remain supportive of anti-democratic regimes throughout Latin America – in Haiti, Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile and Argentina -- while it pursued its war against Cuba.  And if it is commonly noted how “impoverished” Cuba remains, the question may well be asked, “in comparison with what?” Cuban life expectancy and literacy levels put it on par with the world’s most developed nations and far above nearly all of Latin America, including much “richer” countries.  The Cuban infant mortality rate is equal to that of Canada, and lower than the US.

 

US Was at Odds With World Over Cuba Policy

President Barack Obama's decision to pursue new relations with Cuba was driven in part by a stinging realization: Longstanding U.S. policies aimed at isolating Cuba had instead put Washington at odds with the rest of the world. The American economic embargo on Cuba drove a wedge between the U.S. and Latin American nations. In an annual diplomatic embarrassment, the United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. policy. And while the U.S. was clinging to its economic restrictions against the small communist nation just 90 miles off its shores, leaders of China, Russia and Brazil flocked to Havana, promising millions in investment… The latest vote on Oct. 29 was 188-2, with only the U.S. and Israel voting "no." General Assembly resolutions are nonbinding and unenforceable but they do reflect world opinion, and the vote has given Cuba an annual stage to demonstrate the isolation of the U.S. on the embargo. The number of Americans who see Cuba as a serious threat has declined. A 1983 CNN/Time poll found 29 percent considered Cuba a very serious threat. That dipped to 13 percent in 1994 and 12 percent in 1997.  More

 

US-Cuba relations: Global praise for normalisation of ties

World leaders have welcomed a historic move by the US to end more than 50 years of hostility towards Cuba and restore diplomatic relations.  Pope Francis joined leaders from Latin America and Europe in praising the "historic" deal which saw the release of prisoners from both countries… The announcement followed more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the pontiff.  The European Union, which is in the process of normalising ties with Cuba, described the move as a "historical turning point", while leaders meeting at a Latin America summit in Argentina broke into applause at the news.  More

Holiday Greetings to All Friends

of Dorchester People for Peace!

Best Wishes from DPP to those observing the holidays – or simply enjoying the spirit of the season. . .

 

And a PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

We have posted these videos many times before during the Holidays.  Watch them for the first time if you haven’t seen them before; watch them again and you won’t be disappointed.

 

CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES -- 1914

In December, 1914, after months of slaughter during the First World War (it was supposed to be “The War to End all Wars”!), British and German soldiers declared an informal and spontaneous truce.  The story of their fraternization and holiday celebration is told in detail here and here.

 

 

Christmas In The Trenches VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9coPzDx6tA  

The event has been immortalized in a song by folksinger John McCutcheon, which you can hear and watch along with contemporary illustrations and a moving introduction by the performer.

 

The song ends with this stanza:

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I've learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

 

*   *   *   *

Celebrating War Over and Over and Peace Once 

From Bavaria to New Zealand, town squares across the world are adorned with memorials to local men “fallen” in 1914-1918, and statues and plaques honoring the war’s leading generals can be found from Edinburgh Castle to Pershing Square in Los Angeles. But virtually nothing similar celebrates those who served the cause of peace. The Polish-German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, who argued against the suppression of free speech both in the Kaiser’s Germany and in Soviet Russia, spent more than two years in a German prison for her opposition to the war. The eloquent British philosopher Bertrand Russell did six months’ time in a London jail for the same reason. The American labor leader Eugene V. Debs, imprisoned for urging resistance to the draft, was still in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta in 1920, two years after the war ended, when he received nearly a million votes as the Socialist Party candidate for president… Perhaps when the next anniversary of the Iraq War comes around, it’s time to break with a tradition that makes ever less sense in our world. Next time, why not have parades to celebrate those who tried to prevent that grim, still ongoing conflict from starting? Of course, there’s an even better way to honor and thank veterans of the struggle for peace: don’t start more wars.  More

 

*    *    *    *

VIDEO: John Lennon – HAPPY CHRISTMAS (The War is Over)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg

 

 

 

John Lennon

(killed on December 8, 1980)

VIDEO:   “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yU0JuE1jTk

 

***************************

Yusuf Ibrahim (aka Cat Stevens)

 

 

VIDEO: “Peace Train”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7wEctHyuc0

 

*   *   *   *

U.S. Nuclear Missiles on Instant Alert — A Catastrophe Waiting to Happen     The threat of accidental nuclear war is terrifyingly real, which can be seen by Googling that phrase (try it!). You will see how often we came so very close. And those entries do not even include the mishaps and near-disasters of the less-maintained Russian weapons, nor those of the other nuclear states. The current highly computerized launch-on-warning response policy on our 450 nuclear missiles allows very little time to check whether the perceived threat of an incoming strike is real, or merely reflections off some clouds. This confusion has happened before, and the world came close to catastrophe. In addition, studies have shown that to actually use our 450 nuclear missiles, even in response to a real attack, would probably be enough to cause a "nuclear winter.”  The rising dust produced by these nuclear detonations would block sunlight from reaching the Earth, likely causing world-wide agricultural collapse, and possibly human extinction. Fortunately, President Obama can take U.S. nuclear missiles off hair-trigger alert, with his signature alone. No Congressional involvement is required. Just like George H.W. Bush did in 1991, when he unilaterally took all U.S. nuclear bombers circling around the globe 24/7 off hair-trigger alert. This eased the Russians' fears, and made them less jumpy on the trigger, so to speak.     Urge the President to use this post-election opportunity to de-alert all of our nuclear missiles, just like George H.W. Bush de-alerted our nuclear-armed bombers. Remind him of the terrifying threat of accidental, unintended, nuclear war, and that the nuclear winter set off by the use of our 450 missiles would likely kill us all. He needs a little push to do what he called for in 2007.   CONTACT:   PRESIDENT OBAMA Web: www.whitehouse.gov/contact Tel: 202 456-1111 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) Fax: 202 456-2461 Mail: President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500 Photo: Mimi in Maine, Lois Barber 2014

Join 2020 Action! Our mission is to inform and inspire Americans to turn their concern, passion, and outrage into meaningful action for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Each month you'll receive, via email or post, a beautiful postcard with a well-researched action and a photograph that celebrates the beauty and wonder of the natural world. On the printed cards, the back of each photo is blank so you can separate it and reuse it as a postcard. $20/year for individuals. Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership now for 2015!   Dues are $40/year for an individual, $65 for a family, or $10 for student/unemployed/low income.  Pay now and you will be a member in good standing through December 2015! Your financial support makes this work possible! Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-354-2169  • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter Click here to unsubscribe

Free Chelsea Manning - President Obama Pardon Chelsea Manning Now!

Birthday Vigil for Chelsea Manning In Boston

 

In honor of Chelsea Manning’s 27th birthday, this December 20^th 2014, responding to a call from the Chelsea Manning Support Network and Payday Men’s Network and Queer Strike long-time supporters of freedom for Chelsea Manning from the Boston Chelsea Manning Support Committee, Veterans For Peace and other activists in Boston will celebrate Chelsea’s birthday. Currently, Payday Men’s Network and Queer Strike actions are planned for London, San Francisco, Berlin, and Philadelphia.

Supporters are encouraged to also organize an event in their area, and Payday Men’s Network and Queer Strike will publicize it.  Write to payday@paydaynet.org for more information and to share details of your event.

Boston vigil details:

1:00-2:00 PM Saturday, December 20

Park Street Station Entrance on the Boston Common

Imprisoned in 2010 and held for months under torturous conditions, Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in August 2013. If this stands, she’ll be out in 2045. We cannot let this happen- – we have to get her out! We will not leave our sister behind. Bring yourself and encourage others to attend and sign the petition for a presidential pardon from Barack Obama in this important show of support to Chelsea Manning  

No Justice, No Peace- Black Lives Matter- You Have Got That Right Brothers and Sisters-Speaking Truth To Power

Open Source with Christopher Lydon

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December 18, 2014

Protesters: what got you out onto the streets in 2014?

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The New Kids On The Block

The protests chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe” in the wake of the police killings in Missouri, New York, and elsewhere, will draw comparisons. They’re less pious than the Civil Rights Movement and they have the same problem as Occupy: a loose organization with no clear demands. But there are demands, and leaders, too, who are a big part of the story here. Young people of color, more women than men, and lots of them gay and lesbian, with a new common culture and , here and there, a critical analysis: of a society that they say has been resegregated, defunded, and overpoliced for too long.
A generation is on the march in the nation’s poorest places and on college campuses everywhere. Where do they want to take us? If you’ve led or joined the protests in Ferguson or anywhere in the past on the subject of police brutality, justice or inequality, please leave us a message by clicking here or on the microphone icon above. If you prefer, you can use your phone and call (617) 353-0692. 
We’d like to know why you’re protesting, what you’re hoping for, and the details of your experience. (Onlookers, feel free to leave us a message, too!) Is there something building here, something new and maybe vital? We’ll include the best ones on the air and on our site.

Guest List

Tef Poe
rapper, activist, and co-founder of Hands Up United.

Robin D. G. Kelley
distinguished professor of history, Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States History, and author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination.

Glenn C. Loury

Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and author of The Anatomy of Racial Inequality.

Bukky Gbadegesin
assistant professor of art history at St. Louis University and a coordinator at the Organization for Black Struggle.

Reading List

"Dear Mr. President: A Letter from Tef Poe"
Tef Poe, The Riverfront Times
One version of the new protest ethos, sent in an open letter to a black president preaching calm:

I have never looted or violently struck a police officer. We do lift our voices to yell, and yes, we often use profanity. We are more aggressive than protesters in the past, primarily because we are in a state of emotional disbelief. Mike Brown spent four and a half hours in the street, baking and bleeding on the hot summer pavement. We know you know this is wrong, so the disconnect between your words and your personal convictions has raised many questions in the black community.

 

"The Disruption This Time"
L. A. Kauffman, "The Baffler"
Kauffman, a veteran organizer, notices something different in the latest protests in New York:

I’ve been attending and observing protests for thirty years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like what I’ve experienced in New York City over the last week...

The protests have been mobile and deft, steered by tactically savvy organizers for maximal disruption and minimal arrests. Crowds blockade intersections until the police get antsy, then quickly march off to a new target; they swarm high-profile sites like Grand Central Station and Macy’s Herald Square, disrupt with loud chants, shift to a silent die-in, and then move on.

"Moving Pictures"
Jay Caspian Kang, The New York Times Magazine
An interesting meditation on how protests work in our social-media age:

Over the past few years, the distance between online protest and physical protest has shrunk considerably. There is a tendency to deride the hollowness of Twitter activism and ask why the activists have confined themselves to what seems like a meaningless and ultimately unactionable space. But the second part of that critique — where the critic tells the activist to go out and do something — has always been vague, an appeal to a form of protest that might no longer exist. In Ferguson and now in New York, the marchers and their personal, online broadcasts fed off one another. Carrying a sign and chanting helps, but it exists in only one sphere, unless you take a picture of it.

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Ferguson is Everywhere

We’re all caught in the floodlights of Ferguson, Missouri, still reeling from the death of Michael Brown and the non-indictment of Darren Wilson, the man who shot him. We seem to be seeing American society down...

Cornel West’s View From Ferguson

“To be on fire is to have a deep love that ignites a holy anger and a righteous indignation and moral outrage at unemployment, decrepit schools, wealth inequality and callousness toward poor and working people.” ...

Cuban Parliament Thanks International Solidarity with the Five Dec. 19, 2014 Reprinted from ACN HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 19 (acn) The Cuban National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP by its Spanish acronym) thanked today in plenary, all parliamentarians and legislators of the world for their support to the cause of the Cuban Five. In the presence of Raul Castro, President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba, a proposal from the International Relations Committee of the Parliament of the Caribbean nation, the 546 deputies present unanimously approved the statement read by the legislator Yolanda Ferrer Gómez. We fully support the recent speech of President Raul Castro said Ferrer Gomez at the Havana Conventions Palace, while stressing the joy of Cubans at the news of the return to the Homeland of Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labañino, after a long battle for justice. She also noted that they had fulfilled the words of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro when in June 2001 said, "They will return", a term that guided so many years of struggle. The declaration adopted also thanked the governments and solidarity groups who have taken as their own the cause of The Five, who are symbol of dignity of the Cuban people. This battle has been won by dint of principles, steadfastness, perseverance and international solidarity, the deputy said. Last December 14th the XIII ALBA-TCP was held in Havana, in which the tenth anniversary of the integration mechanism was commemorated. In that sense the ANPP, welcomes the important date and pays tribute to the twentieth anniversary of the historic meeting between leaders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. The deputies also pledged to defend the founding principles of the Alliance, promoter of cooperation and integration of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean in search of a prosperous and sustainable development of the region. National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba Havana, December 19, 2014 “Year 56 of the Revolution”

Agradece Asamblea Nacional apoyo mundial a causa de Los Cinco 19 de diciembre de 2014 Tomado de ACN La Habana, 19 dic (AIN) Reproducimos la declaración aprobada este viernes por la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, para ser enviada a todos los parlamentos y legisladores que apoyaron por 16 años la causa de los Cinco antiterroristas cubanos, que ya están en su patria. Los diputados y diputadas del Parlamento cubano: Respaldamos íntegramente y hacemos nuestra, en nombre del pueblo de Cuba, la alocución del Presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros, General de Ejército Raúl Castro Ruz, del pasado 17 de diciembre. Tras una larga e intensa batalla de muchos años clamando justicia, recibimos con gran alegría la noticia del regreso a la Patria de Gerardo, Ramón y Antonio, quienes junto a René y Fernando, nuestros Cinco Héroes, constituyen símbolos de la dignidad de nuestro pueblo. Ahora que ellos vuelven al seno de su familia y de su país, los diputados a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular de la República de Cuba agradecemos a los Parlamentos, legisladoras y legisladores que en el mundo han sido solidarios con esta causa. Como señalara el General de Ejército Raúl Castro Ruz, se cumplieron las palabras de nuestro Comandante en Jefe, Fidel, cuando en junio del año 2001 afirmó: ¡Volverán!. Tal expresión profética constituyó la guía para llevar adelante una ofensiva en Cuba y en todo el planeta a favor de la liberación y el regreso de nuestros Cinco hermanos. Agradecemos también a los gobiernos, grupos y comités de solidaridad, organizaciones, instituciones y a todas las personas de bien, que de una u otra manera han tomado como propia esta lucha del pueblo cubano. Admiramos la entereza con que cada día de estos más de 16 años, de duro encierro e incierta espera, actuaron las madres, padres, esposas, hijas e hijos, hermanas y hermanos de estos luchadores antiterroristas. La batalla ha sido ganada a fuerza de principios, firmeza, perseverancia, inteligencia y solidaridad internacional. ¡Por fin libres, la Patria orgullosa los abraza! Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular de la República de Cuba. La Habana, 19 de diciembre de 2014 “Año 56 de la Revolución”

Cheering The Freedom of the Cuban Five

by Laura Wenus
Dec. 18, 2014
Reprinted from Mission Local

“Viva Cuba!” echoed around the 24th street BART plaza Thursday evening as a small gathering of those dedicated to securing the release of the Cuban Five celebrated the return Wednesday of three remaining Cuban intelligence agents held by the United States since 1998. It also underscored the Mission’s continued identity as the San Francisco neighborhood where victories in Latin America become a cause for celebrations here.

The release was part of a prisoner exchange announced on Wednesday when President Barack Obama ordered the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba, an island 90 miles from Miami that has been isolated by a trade embargo for 54 years.

“Cuba has been constantly under attack, but even under those conditions they managed to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table,” said Frank Lara, a teacher and activist in the Mission. Secret negotiations between the two countries had been going on for some 18 months, according to news reports.

Added Nathalie Hrizi, “It’s pretty amazing that the five are all in Cuba. This is a celebration of their sacrifice, and that of the people working to win their freedom.”

The ANSWER coalition and the National Coalition To Free The Five organized the rally and celebration to mark the release. It was part of an exchange that also included Cuba freeing Alan P Gross, a government contractor who has been in a Cuban jail since 2009 when he was arrested on espionage charges.

Joel Britton, who once ran for governor with the Socialist Workers Party, also attended the rally at the BART plaza.
He and the party have been “very much a part of this fight,” Britton said. “We’re going to savor this moment.”

Britton praised the devotion of the Five to their cause and to their ideals, citing their refusal to take a plea bargain as evidence of their conviction.

Gloria La Riva, director of the National Committee To Free The Cuban Five, was also a California gubernatorial candidate in 1998 with the Peace and Freedom party as well as a presidential candidate for the World Workers Party in 2008. She also praised the Five’s dedication to their principles and recalled the scene of their return to their families in Cuba.

“People in Havana were spontaneously in the streets,” La Riva said and added jokingly, “They will not leave those men alone for a long time.”

“This is a wonderful, wonderful evening,” said Tomás Moran, a Cuban native who grew up in Puerto Rico and lives in San Francisco. His two daughters, he said, have never been to Cuba and may still have to wait some time to do so, since travel restrictions have yet to be lifted and the Republicans in Congress are threatening to retain the embargo. But the President’s sweeping order for full diplomatic relations with Cuba and his intention to open an Embassy on the island, makes it all the more likely that many U.S. citizens will soon be visiting Cuba.

“We should invite Cuba to come help us with our healthcare,” Moran said. He himself works in healthcare and said Cuban practitioners might be able to help the U.S. improve its system for the disenfranchised.

La Riva, addressing the gathering, had to correct herself as she began to chant:

“Free the F…Wait no! We gotta start thinking differently now,” she said. Then she started a chant that her audience picked up: “The Five Are Free! The Five Are Free”

Click here to view a slideshow of the rally

 

Statement by Raúl Castro, President of Cuba: The Five are Already in Cuba Dec. 17, 2014 Reprinted from CubaDebate Fellow countrymen, Since my election as President of the State Council and Council of Ministers I have reiterated in many occasions our willingness to hold a respectful dialogue with the United States on the basis of sovereign equality, in order to deal reciprocally with a wide variety of topics without detriment to the national Independence and self-determination of our people. This stance was conveyed to the US Government both publicly and privately by Comrade Fidel on several occasions during our long standing struggle, stating the willingness to discuss and solve our differences without renouncing any of our principles. The heroic Cuban people, in the wake of serious dangers, aggressions, adversities and sacrifices has proven to be faithful and will continue to be faithful to our ideals of independence and social justice. Strongly united throughout these 56 years of Revolution, we have kept our unswerving loyalty to those who died in defense of our principles since the beginning of our independence wars in 1868. Today, despite the difficulties, we have embarked on the task of updating our economic model in order to build a prosperous and sustainable Socialism. As a result of a dialogue at the highest level, which included a phone conversation I had yesterday with President Obama, we have been able to make headway in the solution of some topics of mutual interest for both nations. As Fidel promised on June 2001,when he said: “They shall return!” Gerardo, Ramon, and Antonio have arrived today to our homeland. The enormous joy of their families and of all our people, who have relentlessly fought for this goal, is shared by hundreds of solidarity committees and groups, governments, parliaments, organizations, institutions, and personalities, who for the last sixteen years have made tireless efforts demanding their release. We convey our deepest gratitude and commitment to all of them. President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people. I wish to thank and acknowledge the support of the Vatican, most particularly the support of Pope Francisco in the efforts for improving relations between Cuba and the United States. I also want to thank the Government of Canada for facilitating the high-level dialogue between the two countries. In turn, we have decided to release and send back to the United States a spy of Cuban origin who was working for that nation. On the other hand, and for humanitarian reasons, today we have also sent the American citizen Alan Gross back to his country. Unilaterally, as has always been our practice, and in strict compliance with the provisions of our legal system, the concerned prisoners have received legal benefits, including the release of those persons that the Government of the United States had conveyed their interest in. We have also agreed to renew diplomatic relations. This in no way means that the heart of the matter has been solved. The economic, commercial, and financial blockade, which causes enormous human and economic damages to our country, must cease. Though the blockade has been codified into law, the President of the United States has the executive authority to modify its implementation. We propose to the Government of the United States the adoption of mutual steps to improve the bilateral atmosphere and advance towards normalization of relations between our two countries, based on the principles of International Law and the United Nations Charter. Cuba reiterates its willingness to cooperate in multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations. While acknowledging our profound differences, particularly on issues related to national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and foreign policy, I reaffirm our willingness to dialogue on all these issues. I call upon the Government of the United States to remove the obstacles hindering or restricting ties between peoples, families, and citizens of both countries, particularly restrictions on travelling, direct post services, and telecommunications. The progress made in our exchanges proves that it is possible to find solutions to many problems. As we have reiterated, we must learn the art of coexisting with our differences in a civilized manner. We will continue talking about these important issues at a later date Thank you.

Alocución del Presidente cubano Raúl Castro: Los Cinco ya están en Cuba 17 de diciembre de 2014 Tomado de CubaDebate Compatriotas: Desde mi elección como Presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros, he reiterado en múltiples ocasiones, nuestra disposición a sostener con el gobierno de los Estados Unidos un diálogo respetuoso, basado en la igualdad soberana, para tratar los más diversos temas de forma recíproca, sin menoscabo a la independencia nacional y la autodeterminación de nuestro pueblo. Esta es una posición que fue expresada al Gobierno de Estados Unidos, de forma pública y privada, por el compañero Fidel en diferentes momentos de nuestra larga lucha, con el planteamiento de discutir y resolver las diferencias mediante negociaciones, sin renunciar a uno solo de nuestros principios. El heroico pueblo cubano ha demostrado, frente a grandes peligros, agresiones, adversidades y sacrificios, que es y será fiel a nuestros ideales de independencia y justicia social. Estrechamente unidos en estos 56 años de Revolución, hemos guardado profunda lealtad a los que cayeron defendiendo esos principios desde el inicio de nuestras guerras de independencia en 1868. Ahora, llevamos adelante, pese a las dificultades, la actualización de nuestro modelo económico para construir un socialismo próspero e sostenible. Resultado de un diálogo al más alto nivel, que incluyó una conversación telefónica que sostuve ayer con el Presidente Barack Obama, se ha podido avanzar en la solución de algunos temas de interés para ambas naciones. Como prometió Fidel, en junio del 2001, cuando dijo: ¡Volverán!, arribaron hoy a nuestra Patria, Gerardo, Ramón y Antonio. La enorme alegría de sus familiares y de todo nuestro pueblo, que se movilizó infatigablemente con ese objetivo, se extiende entre los cientos de comités y grupos de solidaridad; los gobiernos, parlamentos, organizaciones, instituciones y personalidades que durante estos 16 años reclamaron e hicieron denodados esfuerzos por su liberación. A todos ellos expresamos la más profunda gratitud y compromiso. Esta decisión del Presidente Obama, merece el respeto y reconocimiento de nuestro pueblo. Quiero agradecer y reconocer el apoyo del Vaticano, y especialmente, del Papa Francisco, al mejoramiento de las relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos. Igualmente, al Gobierno de Canadá por las facilidades creadas para la realización del diálogo de alto nivel entre los dos países. A su vez, decidimos excarcelar y enviar a Estados Unidos a un espía de origen cubano que estuvo al servicio de esa nación. Por otra parte, basados en razones humanitarias, hoy también fue devuelto a su país el ciudadano norteamericano Alan Gross. De manera unilateral, como es nuestra práctica y en estricto apego a nuestro ordenamiento legal, han recibido beneficios penales los reclusos correspondientes, incluida la excarcelación de personas sobre las que el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos había mostrado interés. Igualmente, hemos acordado el restablecimiento de las relaciones diplomáticas. Esto no quiere decir que lo principal se haya resuelto. El bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero que provoca enormes daños humanos y económicos a nuestro país debe cesar. Aunque las medidas del bloqueo han sido convertidas en Ley, el Presidente de los Estados Unidos puede modificar su aplicación en uso de sus facultades ejecutivas. Proponemos al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos adoptar medidas mutuas para mejorar el clima bilateral y avanzar hacia la normalización de los vínculos entre nuestros países, basados en los principios del Derecho Internacional y la Carta de las Naciones Unidas. Cuba reitera su disposición a sostener cooperación en los organismos multilaterales, como la Organización de Naciones Unidas. Al reconocer que tenemos profundas diferencias, fundamentalmente en materia de soberanía nacional, democracia, derechos humanos y política exterior, reafirmo nuestra voluntad de dialogar sobre todos esos temas. Exhorto al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos a remover los obstáculos que impiden o restringen los vínculos entre nuestros pueblos, las familias y los ciudadanos de ambos países, en particular los relativos a los viajes, el correo postal directo y las telecomunicaciones. Los progresos alcanzados en los intercambios sostenidos demuestran que es posible encontrar solución a muchos problemas. Como hemos repetido, debemos aprender el arte de convivir, de forma civilizada, con nuestras diferencias. Sobre estos importantes temas volveremos a hablar más adelante. Muchas gracias.

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The Cuban Five Are Free and in Cuba!
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FREE AND IN CUBA!!! The Cuban Five are together again in Cuba! Watch the video of their return! "The Five are already in Cuba!" Statement by Raúl Castro, President of Cuba Cubans celebrate the return of the Five See pictures of the Five reunited with their families. For Gerardo and Adriana, it has been 16 years. teleSUR Interviews Fernando González González speaks to teleSUR about the new evidence in the Cuban Five case on a visit to Nicaragua Antonio Guerrero's 16 new watercolors On the rigged Miami trial against the Cuban Five ‹ ›

Who are the Cuban Five? Introduction to the case Timeline Current Legal Status Meet the Five / Write to Them NEW

Cuban Five at Heart of US / Cuba Deal

by MARJORIE COHN

In the course of delivering his historic speech dramatically altering US Cuba policy, President Barack Obama briefly mentioned that the United States released three Cuban agents. These men are members of the “Cuban Five,” who were imprisoned for gathering information on US-based Cuban exile groups planning terrorist actions against Cuba. Without their release, Cuba would never have freed Alan Gross. And Obama could not have undertaken what ten presidents before him refused to do: normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.

Fighting Terrorism Against Cuba

On June 8, 2001, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez were convicted of criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage, and conspiracy to commit murder, in a trial in US district court in Miami. They were sentenced to four life terms and 75 years collectively.
In a 93-page decision, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals unanimously reversed their convictions in 2005, because the anti-Cuba atmosphere in Miami, extensive publicity, and prosecutorial misconduct denied them the right to a fair trial. The decision of the three-judge panel was later overturned by a decision of all the Eleventh Circuit Judges, sitting en banc, so the convictions stood.
But the Cuban Five have steadfastly maintained their innocence and there has been a worldwide campaign to free them. In Cuba, the five men are considered national heroes.
Since the Cuban revolution in 1959, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba and anyone who advocated normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. Terrorist groups including Alpha 66, Commandos F4, Cuban American National Foundation, Independent and Democratic Cuba, and Brothers to the Rescue, have operated with impunity in the United States – with the knowledge and support of the FBI and CIA.
One witness at the trial testified that Ruben Dario Lopez-Castro, who was associated with several anti-Castro organizations, and Orlando Bosch, who planted a bomb on a Cubana airliner in 1976, killing all 73 persons aboard, “planned to ship weapons into Cuba for an assassination attempt on [Fidel] Castro.”
The three-judge appellate panel noted, “Bosch has a long history of terrorist acts against Cuba, and prosecutions and convictions for terrorist-related activities in the United States and in other countries.” Luis Posada Carriles, the other man responsible for downing the Cuban airliner, has never been criminally prosecuted in the United States. Declassified FBI and CIA documents at the National Security Archive show that Posada Carriles was the mastermind of the airplane bombing.
Several terrorist acts in Havana were documented in the panel’s decision, including explosions at eight hotels and the Cuban airport. An Italian tourist was killed and people were injured. Posada Carriles has twice publicly admitted responsibility for these bombings.
In the face of this terrorism, the Cuban Five were gathering intelligence in Miami in order to prevent future terrorist acts against Cuba. The men peacefully infiltrated criminal exile groups. The Five turned over the results of their investigation to the FBI. But instead of working with Cuba to fight terrorism, the US government arrested the five men.
Former high-ranking US military and security officials testified that Cuba posed no military threat to the Unites States. Although none of the five men had any classified material in their possession or engaged in any acts to injure the United States, and there was no evidence linking any of them to Cuba’s shooting down of two small aircraft flown by Cuban exiles, the Cuban Five were nonetheless convicted of all charges.
A poll of Miami Cuban-Americans reflected “an attitude of a state of war . . . against Cuba” which had a “substantial impact on the rest of the Miami-Dade community” where the trial was held. Dr. Lisandro Perez, Director of the Cuban Research Institute, concluded, “the possibility of selecting twelve citizens of Miami-Dade County who can be impartial in a case involving acknowledged agents of the Cuban government is virtually zero.”
The appellate panel concluded: “Here, a new trial was mandated by the perfect storm created when the surge of pervasive community sentiment, and extensive publicity both before and during the trial, merged with the improper prosecutorial references.” Nevertheless, the five men never received a new trial.
Fernando Gonzales and Rene Gonzales were released and returned to Cuba after serving most of their 15-year sentences. Hernandez was serving two life sentences. Labanino and Guerrero had a few years left on their sentences. The latter three men were released as part of the historic deal.

The Door Is Now Open

In his speech, Obama mentioned the hypocrisy of the US refusal to recognize Cuba while we enjoy normalized relations with Communist China and Vietnam. He announced several other new measures designed to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.

But Obama did not lift the US blockade of Cuba, which consists of economic sanctions against Cuba and restrictions on Cuban travel and commerce.

Every year for 23 consecutive years, the United Nations General Assembly has called on the United States to lift the blockade, which has cost Cuba in excess of $ 1 trillion.
The US trade embargo of Cuba was initiated during the Cold War by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to a 1960 memo written by a senior State Department official. The memo proposed “a line of action that makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the [Castro] government.” As Obama stated, that strategy has been a failure.
During the Clinton administration, Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act, which tightened the blockade. Obama promised to try to work with Congress to repeal this legislation.
Because of the significance of the Cuban exile community in Miami, and the strategic importance of Florida in US elections, no US president has dared to normalize relations with Cuba. As Alice Walker wrote in The Sweet Abyss, “Many of our leaders seem to view Florida’s Cuban conservatives, including the assassins and terrorists among them, as People Who Vote.” Obama has taken a courageous step in shifting US policy toward Cuba.
In their simultaneous speeches today, both Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro thanked Pope Francis for his efforts in helping to engineer the historic deal.  CNN reported that bells were ringing in churches all over Havana. This is a wonderful day indeed.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and a former president of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). In 2000, she joined 250 members of the NLG in a million-person march in Havana against the US blockade of Cuba.