Photos from my trip to Cuba will appear here shortly...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 09:57:25)
First set: PROPAGANDA (Not a Coca Cola billboard in sight!!)
In politics and the people management that is required to remain in power Goebbels was the forefather of galvanising the general populace to get behind their leader through fearmongering and demonisation. It happens in America - Cold War: Russkies, Today: Muslims; it happens in Europe - WWII: Jews, Cold War: Russkies, Today: Muslims; and it happens in Cuba - indoctrination against the US of A pervades every facet of life and every media item and mural. As with all cases of propaganda, images of national heroes of yesteryear and founding fathers of the nation are often evoked: a subtle and effective tactic. Make someone believe they are under threat and they will rush to the bosom of their regime and permit the government to do things that they ordinarily wouldn't. Observe...
George W. Bush + Luis Posada Carriles = Adolf Hitler!!
He who gives refuge to a terrorist IS a terrorist!!
The Assassin!!
Hey Mr. Imperalist! We are not scared in the slightest!
Subtle Reminder: Everything is going A-O-K!!
We will win!!
The Nation Or Death!!
Long live free Cuba!!
Lack of solidarity will lead to Neo-Liberalism!!!
Long live Fidel!! 80 More Years!!
The Bush Plan: Thanks but we already live in a free Cuba!!
47th Anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution!!
We demand justice!!
Welcome Hugo!!
Justice for the Five Heroes!!
The five heroes campaign is everywhere. Apparently five Cuban spies living in the US to monitor anti-Cuban terror activity have been imprisoned by the US for varying, very long, jail terms.
In politics and the people management that is required to remain in power Goebbels was the forefather of galvanising the general populace to get behind their leader through fearmongering and demonisation. It happens in America - Cold War: Russkies, Today: Muslims; it happens in Europe - WWII: Jews, Cold War: Russkies, Today: Muslims; and it happens in Cuba - indoctrination against the US of A pervades every facet of life and every media item and mural. As with all cases of propaganda, images of national heroes of yesteryear and founding fathers of the nation are often evoked: a subtle and effective tactic. Make someone believe they are under threat and they will rush to the bosom of their regime and permit the government to do things that they ordinarily wouldn't. Observe...
George W. Bush + Luis Posada Carriles = Adolf Hitler!!
He who gives refuge to a terrorist IS a terrorist!!
The Assassin!!
Hey Mr. Imperalist! We are not scared in the slightest!
Subtle Reminder: Everything is going A-O-K!!
We will win!!
The Nation Or Death!!
Long live free Cuba!!
Lack of solidarity will lead to Neo-Liberalism!!!
Long live Fidel!! 80 More Years!!
The Bush Plan: Thanks but we already live in a free Cuba!!
47th Anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution!!
We demand justice!!
Welcome Hugo!!
Justice for the Five Heroes!!
The five heroes campaign is everywhere. Apparently five Cuban spies living in the US to monitor anti-Cuban terror activity have been imprisoned by the US for varying, very long, jail terms.
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 05:14:58)
Nice work Cam.
+'s everybody, on his posistion.
Thanks for exposing the soft underbelly of one of socialisms last strongholds.
My only question, what took you so long to post these?
+'s everybody, on his posistion.
Thanks for exposing the soft underbelly of one of socialisms last strongholds.
My only question, what took you so long to post these?
Just didn't get around to it. Imageshack is a repetitive drag that I didn't look forward to.ATG wrote:
Nice work Cam.
+'s everybody, on his posistion.
Thanks for exposing the soft underbelly of one of socialisms last strongholds.
My only question, what took you so long to post these?
www.tinypic.com is better.
haha...ITS GHOST TOWN FROM SPECIAL FORCESCameronPoe wrote:
Photos from my trip to Cuba will appear here shortly...
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/3515/chenf2.jpg
Last edited by =W=GeneralSherman (2006-10-21 19:46:23)
This, people, is the US Interests Section - a US embassy in waiting as it were - in Havana. It started broadcasting propaganda across the windows in gigantic red letters (pure drivel I might add, every bit as lame as that of the Cuban governments - I hung around and read about 20 minutes worth of it). The solution to the problem from the Cuban government's point of view? Hehehehe...
The purpose? Well the US building can be seen all along the main coastal road called El Malecón. Look at the far right of El Malecón here and you will see the flags conveniently blocking said propaganda...
The purpose? Well the US building can be seen all along the main coastal road called El Malecón. Look at the far right of El Malecón here and you will see the flags conveniently blocking said propaganda...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-21 19:57:23)
Cool Cam. Please put those photos up... I've been waiting for them since you PM'ed me.... How was the general attitude of the population that you encountered? I've found deserted rafts 30 miles off of the Keys in Florida while fishing.. Did it seem like people didn't like their dictator? I'd love to go there. Travel embargos piss me off...
I stood in line for four hours. They better give me a Wal-Mart gift card, or something. - Rodney Booker, Job Fair attendee.
Nice pictures Cam. Loving the anti Bush propaganda, it's hilarious!
The black flags with the star, what are they of? Are they like the city flag or something?
The black flags with the star, what are they of? Are they like the city flag or something?
There was little or no animosity towards the regime. People either said it was great and meant it or said nothing at all (from which you can draw your own conclusions). I'd say it was about 50/50 in terms of the two groupings. Life ain't so bad there really (although I wouldn't be able to stomach it I don't think). It's ... different. I'll talk more about it later on.DBBrinson1 wrote:
Cool Cam. Please put those photos up... I've been waiting for them since you PM'ed me.... How was the general attitude of the population that you encountered? I've found deserted rafts 30 miles off of the Keys in Florida while fishing.. Did it seem like people didn't like their dictator? I'd love to go there. Travel embargos piss me off...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 04:47:49)
The black flags are just an alteration of a typical communist flag, blackened to denote 'Shame on you America'. They're seriously imposing. Just behind the flags is a big music stage and plaza known as the Protestodrome - an area where 100s of 1000s gather for concerts against USA or against imperialism in general. Here's a pic (complete with statue of one of the forefathers of Cuba (José Marti, the quintessential forefather) accusatorily pointing at the 'evil' US', whilst guarding a child:ghettoperson wrote:
Nice pictures Cam. Loving the anti Bush propaganda, it's hilarious!
The black flags with the star, what are they of? Are they like the city flag or something?
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 07:43:14)
Next Set: Amazing Havana
Havana was once the crown jewel in the American colonies of Spain and it shows. This city may well have been the most beautiful city in the world at one point in time. It's like a Latin American Paris. It was interesting me to visit it having been to Madrid a few times: from Colonial Power to Colony. Habana Vieja, the old quarter, is filled with old colonial housing, pretty plazas, more monuments than you can shake a stick at and great history and museums. Vedado, which is nearby, is straight out of Godfather II: the once mafia-infested pleasure centre of Havana, with grand hotels, ex-casinos, clubs, pubs and restaurants. Sipping a mojito on the patio area out the back of Hotel Nacional is fantastic: looking out at the Caribbean, Florida just a few miles away but a million miles away in terms of way of life. Another important part of the city is the Plaza de la Revolución area: magnificent monuments (including founding father José Marti's museum and memorial) and imposing communist architecture. I was lucky enough to escort a blind man who worked for the communist daily newspaper 'Granma' to their headquarters on the Plaza (beside the Ministry of Defence) - I got quite a few suspicious looks but I was wearing a t-shirt that would have suggested that I wasn't some US spy...
The Capitolio - once the parliament building of Cuba, now the ministry of science... THE landmark Havana building.
Capitolio dome interior view: spectacular... suspended directly above a massive diamond set in the ground below its uppermost point.
Spectacular interior of the Capitolio...
3rd largest indoor statue in the world, inside the Capitolio...
Gran Teatro: another magnificent landmark building...
Antonio Maceo Memorial: one of the heroes of the war of independence against Spain in the late 1800s...
Calixto Garcia Memorial: another hero of said war of independence...
Maximo Gómez Memorial: another hero of said war of independence... magnificent monument...
and here's a detail from said magnificent monument...
Havana was once the crown jewel in the American colonies of Spain and it shows. This city may well have been the most beautiful city in the world at one point in time. It's like a Latin American Paris. It was interesting me to visit it having been to Madrid a few times: from Colonial Power to Colony. Habana Vieja, the old quarter, is filled with old colonial housing, pretty plazas, more monuments than you can shake a stick at and great history and museums. Vedado, which is nearby, is straight out of Godfather II: the once mafia-infested pleasure centre of Havana, with grand hotels, ex-casinos, clubs, pubs and restaurants. Sipping a mojito on the patio area out the back of Hotel Nacional is fantastic: looking out at the Caribbean, Florida just a few miles away but a million miles away in terms of way of life. Another important part of the city is the Plaza de la Revolución area: magnificent monuments (including founding father José Marti's museum and memorial) and imposing communist architecture. I was lucky enough to escort a blind man who worked for the communist daily newspaper 'Granma' to their headquarters on the Plaza (beside the Ministry of Defence) - I got quite a few suspicious looks but I was wearing a t-shirt that would have suggested that I wasn't some US spy...
The Capitolio - once the parliament building of Cuba, now the ministry of science... THE landmark Havana building.
Capitolio dome interior view: spectacular... suspended directly above a massive diamond set in the ground below its uppermost point.
Spectacular interior of the Capitolio...
3rd largest indoor statue in the world, inside the Capitolio...
Gran Teatro: another magnificent landmark building...
Antonio Maceo Memorial: one of the heroes of the war of independence against Spain in the late 1800s...
Calixto Garcia Memorial: another hero of said war of independence...
Maximo Gómez Memorial: another hero of said war of independence... magnificent monument...
and here's a detail from said magnificent monument...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 09:15:35)
I just got back from Cuba on my hols as well, although the missus has all the photos. It really was an eye opener and the tour I had round Havana was something else, the tour guide really hated Americans and told us how much better off the people were due to the US not being there. Although this didn't seem to stop the huge amount of beggars who "appear" to be doing so well under the current regime!!
+1 for some great pics!!
Ok I would give you +1 but I don't have enough points to give Karma, any idea on how many points I need to give Karma???
+1 for some great pics!!
Ok I would give you +1 but I don't have enough points to give Karma, any idea on how many points I need to give Karma???
Last edited by Hy$t3RiA (2006-10-22 07:41:39)
Love the pics
Amazing Havana continued:
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes - the man who launched the original war of independence in 1868... basking in the sunlight at the idyllic Plaza des Armas....
The memorial at Plaza de la Revolución to THE hero of Cuba - José Marti - joint most idolised man along with Che Guevara...
And he ALSO has a statue at Parque Central....
And here he is again at the old Police HQ fashioned out of an old Spanish colonial fortress... seriously José Marti is everywhere, all ordinary Cubans seem to have a bust of him in their yards or houses...
And of course no Latin American capital could go without one of these ... a memorial to the Great Liberator: Simon Bolivar...
Che Guevara mural at Plaza de la Revolución, absolutely legendary figure - read up on him: flawed but brilliant... and a true hero and embodiment of bravery and vision to seemingly all Cuban people irrespective of their views of the regime...
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes - the man who launched the original war of independence in 1868... basking in the sunlight at the idyllic Plaza des Armas....
The memorial at Plaza de la Revolución to THE hero of Cuba - José Marti - joint most idolised man along with Che Guevara...
And he ALSO has a statue at Parque Central....
And here he is again at the old Police HQ fashioned out of an old Spanish colonial fortress... seriously José Marti is everywhere, all ordinary Cubans seem to have a bust of him in their yards or houses...
And of course no Latin American capital could go without one of these ... a memorial to the Great Liberator: Simon Bolivar...
Che Guevara mural at Plaza de la Revolución, absolutely legendary figure - read up on him: flawed but brilliant... and a true hero and embodiment of bravery and vision to seemingly all Cuban people irrespective of their views of the regime...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 08:21:11)
These are some beautiful photos. I would love to visit Cuba some day. But Europe first.
I found out some interesting stuff I didn't know about Cuba in a Time magazine a few months back, like they have way higher doctor-per-person rates than the USA, but because of UN embargos they tend to be short of actual medicines.
I find the propaganda stuff fascinating, from an analytical perspective. Here we have billboards that define us in terms of what we can consume, products we can spend money on, which keep our countries running, and there, they have billboards telling them to band together and be unified against the outside world.
I would really love to visit, mostly so I could get past all the pro-cuba vs anti-cuba arguments and see for myself what it is actually like.
Thanks for posting these. +1 for you.
I found out some interesting stuff I didn't know about Cuba in a Time magazine a few months back, like they have way higher doctor-per-person rates than the USA, but because of UN embargos they tend to be short of actual medicines.
I find the propaganda stuff fascinating, from an analytical perspective. Here we have billboards that define us in terms of what we can consume, products we can spend money on, which keep our countries running, and there, they have billboards telling them to band together and be unified against the outside world.
I would really love to visit, mostly so I could get past all the pro-cuba vs anti-cuba arguments and see for myself what it is actually like.
Thanks for posting these. +1 for you.
I want to go to Iran but I have an Israeli stamp on my passport from my trip to Israel/Palestine. I'll have to wait until my passport expires.
Amazing Havana continued...
Museo de la Revolución (housed in the old presidential residence)... a museum documenting how 'bad' the US are and how 'good' communism has been: it's actually a really interesting museum if a bit propaganda-tastic.. Fidel's tank sits outside (he is reported to have fired shots out of it himself at the CIA HQ in Havana)...
Interior...
Memorial to the victims of the sinking of the Maine - this is what conveniently gave the US a pretext to intervene in the 1890s thus snatching victory from Marti, Gomez, Garcia & Maceo in their war of independence from Spain. Said generals weren't even invited to the victory party and the US took it upon themselves to rewrite the consitution of Cuba (which was the start of political instability in Cuba, economic domination of Cuba by the US and of course Cuban animosity towards the US)...
Museo de la Revolución (housed in the old presidential residence)... a museum documenting how 'bad' the US are and how 'good' communism has been: it's actually a really interesting museum if a bit propaganda-tastic.. Fidel's tank sits outside (he is reported to have fired shots out of it himself at the CIA HQ in Havana)...
Interior...
Memorial to the victims of the sinking of the Maine - this is what conveniently gave the US a pretext to intervene in the 1890s thus snatching victory from Marti, Gomez, Garcia & Maceo in their war of independence from Spain. Said generals weren't even invited to the victory party and the US took it upon themselves to rewrite the consitution of Cuba (which was the start of political instability in Cuba, economic domination of Cuba by the US and of course Cuban animosity towards the US)...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 09:22:38)
reall nice photos +1
I will prbably visit Cuba Whithin a few years it seems like a nice place, BUT it would be nicer if the US Stopped that idiotic embargo.
I will prbably visit Cuba Whithin a few years it seems like a nice place, BUT it would be nicer if the US Stopped that idiotic embargo.
Amazing Havana: Plazas, etc.
Parque de la Fraternidad
Plaza de la Catedral
Plaza de San Francisco de Asís
Plaza Vieja
Plaza de Armas
Parque de la Fraternidad
Plaza de la Catedral
Plaza de San Francisco de Asís
Plaza Vieja
Plaza de Armas
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 09:26:03)
Amazing Havana: Street Scenes - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly....
From carefully restored streets to impress the tourists to streets lined with rusting, uncared for shacks, navigated by rickshaws, horses and carts, old plymouths and dodges, soviet era Ladas and the distinctive 'coco-taxis'... note the ordinary folks and means of transport in the photos.... the hustle and bustle of old Havana is as crazy and unrelenting as that of Manhattan.
Roadworks!!!
Could this be a scene from 'Happy Days'???
Picture postcard stuff...
Clutter, grime and a distinct lack of TLC on a typical Havana Vieja sidestreet...
Patriotic much?
Never-ending street complete with 50s car....
More tourist fodder...
Deserted sidestreets...
As you can see a lot of architecture and housing is a little the worse for wear. Cubans live in each others pockets - privacy is not a commodity they are familiar with. People sit out on their front steps every evening chatting, smoking cigars, playing dominoes and drinking rum or cerveza. Seriously - walking through anywhere in Cuba at night you can see directly into the locals open living rooms while they sit watching the latest telenovela on TeleRebelde!!! The culture that this way of life brings has a lot of qualities - we in the west are so compartmentalised and property-oriented. In Cuba - everybody is in the struggle together. Personally I'm probably too set in my ways now to really appreciate their open way of life.
From carefully restored streets to impress the tourists to streets lined with rusting, uncared for shacks, navigated by rickshaws, horses and carts, old plymouths and dodges, soviet era Ladas and the distinctive 'coco-taxis'... note the ordinary folks and means of transport in the photos.... the hustle and bustle of old Havana is as crazy and unrelenting as that of Manhattan.
Roadworks!!!
Could this be a scene from 'Happy Days'???
Picture postcard stuff...
Clutter, grime and a distinct lack of TLC on a typical Havana Vieja sidestreet...
Patriotic much?
Never-ending street complete with 50s car....
More tourist fodder...
Deserted sidestreets...
As you can see a lot of architecture and housing is a little the worse for wear. Cubans live in each others pockets - privacy is not a commodity they are familiar with. People sit out on their front steps every evening chatting, smoking cigars, playing dominoes and drinking rum or cerveza. Seriously - walking through anywhere in Cuba at night you can see directly into the locals open living rooms while they sit watching the latest telenovela on TeleRebelde!!! The culture that this way of life brings has a lot of qualities - we in the west are so compartmentalised and property-oriented. In Cuba - everybody is in the struggle together. Personally I'm probably too set in my ways now to really appreciate their open way of life.
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-23 12:17:17)
Most all these pictures remind me of the "obey" sig fad that went around awhile ago.
Cam, do you speak much Spanish?
I'd call myself relatively fluent but not expert. I took classes a few years ago, had a Panamanian girlfriend who helped me while I self-taught myself the language, and every trip I've taken to a Spanish-speaking country has further strengthened it. I know all of the tenses so no sentence is out of bounds.ghettoperson wrote:
Cam, do you speak much Spanish?
The question reminds me of that line in Anchorman in the bar... 'Look, I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish' /slurred..
PS There are a lot more pictures to come...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-10-22 11:41:58)
Really nice pictures, i'd like to see more of the "real" Cuba though, if you get me.
But first, what do you mean he fired tank shells at a CIA building?!
But first, what do you mean he fired tank shells at a CIA building?!