Dear readers, listeners and fellow bloggers:
Good morning. At this precise moment the Ukrainian servicemen and citizens’ militiamen and militiawomen are tenaciously fighting in the streets of Kiev and other major cities to fend off the brutal invasion of a free country by the Russian forces. They are fighting for their right to chose how they manage their country with democratic institutions and accountability under the law. The major ideological division in the planet now is not between the Right and the Left sides of the political spectrum, as it used to be when were political militants in Montevideo, Uruguay, fifty years ago. It is between countries with functioning democracies and those with autocratic regimes like Russia.
We have always being very reluctant to discuss Politics in our space. But this is very different. The very concept of our Western Democratic societies is at risk if we let these barbarians win this war. The Russian regime, in a throwback to the 18th century, decided to grab the land of a neighbor.
Our new podcast “No pasarán” is now live at anchor.fm/dr-mario-o-laplume
Note. This poster of the Spanish Civil War was taken from Wikimedia Commons.
In the Spanish Civil War, all the political parties represented in the Quinta República, which paradoxically included the Stalinist Communist Party too, resisted fiercely against the Fascist invaders. One of the most beautiful songs of this epic resistance was “Si me quieres escribir, ya sabes mi paradero”, (if you want to write to me, you already know my whereabouts) we sang with all our fellow Badass fellow student militants in the barricades of Montevideo in the 1970s, We recently discovered a great interpretation of Marta Valero and the Quartet Brossa. Here is the link.
No matter how powerful the Russian military machine is, they will not break the Ukrainians’ spirit.
Sadly, just as we were finally leaving the horrors of this two years pandemic, we now have a barbaric war of attrition reminiscent of the Middle Ages in the very heart of Europe. Ukraine is Europe.
In Europe there are four or five nationalities that just LOVE TO FIGHT and Ukrainians are one of them. Even if the Russian war machine defeats their military and occupy their cities, thousands of Ukrainians will pass into clandestine mode to join a long guerrilla war against the occupiers. In the middle of Ukraine are the Southern Steppes that the czars gave the Cossacks to settle down in gratitude for their services. The name Cossack comes from the Turkic kazak which means “free man.” Does anyone doubt that the Cossacks will defend their homeland until the last drop of blood?
Moreover, the Foreign Secretary of Britain just announced that the UK government will support any Britons that want to join the fight in Ukraine. That is precisely how the International Brigades started to assemble in 1936 to defend the Spanish Republic against the Fascists, a great heroic saga. None other than Ernest Hemingway extolled their bravery in his epic novel For Whom the Bells Toll.
HAIL TO THE DEMOCRATIC FIGHTERS OF UKRAINE STANDING UP TO THESE BARBARIANS.
TOSS MOLOTOV COCKTAILS IN A LONG CURVE UNTIL THEY LAND ON INVADERS’ ARMOR.
NO PASARÁN.
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Stay distant. Stay safe. Stay beautiful.
What do you think? Please tell us.
Don’t leave me alone.