|
Abbreviated and Translated by Pamela Barnett
From Josˇ Mart’, Obras completas (Editorial de Ciencias
Sociales: La Habana, 1975), Vol. 6, pp. 15-23.
You can read more about Mart’ in The Politics of Letters: Josˇ Mart’Õs
Revolutionary Discourse. Doctoral Thesis, University of Toronto, 2006.
(i)
These
are times for vigilance. Whatever may remain of the village in America has to
awaken to arm itself with reason and ideas.
It is
time for our America to abandon all vestiges of a parochial mentality, arm
itself with reason and ideas, put an end to fraternal conflicts, join hands
with its fellow nations, and prepare to defend itself from an external menace.
We must march united, in close formation, like the silver in the veins of the
Andes.
(ii)
Those
that have no faith in nuestra Amˇrica
lack courage and deny the courage of others because they cannot extend their
feeble, decorated arms. They are ashamed of the carpenter father and ailing
Indian mother that they continue to exploit. Those that prefer Madrid or Paris,
let them go to the Prado or Tortoni. And to those deserters that look to the
armies of North America, those delicate men that do not wish to do the work of
men, did the Washington that built this land ally himself with the English
during the years when he saw them coming against his own nation?
(iii)
There are no nations of which we can be more proud than the
suffering republics of nuestra Amˇrica;
raised among the silent Indian masses, amid the struggle between reason and the
candlestick, over the bleeding arms of a multitude of apostles. Never in
history, in less time, have nations advanced and been created from such
disorganized elements. The arrogant believe the landÕs purpose is to provide
them with luxury. The incapacity is not in the developing country but in those
who apply old, alien traditions to original nations that require autochthonous
forms of government. To govern well in America is to know the elements that
make up the nation, and to govern, by means of methods and institutions born in
that nation, for the good of all who build it with their labour and defend it
with their lives. The spirit of the government must be the spirit of the
nation; to govern means to balance the natural elements of the nation.
That is why the natural man has prevailed over the imported
book in America. The autochthonous mestizo has conquered the exotic creole. The
struggle is not between civilization and barbarism, but between false erudition
and nature. The natural man is good and submissive but will use force to regain
the respect of those in power who ignore him or act against his interests.
Tyrants have risen and fallen in America according to their conformity with or
betrayal of these disdained natural elements. In a new nation, to govern means
to create.
In nations comprised of cultured and uncultured elements, the
uncultured will govern if the cultured do not learn the art of government,
which requires the analysis of the elements peculiar to our American nations.
Our universities should teach the art of governing. Our newspapers and the academia
should promote the study of the factors that constitute our nations. The
strong, indignant natural man will destroy justice that is acquired from books
because it is not administered in accordance with the patent needs of the
country. To know the nation and to govern it according to that knowledge is the
only way to rid it of tyranny. The European university has to give way to the
American university. The history of America, from the Incas to the present,
should be taught in depth. Our Greece is more important to us than the Greece
that isnÕt ours. We may introduce the world to our republics, but our
foundations have to remain those of our republics.
(iv)
The
struggle for freedom began in Mexico under the banner of the Virgin. The
Venezuelans to the north and the Argentineans to the south set out to create
republics. And since in times of peace heroism is more rare for it is less
glorious than in times of war; since itÕs easier to die with honour than to
think logically; since governing in war when feelings are unanimous and exalted
is more easily accomplished than governing after the war when thoughts are
diverse, arrogant, exotic and ambitious; since the defeated forces, with feline
watchfulness and the weight of reality, were undermining the newly independent
republics; since the hierarchic constitution of the colonies resisted the
democratic organization of the republic, or the cultured cities ignored the
uncultured countryside, or book-born redeemers did not understand that the
revolution that had triumphed with the soul of the land, was to be governed
with the soul of the land and not against herŃAmerica is suffering the
fatigue of accommodating hostile and discordant elements, the legacy of
colonial rule, and imported forms and ideas in conflict with local reality and
a hindrance to logical government. After three centuries of despotic rule that
denied subjects the right to exercise their reason, it did not heed the
unlettered masses that had helped to liberate it as it embarked on governing
based on reasonŃfor the good of all, in the interest of all, and not the
reason of the cultured over that of the uncultured. The problem of independence
became not the change of forms, but the change of spirit.
Common
cause should have been made with the oppressed to establish a new system
opposed to the oppressorsÕ interests and habits of government. The tiger,
frightened by the gunfire, returns to the prey at night. It dies, issuing
flames from its eyes and with its claws to the air. Its approach is imperceptible,
for it approaches with velvet claws. When the prey awakens, it is held down by
the tiger. The colony continued within the republic. Now nuestra Amˇrica is saving itself from its mistakesŃfrom the
presumption of the capital cities, the blind triumph of the disdained rural
people, the excessive importation of alien ideas and formulas, the unjust and
impolitic disdain of its aboriginalsŃand the republic is struggling
against the colony. The tiger waits behind every tree and at every corner. It
will die, claws extended in the air, flames shooting from its eyes.
(v)
But
these countries will save themselves, because, with the moderate disposition
that appears to prevail, through the serene harmony of Nature, on the continent
of light, and influenced by the critical philosophy that in Europe has replaced
the philosophy of experimentation and phalanxes absorbed by the previous
generation, an authentic man is being born in America, in these authentic
times.
We were
a spectacle with the chest of an athlete, the hands of a dandy and the visage
of a child. We were a masquerade bedecked in garments from England, Paris,
North America and Spain. The silent Indian retreated to the mountains. The
alienated Negro sang alone and unknown among the waves and wild animals. The campesino, the creator, blind with
indignation, revolted against the disdainful city, his own creation. We were
epaulettes and togas in nations that came to the world in sandals and
headbands. The genius would have been in drawing together the headband and the
toga with the generosity and spirit of the nationsÕ founders, unfetter the
Indian and make room for the capable Negro, to fit liberty to the bodies of
those who rose up and fought for it. Instead we retained the judge, the
general, the scholar and the ecclesiastic. Neither the Yankee nor the European
book provided the key to the Hispanic American enigma, and every year our
countries amounted to less. Fatigued from useless hate, the conflicts between
the book and the sword, reason and the candlestick, the country and the city, nuestra Amˇrica is now experiencing
love. Our nations are standing up and greeting each other. They understand that
the salvation of our nations rests in our peopleÕs creativity, and they are
applying local solutions to local problems. They understand that the forms of
government must accommodate the natural elements of a country; that to be
viable, liberty must be sincere and complete; that if the republic does not
embrace everyone and move forward with everyone, it will die. The tiger within
and without will take advantage of the cracks. If the infantry is left behind,
the enemy will surround the cavalry. On their feet, with the joyful eyes of
workers, they greet each other, from one nation to the next, the new American
men. Those that govern in the republics of our Indians are learning Indian
languages.
(vi)
America
is saving itself from all the dangers that menace it. Some of our republics are
under the weight of the sleeping octopus. Others hastily drain their lands as
if to recover the lost centuries. Some forget that JuarezÕs carriage was drawn
by mules: luxury corrupts, is the enemy of freedom, and opens the door to
exploitation. Others, with epic spirit, heighten their virility from a threat
to their independence. And others, rapaciously at war with their neighbours,
build huge armies that can devour them. But nuestra
Amˇrica also faces an external threat, one that comes from the differences
in origin, methods and interests between North and South America, and very soon
an aggressive and enterprising nation, disdainful and ignorant, will approach nuestra Amˇrica demanding close
relations. The greatest danger is the scorn of our formidable neighbour who
doesnÕt know us. However, the northern republic is restrained by the need to
preserve its honour in the eyes of the worldÕs nations. Therefore, nuestra Amˇrica has time to act with
discreet and unwavering pride to forestall this threat, to show itself to be
one in spirit and intent, to replace the neighbourÕs ignorance and scorn with
knowledge and respect. One must have faith in the best and distrust the worst
in men, and allow the best to be shown so that it prevails over the worst.
There should be a pillory for those who stir up useless hate, and another for
those who fail to tell the truth in time.
There
can be no hatred of races because there are no races. Race is an abstraction
that cannot be justified by any objective observation of Nature, where
victorious love and turbulent yearning highlight the universal identity of human
beings. Love emanates, equally and eternally, from human bodies that are
diverse in form and colour. Ideas that foment hatred of races are an assault
against humanity. As nations develop in proximity to other nations that are
different, they acquire peculiar characteristics of ideas and habits,
expansionism, vanity and greed that may precipitate a grave threat to weak and
isolated neighbouring countries deemed inferior by the stronger nation. To
think is to serve. One should not ascribe an innately evil predisposition to
another nation because it is different from ours. Nor should one conceal the
details of the problem that can be resolved, for centuries of peace, through
timely study and urgent tacit union of the continentÕs soul. Already the
unanimous anthem resounds throughout hardworking America that is carried on the
shoulders of the new generation; from the Bravo to Magellan, and the suffering
islands of the sea, the Great Sem’ has watered the seeds of the new America!
Copyright 2004 Pamela Barnett
|
ipamba@gmail.com
Twitter
Facebook
iPamba Blog
because life happens
Ask Pamba Blog
on education Pambacom Blog
words at work
Read Excerpts from
Thesis Chapters
Thesis Abstract
Introduction
El presidio pol’tico en Cuba
Mart’Õs Revolutionary Oratory
ŅNuestra AmˇricaÓ
Conclusion
academia.edu
my Prezi
my Scoop.It
my Pinterest
my linked in profile
|
|