AUTUMN SONG

Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow, The sunset hangs on a cloud; A golden storm of glittering sheaves, Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves, The wild wind blows in a cloud. Hark to a voice that is calling To my heart in the voice of the wind: My heart is weary and sad and alone, For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone, And why should I stay behind? Sarojini Naidu (India)

DEMOCRACY

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

Langston Hughes (USA)

NENHUM HOMEM É UMA ILHA... / NO MAN IS AN ISLAND...

“Nenhum homem é uma ilha isolada;

cada homem é uma partícula do continente,

uma parte da terra; se um torrão é arrastado para o mar,

a Europa fica diminuída, como se fosse um promontório,

como se fosse a casa dos teus amigos ou a tua própria;

a morte de qualquer homem diminui-me, porque sou parte do género humano.

E por isso não perguntes por quem os sinos dobram;

eles dobram por ti”.

No man is an island, entire of itself

every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main

if a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,

as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were

any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind

and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls

it tolls for thee.

John Donne (1572 - 1631) England

AFRICA

(to africans in diaspora) africa here i come, africa africa of the black soul the soul of an ancient culture the culture of your timid tribes. its your voice i hear africa your voice of the talking drums your beaded drums and the royal trumpeter the metal gong of your town crier i have come to see your music dance i have heard of your ageless minstrels have i not heard of your swinging hips! i have heard enough and have come to watch wouldn't you dance for me africa africa here i come africa would you not show me to your tribes the timid tribes of your sweetened tongues the varied tongues of your virtuous men africa, black soul africa tell me about your gods your gods of the sky and of the mother earth your gods of the hills and of the rivers abound show me to your kings africa your kings of the ancient dynasty the ancient dynasty of rusted spear and shield africa, here i come africa Chime Hilary Uchenna

THE ANGEL OF BORDEAUX

"Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world" The Talmud

Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885 - 1954)

Sousa Mendes family

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Aristides was born on July 9, 1885, in

Cabanas de Viriato (Viseu) northern Portugal.

He and his identical twin, Cesar, followed in their

father’s footsteps and received law

degrees. They graduated in 1907 from

Coimbra University and both entered

the diplomatic corps. Raised in a

deeply devout Catholic family, Aristides

was to put these values into practice

throughout his diplomatic career.

Aristides married his cousin Angelina

and together they raised their fourteen

children in Spain, California, British

Guyana and Belgium. Evenings in the

Sousa Mendes household were family

events filled with music and concluding

with the Rosary before bedtime.

Unfortunately, these happy times

ended in 1934, when the second son,

Manuel, dropped dead in front of the

family due to a ruptured blood vessel.

Several months later, their youngest

child also died. In August of 1938, the

family moved to Bordeaux, France,

where Sousa Mendes was Consul-

General. Soon, the family would be

caught up in the events of the Second

World War. In the spring of 1940, as

German troops invaded and conquered

Belgium, Holland and then

France, thousands of refugees fled

ahead of the advancing army. The refugees

jamming the roads were Jews,

defeated soldiers, opponents of Nazism,

the elderly, the young. These

refugees sought safety in neutral countries

like Spain and Portugal. The city

of Bordeaux, with its port, was a natural

destination for thousands of the

refugees. However, only the very

wealthy were able to afford the artificially

high prices for passage on a ship.

The only other alternative was to get a

transit visa to leave France and enter

Spain and then go on to Portugal;

people thought they would be able to

get such a visa at the Portuguese consulate.

To add to the fear of the refugees,

the German Army had no mercy

on the crowds on the roads. The refugees

were often attacked by fighter

pilots who killed hundreds if not thousands.

So, the people who survived

the attacks arrived in Bordeaux, hungry

and frightened.

Transit visa

To better understand the moral predicament

Sousa Mendes was about to

be put in, it is important to understand

the political situation in Spain and Portugal.

In Spain, Francisco Franco had

been helped by Hitler during the Spanish

Civil War. By closing Spanish borders

to refugees fleeing Hitler, Franco

could avoid joining the war but still express

his support for Hitler. Portugal’s

premier, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar,

also followed a policy of strict neutrality

but for different reasons. Portugal

had a long standing treaty with England

and a new one with Spain. If Salazar

sided with the English, Spain might invade

Portugal. If Salazar sided too

heavily with Spain, England might pressure

Portugal to join the war on

England’s side. Salazar showed his

solidarity with the Spanish dictator by

following Spain’s policy of not allowing

refugees into Portugal. On May 17,

1940, Salazar sent his diplomats in

Europe a directive that no visa was to

be granted unless they received special

permission from Lisbon. In effect,

this policy kept any Portuguese diplomat

from granting visas to any refugee.

Throughout May, as France

crumbled before the German onslaught,

thousands of refugees tried

to escape to Spain. Spain would only

allow in refugees who had a Portuguese

transit visa, so the refugees’ last

hope was the Portuguese consulate.

The consulate where Sousa Mendes

worked and lived with his family was

literally jammed with thousands of refugees.

Without authority, Sousa

Mendes was suddenly responsible for

the lives of thousands of his fellow human

beings. As the crowds kept pouring

into the consulate, Sousa Mendes

sent hundreds of telegrams to Lisbon

requesting visas. Lisbon’s response

was silence. Tensions increased as

the German Army drew closer to the

city. The consulate was full of people,

sleeping on chairs and rugs, and

Sousa Mendes had orders not to help.

Then, the consul fell ill. For three days,

Sousa Mendes struggled, torn between

service to his country and duty

toward his God. According to his

nephew, after the illness, Sousa

Mendes got up by a “divine power” (1)

and began granting visas to all who

asked. The consul was disobeying

specific orders and in the end it would

cost him his career. But, as he would

tell his government later, “I would stand

with God against man, rather than with

man against God.” (2) The consul set

up a work station and enlisted workers.

Passports were stamped, reasons

given for the visas, and Sousa Mendes

signed them. If refugees had no documents,

visas were stamped on pieces

of paper. Their work continued day and

night and the crowds began to head

for the Spanish border. Spain had to

honor the Portuguese visas-the refugees

were allowed to cross through

Spain to get to Portugal but they could

not stay. Once the refugees reached

Portugal, they could not be denied

entry because the Spanish would not

let them back into Spain. The Premier

of Portugal was furious; Sousa

Mendes had forced Salazar to accept

the refugees. On June 19, German

planes bombed Bordeaux. The terrorstricken

crowds fled closer to the

Spanish border at Bayonne where

there was a Portuguese consulate besieged

by refugees. The staff at this

consulate were obeying their orders

and not issuing visas. Fortunately,

Sousa Mendes had authority over

Bayonne and immediately began issuing

visas. For the next two days, Sousa

Mendes signed his name and stamped

visas which would save the lives of

thousands. When the consul returned

to Bordeaux on June 26, he found a

cable from Salazar relieving him of his

post and ordering him home. As German

troops began occupying Bordeaux,

Sousa Mendes began issuing

Portuguese passports. Although the

passports would not allow people to

cross the border, they could prevent

people from being arrested and deported

to concentration camps. Once

again, he was ordered to stop and return

to Portugal. Ironically, Salazar received

a great deal of praise for accepting

war refugees, a policy he continued

throughout the war. Unfortunately,

he never forgave the man who

began it all. After returning to Portugal,

a disciplinary council found Sousa

Mendes professionally incapacitated.

He was officially shunned and he could

neither work nor retire. With no way to

earn an income, the family was reduced

to poverty. The younger children

could not continue their education

and the older ones were unable

to find work. Eventually, the family began

taking meals with refugees at a

soup kitchen run by the Hebrew Immigrant

Aid Society. Shortly before the

war’s end, Sousa Mendes had a stroke

which left him partially paralyzed. His

beloved wife and helper, Angelina, had

a cerebral hemorrhage in 1948. She

spent the last six months of her life in

a coma in a basement apartment in

Lisbon. Sousa Mendes survived his

wife by six years, never giving up hope

that his name would be cleared. On

April 3, 1954, he died at a Franciscan

hospital in Lisbon with only a niece at

his side. It is believed that at least

30,000 people received visas, including

10,000 Jews. However, Premier

Salazar never closed Portugal’s borders

to war refugees and it is estimated

that one million refugees were

able to escape through Portugal because

of what Sousa Mendes had done.

(Text from http://www.chcweb.com/)

Other sites to visit:

http://www.saudades.org/mendesgreathero.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Mendes.html

Postagem em portugues:

http://namibianotombua.multiply.com/journal/item/223/ARISTIDES_DE_SOUSA_MENDES_contra_Salazar

QUOTES OF ARISTIDES DE SOUSA MENDES:

I will not condone murder, therefore I disobey and continue to disobey Salazar.

My desire is to be with God against men, rather than with men against God.

If thousands of Jews can suffer because of one Catholic [Hitler], then surely it is permitted for one Catholic to suffer for so many Jews.

I could not have acted otherwise, and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love.

DREAMS

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

by Langston Hughes (U.S.A.)

MILLION MAN MARCH POEM

The night has been long,

The wound has been deep,

The pit has been dark,

And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,

I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.

Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,

You couldn’t even call out my name.

You were helpless and so was I,

But unfortunately throughout history

You’ve worn a badge of shame.

I say, the night has been long,

The wound has been deep,

The pit has been dark

And the walls have been steep.

But today, voices of old spirit sound

Speak to us in words profound,

Across the years, across the centuries,

Across the oceans, and across the seas.

They say, draw near to one another,

Save your race.

You have been paid for in a distant place,

The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains

Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The night has been long,

The pit has been deep,

The night has been dark,

And the walls have been steep.

The hells we have lived through and live through still,

Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.

The night has been long.

This morning I look through your anguish

Right down to your soul.

I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole.

I look through the posture and past your disguise,

And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.

I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this meeting ground,

I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with love,

I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,

Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts,

Let us come together and revise our spirits,

Let us come together and cleanse our souls,

Clap hands, let’s leave the preening

And stop impostering our own history.

Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,

Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation,

Courtesy into our bedrooms,

Gentleness into our kitchen,

Care into our nursery.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain

We are a going-on people who will rise again.

And still we rise.


Maya Angelou (USA)

I, Too, Sing America

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.


Langston Hughes -1902 - 1967- USA