[Newspoetry] Lennon Tribute in Cuba

[Mike Lehman]

In contrast to Mean Mr. Mustard Giuliani's approach to this anniversary:

 TUESDAY, 12 DECEMBER 2000 


Castro hails once-shunned Lennon as fellow dreamer 
11 DECEMBER 2000

HAVANA (Reuters): President Fidel Castro led a day of homage on Friday
to John Lennon as a "revolutionary" hero in a cultural about-face by
Cuba's communist authorities toward the Beatles star, whose music was
once frowned on as a decadent Western influence. 

To the musical backdrop of "All You Need Is Love," a military-dressed
Castro, aided by star Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez, unveiled a bronze
statue of Lennon sitting on a bench in a Havana park. 

"What makes him great in my eyes is his thinking, his ideas," Castro
told reporters after the ceremony, which was timed to coincide with the
20th anniversary of Lennon's murder in New York. 

"I share his dreams completely. I too am a dreamer who has seen his
dreams turn into reality," added the 74-year-old former guerrilla who
took power in the 1959 Cuban Revolution. 

Other honors for the Beatles star included a documentary by Castro's
personal cameraman, Roberto Chile, tributes from state media and an
open-air concert on Friday evening in Cuba's "anti-imperialist" arena
opposite the U.S. diplomatic mission. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, Beatles songs were considered "ideological
diversionism" by Cuban authorities. Local music lovers recount that
Liverpool's Fab Four were barely heard on the island, with the exception
of clandestine parties where smuggled tapes might be played with the
lights off. 

In the still tightly controlled but culturally more liberal Cuba of
today, Lennon is now cast as a born rebel and a constant victim of U.S.
harassment. Friday's honours were intended to "integrate Lennon into the
patrimony of the cultural values that our people admire and respect," an
official statement said. 

"Declassified FBI documents have made public the aggression he suffered
for his radical position against the Vietnam War during Richard Nixon's
administration," it said. 

NO TIME TO LISTEN 

Despite his enthusiastic tribute, Castro confessed that he did not
listen much to the Beatles in their heyday because "I did not have much
time." He added with a smile that unlike others around the world who cut
their hair Beatles-style, "I never cut my hair modeled on anyone." 

What would he say to Lennon if the singer and songwriter were still
alive? "'I'm sorry I didn't meet you before,'" Castro said. 

While most Cubans love the Beatles and now listen to them openly, some
people were left scratching their heads at Friday's celebrations. 

"What? Now they're going to honor Lennon? I can't believe it," mused one
self-styled former Cuban hippie as he stopped his bike opposite the
arena, where preparations were under way for the Lennon homage concert. 

"You see this bump on my head? I got this when I was a kid for listening
to the Beatles and playing their music!" he added with a laugh, showing
what he said was the lump left when his ideologically strict father
smashed his guitar over his head. 

The Communist Party daily, Granma, put the Beatles on a list of the most
"relevant" figures of the 20th century last year, below Castro, Russian
revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and Argentine-born guerrilla Ernesto "Che"
Guevara. 

Underlining the importance that Cuba's senior leadership decided to give
to Lennon on Friday, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon
attended the unveiling of the statue. He praised the British singer in a
speech as "the paradigm of a free and creative intellectual." 

Castro said the tribute to Lennon had made him feel young, adding,
"Youth is all about thinking, enthusiasm and the capacity to dream."