The Old Guard
While staying in Havana, Cuba, I had an apartment near the Plaza de la Revolución. The day this picture was made it was the anniversary (birthday) of José Marti the fabled poet grandfather of the Revolution. Tens of thousands school children were assembled in the Plaza while speaker after speaker came out to the podium to deliver firebrand communistic, anti-capitalist speeches; some of them looked like they couldn't have been older than twelve. In front of me, a man proudly stood at attention, as if still honouring the spirit of the now totally failed revolution; as if everything he'd sacrificed was worth it to just to see these children relatively free from poverty and oppression.
Seeing this children's political rally summed up my ambivalent feelings for Cuba - it seems to me at once sinister and innocent. However, the rally provoked a question in me - are we really any different than the Cuban regime or do we just indoctrinate our children with different ideals while it seems that conformity is really the chief goal.
While staying in Havana, Cuba, I had an apartment near the Plaza de la Revolución. The day this picture was made it was the anniversary (birthday) of José Marti the fabled poet grandfather of the Revolution. Tens of thousands school children were assembled in the Plaza while speaker after speaker came out to the podium to deliver firebrand communistic, anti-capitalist speeches; some of them looked like they couldn't have been older than twelve. In front of me, a man proudly stood at attention, as if still honouring the spirit of the now totally failed revolution; as if everything he'd sacrificed was worth it to just to see these children relatively free from poverty and oppression.
Seeing this children's political rally summed up my ambivalent feelings for Cuba - it seems to me at once sinister and innocent. However, the rally provoked a question in me - are we really any different than the Cuban regime or do we just indoctrinate our children with different ideals while it seems that conformity is really the chief goal.
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| La Vieja Guardia Plaza de la Revolución Habana, Cuba |
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