While we at CUSLAR would love to adopt Jose Marti's infamous quote as our motto, unfortunately President Bush has beaten us at the
co-option game. Our esteemed leader was heard uttering these wordsin piercing gringo Spanish, nonethelessat the Summit of the Americas in
Quebec City in April. Was he referring to the struggle for Cuban independence which cost the Cuban dissident his life? To other popular
movements against tyranny and imperialism? Not exactly.

The freedom that Bush spoke of in Quebec is that of trade and markets guaranteed by the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
agreement. The 34 "freely-elected" heads of state that met at the Summit made much ado about the freedom of capital and its ability to solve
the hemisphere's social and economic problems. The usual rhetoric about capitalism equating democracy and freedom was present.

"We seek freedom not only for people living within our borders, but also for commerce moving across our borders." The 80,000 peaceful
protesters who endured three days of constant tear gassing and rubber bullet fire because they attempted to freely express their opposition to
the negotiations apparently weren't included in the aforementioned group.

Bush obviously needs a lesson on the true definition of freedom. Luckily, there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of us ready to stand
up and show our leaders exactly what democracy and real freedom looks like. Unlucky for those who prefer silence and complicity, we do
more than show up in masses to demonstrate. We are also inspiring one another through our art, educating the unaware, quietly building a
powerful movement that will not accept anything less than liberty from oppression and justice for all.

And we don't like to negotiate.