Las Damas de Blanco - A Photo-Musical Tribute

(Updates 12/11:

* Turns out yesterday was "Human Rights Day." (Don't know exactly what that means, who instituted it, etc., but I happened to help bring this video to the world's attention on that day.

* The latest heroic Damas de Blanco photos are here at Free Thoughts, the best trilingual (English-Italian-Spanish) anti-Castro, pro-Western blog on the internet, and nominated -- for good reason -- by the Weblog Awards for Best European Blog of 2006.)

* More (12/12): Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia from Babalu Blog

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Nope, no Castroite parades and no Hollywood directors slumming here. Just dozens of Cuban prisoners of conscience, held continuously since a 2003 government crackdown on free speech, and the faces of their families, organized through Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) (info in Spanish; English).

Oppression ain't glamorous. Nor is the work, commitment, and sacrifice of abolishing it. But glamor has nothing to do with what's worth remembering. That is, glamor has nothing to do with glory. As with most popular movements, like invention itself, Las Damas de Blanco was born from necessity:

The wives had nowhere to turn, so they turned to each other. They gathered on Sundays at St. Rita church to discuss brief, sporadic jailhouse visits and the appalling conditions their  husbands faced. Soon those weekly meetings developed into regular peaceful protests on Fifth Avenue.

Comments

[ren.kat]

Shoulda' followed the link. It's a United Nations project. :-)

[JMK]

RK,
(Apologies for the late reply TypePad commenting was not functioning for me most of today.)
So, what are the other 364 days for? Animal rights? :-)