SocialistStories حكايات اشتراكية

Exile
By Otto Rene Castillo

I

My exile was made of cries.

The infinite face of police, grey
on my insufficient features.
The great tables of hunger beyond the fist
full of dollars that violates the land.
The bags packed every month,
ready to wrap up the exodus
of tears and dust.

I walked strange shores
in search of my country's face.
Dawns of gulls followed me.
I received the brutal embraces
of he who discovers a cataclysm of roses
in the most hidden places of his soul;
touch of hands in the nights
of escape, where the liquid eyes

This relatively short (120pg) book by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez is about Pinochet's amerikkkan installed and supported murderous regime. Clandestine in Chile is one of Marquez's non-fictional works, in this case written by Marquez after many hours of interviews with Chilean director Miguel Littín. The book describes Littin's clandestine journey back to Chile under a false identity (he was banned by Pinochet from entering his own country) to film a movie about Pinochet's bloody dictatorship and the resistance that was fighting it. It also shows how “art” can be used in the fight against capitalism and imperialism, which is obviously very important in general, and in specific because that is what this site is all about: liberating “art”, literature mainly, which is directed against capitalism and imperialism. I would like to thank comrade zuzu, the sister of a friend, for the recommendation to read this book.

Enjoy this very short story by socialist Mario Benedetti:

Completely Absentminded