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Cuba, Movimiento Libertario Cubano Interview ****o Para Ricardo
Date Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:25:27 +0300
The Cuban Libertarian Movement (MLC) interviewed via internet a punk
musical group active in Havana for over 10 years who are today a
significant reference in a counter cultural scene that merits
recognition and solidarity.----- Without a doubt, ****o Para Ricardo
http://www.****opararicardo.com
has become a legend of countercultural
resistance in Cuba and a milestone inside the Latin American punk scene;
likewise we’ve been able to confirm the growing interest in the
international anarchist milieu regarding the activities and the
anti-establishment attitude of the band’s members who self-describe
openly against authority of whatever color.
However, we think it’s not enough to advertise the existence against all
odds of a growing and every day more im****tant countercultural scene in
Cuba where punk stands as the tip of the spear against all authority. It
is precisely in this scene where PPR stands out with their independent
and do-it-yourself music, full of irreverent lyrics which have resulted
in harsh persecution by the bourgeois dictator****p of the Castro brothers.
This open repression against Cuba’s countercultural movement leads us,
as Cuban anarchists, to add our voice to the necessary international
solidarity campaign for ****o Para Ricardo. Therefore we publish this
interview with Gorky and other members of the PPR collective as a first
step in this campaign.
MLC: First we want to inform you that this interview will appear in El
Libertario, a Venezuelan anarchist publication, and also in Cuba
Libertaria, voice of the Group of Sup****t to Libertarians and
Independent Syndicalists in Cuba; besides other anarchist organizations
who will surely publish it in their respective media.
PRR: We don’t call ourselves anarchists per se because we are not very
well informed about what this philosophy means today and we’d like to
design “our” anarchy for ourselves because after all this philosophy is
very seductive.
MLC: When did PPR start as a countercultural musical endeavor?
PPR: The group started towards the end of 1998 motivated by unhappiness
with the Cuban rock scene, that is, if we wanted to continue doing what
we liked we could not continue to be just public, we had to form our own
group. Our proposal has evolved but very little, it has been the same or
very similar from the beginning, essentially as our hatred of the system
increases and our bodies spend more years submerged in it, so has
increased our radical stand with respect to that which bothers us – the
older we get the more radical we become. Should it be the other way
around?
MLC: Why ****o Para Ricardo? How did the name come up?
PPR: We don’t remember from so much repeating it, let’s have coffee and
then we’ll answer you … Ricardo (an individual) + **** (a censured
pleasure) = ****o Para Ricardo – against the famous slogan “Fatherland
or Death”
MLC: In what context did you decide to come together and express
yourselves as a band?
PPR: Under official repression and total misunderstanding – we’re
talking about the public, our colleagues etc – but also funny because
being well liked was never too im****tant for us, if that were the case
we would’ve made a Salsa group.
MLC: what was the young people’s reaction to the appearance of PPR in
the Cuban countercultural scene?
PPR: Since the beginning our public was small and to tell the truth our
shows were never wholly accepted by the “classic” rock public because
the public as well as the artists live in a state of frozen neurons
typical of provincial cultures little informed and also because the
culture of fear and intolerance that permeates people’s minds. Today
more people understand our message, even transcending the boundaries of
rock and being listened to by not only the followers of the genre, and
that is where we believe we make our impact inside Cuba because a lot of
people want to hear what we say in our lyrics since that is what many
people think but are incapable of expressing because of fear.
MLC: And the state’s reaction?
PPR: Same as always, it’s always been obvious to us that we must pay a
price for our obstinacy, for our way of thinking.
MLC: We know first hand of the persecution and repression the bourgeois
dictator****p of the Castro brothers and the thousand and one ways of
implementing it against whoever disagrees with the internal order of the
Farm. In the case of the PPR collective, how has the Cuban state
repressed you?
PPR: It is well known because we have denounced it every time we have a
chance, summons to the police station, intimidation, acts of
repudiation, discrimination, humiliation and even jail.
MLC: ****o Para Ricardo has set a precedent in the Cuban punk scene. Are
there other punk bands and collectives in Cuba?
PPR: There are, but not at the radical level we have, which doesn’t make
us proud because we would like to have more groups so we wouldn’t feel
so lonely and to have somebody to go to because in many cases we are
plague ridden, many people from other bands say they identify with us
but when push comes to shove they freeze. What would be very sad for us
is that when change comes many of those who kiss the official’s *****
suddenly become “radical” and “anti-establishment” and invent stories to
present themselves as heroes like it has happened in other occasions.
MLC: There are definitely clear differences between the life time
totalitarianism of the Castro brothers and the bad copy of it that
comandante Chavez tries to implant in Venezuela; perhaps because of it,
taking advantage of such differences, the Venezuelan anarcho-punk scene
has been able to establish strong links and coordinate among autonomous
bands and collectives such as Cooperative of Self-managed Bands, that
includes bands such as Apatia No, Doña Maldad, Skoria Social among
others and initiatives such as Toche Records, La Libertaria de Biscucuy,
the journal El Libertario, etc.; with the goal of organizing concerts
and countercultural events in different cities. Is there in Cuba any
coordination among punk bands and collectives?
PPR: The only thing we have in Cuba is a wrongly named “rock movement”
which is even directed by a governmental agency called “Rock Agency”
that answers to the government. It is a total aberration of what rock
is, when did rock ever had to be institutionalized?, the saddest thing
is that some people believe that they need the state to sup****t their
creativity and are not conscious of the “do it yourself” spirit that has
always been the standard of rock and roll.
We certainly would like to make contact with this Cooperative of
Self-managed Bands and perhaps learn from their experience and make
interchanges since in Cuba there are very few punk bands, to mention a
few also in the punk scene: Eskoria, ALbatros, Barrio Adentro, the rest
are bands in this new thing of EMO and pop-punk that are in no way
anarchist nor anti-establishment but in many ways the opposite.
MLC: We spoke of the “clear differences” that can still be observed
between the Cuban and the Venezuelan states, but given the more evident
similarities, would you like to coordinate efforts with anarcho-punk
bands and collectives in Venezuela?
PPR: Definitely yes.
MLC: What about a joint effort as a first step?
PPR: We love the idea, count us in.
MLC: PPR lives under very particular conditions due to the scarcities,
deprivations and restrictions of which the Cuban people but not its
dominant class is victim which, together with the specific repression
you suffer due to your anti-establishment position as a group, it
multiplies your difficulties regarding your creative labor and its
publicity. How can we help you? What do you need and how can we bring it
to you?
PPR: We suffer necessities of every type but we have always prioritized
among material things what we need for our recordings. The most urgent
item right now when we’re trying to record our 4th self-managed record
is a fast computer because we only have an old Pentium 3 where the
software gets stuck when we try to put down several tracks with effects
– imagine, we do our own mixes. We could also use a microphone to record
voice because not even clandestinely people dare record the lyrics in
their home studios for fear of reprisals. A good mike for us would be a
Marshall 9000 or something like that. Our records can be bought in our
web site: http://www.****opararicardo.com
. Buying them is another
direct way to help us.
MLC: Would you like to add something else?
PPR: Thank you for the solidarity … Analchists –as we say here- of all
countries Unite! And let everyone do with their ass as they wish.
[To learn more about the alternative Cuban scene:
http://www.cubaunderground.com.
To contact the MLC: movimientolibertariocubano [at] gmail.com. Current
information about Cuban anarchism can be found in El Libertario –
Venezuela:
http://www.nodo50.org/ellibertario]
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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