"We support Neil (Young) and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify's Joe Rogan podcast," the three (Crosby, Stills, Nash) said in a statement on Crosby's Twitter account…"until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don't want our music, or the music we made together, to be on the same platform."
“Hold my beer, Neil!” Stephen Stills might have yelled a few years ago.
You see, amigos: Stephen Stills actually composed a song in honor of Fidel Castro, who holds the distinction of being the only dictator in modern history to jail and torture people for the crime of listening to music by Stephen Stills!
In 1979, the Castro regime (newly desperate for tourism dollars) invited Stephen Stills to perform in Cuba, and the famous Woodstocker could hardly contain his elation. The fervent champion of human-rights, civil rights and free-speech (indeed one of CSNY’s last tours was titled “The Free-Speech Tour”) not only took up the offer to perform at this “Havana-Jam,” but also composed a song in Castro’s honor, titled “Cuba al Fin!”
Jazz-master Paquito’d Rivera, in Cuba at the time, recalls watching Stills on stage at Havana’s Karl Marx theatre lovingly crooning the song to the families of Castro’s Stalinist nomenklatura as if Havana-Jam were a personal performance for the mass-murderer himself. Within blocks of this cheeky “Havana-Jam” (which also included Human-Rights activist Kris Kristofferson along with Billy Joel), Cuban youths, black and white, languished in dungeons suffering longer prison sentences than Nelson Mandela’s. The Cubans’ crimes were attempting free speech.
“They (Castro’s Stalinist regime) invited me because they knew I was politically astute,” gloated Stephen Stills regarding the acumen and good taste of his Cuban hosts, who to this day jail and torture youths for the crime of saying “Down with Fidel!”
“There’s a man with a gun over there, ‘tellin me I gotta beware.” Cuban youths have much to teach regarding that scenario, Mr Stills. If only you’d deigned to part briefly from your Stalinist hosts (the gunmen) and asked around.
“You have to give them (Cuba’s Stalinists) due respect because they have a unique form of socialism that’s very significant in the scheme of world history,” Stills further hailed his hosts.
Oh, it’s unique alright, Mr. Stills. Few 20th century regimes jailed and tortured youths en masse for the crime of growing long hair and craving rock music.
Still’s one-time main squeeze Judy Collins also merits mention here. Upon Che Guevara’s death, the bereaved “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes” herself sought solace in songwriting, composing a lovely ballad title “Che.”
“You have it in your hand to own your life–to own your land” goes the chorus which represents Che himself consoling Bolivian campesinos who mourn their “savior’s” death.
Attempting to own their own lives and own land is precisely what got thousands of Cuban campesinos massacred by Che Guevara firing squads, you imbecilic songstress! American songstress millionaires certainly mourned Che’s death. But check out this last picture for a clue as to how actual Bolivian campesinos reacted.
“Only through the total eradication of private property will we create the new man,” instructed Che Guevara. “Individualism must disappear. Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates. Instead they must dedicate themselves to study, work and military service. The very spirit of rebellion is reprehensible!” thundered this idol of "do-your-own-thing” Bohemians.
Cuban campesino Carlos Machado was 15 years old in 1963 when the bullets shattered his body. His twin brother and father collapsed beside Carlos from the same volley. All had resisted Castro and Che’s theft of their humble family farm. All refused blindfolds and all died sneering at their Communist murderers, as did thousands of their valiant countrymen.
Not that the victims of this Stalinist bloodbath were exclusively men and boys. In fact, the Castroites were well ahead of the Taliban. On Christmas Eve 1961, a young Cuban woman named Juana Figueredo Diaz spat in the face of the executioners who were binding and gagging her. They’d found her guilty of feeding and hiding “bandits” (Che’s term for Cuban rednecks who took up their meager arms to fight Che’s Soviet-backed theft of their land to create Stalinist kolkhozes.) When the blast from that firing squad demolished her face and torso Juana was six months pregnant.
Not to be outdone by Judy Collins, famous Rhodes Scholar Kris Kristofferson composed a song titled Mal Sacate wherein he laments: “You have stolen all the land that you can steal, and you killed so many heroes.”
A perfect tribute to his Havana-Jam hosts, you might think?
Hah! It’s obvious you’re no Rhodes Scholar! Kristofferson is instead lambasting Stalinism’s enemies!
The very next stanza mentions the “murdered heroes,” among whom we find none other than: Che Guevara!
Judy Collins and Kris Kristofferson obviously share the same “political astuteness” with their friend and soulmate Stephen Stills. So let’s excuse them for confusing Fidel Castro with Country Joe McDonald and Che Guevara with Wavy Gravy.
You see, amigos: traditionally in the Castro fiefdom rock and pop music was denounced as a “yankee-imperialist” subversion. Sure, here in America we had the much-dreaded and maligned (by leftists) Legion of Decency, Hay’s Code, Catholic League, etc. But the much-admired (by leftists) Castro regime went a bit further than finger-wagging sermons and government lobbying by a few church ladies. They even went further than Ed Sullivan issuing a few admonitions before his rocker guests took to his stage (as happened to the Rolling Stones in 1967 before they performed "Let’s Spend the Night Together.")
Instead, the (much admired by hipsters) Castro regime simply rounded up Cuban “roqueros” (rock-music fans), blue-jean wearers, draft-dodgers, gays and other such “long-haired, hippie-types” en-masse and herded them into Soviet-designed forced-labor camps. "Work Will Make Men Out of You," read the sign in bold letters above the gate, beside the machine gunners posted all along the watchtowers. The initials for these camps were UMAP, not GULAG, but the conditions were quite similar.
“Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates!” commanded Harry’s honeybunch and hipster youth icon Che Guevara. “Instead, they must dedicate themselves to study, work, and military service!” “Youth,” commanded this icon of “do-your-own-thing” hipsters “should learn to think and act as a mass!”
In a famous speech, Che Guevara even vowed “to make individualism disappear from Cuba! It is criminal to think of individuals!”
"These (long-haired) youths walk around with their transistor radios listening to imperialist music!" raved Fidel Castro in a 1968 speech. "They corrupt the morals of young girls -- and destroy posters of Che! What do they think? That this is a bourgeois liberal regime? NO! There's nothing liberal in us! We are collectivists! We are communists! There will be no Prague Spring here!"
'What!' you say. Young people 'destroying images of Che Guevara? But how could such a thing be?'
Easy. Unlike for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders voters, for Cuban youths who were forced by fate to actually live under socialism, the impulse to destroy Che Guevara’s image is irresistible, believe me.