November 18, 2008
fidel and the Amish
Chrisopher Hitchens on fidel's recent sojourn with religion:
I have been in Cuba many times in the past decades, but this was the first visit where I heard party members say openly that they couldn't even guess what the old buzzard was thinking. At one lunch involving figures from the ministry of culture, I heard a woman say: "What kind of way is this to waste money? We build a cathedral for a religion to which no Cuban belongs?" As if to prove that she was not being sectarian, she added without looking over her shoulder: "A friend of mine asked me this morning: 'What next? A subsidy for the Amish?' "
Read the whole excellent thing, right here.
H/T Ernesto.
Posted by Val Prieto at November 18, 2008 08:50 AM
Comments
This is even more absurd than the ridiculous monument to that damn cow, "Ubre Blanca." It's absolutely obscene, given Cuba's severe housing shortage and dire lack of construction materials to patch up the crumbling existing housing, that even a single brick or bag of concrete would have been used to build this white elephant. It's of no use whatsoever to Cubans, and it's obviously an insult to the people. Basically, it's saying, "If the people have no decent housing, let them visit a Russian Orthodox cathedral."
Needless to say, the judgment and ethics of the Russian Orthodox figures associated with the project are at best highly questionable.
Posted by: asombra ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 18, 2008 10:37 AM
I agree with Asombra, it's absolutely obscene. It goes along with Marie Antoinette's alleged infamous words, "let them eat cake!" What's more, he is destroying even more than it's already been destroyed, the architectural integrity of the city. All world cities have an architectural fabric that corresponds to the necessity and the culture of the country. As such, you don't find Tahitian grass huts--despite how charming they may be--in Paris, or Japanese pagodas--regardless of their beauty-- in Berlin, etc...
What utility does this church have in Cuba where you can count Orthodox Christians with one hand? Of course, he doesn't restore the Catholic churches nor does he built more Catholic churches, because he doesn't want to empower the church which while subsequiese to him because of our horrible cardinal is still a potential threat. So, he builts more orthodox churches. There's already a Greek Orthodox church, now a Russian one!
What's next, igloos in Oriente?
Posted by: Ray at November 18, 2008 11:00 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
