OPEN LETTER TO LICIA CORBELLA

vol. 3, no. 2, February 2010, $ 1.00


si vous désirez lire en français: http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/


FOREWORD: Thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca who edited this letter.
__________________________


CALGARY HERALD (NEWSPAPER)


Dear colleague,


I recently had a glance at the Montréal Gazette. Your article "What if Quebecers got their wish and the oilsands closed?" caught my attention. I must admit that you have a humorous way of thinking and quick wits. However, I have to recognize that I was not aware about the topic and never realized that in Québec there was a desire to shut down the Alberta oilsands. Just recently I heard Gilles Duceppe affirming that it should be done.

(Photo Josette Thibault: Daniel Paquet, Editor La Vie Réelle in English)


I visited Calgary in 1977 -a beautiful city, by the way- so dreamy with the sight of the Rockies on its western horizons. The purpose was the annual convention of the National Union of Students (of English speaking Canada) - NUS which invited our Québec National Association of Students (ANEQ) to discuss on vital issues such as youth unemployment. First, NUS recognized the right of the French Canadian nation of Québec to self-determination up and including secession if the people choose; they also confirmed that ANEQ is an organization on an equal footing with NUS. This is what we expected to reshape Canada, to reinforce its unity.

I knew then that even the Parti québécois (PQ) members in our union, who were in the majority, would have to accept this gesture of solidarity, friendship and openness. It was one year after the election of the PQ in Québec and three years before the first referendum, in 1980.

I wanted to mention it to underline that in Québec, there is a battle of interests. This is what we call the class struggle. The PQ and its political ally the Bloc québécois represent nationalist petite bourgeoisie interests in Québec. These economic forces want Québec independence to control the State and expand their market share and profits within and without Québec.

The vast majority of the working people here do not support independence. In fact, many French Canadian workers are employed throughout Canada, including Alberta. The new party Québec solidaire is more inclined to defend the people's interests than the PQ and the Bloc, even though they also advocate Québec independence.

The only political party that is coherent on these matters (self-determination and oilsands) is the Communist Party which I doubt yo would support. Big business promotes their point of view through the mass media and encourages conflict and division between workers in English speaking Canada and Québec. I guess that you understand my point of view that there cannot be unity and prosperity in Canada without working class unity and economic independence, especially in regards to large US corporations such as the oil industry.

Rather than trying to describe fully what the essence of French Canadian pride is, I would like to invite you to Montréal, where I live, so you can get to know Québec and people better, including the arts and architecture, to name just a few areas where we have contributed to the general development of the Canadian culture. Your readers would love it.

I think that you will agree with me that we have, as journalists, the responsability to demonstrate to the Canadian people that they have much more in common that we can think.

I am confident that the future is not bad for Canada. I hope one day I will be able to write as well as you do in English. I hope that I will have the opportunity to prolong this conversation in the future.


Thank you sincerely!


Daniel Paquet

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English

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THE 36TH CENTRAL CONVENTION IN TORONTO

JUST BEFORE, A LITTLE TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

vol. 3, no. 1, January 2010, $ 1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/


FOREWORD: Many thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca who edited this article. Don't forget the link below to L'Humanité in English, selection of the daily communist newspaper published in Paris.

But why did they organize it so far away? After all, Copenhagen is not a suburb of Montréal. In November, Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared in Singapore in relation with this meeting: “Everybody is looking for a convenient agreement that will not impose upon us a burden too heavy, that is the reason why negotiations are so difficult”. The conservative newspaper The Gazette chose to write in December that “oil and gas producers comprised the largest industry lobbying group from January through August 2009 with 24 companies and associations represented in Ottawa, according to the registry. These include all the major oil companies.” One of the lobbyists was Ken Boessenkooll, “a campaign adviser and a senior policy adviser to Harper when he was leader of the opposition.” Maybe it smells of oil, but it does not smell good at any rate... (Photo SolidNet: Anti-imperialist demonstration in Athens, 2009)

The French communist philosopher, Georges Gastaud, wrote recently on the topic and said: “If any “cut” ecological movement takes us away from anti-capitalistic class struggle, a responsible ecological and comprehensive implication carries us, on the contrary, to get involved now and not before another century in a new society free from capitalist depredations and class, without havoc by a handful of irresponsible elements looking for profits. We need a society supporting revolution in the world of science, of political power and relations of properties. We must collectivize for the benefit of everybody, knowledge and human products. In a nutshell, we call for a communist society.”

Sadly enough, the Chinese Communist Party delegation at the last International Meeting of Communist and Workers ‘Parties in New Delhi, India, concluded that: “no social order ever disappears before all the productive forces, for which there is room in it, have been developed; and new higher relation of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society”. Thus “capitalism will remain more powerful than socialism for a certain period to come...” During the same meeting, the Vietnam delegation affirmed that their next convention will “map out the socio-economic development strategy for the next 10 years (2011-2020) with the targets of becoming a modern-industrial country by 2020 and strongly progressing to socialism in which people are wealthy; country is strong; society is equal, democratic and civilized.”

THE CANADIAN CONVENTION


From February 5th to 7th, delegates from all parts of Canada will gather in Toronto to attend the Central Convention of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). As a backdrop, we can mention the struggles of the employees and journalists of Le journal de Montréal who are still locked out after almost one year. In November, elected Québec Solidaire member Amir Khadir introduced a motion in the Quebec National Assembly inviting both parties to negotiate so that “the rights of the workers be respected...” It was adopted unanimously. In October, Khadir, declared to Le Devoir, in relation with the situation in the construction industry, that, “I believe seriously enough that the Liberal Party of Québec could be sullied...” in an eventual public inquiry in this area.

(Photo SolidNet: Demonstration in Paraguay in support of democracy, 2009)

In October, Le Devoir reported that some Québec farmers were dissatisfied with their organization the Union of Farm Growers (Union des producteurs agricoles-UPA), established in 1972. The discontented members were not clear about whether they wanted to leave the UPA, only stating that “they want something else”.

During the CPC convention, discussions will take place on the role of the Party in relation with the people’s struggles. Another question being discussed is the Marxist concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Rebel Youth editor (magazine of the Young Communist League of Canada), Stephen Von Sychowski wrote: “When we talk about what people think of that particular theoretical aspect of Marxism-Leninism we are dealing with a relatively small segment of the people who are the more educated [...]. The reality is that most of people’s knowledge of revolutionary theory is based on anti-communist propaganda and a few tidbits of often questionable historical information.” (Discussion Bulletin, November 4th, 2009, no.2, p. 6).
La Vie Réelle in English shares the CPC´s point of view that the working class of Canada will have to exercise political power and defend any revolutionary measures once they win power. The political party of the workers will also have to raise the question of the toiling people in all regions. For instance before New Year 2010, AbitibiBowater, a US-based multinationals shuts down its operations in Beaupré and Clermont, near Québec City, dismissing hundreds of employees. The company also closed plants in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alabama, according to Quebec City´s daily Le Soleil.

Speaking of Québec, the Communist Party shall reiterate its position for a new Canada where the two founding nations, Québec and English speaking Canada, will be equal and united, and Québec will enjoy the right to secession. It is the right moment since the Parti québécois (PQ) is trying again to mobilize the population to separate from Canada, taking advantage of anti-English sentiment caused by dissatisfaction with the federal conservative government.

(Photo SolidNet: Demonstration in Italy for the freedom of information, in 2009)

L'Humanité in English

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/



On the occasion of the New Year 2010, La Vie Réelle in English wishes to all its readers Peace, Progress and Prosperity.


We wish you as well Health and Wellbeing.


We hope in a new Canada, a land of democracy and freedom for all, where French-Canadians and English-speaking Canadians will live in equality, with the right of Québec to self-determination as a nation, up and including secession if this is the will of the people; alongside with the rights of the First Nations and the immigrant communities.


We extend warm salutations to the Communist Party of Canada which will hold its 36th Central Convention in Toronto (Ontario), not so far away from Guelph where it was founded in 1921 by a group of some 20 people that garner rapidly the support of thousands of workers in our country for the right to a decent housing, job and more generally a Life with a Future, a socialist Canada.
(Photo: Daniel Paquet, editor; with a group of young french communists in Paris, Spring 2009)

We extend fraternal greetings to the International Communist Review published in Athens (Greece) by a collective of theoretical communist journals from all around the world, including Debate Abierto from the Communist party of Venezuela, in our hemisphere.


Finally, we salute the Canadian delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and wish them successes in the coming competitions.





Montréal, December 2009

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FRENCH-CANADIANS AND IMMIGRANTS

THE GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT

vol. 2, no.10, December 2009, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

FOREWORD: Many thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca who edited this article. Don't forget the link below to L'Humanité in English, selection of the daily communist newspaper published in Paris.
___________________________________


Daniel Paquet*

Who knows? Maybe the book recently published by former Québec Premier Jacques Parizeau is going to crash.

At the moment the Parti Québécois (PQ) is trying by any means to kindle the light of separatism. The left leaning party Québec solidaire is also expecting to attract the nationalist vote, especially youth who reject the PQ’s conservative orientation. Actually, it looks like a child’s game of musical chairs: the music plays and when it stops, you better find a chair; otherwise you will be expelled from the game.

The PQ is the official opposition party in the National Assembly and plays on the federal government’s failure to recognize Québec’s French Canadian nation. Of course, the Stephen Harper conservative party recognized Québec as nation. But, in practice, it is like affirming officially and strongly that Toronto is in Ontario!

PQ leaders take profit from the French Canadian people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo. They believe that – especially in some parts of Montréal- you have to speak English in commercial outlets and restaurants now. This is partly true. But it is not a deliberate campaign by small business owners as they don’t feel that they are going to increase their customer base by recruiting more French speaking personnel. Nevertheless, French Canadians, especially the young, feel hurt by this. Their reaction is understandable, though exaggerated.
(Photo: once attended the catholic churches are now deserted by the French-Canadians)

The Communist Party of Canada (CPC) speaks the language of wisdom and democracy. They advocate recognizing the right of the French Canadian to self-determination up and including secession from Canada. They oppose, naturally, discrimination against French Canadians in La Belle Province wherever they work and live. Of course, they don’t believe immigrants and English Canadians should be forced to speak French but instead encouraged to learn and use the language.

It is obvious that in the future, the French Canadians will have to learn English, but it must not be mandatory. They must be encouraged to do it gradually without loosing the French language. Anyhow, today it is common for immigrant children to speak French and English as well as their parent’s language (Spanish, Arabic or Urdu).

In the past, the Communists associated themselves regularly with the PQ members on various issues, like peace campaigns, solidarity with the Chilean people or the defence of Cuba. Many PQ members are progressive, but they are fiercely obtuse on the national question. It is almost a psychological barrier. PQ members are active in people’s associations, unions and movements and they outnumber communist Party members in these movements. During elections they win easily. One must not make mistakes: the PQ is not like the New Democratic Party, a socialist party or a social-democrat party. Instead it is a coalition party with a left wing.
(Photo: big canadian companies benefit from the absence of a mass communist party in Canada)

However, the CPC has influence in the trade-unions. One of the Party’s mistakes during the 1990s was to recruit former nationalists to its ranks, nearly destroying the Party. The revolutionary “pessimism” was caused by the Soviet Union’s disappearance added to the Party’s near downfall. The communist movement in Québec overcame this mistake and is ready to form alliances with the PQ members but on an equal footing. Furthermore, the centrist Liberal Party led by Jean Charest adopts policies that are fair for the people, even though the PQ waits like a vulture to diminish the Liberals in the public eye.

Finally, the PQ has no newspaper in Québec like for instance the French Communist Party daily newspaper l’Humanité. Our readers should know that many journalists from the written and electronic press have attended courses at Montréal’s Québec University under the direction of the late professor Pierre Bourgault, former leader of the nationalist Rassemblement pour l’Indépendance Nationale (Rally for the National Independence –RIN). Bourgault liked to ridicule Greek, Italian and Jews, while he was smoking his eternal Gitanes at his classroom’s entrance. Of course, he could not ignore the progressive and dynamic role played by representatives of theses communities in the development of the communist movement in Montréal.
(Photo SolidNet: communist meeting in Greece)

The French Canadians workers realize now that you can deal about bread and butter and still ask for a Québec traditional product. Finally, one should be aware that communists are developing the embryo of a mass organization in Montréal’s eastend. One day, the French CBC anchorman, at an electoral soirée will announce that “if the trend keeps on going, the next government will be formed by the communist party…”


L'Humanité in English
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* (Daniel Paquet studied Communications at Montréal’s Québec University from 1993 to 1996, where he graduated in journalism with honours)



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ABOUT TRUTH AND VICTORY

vol. 2, no. 9, November 2009, $ 1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

FOREWORD: Many thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca who edited this article. Don't forget the link below to L'Humanité in English, selection of the daily communist newspaper published in Paris.
______________________________

It’s all started with the last column that I wrote. My dear friend and editor, Tim, said to me: “Sometimes you can be overly abstract and theoretical to the point that I have trouble understanding what you are saying […] if I have trouble understanding what you are saying, I am sure that your readers will have the same problem.”

I read over the whole article. Tim is right. But why publish a newsletter in English if one cannot express himself properly? The reason is very basic: I am totally devoted to the Québec people and I want English speaking Canadians - and others - to know that we are not a bunch of angry, restless separatists, waiting for the next referendum to drag us out of Canada. Naturally, since this column is read by intellectuals and journalists, I did not want to give them the impression that La Vie Réelle in English was a simple read that could be labelled as a cheap piece of French Canadian communist writing. (Photo: a typical French-Canadian homestead in Québec City)

But Tim, very generously, added: “You can express yourself well in English. I know this because of our wonderful email conversations. Write as if you are writing your readers an email. Write in simple prose that is easy to grasp. This is important if you want to appeal to working class readers.” Not only was I touched, but it brought two things to mind: first that we have to persuade people in Québec that it is important to learn English and second it is important to learn the history of English speaking Canada. Even communists around the world have adopted English in their communications. For instance, SolidNet, the Communist and Worker's Parties central communication's bureau in Athens, Greece distributes documents and bulletins in Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese and English. Few documents are in French. I believe that when the French communist party becomes more involved in world solidarity movements there will be more French publications. At the moment, even Québec communists use English to communicate with central party headquarters in Toronto.

Of course, main documents are translated from English to French. Those living in Vancouver, Halifax or Hamilton should know that there is a lively, flourishing French speaking culture in Québec. We have prominent and talented singers like Robert Charlesbois (Ordinaire) as well as new ones like Lynda Thalie (Une femme amoureuse), an immigrant from the Arab world. Well, the point is that we don’t eat pea soup, cretons and pâté chinois like in the past. We have changed. We go for sushi, couscous and souvlaki now. And there are even some who believe that God does not oppose French Canadians joining the communist party. C’est la vie… (Photo : a Montréal-born new Québécoise, Nile)

Even in the labour movement there are changes. For instance the Québec Centre of Trade Unions, formerly the Québec Teacher's Union, decided at its last convention in June 2009 to get involved in politics “so that we live in the type of society that we want to build”. We increased our solidarity with workers from other parts of the world. For instance, the Québec Federation of Labour (500 000 members) opposes the Free Trade Agreement that the Canadian government signed with Colombia because of the systematic violations of human rights in that country. The Union Centre invites its “member unions and regional councils to put pressure on conservative and liberal MPs…” And, the Confederation of National Trade Unions (300 000 members) will enlarge its support policy for striking workers. Recently, union members working at Le Journal de Québec decided to “give 1% of their salaries to the union representing 253 workers at Le Journal de Montréal”, who have been on lock-out for over 8 months.

Karl Marx in the article published under the title of Communism and the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, concluded that: “ We are firmly convinced that the real danger lies not in practical attempts, but in the theoretical elaboration of communist ideas, for practical attempts, even mass attempts, can be answered by cannon as soon as they become dangerous, whereas ideas, which have conquered our intellect and taken possession of our minds, ideas to which reason has fettered our conscience, are chains from which one cannot free oneself without a broken heart…” (Collected Works, Vol. 1, International Publishers, New York, 1985, pp. 220-221)

As readers know, there is an older bulletin named La Vie Réelle (just in french). One of its readers wrote not long ago: “A very good issue. One reads it and can make up one’s own opinion. Articles are never aggressive, I appreciate it.” (Photo: a renovated catholic church in Québec City)

L'Humanité in English

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I LOVE THE SOVIET UNION

vol. 2, no. 8, October 2009, $ 1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

FOREWORD: Many thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca who edited this article. Don't forget the link below to L'Humanité in English, selection of the daily communist newspaper published in Paris.

______________________________

In one of his tragedy: King Lear; Shakespeare wrote beautiful verses, witnessing the feeling of one daughter for his father. Goneril says to King Lear:

“Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter;
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e’er lov’d, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.”

(Photo: Father and daughter, - Hervé and Peggy- at the 2009 May Day Demonstration in Paris)

These words express deeply my true feelings for the French Canadian working people, my people. These people, like others on earth deserves the best created by the brain and hands of the toiling people. As the saying goes in French: “il n‘y a rien de trop beau pour la classe ouvrière” (there is no such a too beautiful thing for the working class). But besides my own “family”, I felt deeply in love with former Soviet Union.

When I was a kid in Québec City, my grandfather once told me that we should build a monument to the Red Army. Later I learned about the heroic Red army soldiers that defeated the Nazi invaders in Stalingrad. Enemy at the Gates is a splendid US made movie that portrays this powerful Red Army victory. By the way, my grand-father perused the books forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church, notably those written by authors such as Léon Tolstoï.

In 1972, my father Donat embarked on a journey to Moscow to see the historic ice hockey tournament between Canada and USSR. When he returned, the parish priest, Mr. Giguère came and asked him a few questions, especially about the Soviet people’s commitment and belief in God. My father convincingly told the priest that apparently the people believe in something that was greater than them personally. It was the recognition of ordinary citizens, working hard to match the standards of well-being in countries like Canada with exception that everyone would share the benefits.

The following year, my mother visited the Soviet Union. She has fond memories of her stay in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city, which to this day she recounts vividly.

The Party School

A few years later, in 1979, after I had joined the Communist party of Canada, I was invited to study in the Soviet Union. Initially, I thought that it was not a good idea, preferring to live with my girlfriend in Montréal. But she convinced me to go and for the next seven months, I studied at Moscow’s Institute of Social Studies. It was a renowned school, run by the Communist party. Sometimes a Central Committee member, comrade Zagladine, would visit the school to see if everything was working fine.

We had the cream of the cream of professors and directors at the Institute, also known as the Party School. The Principal was the former Soviet ambassador to France. Our philosophy teacher had been the Soviet ambassador to Unesco in Paris and the others were all either former delegates or diplomats in Canada, Africa and other parts of the world.

But what professors! Sad, because I was not receiving letters from my girlfriend, one of them gave me a few tips to encourage her to write me. Another one, the journalism instructor, helped me plan my week ends, suggesting places I should visit.

Speaking of visits, like ordinary Soviet citizen, I had the opportunity to go to the circus (the old and the new ones), operas, theatres, concerts and movie theatres.

I also had my share of frustrations. I wanted since the beginning of my adventure to learn if people were happy with the socialist system. But, how to do it without speaking Russian? My standard of living in Moscow was lower than in Montréal.

My readers will ask: did you free while studying in Moscow? I will repeat it many times, I felt free to study, read and express myself. I was happy in Moscow, spring was beautiful and the summer, a real treat…

When the rightwing counter-revolution started, everybody saluted the changes, thinking that they were moving in a real progress toward a Western style “democracy”. In the 1990s, I met some Russian trade-unionists on a tour in Montréal; one of them, a middle-aged woman stared at me sadly and repeated: “what did we do? What did we do?” The Soviets lost all the benefits they enjoyed under socialism such as full employment, job security and a wide range of social benefits, she explained.

Now, many former Soviet citizens who immigrated abroad for a better standard of living after the crisis, such as my friend Nikolaï – a welder who works in Montréal’s industrial belt- realize that life was better under socialism.

Nonetheless, the former Soviet Union still has friends and supporters around the world.

My only criticism of the former Soviet Union is that the Communist Party ended the class struggle within the society too early. And speaking of freedom, I will conclude with those words from Karl Marx: “It is not a question whether freedom of the press ought to exist, for it always exists. The question is whether freedom of the press is a privilege of particular individuals or whether it is a privilege of the human mind. The question is whether a right of one side ought to be a wrong for the other side.” (Collected Works, Volume 1, International Publishers, New York, 1976. p. 155).

L'Humanité in English

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DON'T WORRY, THEY STUDY

vol. 2, no. 7, September 2009, $1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

NOTA BENE: Tim Pelzer, t.pelzer@shaw.ca, edited this bulletin. You will find at the bottom the link with l'Humanité in English, a selection of the french daily communist newspaper published in Paris.

And I judge, when I am happy
As a young student
That when the sky is darkest
The dawn is near.
(Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five)

Yes, eventually the students will study to know if a better world is possible. Right now, however, everything seems rather quiet, at least on the surface, in the times past turbulent province of Québec. One of the last demonstrations that took place was at the end of March in the streets of Montréal. According to the newspaper Métro, “hundreds of students, union activists and community organizers took to the streets in downtown Montréal, under the leadership of the Student’s Association, to show their opposition to private sector in public facilities”.

In Mid-April, The Gazette reported that “students at Université du Québec à Montréal will join the faculty in a “silent” march this morning to show continued support for a strike by professors that threatens to extend their winter semester by several weeks”. (Photo: karate course in Paris)

But -- there is a but-- Québec students have not built permanent and strong alliances with English speaking students in other provinces. Such unity could change the face of the Canadian politics. As Young Communist League General Secretary Johan Boyden puts it in the June issue of the People’s Voice: “Student activists have a choice: slide towards advocacy, or fuel up a militant Canada-wide campaign, with allies like labour, people’s forces, and parents –for ultimately our demand is raising living standards of the people as a whole.”

Last May, the half million strong Quebec Federation of Labour called upon the Québec students to participate in May Day events in the province along with the workers and community organizers. For many years, the student movement, such as the former Quebec National Association of Students, had a tradition of encouraging student involvement in May Day activities. After all, would they not be the future working class?

At the 55th Canadian Federation of Students' Convention (CFS) in May, as reported by the People’s Voice, delegates decided that “funding for aboriginal post-secondary education will be a top priority of the [CFS] together with campaigns to combat sky rocketing tuition fees in the upcoming 2009-2010 semester…” The article stressed that a special guest to the meeting came from the United States Student Association. What a beautiful idea!

The People’s Weekly World in June reports that: “The U.S. has already spent over $ 170 billion on the Afghan war to date; tens of billions more are included in the supplemental appropriation, and analysts say total costs could ultimately exceed the recent bailout of Wall St.” The Congressional progressive Caucus has called on President Obama to spend this money instead on education, health care and other social programs.
(Photo: a course of information technology at an union centre in Paris)

A new trend in Québec has emerged apparently. In the past, trade unions never officially supported a political party, at least openly, except the QFL for the socialist NDP previously. Now the province’s Central trade Union, which represents thousands of members working in the education system, decided at their June convention to urge members “to vote for candidates who could defend policies of the organization”.

__________________________________

CUBA IN OUR HEARTS

Finally, in May, La Vie Réelle in English received a letter from Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five where he announced that: “Every month new friends write to us from the most distant corners of our planet, expressing their love to our people and its Revolution and their support demanding our freedom […] The International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five has launched an extraordinary campaign to send postcards to President Barack Obama […] If you would like to learn more about this campaign and other important activities for our cause, visit http://www.thecuban5.org/cuban5.org/ .If you want to order postcards, you can write to: info@thecuban5.org .”

(Photo: Demonstration in favour of the Five in the USA)

A few years ago, Antonio also wrote, while incarcerated in USA:

Suddenly one day they lock you up
With nights that only serve silence.
They make you feel sad, betrayed,
Strange, failed, absent.
They take you to a dark and cold place
Where everything is inalienably alien,
Rooms inhabited by hate
In which the air is indifferent.
But you know that one day the kisses will return,
The light will be covered with a sweet effluvium,
The doors will be shut with hips
And the heat will spread its mouth over you being
Pledging to you eternal spring.
Against love of the good, none can succeed.

(Antonio Guerrero, Poemas confidenciales, Letras Cubanas, 29/08/04, p. 16)

L'Humanité in English

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