Friends, this was a week of demonstrations. There were 600 peace
demonstrations this week. The biggest was at the Pentagon on September 26th
- an absolutely magnificent gathering of people in non-violent resistance.
People of conscience went to the Pentagon, the seat of US military might, to
call for an end to the ongoing wars and occupations waged and supported by
the US. War is directly connected to poverty and the destruction of earth's
habitats. The preparation for more war and a new US nuclear arsenal are
threats to all live on the planet. Only a trillion dollars set aside for "modern"
nuclear weapons, which is why we are deteriorating at home with a million
people on the streets looking for something to eat. Students being wiped out by
their tuition, which they shouldn't even be charged. We are a threat to the
world, as we learn in the great new film by Eric Schlosher about the nuclear
accidents that came close to blowing up regions of the US. This was a great week, but with the 600 demonstrations across the country how many were covered by the commercial media? I'm afraid not a single one,
because we have a war media, as Johann Galtung teaches us. "If we had peace
media, they would explain what the other side is thinking and what they want
and why the are resisting." But we don't have a peace media, we have a war
media. People on the other side are the devil, and we are killing the devil. It's
our religion, killing the devil. American exceptionalism, which permits us to kill
children and call it "killing the devil."
There is a great gathering on the border with Mexico coming up. The great
work of Father Roy and the School of the America's Watch - he'll be there with
thousands of others for the Border Ecuentro. Visit soawatch.org to learn more
about this magnificent event, which begins on November 8.
Today I'm privileged to have a friend of many decades as my guest on World
Focus. Paul Baker served as a Trappist monk in Scotland. We joined forces with
the International March for Peace in Central America, 1985-86. That march was
from Panama to Mexico to call for a halt to US intervention in Central America.
Paul is now a resident of Nicaragua. His son was one of the great musicians.
He's also become the reincarnation of Victor Jarra, who was murdered by the
Kissinger created Nazi coup in Chile. I say Nazi because General Pinochet was a
member of a Nazi lodge in Chile. I think maybe that's why Kissinger liked him so
much. September 11, 1973. Our government sustained that dictatorship for 17
years. Apparently we have no problem with dictators like Pinochet - just as we
have no problem with Saudi Arabia, that great democracy. Do we have problems with the great Latin American resistance and renaissance
taking place with some of the greatest creativity on the planet. We see it as an
enemy. We want to get rid of every progressive government in the Americas.
2009 Honduran coup. Brazil's coup. Eternal war on Haiti. Aristide being
replaced by a series of puppets. Now one of Brazil's most corrupt politicians
taking power in a coup, overthrowing President Dilma Rouseff, one of the most
innocent and least corrupt politicians in Brazil. We're happy to have you with
us, Paul. What is your guitar made out of?
Paul: It's great to be here Blase, and thanks for having me back. The guitar I
have with me is actually not the original one, which was made out of an old
table leg and a toilet seat. Blase: A toilet seat? Paul: These were the day when toilet seats were made out of mahogany, not
the plastic we use now.
Blase: Aren't you ashamed? laughter
Paul: My own original guitar fell off a mountain in Nicaragua and is now in
intensive care. Blase: I'm sure they'll fix it, they know guitars. But don't just sit there, Paul.
Let's sing something.
Paul: Okay, this you introduced me to (singing):
Ay Nicaragua, Nicaraguita, la flor mas linda de mi querer, abonada con la bendita, Nicaraguita, sangre de Diriangén. Ay Nicaragua sos mas dulcita, que la mielita de Tamagas, pero ahora que ya sos libre, Nicaraguita, yo te quiero mucho mas. pero ahora que ya sos libre, Nicaraguita, yo te quiero mucho mas. -Cuando la canción sube un tono, simplemente hay que subir un tono los acordes: Ay Nicaragua, Nicaraguita, la flor mas linda de mi querer, abonada con la bendita, Nicaraguita, sangre de Diriangén. Paul: You mentioned the peace march in 85-86. First time I heard that song,
and I had no Spanish...
Blase: We were in El Espino, it was dark. We had been held on the Honduran
border for seven days. And who arrived? Carlos Mejilla - I don't know how he
found us, it was pitch black, and that's what he sang. Paul: And I went home and learned a little Spanish and produced this....
Oh nicaragua nicaraguita
The most beautiful flower dearest to my heart
The blood of diriangen
Died for you
Nicaraguita
Oh nicaragua you are even sweeter
Than all the honey of tamagas
But now my darling My Nicaraguita, now that you're free / My love for you can blaze out like fire
My darling, my Nicaraguita, now that you're free /My love for you can blaze out
like fire
Blase: So glad you sang it in English so everyone can hear and understand it. It's
a love song to Nicaragua. A wonderful country with such good people. Paul: It's a love song about freedom. Now that you're free...
Blase: I've got one for you. Sandinista, you can hold your head up high
You have given back their freedom
You have lived up to your name
Sandinista, may your spirit never die
Hold the candle to the darkness
You're the keeper of the flame
Sandinista, keep believing in the dream
The truth is stronger than the shadows
Keep it shining in your eyes
Sandinista, may the soldiers disappear
May your children live forever
May their laughter fill your lives
Sandinista, los fuerzas de la oscuridad
Nunca pueden extinguir la puridad de tu llama revolutionara
Con su terror y sus mentiras
Con su dinero y sys maquinas
La libertad en tus ojus
El amor caliente en tu corozon
Son fuerzas mas poderosas
Que las armas de la guerra
Sandinista, you can hold your head up high
You have given back their freedom
You have lived up to your name
Sandinista, may your spirit never die
Hold the candle to the darkness
You're the keeper of the flame
I was there with Kris Kristopherson for the peace talks. He wrote that song, one
of his two hundred songs. He's fairly well know. We're not going to get away
from Victor Jarra. Let's go on to Chile. Some of those songs are so great. Paul: Well, this one in particular is called Plegaria a un Labrador. I was in Chile
in 1991 and we had an event to reclaim the stadium in which he'd been killed,
and we all sang with Victor on a tape of this song...and I wrote an English part
for it.
English Version
Rise up and look at the mountain
from whence come wind, sun, and water.
You who drives the course of the river,
you who planted the flight of your soul.
Rise up and look at your hands,
to grow, hold it out to your brother.
Together we will go united in blood,
today is the time that can be tomorrow.
Free us from the one who rules us
in poverty.
Bring us your kingdom of justice
and equality.
Blow, like wind,
the flower of the ravine.
Clean, like fire,
the cannon of my rifle.
Your will be done, finally,
here on earth.
Give us your strength and your courage
to fight.
Blow, like wind,
the flower of the ravine.
Clean, like fire,
the cannon of my rifle.
Rise up and look at your hands,
to grow, hold it out to your brother.
Together we will go united in blood,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Spanish Version:
Levantate y mira la montaa
De donde viene el viento el sol y el agua
Tu que manejas el curso de los rios
Tu que sembraste el vuelo de tu alma
Levantate y mrate las manos
Para crecer estrechala a tu hermano
Juntos iremos unidos en la sangre
Hoy es el tiempo que puede ser manana
Lbranos de aquel que nos domina en la miseria
Trenos tu reino de justicia e igualdad
Sopla como el viento la flor de la quebrada
Limpia como el fuego el can de mi fusil
Hgase por fin tu voluntad aqu en la tierra
Danos tu fuerza y tu valor al combatir
Sopla como el viento la flor de la quebrada
Limpia como el fuego el can de mi fusil
Levantate y mrate las manos
Para crecer estrchala a tu hermano
Juntos iremos unidos en la sangre
Ahora y en la hora de nuestra amen
Amen, amen.
Blase: Friends, we're live today with Paul Baker Hernandez, a trappist monk
who became a Nicaraguan during the march for peace in Central America.
That's the Prayer of a Worker. A prayer for the future...which we hope we will
have. There are so many. You have to tell us about a lady who was named
Amanda. Paul: Well, it's a Victor Jara song. It's helpful to have it in English, as well as
Spanish, don't you think, for your listeners? Blase: Yes, it's wonderful that you translated them into English.
Paul: Well, you and other inspired me to come over from Scotland. And I used
to come to these solidarity event, and I was passionately for justice and liberty
in Nicaragua. But I always wished I knew what the words meant, and so I
translated them. They are not really pure translations. So they came out in this
form, and so...
I'll sing Te Recuerdo Amanda:
Te recuerdo Amanda
La calle mojada
Corriendo a la fábrica
Donde trabajaba Manuel
La sonrisa ancha
La lluvia en el pelo
No importaba nada
Ibas a encontrarte con él
Con él, con él, con él, con él, con él…
Son cinco minutos
la vida es eterna en cinco minutos
suena la sirena
de vuelta al trabajo y tu caminando
lo iluminas todo
los cinco minutos te hacen florecer
Te recuerdo Amanda
La calle mojada
Corriendo a la fábrica
Donde trabajaba Manuel
La sonrisa ancha
La lluvia en el pelo
No importaba nada
Ibas a encontrarte con él
Con él, con él, con él, con él, con él…
Que partió a la sierra
Que nunca hizo daño
Que partió a la sierra
why en cinco minutos quedó destrozado
Suena la sirena
De vuelta al trabajo
Muchos no volvieron
Tampoco Manuel
Te recuerdo Amanda
La calle mojada
Corriendo a la fábrica
Donde trabajaba Manuel
In English:
I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked
The wide smile, the rain in your hair,
nothing mattered
you were going to meet with him,
with him, with him, with him
They were five minutes
life is eternal
in five minutes
The whistle blew
to return to work
and you walking you lit up everything
those five minutes
made you blossom
I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked
The wide smile, the rain in your hair,
nothing mattered
you were going to meet with him,
with him, with him, with him
And he took to the mountains to fight
He had never hurt a fly
and in five minutes
it was all wiped out
The whistle blew
to return to work
many didn't go back
neither did Manuel
I remember you, Amanda
The wet street
running to the factory where Manuel worked
Blase: That's Paul Baker Hernandez here in the studio. A citizen, a resident of
Nicaragua. You might say, what are we singing about when there's so much
misery. Friends, this is the biophilic culture of Latin America. There were so
many who didn't come home. I can remember El Salvador with Don White, and
the Jesuits, before they were slaughter, and what do we find? We're in a city;
many of the FMLN were there. And what did they say? It's Sunday, let's have a
fiesta. Nothing was going to stop them from singing, as long as they were alive.
That's why they won, that's why Nicaragua won. La lucha misma es la
victoria. The struggle itself is the victory. We can't forget that, and Paul has
certainly never forgotten it. Now there's a very ugly phrase in Revelations: "I would that you were hot or
cold. But you are lukewarm. Therefore, I will vomit you out of my mouth." Now
that's an ugly phrase, but it reminds me of a certain song. A song from Chile,
from Victor.
Paul: Basically, he's sitting on the beach and he says people like myself, middle
class, come on, get off the fence, sitting there playing with yourselves. So it
goes like this.
Arrímese mas pa' ca aquí donde el sol calienta, si uste' ya está acostumbrado a andar dando volteretas y ningún daño le hará estar donde las papas queman. Usted no es na' ni chicha ni limoná se la pasa manoseando caramba zamba su dignidad. La fiesta ya ha comenzao y la cosa está que arde uste' que era el más quedao se quiere adueñar del baile total a los olfatillos no hay olor que se les escape. Si queremos más fiestoca primero hay que trabajar y tendremos pa' toítos abrigo, pan y amistad y si usted no está de acuerdo es cuestión de uste' nomás la cosa va pa' delante y no piensa recular. Ya déjese de patillas venga a remediar su mal si aquí debajito 'el poncho no tengo ningún puñal y si sigue hociconeando le vamos a expropiar las pistolas y la lengua y toíto lo demás
In English:
Come on now get yourself over here
Get over where the sun is shining
You are always holding backing
Making sure that your butt is covered
Come on now, come and join us over here where the spuds are burning
Come on now, come and join us over here where the spuds are burning
Oh, you're not real - get off the damned fence
Yes you who love to fondle your precious piece of fence
So if you want to get down and party, there's so much to do
Bread, shelter, song and friendship
For her, and for me and you
And if you find that too radical - it's up to you Jack
This baby's going forward, no time for turning back
Oh you you're not real, get off the damned fence.
Yes you who love to fondle your precious piece of fence
Blase: It's those who are sitting on the fence, right Paul? Almost everyone. Paul: Neither fish nor fowl would be the translation - we wooly liberals, you
now, oh year, we're for peace everywhere but we don't know that Nicaragua
produces some of the best coffee in the world that's used by Starbucks. And yet
the children who produce the coffee live in shacks with the rain coming
through and mud floors. One cup of Starbucks coffee costs more than a coffee
picker makes in a day. And so, we think, Oh my goodness, things are so terrible
in Nicaragua I must go and get myself a cup of coffee. We don't repent, we
don't say we should pay a little more for the coffee and the corporation should
pay much more to the pickers. The company should share at least half of the
profits with the people who do the work, the people who pick the coffee.
Blase: You know, coffee is right up there with the oil business - Paul: Yes, the second most traded commodity. Imagine that. Blase: The message is the same. Capital says we will take the sweat of our
workers and make 200 million dollars a year for me myself and I and
shareholder who don't do the actual work. The workers can go hungry. The
majority of the people in the world are making a dollar or two a day. The
system is a failure. Dorothy Day called it a rotten system. A saint, someone the
Pope loved. A terrible, rotten system that has no ethics. You know we talk
about right and left a great deal. I see it as ethical or unethical. Distributive
justice was talked about by Aristotle, by Plato. We have to have a distribution
of wealth that has some justice to it. As Paul said, the love of money is the
root of all evil. Money is like manure. You spread it around, and you can grow
lovely things. Paul: That's a terrific way to say it. Blase: Otherwise, it stinks. Wells Fargo this week - I mean please. Paul: What happened? Blase: The CEO made 200 million in personal stock value by inducing low level
workers the create bogus accounts for customers. Ripping off the customers.
Theft by the bank. Paul: When you teach history, they call you a communist.
Blase: Exactly what I experienced in Guatemala. We were changing the system,
and all hell broke loose. You can give your old shoes - that's wonderful. And you
might even give a loaf of moldy bread. That will make you feel good. But you
start changing the system, and just watch what happens. That's why there was
a manifesto by Victor Jara. Paul: Oh, it's a long time since I've done that one. Blase: I'll bet you could do it if you try. Paul: I've had a lot of problems with my hands (I'm working out my excuses
here). And I haven't been playing very much, but we'll try it. He wrote it just a
few months before he was murdered. I have it in both languages.
Yo no canto por cantar ni por tener buena voz, canto porque la guitarra tiene sentido y razón.
Tiene corazón de tierra y alas de palomita, es como el agua bendita santigua glorias y penas.
Aquí se encajó mi canto como dijera Violeta guitarra trabajadora con olor a primavera.
Que no es guitarra de ricos ni cosa que se parezca mi canto es de los andamios para alcanzar las estrellas, que el canto tiene sentido cuando palpita en las venas del que morirá cantando las verdades verdaderas, no las lisonjas fugaces ni las famas extranjeras sino el canto de una lonja hasta el fondo de la tierra.
Ahí donde llega todo y donde todo comienza canto que ha sido valiente siempre será canción nueva.
In English:
I don't sing for the love of singing,
or because I have a good voice.
I sing because my guitar
has both feeling and reason.
It has a heart of earth
and the wings of a dove,
it is like holy water,
blessing joy and grief.
My song has found a purpose
as Violeta* would say.
Hardworking guitar,
with a smell of spring.
My guitar is not for the rich
no, nothing like that.
My song is of the ladder
we are building to reach the stars.
For a song has meaning
when it beats in the veins
of a man who will die singing,
truthfully singing his songs.
My song is not for fleeting praise
nor to gain foreign fame,
it is for this narrow country**
to the very depth of the earth.
There, where everything comes to rest
and where everything begins,
song which has been brave song
will be forever new.
Blase: It's been a long journey, as you said. For Victor, art and social justice
were one and the same. His songs continue to be sung today and inspire both
artists and those who seek social justice. What you just sang was...
My song is not for the singing
Still less to show off a lovely voice
This guitar is the heart of my music
Filled with the tenderness of all that makes us true...
Filled with the tenderness of all that makes us true...
Blase: Now, we have a certain gentleman who's been living in luxury in Florida
with other assassins, dictators and murderers. His name is Pedro Pariento. He's
liable for the murder of Victor Jara, and he lived in the US for more than two
decades. He's now a US citizen. The Jaras sued him under the Torture Victims
Protection Act, which allows US courts to hear about human rights abuses
committed abroad. Chilean prosecutors have indicted Parientos and another
officer with Jara's murder. Why is such music such a threat? The dictators can't
stand it. Can't stand the indigenous language. English only, okay. Laughter
Paul: I shouldn't be singing them in English. I'll sing them in Mezquito...
Blase: That goes with all dictatorships. They don't want any message. They
don't want any thought or wisdom. That's what bothers me so much about our
absolute absence of diplomacy. Diplomacy is very cheap, war is very expensive
and makes certain people very rich. It kills our young people for those who
want to gain profit. That's about the only reason I can see for it. And it kills
innocent people all over the world who we define in an infantile fashion as bad
guys. Those we bad children in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We only killed a
few million of them. There are very bad children in Iraq. And Afghanistan.
These are bad people. In Libya. In Panama. See, we love the dictator. We love
him. Manuel Noriega, you're our friend. We've been friends for a long time.
Now help us overthrow the government in Nicaragua. He said no- and we said
you're a dope dealer and we bombed him and killing thousands of Panamanians
over Christmas. We call in Imperialismo. That's what is called. Do you have one
of your own songs?
Paul: There's one that Thomas Borges used all the time. Written by Luis
Enrique. I didn't realize it...
Blase: I didn't realize it until right now...laugher Jackson Brown did a great
job. Paul: Borge, along with so many people under the dictatorship that we, the
northern powers - it's not just the United States - we're all in the game
together to maintain a way of life that is essentially unsustainable. We have to
rip up the rest of the planet, and countries like Nicaragua, which is extremely
wealthy in terms of natural resources. They are immensely wealthy, but we rip
it off. Thomas Borges, who had been tortured and came into office with the
Sandinista and threw out the dictator Somoza. On day I hope to meet my
torturer...And this will be my revenge on him. This encapsulates the song. Mi venganza personal será el derecho de tus hijos torturer...And this will be my revenge on him. This encapsulates the song. Mi venganza personal será el derecho de tus hijos a la escuela y a las flores.
Mi venganza personal será entregarte este canto
florecido sin temores.
Mi venganza personal será mostrarte la bondad
que hay en los ojos de mi Pueblo.
Implacable en el combate siempre ha sido
y el más firme y generoso en la victoria.
Mi venganza personal será decirte buenos días,
sin mendigos en las calles.
Cuando en vez de encarcelarte te proponga
te sacudas la tristeza de los ojos.
Cuando vos, aplicador de la tortura,
ya no puedas levantar ni la mirada.
Mi venganza personal será mostrarte estas manos
que una vez vos maltrataste,
sin lograr que abandonaran la ternura…
Y es el que el pueblo fue el que más te odió,
cuando el canto fue lenguaje de violencia.
Pero el pueblo hoy, bajo de su piel rojinegra,
¡tiene erguido el corazón!
In English
My personal revenge will be the right
Of our children in the schools and in the gardens
My personal revenge will be to give you
This song which has flourished without panic
My personal revenge will be to show you
The kindness in the eyes of my people
Who have always fought relentlessly in battle
And been generous and firm in victory
My personal revenge will be to tell you good morning
On a street without beggars or homeless
When instead of jailing you I suggest
You shake away the sadness there that blinds you
And when you who have applied your hands in torture
Are unable to look up at what surrounds you
My personal revenge will be to give you
These hands that once you so mistreated
But have failed to take away their tenderness
t’was the people who hated you the most
When rage became the language of their song
And underneath the skin of this town today
Its heart has been scarred forevermore
It was the people who hated you the most
When rage became the language of their song
And underneath the skin of this town today
Its heart has been scarred forevermore
And underneath the skin of this town today
Red and black, its hearts been scarred
Forevermore
Blase: Tomas Borges. Yes, he faced his torturer, and his torturer was terrified.
And Tomas said, "I forgive you." I saw him many times each year from 79 on. He
was unforgettable. He passed away not long ago. Tell me, you were a Trappist monk. Did you leave the monastery? laughter
Paul: Yeah, sure did. I'm not as silent as I used to be. I was ten years silent...
Blase: And the first year you went to the abbott and said, bed hard. The
second year, you went to the abbot and said, food, bad. The third year you
went to the abbott and he said, your constant complaining is a annoying me!
Get out of here! Is that what happened? Paul: Pretty much. I actually made this guitar...it was an amazing time,
because I was there in the 60s, you know, for those of us old enough to
remember the 60s, it was a really turbulent time, students were everywhere,
and even in the contemplative monasteries there was unrest...concern...you
know, we were hanging out on a cool farm, didn't have a parrish or a hospital
or anything useful, and we were hanging out on this farm and praying. And
what the heck was the use of that? There was a process of reevaluation, and in
the process, for the first time, we had some kind of outside input. We had had
no television, radio, newspapers...and then along came a very milk and water
kind of religious magazine. Month one it had an article about Joan Baez. And
the second had an article about Bob Dylan. And this was the time of The Times
They are A'Changin. Bob Dylan's early stuff, right? So I thought, oh my
goodness, this is what I've been waiting for. I thought, I have to get a guitar but we didn't have a lot of cash, we didn't have it, so the Lord inspired me. I
was walking by the dump one day and there was a table leg and an old retired
toilet seat made out of mahogany. I put them together, there was a
guitar...and I was out of there. Blase: That's fantastic. We're almost out of time. Paul: Maybe we could sing about how KPFK listeners could put pressure on the
US government to get Nunez extradited to Chile. It's been four years now since
the request was made...
Blase: Yes. He should go back. On the 40th anniversary of Victor Jara's murder,
his wife and daughters filed a civil lawsuit in US court against the former
military officer, Pedro Barrientos, who's live in the United States for more than
two decades and is now a US citizen. The Jaras sued him under the Torture
Victims Protection Act, which allows US courts to hear about human rights
abuses committed abroad. Chilean prosecutors have indicted Barrientos and
other officers with Jara's murder. And Chile is seeking his extradition so he can
be tried on criminal murder charges. Paul, what's going to happen? Paul: Well, that request for him to be extradited is now four years old, and you
have to wonder why the United States is not allowing it to happen. And our
interpretation is because of the role and Nixon and Kissinger would become
obvious. We know of it, of course, but it would be right there for the whole
world to see. And on the other hand, justice for Victor, somebody as prominent
as him, then justice will...how did Martin Luther King put it...roll down like a
river for so many thousands who still after all these years are looking for their
loved ones. They've never had closure. So we have to think how we as US
citizens - and I live here about ten years ago - it's the north, but particularly
the United States -- how can we pressure the government to fulfill their legal
international obligation to return Barrientos. Blase: Here's his wife speaking on Amy Goodman. And just like Amanda's
boyfriend, he did not come home. "Víctor was due to go to the technical
university, his place of work, where Allende was due to speak to announce a
plebiscite at 11:00, and Víctor was to sing there, as he did. And he went out
that morning. It was the last time I saw him. I stayed at home, heard of the
bombing of the Moneda Palace, heard and saw the helicopter’s machine gun
firing over Allende’s residence. And then began the long wait for Víctor to
come back home." And then Amy says: "How long did you wait?" And Joan Jara
said: "I waited a week, not knowing really what had happened to him. I got a
message from him from somebody who had been in the stadium with him,
wasn’t sure what was really happening to him. But my fears were confirmed on
the 11th of September—well, I’m sorry, on the 18th of September, Chile
National Day, when a young man came to my house, said, "Please, I need to
talk to you. I’m a friend. I’ve been working in the city morgue. I’m afraid to
tell you that Víctor’s body has been recognized," because it was a well-known—
his was a well-known face. And he said, "You must come with me and claim his
body; otherwise, they will put him in a common grave, and he will disappear."
So much for the vicious dictator Augusto Pinochet. How about a song to finish? Paul: Well, talking about coming home and Barrientos Nunez, I wrote a song
about Victor Jara in the garden and played it on his guitar with Joan. And it is
Bring Victor Home. And the point is Pinochet is dead, and he died a criminal.
Victor Jara lived...
Don't give up, don't give up, don't give up the struggle now. Keep on singing out
for justice, don't give up the struggle now!
He saw our vision clearly, he saw that vision strong
And the echoes of his music, are still binding up the wrongs
They fight for hungry children, they toil for human rights
I thought I heard the sweetest voice singing in the night
Don't give up, don't give up, don't give up the struggle now. Keep on singing out
for justice, don't give up the struggle now!
It was in the cold dark stadium
They swore the beat him down
They broke his wrists and fingers Saying, "sing now if you can."
But his song and his courage
No Kissinger could fight
And I thought I heard sweet Victor
Singing in the night
Don't give up, don't give up, don't give up the struggle now. Keep on singing out
for justice, don't give up the struggle now!
I hear the young birds flutter
As they flew from tree to tree
Saw the sun rise in the morning
Heard the babies running free
Felt the beauty and the glory
Felt the whisper of the night
Felt the whisper of the night
And I'm sure I heard sweet Victor singing...
Blase: Victor Jara: Presente. Victor Jara: Presente. Victor Jara: Presente. Any
final thought, Paul?
Paul: We need to keep singing. Especially you! laughter I didn't really tell the
story of how you got into all this all those years ago in Nicaragua. It's been a
revelation in my life. And I should honor the Chilean refugees. Joan was able to
escape Chile because she was English originally - and so she wasn't murdered at
that time. But I was working in Scotland, and Gabriel and Margarita and Carlos
and Giovanna - they came from Chile, they were students, they were students,
they were mechanics, one of them was a singer, Carlos was a revolutionary
singer, they had all been tortured, they had all been exiled, and Gabriel in
particular had been so badly tortured he gave up some names of friends, which
I'm sure I would do to. And he never knew what happened to them. He had to
carry that burden all his life. But they formed a musical group, and they sang
the songs of Victor Jara. And in that wonderful transcendent act of courage,
they transformed our lives.Up until that time we'd ben thinking, oh, charity,
give me all boots or this or that. They made us see: NOT CHARITY, JUSTICE.
And that what the world needs, Blase: That's what it's all about, because the system has to change. As Dorothy
Day said, it's rotten - and a rotten system has to change. That's what a
revolution is about.
Paul: We have to change it. Blase: There's no question about it. We can't be ni chicha ni limoná. Paul: Sitting on the fence playing with ourselves. laughter
Blase: Yes, people walking across the street with their eyes closed. It's been
such a joy to have you, Paul. Bring my love back with you to Nicaragua. So
many memories there. Unforgettable. Paul: Totally unforgettable. Who would have thought that all these years later
we'd be sitting here. Amazing. Blase: Amazing. Muchisimas Gracias.What is your website?
Paul: It's http://paulbaker2004.wixsite.com/paul-baker-hernandez,
Blase: We just right down to the last words now...that you so much for being
here. Will you strum a bit while? Paul Baker served as a Trappist monk in
Scotland. We joined forces with the International March for Peace in Central
America, 1985-86. That march was from Panama to Mexico to call for a halt to
US intervention in Central America. Paul is now a resident of Nicaragua. His son
was one of the great musicians. He's also become the reincarnation of Victor
Jarra, who was murdered by the Kissinger created Nazi coup in Chile,
September 11, 1973. Our government sustained that dictatorship for 17 years. Thank you Paul, and thanks to all our listeners. This is World Focus. With a fond
hope that we all may be agents of justice and peace on earth with good will to
everyone.