Voice of the Waterlily- Our Stories

This is part of a series of short stories I have written recently. I felt it was prescient to share it now as it deals with themes of humanity, the environment, joy, grief and hope.

I hope you enjoy reading it!

This is a completely fictional story that takes inspiration from many real life events.

Read it HERE

Song: Gracias a la vida — Mercedes Sosa

When you hear this it will be September 28th and I’m thinking about Víctor Jara. He would have been 92 today. 

You may think I make more drama over this singer than is warranted, but for me and many many others around the world Víctor Jara is the symbol and embodiment of so much more. He’s much more than a singer and much more than a symbol of human rights violations. He is more than the way he died.  Víctor Jara is the embodiment of what it means to be a revolutionary singer, a man of peace whose power of communication was greater than any bullet, which is why 51 years after his murder we remember his voice, he hear his voice above the bullets and it continues to guide us and inspire us. 

My purpose today is to celebrate Víctor Jara, to give thanks that he lived, and uplift his work once again. As we move forward, I can only hope that we can all do justice to Víctor’s memory not only by remembering him and all of the victims of the dictatorship, but also by using our voices to speak up for peace, justice and freedom, against imperialism, colonialism and brutality wherever we see it, because if Víctor was alive today, that’s exactly what he would be doing, I have absolutely no doubt. 

Songs:

Jai Jai 

El Lazo 

La Fonda

Deja la vida volar 

Desprendimiento del angelito

El Derecho de Vivir en Paz con el poncho embravecido 

A cochabamba me voy 

La Bala

El Arado

Cuando Voy al Trabajo 

Vientos del Pueblo

Manifiesto

Orlando Letelier’s only crime was being part of and defending the legitimate government of Chile, that of Salvador Allende, his actions earning him a year long detention and severe torture. This didn’t break him or stop him, Orlando moved to the united states and became the most vocal and prominent chilean exile fighting against Pinochet’s rule, further incurring the wrath of the US backed dictator. The story that follows is one of the most overlooked acts of foreign terrorism in US history, terrorism that is tied to US interventionism in South  America.

Special 48th anniversary commemorative episode.

Songs:

Al centro de la injusticia - Isabel Parra

Manifiesto - Nano Stern

Con el Alma Llena de Banderas - Quilapayún

El Derecho de Vivir en Paz - Banda Conmocion, Roberto Marquez

Vientos del Pueblo - Víctor Jara

Audio clip sources:

DemocracyNow!

Chile: Promise of freedom

Ep. 130

I often talk about Chilean revolutionary song here on the podcast. Its close to my heart, not because of any personal connection to that beautiful country whatsoever, but because their history, music and culture is deep in my heart and I have deep admiration for the struggles, successes and achievements. I often talk about nueva cancion and its suppression under Pinochet as well, but what happened in Chile was not unique. The US history of interventionism is long and continues to grow longer even in this present moment. The history of fascism attempting to destroy art and culture is also long. These dictatorships understand that music and art holds an immense power of communication. Many of these dictatorships began actually suppressing their own cultures and traditional music and art. In Chile, we have perhaps the most severe case of artistic suppression, the murder of Víctor Jara as well as his records and many others being banned, Pablo Neruda’s books were burned and it was illegal to sing revolutionary songs. In Spain Franco officially banned Catalan and other languages from school and public spaces.

Revolutionary artists suffered exile simply for singing about the reality of their people, yet they became part of the strong international community that not only brought attention to the atrocities being committed, but also played a role in ending those dictatorships with their tireless work and denouncements of their atrocities.

Today we will be celebrating what many would call “protest music”, however I, like Víctor Jara, prefer the term “revolutionary song”, from around the world. All of these artists faced various consequences for their activism and We need this inspiration right now, we actually need more revolutionary song after all, no hay revolucion sin canciones, so at this time let us take inspiration from these courageous and talented artists, starting of course in Chile. But who start with, Chile has such a rich diversity of Nueva Cancion, of course we start with Víctor Jara, a man who paid the ultimate price for simply singing the truth. We start in Chile especially seeing as this is the month of memory in Chile, a commemoration, a celebration of memory and a vigil to all those whose lives were taken.

Victor Jara — Manifiesto

Isabel Parra — En Septiembre Canta el Gallo

Quilapayún — Mi Patria

Illapu — Nuestro Mensaje

Los Jaivas — Un Mar de Gente

Manuel Garcia — El Viejo Comunista (live)

Atahualpa Yupanqui — Camino del Indio

Víctor Heredia — Sobreviviendo

Mercedes Sosa — Gracias a la Vida

Daniel Viglietti — Declaración de amor a Nicaragua/Con Nicaragua [with Benedetti]

Ramon Pelegero Sanchis (Raimon) — Diguem No

Phil Ochs — Santo Domingo (the marines have landed on the shores of)

[note]

Andres Jimenez — Libertad y Soberania

El Hormiguero — Calle 13

Silvio Rodriguez — La Maza

Pablo Milanés — canción por la la unidad latinoamericano

Carlos Puebla — Y en eso llego Fidel

Quilapayún, Inti Illimani - El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido

If you know who Salvador Allende is and I mention his last speech, made while the military bombarded the presidential palace, the line about Las anchas alamedas opening again may come to mind. It is arguably the best know part of the historic, deeply heart rendering and heart breaking speech. More than simply telling his nation what is happening and who is responsible, Allende reaffirms his commitment to the oath he swore to keep, the promises he made to his people and the work and progress he did achieve. He goes further, before the coup is even successful he foresees and heralds its end. He proclaims that the grand avenues will open once again. He gives thanks to all those who believed in him, who trusted him with the great responsibility to not only lead the country but keep his promises and undertake the great tasks that he dreamed would improve the lives of the masses.

Allende calls upon the downfall of the individuals involved, invoking their destruction before they are even able to wrest power from the legitimate government.

He does not cower, there is no fear in his voice. He speaks clearly, he never falters or stammers even as the presidential palace is bombarded around him. He looks at his fate without fear, knowing that this will all end with the sacrifice of his life and he implores his people to not sacrifice themselves. He leaves it unsaid in this moment, but it is clear he, in this moment an almost christ-like figure, intends to sacrifice himself for the sake of his people.

Perhaps we can see this as simply a trust in the laws of life and time, after all, no empire and no tyranny can continue forever, Allende certainly knew this.

Salvador Allende would be dead by that afternoon, he knew this as he spoke. It was clearly never a doubt in his mind, so with dignity, courage and a righteousness than can only come from a life spent truly working for the good of the people, stares at death and faces it directly. There is no need for him to hide from it because he knows that what he has done with his human life has been for the good of humanity, from his work as a medical doctor to the leaps and bounds in the improvement of the conditions of the chilean people, he worked for humanity not for its destruction.

Songs:

Allende Presidente - Ángel Parra

Compañero Presidente - Ángel Parra

Allende - Quilapayún

Allende/Por Todo Chile - Viglietti/Benedetti

Encuentro con la vida - Illapu

Las Ultimas Palabras - Ventiscka

I’ve always wondered how a person can quote Lolita Lebron and extol the virtues of Albizu Campos while simultaneously conforming to and defending the political structure of the United States Empire and its politicians. The cognitive dissonance within our community seems to have recently surged with the current discourse around this election and its implications. I have seen people, some of whom routinely quote and praise Puerto Rican revolutionaries, exalt the “leadership of the united states, particularly Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris. Simultaneously, I have also found it shocking that some people in our community cannot find it in their hearts to be in solidarity with their fellow oppressed people. There are those who have told me, well, what about us? We should focus on ourselves. These are two groups in our community that I have been observing recently and I find it prescient to talk about them here today.

Songs:

Pedro Redentor - Andres Jimenez

A Puerto Rico - Andres Jimenez

El Pueblo Unido - Quilapayún

Mosaico de Plenas Patrióticas - Andres Jimenez

Remembering Chilean singer-songwriter, nueva canción icon and advocate against Pinochet's human rights abuses; Ángel Parra.

Ángel is just one member of the incredible and illustrious Parra family whose contributions to Chilean music and culture have been enormous.

Me Gustan los Estudiantes

Meta Bala

Pobre del Cantor

Cancion de Patria Nueva

Cuando Amanece el Dia

Unidad Popular

Compañero Presidente

Hasta Siempre

Guitarra en Duelo Mayor

Canto a Mi America

Vientos del Pueblo

Allende Presidente

Que Vas a Hacer?

La Libertad

What I will be reading today is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s revisions to the party doctrine. Lenin had recently returned from exile at this point. He returned to Russia on April 16, a month after the Tsar’s abdication, after which he wrote the April Theses, where he raged against the provisional government as bourgeois and said that Russia was in the first stage of revolution, the next steps would need to include placing power in the hands of the proletariat. There’s a lot of other things that he calls for as well such as agrarian reform, the abolition of police and the wages of all officials to be the same as common workers, it’s overall an interesting set of directives. I mention it to place what I will be reading today in the context of the time. The Tsar was out of power, Russia was not yet communist, Lenin was back from exile, and the country was in turmoil, a lot of violence and uncertainty. Just a few months after this document was written, the October Revolution would take power and bring to power the first government based on the teachings of communism. Russia would become the first socialist country in the world. The first to go beyond the theory and take action. A grand experiment indeed. 

But why am I reading this today? And on’t I know about all the atrocities committed by the soviet union? Wasn’t Lenin a bad person, an evil dictator, a killer and a tyrant? According to many and mainstream media yes, according to historical evidence and research, not really. I’m not here to say the soviet union was communist utopia, it wasn’t. I’m not here to say the USSR never committed any atrocities, they certainly did. I’m not here to say things were done perfectly, they were not. What I am here to do is paint a picture of the intentions of someone like Lenin and show that an immense amount of good was done by the soviets. I think we should first remember that there was no democratic tradition in Russia, there was never a democracy there. It’s rather rich to call Lenin a dictator when the guy before him was a Tsar! If anything Soviet Russia was more democratic than anything that Russians had ever known before it. 

An exaltation of folkloric tradition and the poetic laments of an exile, these two statements sum of the life and music of Uruguayan singer-songwriter Alfredo Zitarrosa.

SONG LIST:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3sJj2CSpfrwwjfaYFFsP1z?si=78d74787905047aa

At times I feel like I am loosing my sanity, like I can’t hold it together anymore, after all we can cannot normalize the times we are living through and what we are witnessing, this takes a massive toll on our minds and emotions and spirits. 

One of the things holding me together through all of this has been music. Especially revolutionary song, of all kinds. And that of course has me thinking about the power of revolutionary song and art of all kinds, the commercial music industry and how it tries to co-opt this expression of the people and the trap of “representation” in media and politics. This is what I want to talk about today. 

A Luis Emilio Recabarren - Inti Illimani

nuestro mensaje - Illapu

El Necio - Silvio Rodriguez

solo digo compañeros - Karaxú

El Pueblo Unido - Ventiscka