I am very cynical. I dont expect politicians to end poverty or save the environment. I dont care about the tired bullshit that passes for political debate in this country. But there are issues I care about. For which I would vote. For which I would risk my life. Thats why nothing angers me more than the sight of people wearing t-shits or hoodies with Cuba or Che Guevara emblazoned on them.
Lets make one thing very clear. Cuba is an abhorrent country. Its human rights record is appalling. Its a dictatorship where every tool of the state is used to repress its population. Its citizens do not have the right to free speech. They do not have the right to free assembly. They do not even have the right to peaceful protest. Political dissent is rewarded with imprisonment without trial or summary execution.
It takes a superhuman effort for me to walk past these idiots who sport the iconography of this detestable regime. No one walks around with a Smoking Joe Stalin or Adolph Hitler t-shirt, yet somehow people have some kind of political blind spot for Cuba. Do these people have China or Burma t-shirts hanging in their wardrobes next to their Robert Mugabe and General Pinochet ones?
I had a conversation awhile back with a friend of mine, where they said Id really like to go to Cuba before Castro dies. I could barely contain my rage. This from someone I know buys fair trade goods, someone who likes to make a big deal about making ethical decisions. I remember seeing the Manic Street Preachers film of their visit and performance in Cuba. Where the supposedly `right on band shot their load at getting to meet the criminal in chief, Fidel Castro.
<*dv_0*> So how did Cuba become the acceptable face of political repression? Perhaps it is the Bacardi, mambo and the good cigars that send people into an ethical amnesia. One of the reasons I suspect Cuba does not have the pariah status it so blatantly deserves is because of some kind of anti Americanism. Cuba is the David that stood up to the superpower Goliath for the last forty years. Well I dont like America but I would rather drape myself in the stars and stripes and sing Yankee Doodle Dandy before I wear any of that Cuban crap.
So, the next time you pick out something to wear, just remember, there are people in Cuba who dont enjoy the privilege of wearing the t-shirt of their choice
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