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cuba honors john lennon
On occasion, we inevitably reflect on the marvels of human achievement, and to consider/plan how humanity will overcome the chief obstacle to social progress and our very survival as a species in this poisonous, wasteful, violent, irrational and oppressive world capitalist disorder.
One of the qualities that distinguishes humanity from the other animals is our ability to plan, which means our ability to imagine doing things differently. To lead from crude necessity . . . to socialist freedom.
Artists, whose real job is to tell the truth, help us to imagine . . . in a revolutionary way.
One of the greatest artists of this past century, perhaps beyond it, was John Lennon: writer, musician, singer, political activist and founder of the British rock group, the Beatles.
In Havana, on December 8, Cuban President Fidel Castro led a day of homage to John Lennon calling the former Beatles star a “revolutionary” hero. To the musical backdrop of “All You Need is Love,” Castro, aided by the star singer-guitarist Silvio Rodriguez, unveiled a bronze statue of Lennon sitting on a park bench.
Ricardon Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, speaking at the unveiling outlined the persecution Lennon suffered at the hands of the FBI, the CIA and the U.S. Immigration Service during the administration of Richard Nixon. Some of the Lennon files, he noted, have still not been declassified.
Alarcon referred to some of the landmarks in Lennon’s history, such as his call for peace in the Middle East, his support for young U.S. army deserters who did not want to fight in Vietnam, his stand on indigenous rights and against racial discrimination.
“What makes him great in my eyes is his thinking, his ideas,” Fidel Castro said after the ceremony, timed to coincide with 20th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder in New York.
“I too am a dreamer who has seen his dreams turn into reality,” added the 74 year old former guerrilla who led workers and peasants to power in the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Castro said the tribute to Mr. Lennon had made him feel young, adding, “Youth is all about thinking, enthusiasm and the capacity to dream.”
We agree with Fidel and we are honored to re-print the words of John Lennon’s most revolutionary ballad.
Imagine
Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
Living for today . . .
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope someday you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.
Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too,
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace . . .
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope someday you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world . . .
You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope someday you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.
