José Martí, Cuban Apostle: A Dialogue by Cintio Vitier & Daisaku Ikeda

Author:Cintio Vitier & Daisaku Ikeda [Vitier, Cintio & Ikeda, Daisaku]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, Historical, Religion, Political Advocacy, Caribbean & West Indies, Biography & Autobiography, Peace, Political Science, Political Process, Cuba, History, Revolutionary, Social Activists
ISBN: 9781786720030
Google: idSLDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 6538412
Publisher: I. B. Tauris
Published: 2009-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Master of Dialogue

IKEDA: It has been said that the soul of modern man oscillates between muteness and loquacity. This makes it increasingly hard to sustain true dialogue. As an outstanding, popular leader all his life, Martí was constantly immersed in dialogue with the people on a level of equality symbolized by his refusing offers of luxurious motorcars by wealthy supporters on his first trip to Key West, Florida, where numerous Cuban and Puerto Rico émigrés lived. In reply to their offer, he called out, ‘Thank you for your kindness. But, wherever I go, it is better for me to fly on wings of tenderness spread for me by my people.’9 Then he walked to the accompaniment of cheers from Cubans who had come to welcome him.

VITIER: At the time you mention, Martí was leaving the phase of archetypes and prophetic visions and entering a phase of revolutionary action. With all his vision and abundant love for the suffering of neighbours and close associates, he was redirecting his attention from the archetypical human being and the anonymous crowd to the poor émigrés of New York, Tampa, and Key West.

IKEDA: When he was teaching Spanish in New York, Cuban and Puerto Rican black people suffered constant discrimination. Martí joined an organization called the League (La Liga) to help them. In a biography covering this stage of his life, we can read the opinion of one person who knew him as a professor: ‘What a stimulating professor he was! … He answered every question put to him; he asked questions himself and then explained. His words were deliberate, clear, and wise. He shed light on everything, uniting what was written in books with things from real life, history, morality, and politics.’10

Socrates, who called himself a midwife helping his Athenian conversational partners bring forth the wisdom within them, was probably the same kind of master at dialogue that this description suggests Martí to have been. Speeches and writings that struck deep into the hearts of the ordinary people were his most important weapons. Can you cite any other examples revealing his tender attention to his partners in dialogues with nameless representatives of the shadowy, ordinary people?

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