10 · 16 · 11 Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Batel Moves Audience in Speech for Peace Share with twitter Share with facebook Share with mail Copy to clipboard Administrador “One can fight for a better country from any trench. Before I give the podium over to Daniela (Michel, FICM director), from this position that is my trench, I want to raise my voice for peace ” Cárdenas cited the Cuban poet-revolutionary José Martí, including lines against violence, hate and in favor of culture as a way to remedy the ills of a nation. “Wise words from José Martí that remind me that there are inescapable issues in this marvelous Mexico that some shameless people are trying to turn into nothing more than an obscene bloodbath. I would like to live in a country where it’s not necessary to talk about these things, but today our duty as citizens is to raise our voices against violence, against the trafficking of arms and drugs and people, against the common nature of death without meaning, against those who neither know nor recognize any authority beyond that of the gun, against pretending appearances and the lack of direction Those of us who work in the arts are not apart from the pain of our offended nation, but we know that education, culture, opportunity, work and solidarity—and not brutality, come from wherever it may—are what will help us stop the violence. We are fed up with this ‘better future’ promised by the demagogues. We want and we demand a Mexico with a present that is dignified and peaceful. Only then will we build a better future. Festivals like this one are a song for a country in which from north to south the roar of bullets aims to silence the common citizen. Festivals like this are a hopeful song amid the thunder. There are those who think that, surrounded by so much pain, the best thing to do is keep quiet, remain gagged by fear; there are those who won’t stop asking themselves why we stubbornly keep singing Cárdenas cited Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti’s “¿Por qué cantamos?”
