Karl Marx's Camel
12th March 2006, 21:30
Spoken: January 21, 1959 in Havana in front of a million Cuban workers and peasants
The allied powers punished the war criminals after the second world war, and they have less right to do so than we have, because they meted out punishment under the ex post facto legislation, while we are punishing the war criminals under legislation passed before the crime, in public trials, in courts made up of honest men. To avoid mistakes we are trying only the most notorious criminals, those who have 5, 10, 15, or 20 murders against them, those known to all the people. But is it not possible to expatriate, and I am going to meet with newsmen from the whole hemisphere. We have also invited the President of Cuba to attend the interview, and we are going to invite the cabinet. And we are going to explain fully to the newsmen everything they want us to explain. We must not expatriate; there is just one thing more.
Reporters of the entire continent, diplomatic representatives accredited to Cuba, imagine an immense jury, imagine a jury consisting of a million men and women belonging to all social classes, of all religious beliefs, of all political ideas. I am going to ask this jury something. I am going to ask the people something: Those who agree with the justice that is being carried out, those who agree that the henchmen should be shot, raise your hands. (Applause of about 2 minutes)
Gentlemen of the diplomatic corps, reporters of the entire continent: The jury of a million Cubans representing all views and social classes has voted. To those who are democrats, or those who call themselves democrats I say: This is democracy, this is respecting the will of the people. Those who are democrats, or those who call themselves democrats, must respect the will of the people.
A nation like this, which despite its hundreds of thousands of unemployed has given an incomparable example of order; a capital like this, where despite hundreds of thousands of unemployed there are no policemen, where there is not a single (word indistinct), certainly deserves (few words indistinct). A people that will not steal even though hungry deserve anything.
One example we can point to with pride is that despite the hunger and unemployment that exist, police are not needed in Havana, and the Boy Scouts are practically insuring order. In what country is there such extraordinary order and absolute peace that children are put in charge of keeping order in the capital after a revolution? That is what we want the newsmen of the American hemisphere to tell their own people.
http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archi.../1959/01/21.htm (http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1959/01/21.htm)
I felt this was interesting. I thought it was an interesting piece of history to share...
The allied powers punished the war criminals after the second world war, and they have less right to do so than we have, because they meted out punishment under the ex post facto legislation, while we are punishing the war criminals under legislation passed before the crime, in public trials, in courts made up of honest men. To avoid mistakes we are trying only the most notorious criminals, those who have 5, 10, 15, or 20 murders against them, those known to all the people. But is it not possible to expatriate, and I am going to meet with newsmen from the whole hemisphere. We have also invited the President of Cuba to attend the interview, and we are going to invite the cabinet. And we are going to explain fully to the newsmen everything they want us to explain. We must not expatriate; there is just one thing more.
Reporters of the entire continent, diplomatic representatives accredited to Cuba, imagine an immense jury, imagine a jury consisting of a million men and women belonging to all social classes, of all religious beliefs, of all political ideas. I am going to ask this jury something. I am going to ask the people something: Those who agree with the justice that is being carried out, those who agree that the henchmen should be shot, raise your hands. (Applause of about 2 minutes)
Gentlemen of the diplomatic corps, reporters of the entire continent: The jury of a million Cubans representing all views and social classes has voted. To those who are democrats, or those who call themselves democrats I say: This is democracy, this is respecting the will of the people. Those who are democrats, or those who call themselves democrats, must respect the will of the people.
A nation like this, which despite its hundreds of thousands of unemployed has given an incomparable example of order; a capital like this, where despite hundreds of thousands of unemployed there are no policemen, where there is not a single (word indistinct), certainly deserves (few words indistinct). A people that will not steal even though hungry deserve anything.
One example we can point to with pride is that despite the hunger and unemployment that exist, police are not needed in Havana, and the Boy Scouts are practically insuring order. In what country is there such extraordinary order and absolute peace that children are put in charge of keeping order in the capital after a revolution? That is what we want the newsmen of the American hemisphere to tell their own people.
http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archi.../1959/01/21.htm (http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1959/01/21.htm)
I felt this was interesting. I thought it was an interesting piece of history to share...