On Monday March 17, 2008 the Pontis Foundation together with the organization People in Peril organized a March of Solidarity with the Cuban movement Ladies in White in the streets of Bratislava.
The March from Freedom Square (Námestie slobody) to club A4 – zero space at SNP Square (Námestí SNP) was attended by more than 50 people. Holding white umbrellas in their hands, they came to express their solidarity with a women’s movement, which for more than five years have sought freedom for their husbands, brothers, sons or other relatives, who were arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown against dissenters, a period also known as the Cuban Black Spring.
The March was attended by Mr. Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés, one of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists detained in March 2003. Mr. Osvlado was condemned to 18 years in prison. After a year and eight months, he was released from prison de bene esse for health reasons. Now living in Sweden, he works as a member of editorial staff and political analyst in the Miscelaneas de Cuba magazine. He is also a member of Cuban Liberal Union leadership.
Those offereing solidarity with the Cuban people included, among others: sociologist Zora Bútorová, the chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, Minorities and the Status of Women in Slovak National Council (parliamentary committee) László Nagy, members of parliament Vladimír Palko and František Mikloško, former members of parliament Petra Masácsová and Ján Čarnogurský, priest of the Fraternal Church Daniel Pastirčák, priest Anton Srholec, and publicist Marta Šimečková.
As one demonstrator Daniel Pastirčák told aktualne.sk, “I am here, because I have particular people in front of my eyes, particular faces of particular women, which are bravely standing behind their husbands. Husbands which have only defended human rights”.
Sociologist Zora Bútorová told TASR (Slovak press agency), that the march was also addressed to Slovak state officials, who “do not see any problem maintaining diplomatic contacts with Cuba”.
"Such activities could help to raise solidarity with prisoners of conscience, who are sentenced for their beliefs by the Cuban regime,“ she added for TASR.
The march was followed by the screening of a new documentary movie about the Ladies in White. The director of the film is Bosnian film maker Ivana Milošević. The documentary entitled ‘Damas De Blanco’ captures authentic testimonies of wives and other relatives of political prisoners, who suffer not only from the isolation from their relatives, but also by material deprivation caused by missing family breadwinners.
We would like to thank all participants, who held white umbrellas in their hands and who expressed solidarity with the prisoners and their families, who are persecuted for demanding rights and freedoms which for us are something basic.
We would like to thank all contributions to the public collection for the support of the families of prisoners. Our volunteers will deliver these contributions directly to the families in Cuba.
You can find more information about the public collection here.
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