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Meaning of freedom put to test
(by Dave Lange - September 03, 2009)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
Meaning of freedom put to test
One thing that the great majority of Americans can agree on about our close neighbor Cuba is that freedom is not a hallmark of its communist dictator, Fidel Castro. But we seem to have trouble agreeing on what freedom means in America.
That was evident from some of the reactions to the Aug. 18 Chautauqua-in-Chagrin lectures titled, "Cuba and Its People," and a subsequent protest before Chagrin Falls Village Council.
Longtime Chagrin Falls resident Edgar Ponce, a Cuban refugee, with the support of his wife, Mary Ann Quinn Ponce, and others, made it clear before, during and after the event that he was angry about the subject matter.
As early as last March, after the schedule for this summer's Chautauqua series was announced, Mr. and Mrs. Ponce pressured Stephen G. Thomas, a Chagrin Falls Township trustee who is president of the board of directors of the Chagrin Foundation for Arts and Culture, not to include the lectures on Cuba.
The Chagrin foundation collaborates with the renowned Chautauqua Institution, of Western New York, on the series, which attracts people to the village for invigorating examinations of current issues. The lectures in Chagrin Falls are based on the same themes that are on the weekly agendas in Chautauqua.
By attempting to stop the Cuba lectures in advance, the Ponces showed that they had made up their minds before hearing them. Not only were they opposed to listening to what knowledgeable speakers would have to say on such subjects as "Cuba: A Global Perspective" and "Cuba: The Way Forward," but they sought to deny other citizens' rights to hear them. While that doesn't negate the Ponces' point of view, it does show a disdain for other points of view and a disinclination toward freedom of speech.
After receiving information in mid-July about possible demonstrations against the Cuba lectures, Mr. Thomas requested security from Chagrin Falls Police Chief James Brosius, who acted accordingly. A similar police presence was provided for the local town-hall meeting held by U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Bainbridge, on health-care reform. That is a responsible public-safety precaution, not "Gestapo tactics," as was claimed by Mrs. Ponce.
Due to an 11th-hour medical emergency involving scheduled speaker Ofelia Ortega-Suarez, a member of the Cuban Parliament, the Chautauqua Institution lined up Mark Entwistle, a former Canadian ambassador to Cuba, as her replacement. Reasonable people with healthy skepticism of messages from a Cuban politician might have been mollified by that change.
But comments about "elitist" refugees and about America being the only country in the world without diplomatic relations with Cuba, a response to a written question about political prisoners and a standard format that did not permit vocal debate from the audience were too much for the detractors.
Organizations that stage such events do have a right to conduct them peacefully according to their plans, and those who pay to hear what others have to say in such settings have a right to do so without loud and boisterous distractions.
Despite the Ponces' protests before Village Council, "culture," as in the Chagrin Foundation for Arts and Culture, has everything to do with "development, improvement or refinement of intellect, emotions, interests, manners and taste." Let's hope the Chautauqua-in-Chagrin program continues to pursue that objective with refined emotions and improved manners.
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