Nichi Vendola, a member of parliament for the Communist Refoundation Party, called the position of those who signed the petition to postpone the June 28 pro-Cuba demonstration "presumptuous and bigoted." This does not reflect his history within the Italian LGBT movement. Disagreeing with an initiative held on the very day of the world's Gay Pride cannot be dismissed with, "They're like those who didn't want the Gay Pride in Padua because it was Holy Week. Let them try more serious arguments.".
June 28, 1969
We may think differently than Cuba, but we cannot ignore such an issue with a few jokes in questionable taste, which, moreover, do not address the issue raised by representatives of the most important Italian LGBT organizations (Arcigay, Arcilesbica, Mario Mieli, Azione Trans, etc.).
What would have happened if on March 8th some joker had demonstrated in favor of men's rights, or if on May 1st Confindustria had organized a national demonstration in solidarity with the business community? The entire left would have risen up, while on June 28th the indifference of many of its leaders, who don't consider the citizenship rights of homosexuals noble enough, was enough (there are always other rights that are more prominent and politically viable).
If, then, gays who hold very prominent positions in national politics undermine the importance of June 28th, it means that there is still a lot to do!
And frankly, it's worth noting that even in the United States and Arab countries, gay rights are trampled upon: the Italian LGBT movement has never spared anyone, and has always stood firmly against any kind of repression, violence, and discrimination. This has also earned it mistrust from various factions over the years.
The pro-Cuba demonstration has been shelved. Many of the forces and movements that participated have been allies of the Italian LGBT movement for years, but we cannot remain silent about our disappointment, and the statements we have read have surprised us. For all these reasons, the matter is not over for us. We cannot, nor do we want to, remain silent about what has happened and is happening in Cuba. As always, we are ready for the broadest possible discussion. Naturally, all different positions must be recognized with equal political dignity.
From "Il Foglio" of 06.28.03
No, you can't with Fidel.
For Diliberto, things are worse. The demonstration in support of Cuba has its "surprise" dissidents. Can solidarity with those who trample on gay rights be shown during the embargo? The doubts
Nichi Vendola
Rome. No, with Cuba and Fidel, it's impossible. This issue was raised a few days ago by numerous representatives of homosexual associations, protesting the demonstration—called for this afternoon in Rome by the Italian Communist Party (PDCI) led by Oliviero Diliberto and Armando Cossutta—in solidarity with the Castro regime, calling for "an end to the blockade and US aggression," precisely on the day of global gay pride, the anniversary of the police raid on the Stonewall bar in New York. Led by Democratic Party (PD) MP Franco Grillini, the gays asked the organizers (also participating are Rifondazione, a couple of Green MPs, several social centers, and a few priests like Father Vitaliano della Sala) to reconsider "the appropriateness of holding this demonstration: free June 28th from a lacerating overlap." In a document published on the front page of L'Unità, they recalled that "among the rights violated in Cuba are those of homosexual and transgender people... denied their fundamental rights and subjected to legal blackmail," crushed by the repression "typical of countries of real socialism" as well as the "cultural machismo of Latin American countries." Surprisingly, the petition was recently signed by more than sixty left-wing parliamentarians, from Green Party leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio to several members of the Margherita party, and even a member of the Italian Communist Party (PDCI), Gabriella Pistone. But the vast majority of signatures were collected by elected members of the Democrats of the Left (DS). Among the representatives of Via Nazionale are Luciano Violante, Livia Turco, Fabio Mussi, Anna Finocchiaro, Pietro Folena, Giovanna Melandri, Vincenzo Visco, Umberto Ranieri, as well as the party's Foreign Affairs minister, Marina Sereni. The desire to "defend a regime that prevents gays, lesbians, and trans people from being themselves in the open," the signed document states, "did not please us at all." It calls for sending Castro "a clear signal" against "a useless and painful repression of the identity of thousands of women and men who simply demand to be themselves." This is almost a reversal of the silence on Cuba observed until recently. This silence was resoundingly broken in recent weeks by the Piedmontese secretary of the Democrats of the Left, Pietro Marcenaro, who openly protested the Cuban ambassador's participation in a Turin conference on women and the war of liberation. Moreover, Marcenaro also proposed, and had approved by the Piedmont regional council, a document also voted on by the center-right, calling for an end to the American embargo, but also an end to "the democratic embargo implemented by the authoritarian regime against the Cuban people." Nichi Vendola's Double Membership And how are the initiative's promoters responding? Oliviero Diliberto, secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PDCI), isn't budging, he specifies, "not even a millimeter." He says: "I have no doubt that any discrimination against homosexuals must be opposed. But in most Arab countries friendly to the US, it's even worse. So, as always, double standards. Cuba is under siege because the socialist system exists there; everything else is just idle talk." Not so much... "One of our associations, the Circolo Pasolini, with the party's full approval, has written a letter to the Cuban ambassador requesting a meeting with communists to change this position." So you won't change your mind, even though civil rights are invoked? "The first right is to live. So we defend Cuba." Nichi Vendola, a gay man and member of parliament for the Rifondazione party, will also be in the square. Don't you feel contradictory? "I feel strong solidarity with the Cuban history and revolution, and anger at its repressive policies. But I don't see these feelings as conflicting. For homosexuals, the situation is much more dramatic in some US states than in Cuba." And he attacks the document from gay rights leaders: "Presumptuous and bigoted. They're similar to those who didn't want the gay pride parade in Padua because it was Holy Week. Let them try more serious arguments." Some doubts, however, arose from Green Party member Paolo Cento, who also supported the initiative: "They did well to raise the issue. I did the same with the organizers. If I speak in the square, I will raise the issue of gay rights in Cuba." Even if "it's a country starved by the American embargo." Who knows what the hell it has to do with sex and everything else, though. Democrats in a letter to L'Unità
NICHI VENDOLA'S POSITION
From "Liberazione" of 06.28.03
Because today we will be in Piazza Farnese
A response to the appeal against the "Let's Defend Cuba" demonstration published in l'Unità and signed by Franco Grillini and other members of the Italian gay, lesbian, and transgender community.
‘The island's isolation doesn't help homosexual people either.
June 28th is a historic date inextricably linked to the Stonewall uprising, when in 1969 a group of transvestites and homosexuals rebelled against the oppression and violence of the American police. A demonstration held sporadically and coincidentally on the same day does not detract from the significance of LGBT Pride Day, but in the case of the "Defend Cuba" initiative, it can instead be a propitious occasion to proactively highlight the grave situation of denied civil rights and discrimination faced by homosexual and transgender people on the Caribbean island.
Demanding and perhaps even obtaining the lifting of the embargo that has forced Cuban women and men into difficult conditions for many years can only help promote the recognition of civil rights for all. "Defend Cuba" is not and must not be unconditional support for Fidel Castro's government, but rather a demonstration in support of the Cuban people and against the US embargo.
We are aware that Cuba lacks a true democratic system, that it has the death penalty (unfortunately, as in other countries around the world), that its parliament always acts unanimously, that it has a single party, and that the "lider maximo" has supreme decision-making power. This situation cannot be justified by international aggression, primarily from the United States, and we can and must mobilize for the achievement of a true democratization based on the self-determination of the Cuban people and the recognition of human and civil rights.
Precisely because we feel connected to the Cuban people's struggle and its political agenda, we believe it is essential to state that there can be no justification for restricting rights in Cuba, and that this issue is an integral part of our support initiatives. An event like Stonewall, more than thirty years later, could also happen in Cuba, becoming a strong signal for change in justice and dignity.
The Italian LGBT community, like the international community, can make a significant contribution to improving the living conditions of homosexual and transgender people living in Cuba and in other countries around the world where they are persecuted for their beliefs, sexual orientation, and gender identity. We know full well that there are very few countries where LGBT citizens enjoy the same rights as heterosexual citizens, and Italy is not one of them.
In the United States, a nation that has proclaimed itself "controller of the world" and has decided to impose its political, economic, and cultural model, even through war, 18 of the 50 states in the Union have laws that punish homosexuality, often with penalties far more severe than those imposed in Cuba. There are almost a hundred states around the world where homosexual orientation is a crime, as in Cuba.
We wonder why some members of the Italian LGBT movement are imposing double standards, risking, if not exploiting, the Cuban people, especially gays, lesbians, and transgender people. This isolation is the primary challenge we face for the democratic process in Cuba and the affirmation of civil rights. And it is what must be broken with the lifting of the embargo.
In this sense, we propose uncompromising political action, to put pressure on the Cuban government, and at the same time to cooperate and engage in political and cultural exchange with Cuban homosexual and civil rights groups, to strengthen the axis of a democratic political process.
Saverio Aversa, Titti De Simone, and Nichi Vendola