[News] Renowned poet Nancy Morejón uninvited from festival in latest anti-Cuba attack

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/06/01/renowned-poet-uninvited-from-festival-in-latest-anti-cuba-attack/>
Renowned poet Nancy Morejón uninvited from festival in latest anti-Cuba
attack
Zoe Alexandra - June 1, 2023
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[image: image.png]

Nancy Morejón is an internationally recognized poet, translator, and
academic. (Photo: T. Charles Erickson)

France’s distinguished poetry festival, *le Marché de la Poésie*, or the
Poetry Market, has come under fire by artists, writers, and activists
across the world for their last minute decision to cancel the honorary
presidency of Nancy Morejón over the 40th edition of the festival. The
festival which will take place from June 7-11 in Paris announced the
decision on Wednesday May 31, less than a week before the festival is set
to kick off.

Nancy Morejón is an internationally recognized poet, translator, and
academic. She was the first Black woman to win Cuba’s National Literature
Prize and her extensive body of work touches on Black Cuban history and
culture, women, and much more. She has lectured at Wellesley College and
the University of Missouri in the United States, and currently serves as
the director of the Unión Magazine, the journal of the Union of Writers and
Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

In the public statement announcing their decision, the board of Poetry
Market wrote that the decision was made in response to “pressures, rumors,
and attempts exerted to date, by both sides.”

Despite the festival’s vagueness, the decision was a direct response to a
campaign waged by a hardline right-wing Cuban activist and writer Jacobo
Machover, who today lives in Paris, France.  On May 24, 2023, the
right-wing writer shared a communiqué
<https://www.facebook.com/jacobo.machover.3/posts/pfbid02S55GxqGoqbSKKrsx8u9AHvq18rezuoD3ypb9NyFeZkDwNL2iGP88jLZ7QWddkE6al>
on Facebook expressing his “dismay” at her notable achievement and said
that bestowing this honor to the renowned Afro-Cuban poet would be
“incongruous” and potentially tarnish the “reputation and image” of the
festival. He demanded that the honor be withdrawn and declared that this
act would “contribute to the freedom of Cuba, and of course of its poetry
and literature, which are the common heritage of writers and poets the
world over.”

Shortly after, the PEN Club France, an association of writers and artists
which advocates for freedom of expression, and its president Antoine Spire
wrote letters to the Poetry Market claiming that Morejón was unsuitable to
receive the honor at the festival because, ironically, she is not against
the Cuban government.

Spire wrote
<https://www.penclub.fr/communiques/lettre-a-la-direction-du-marche-de-la-poesie-a-propos-de-nancy-morejon/>,
“she has not only strongly supported the policies of her country’s
authorities, but has even signed several texts in Cuba, which we have in
our possession, affirming that there is no repression on the island… I’m
sure you, like us, haven’t had the time to research this woman’s biography,
otherwise you’d have given up entrusting her with this honor. Is it still
possible to turn back the clock? The French Pen Club, committed to the
poetry market, urges you to do so.”

In just under a week, Machado was successful in canceling the honor to be
bestowed on Morejón for her long history of work.
*Freedom of expression?*

The hasty decision has provoked a massive outcry from artists, writers, and
progressive organizations across the world who question how the festival
can use the pretext of freedom of speech and expression to silence an
artist due to political pressures.

UNEAC strongly condemned the decision and in a press conference, the
president of the Writers’ Association of UNEAC, Alberto Marrero, declared,
“Cuban writers and artists repudiate any attempt to disqualify Nancy’s
poetic and human trajectory and express our solidarity support to the
distinguished creator. The hatred against Cuban poetry and culture [will
achieve] nothing.”

The World Poetry Movement, which Morejón pertains to, released a statement
condemning the French festival’s decision and called for people across the
world to do the same. They specifically criticize the stigmatizing
treatment faced by Cuban artists outside of the island and call it a
“practice that offends and attempts to humiliate all artists who are
faithful to their people and stand by them, in the face of the imperial
onslaught and the economic, financial, commercial, media, diplomatic and
cultural war waged by the United States of America against the small
socialist island of the Caribbean.” They say that her only crime is “living
and working in Cuba, and standing by the Cuban Revolution.”

Hannah Craig, the art space coordinator at the People’s Forum of New York
City, told *Peoples Dispatch*, “We’re so often told that Cuban artists
aren’t ‘free’, but we see with this example that real censorship comes from
the imperialists, not from within Cuba. Nancy Morejon’s incredible work and
legacy should be shared with the world, but because of right-wing pressure
we are seeing an attempt to silence her.”

The International Union of Left Publishers (IULP) also released a statement
<https://1804books.com/blogs/news/statement-of-solidarity-with-cuban-poet-nancy-morejon>
condemning the decision and highlighting the hypocrisy of the French
festival, “Not only does this decision go against all principles of freedom
of expression and of ideas, it also capitulates to right-wing demands for
censorship and legitimizes the systemic attacks of the US, Europe, and the
interests of global capitalism on Cuban culture and society.” The IULP
offered its support and solidarity to Morejón and “to all the Cuban writers
and artists who, together with their people, stand strong and with dignity
in the face of the systemic attacks of US imperialism and its European
partners.”

The campaign against Morejón comes in the midst of similar attacks against
Cuban musical group, *Buena Fe*, which is currently on tour in Spain.
Right-wing activists violently disrupted several performances of the group,
attacked singer Israel Rojas in a restaurant in Barcelona, and have
pressured venue owners to cancel several scheduled concerts.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry released a statement
<https://cubaminrex.cu/es/asedio-del-odio-fascista-la-cultura-cubana-declaracion-de-ministerio-de-relaciones-exteriores>
on June 1 condemning the “siege of fascist hatred of Cuban culture.” The
ministry highlighted that, “Cuban culture, which suffers the impact of the
inhuman and illegal economic blockade, is the bearer of messages of peace,
dialogue and tolerance. It rejects the barbarism, hatred and violence that
the imperialist monopolistic interests of the United States and some of its
allies are trying to impose.”

In the statement, the Foreign Ministry affirmed that “Cuba will not stop
presenting its culture in any corner of the world and will respond with
firmness and unity to every aggression.”
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