Cuba, Democracy and the Armed Owl

Abstract

At the center of the old, beautiful buildings of the University of Havana, there is a tank and beside the tank, an owl, holding a gun. I’ve never been impressed by the paraphernalia of war, but I have liked to look at the tank at the center of this prestigious and influential center of learning. On a recent visit it struck me that the image of the armed owl is symbolic of what we might learn from the Cuban situation about democracy and from the ongoing, courageous struggle of many Cuban people for social justice.