Casa de las Américas calls for an end to racism and to stop fascism in the US and the world

Casa de las Américas has urged all good people to raise their voices to stop the advance of fascism and demand an end to racism in the US  and the world.

A declaration of the Havana based cultural entity founded in Cuba 61 years ago, recalls how Cuban National Hero, José Martí, in the 19th century, during his long stay in the United States, warned of the problem of racial discrimination in that society by concrete violent actions that led to murder. Since then, racism, the flesh and blood of American society, has legitimized discrimination, abuse, mass incarceration and the systematic murder of dark-skinned citizens, the text denounces. In the face of so much systemic violence, female and male blacks in the country have written an inspiring story of struggles, from the insurrections against slavery until today, it adds.

According to the declaration, the disproportion between the number of blacks and Latinos victims of the Covid-19 pandemic with respect to the percentage they represent in the US population is outrageous. It has to do with the helplessness of millions of people who have no other choice but to expose themselves to the virus to be able to eat and the wreck of a health infrastructure divorced from public service. The makeup of a self-proclaimed lifestyle has been once again discolored, it goes on to say.

The declaration also highlights that George Floyd’s brutal murder and the violent deaths of other African-Americans, inflicted amidst the largest protests in more than half a century, show that racism in the United States works as a deadly machine, totally out of control. Used to dominating by force and not being held accountable for it, the system is unable to control its primitive instincts, stepped up since the Donald Trump’s arrival in the country's presidency, it points out. The increasing participation of white people in anti-racist protests taking place there, the establishment of new citizen alliances and the worldwide expansion of protests against racism and police violence - the violence of neoliberal capitalism everywhere – make up new fighting scenarios, the statement continues.

According to Casa de las Américas, Trump has responded with a string of threats and offenses and more military deployment; Furthermore, it has been encouraging armed neo-Nazi groups that oppose those who protest and fanatically defend the statues and symbols of the racist south.

Casa de las Américas is the founder and sponsor of one of the most prestigious literary awards in the Americas for 61 years. Renowned Latin American and Caribbean writers have won the coveted prize in different categories and become the most renowned narrators on the continent.