Promises
A friend swore to me ten years ago that he would not go to the beach again until he could buy—near the sand—a beer in national currency. His pasty white legs confirm that he hasn’t been to the sea for a decade, while waiting to pay for a Cristal beer with his own wages. My neighbor on the corner gave her word that she would not cut her hair before a certain date longed for by many Cubans. Lice made her break her promise at the beginning of the nineties, by which time her hair reached her waist. Recently she changed her strategy and put a glass of water on the wardrobe; she will only remove it when her exiled children can return to live with her.
Tiny wooden houses rest on a tomb in Havana Cemetery. They are the material expression of requests to la Milagrosa, the miracle worker, to provide housing for those who want to escape the paternal home or a crowded collective hostel. Along with these miniatures there are toy planes and boats, to realize the dream of escaping from the insular world to one of natural size. In the same cemetery, to the south, is the tomb of the famous medium who embodied the spirit of Tá José. A rooster, whose head was cut off right there, was offered by some young man who finally achieved a highly coveted position in a foreign firm.
Others are waiting for the miracle of an exit permit, for the release of a political prisoner, or for a license to open a small restaurant. This seems to be the island of impossibilities, the land of unfulfilled promises, the country of offerings withheld, asked for but never received. I myself have sworn that I am not going to stop writing because each of my lines is a prayer from one who can’t take it any more, the virtual vote from one who has let her hair grow, put her offering on the marble and seen several glasses of water dry up.
Diciembre 8th, 2009 at 14:43
Cuba of dreams … of tears and of the dead who keep us on the land … if just as a memory we still want it free.
Thank you Julio its just that sometimes the dialogue gets to complicated & a simpleton like myself gets lost in the miriad of facts figures, statistics & opinions of the well learned.
Simplicity, as I get older is more soothing than the high utopian thoughts I once had …
Memories of my land find me at the odest of places and times … anger has subsided somewhat … what the fire still burns if nothing else passing it on tto the next generation whom we must tell … the truth but tell!
Diciembre 8th, 2009 at 14:14
Well said Albert !
It almost look like poetry ! :-)
Diciembre 8th, 2009 at 12:54
What if behind & at the bottom of all the “isms” still is a human being brething & living from day to day?
What if with or without education yhe measure of success is not the knowledge aquired in a classroom but in life?
What if in another part of our world the values are different, not meassured by statistics or analized by the pundits & experts, but by how you go on living?
There is a lot of value in education, yet as ointed out by Julio … there are whores with degrees ” out there” … “doctors pushing carts” …
So what is the solution? choices made out of an elegant education or made with the lack of it.
I think there is a lot of time wasted in the question of this great society, between exploitation and pollution, between hunger and aids, between political philosophies democracies and totalitarian alike.
The first is the human being, with dignity, freedom, honor and a moral stance.
All these things can be learned, earned and been born with yet not all have the chance to use them.
If you are in one place is the caste ruling; if you are in another is the gendre rule; in another the color of the skin rule; in another the place of birth, in another the age; in another the religion … and on … and on …
We as humans are imperfect, even at birth we cause pain … to another …
while we grow we are dependant and we come to the idea of entitlement, when we mature we break away from it (hopefully) yet we remain the same … land after land, country after country.
We can see a little part of our world from our perch … at this time in this place there is this regime who’s picture is fidel.
This regime is the one that we hope will fall, how much our salary is, where our education comes from or how educated we are matters not (to me) what matters is the human being with diginity, freedom, honor and a moral stance …
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 20:26
Ok Julio…we’ll do that…I just have seen the ones struggling(american single mothers and fathers) next to me in school, and I do think that generalizing to justify not helping others is not a good thing to do.
My father always show me that the strong should have the responsability on helping the weaker, and even though we think some people is trying to have it easy, living on social security and goverment help by choice shows that some people for one reason of another can not make it, and the amount of money that is spend on them is just peanuts compare to the amount of money spend wrongfully in this country..we should be proud of helping other without judgment…talk to you later Julio.
It is my pleasure. Kind regards.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 20:22
Here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 20:19
Ok Cubano there are people that do make a lot less than that amount. If you are familiar with what a bell curve or Gaussian distribution is that 47,000 represents the hight point and there is also low points on either side that represent those people that do not get to that amount and people that are way over that amount. So yes those people do exist but what I have been trying to tell you is that they are a minority. Like it is also a minority those that are super rich.
I have known many people during my live in Cuba and here and I tell you I have seen some people that really want to have it easy and do nothing. I have nothing but contempt for them. There is many that do live from working the system in their benefit. And that is not fair to us that work really hard.
I do agree with you about “nobody is better just because they have money and do not smoke it. We are as colourful and diverse as nature, and if we respect that, it will be the ultimate freedom of the human race.”
So I am not sure what we are argue about then?
You still have not answer my question
What would you think will be a better society. From economic point of view and social point of view. Described to me.
You can place the post on the following post by Yoani.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 20:05
Julio.
Is sad that you refer at statistics that not include the many families is this country trying to make it with the minimum wage, and if that is right, well how come I have not seen the minimum wage go to that amount you show in here?
And again the lazy calling is so retoric and evasive, plus the smoking reference which have nothing to do with social issues. The fortunate in here has used all this for decades to keep the ones less fortunate at bay, the name calling and the judging. Or is it that the rich and sucessful do not smoke it too? But is ok for them because they have money and class positions?
I lived in The Netherlands and Spain, and now I can realize how some societies are really doing and achieving better social standards for all people, and still have free economics. But the laws and institutions are made so everybody is respected and look at as a human being.
When prostitution is legal and look at as a profession, abuse of the individuals is minimum, they do their best to educate the population to respect every indivudual and their choices, its amazing how they has far gone beyond the practice of humiliating others on this issues. And still they have all kind of human being living side be side, but with respect of the integrity of your fellow citizens.
Nobody is better just because they have money and do not smoke it. We are as colourful and diverse as nature, and if we respect that, it will be the ultimate freedom of the human race.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 19:17
To be exact US per capita income is 47 thousand dollars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
and this one is a list of every country Cuba is include
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....es_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 19:14
When you say this country do you refer to US?
If you refer to US you are looking to the wrong statistics.
The average salary for US is about 44 thousand a year if I remember correctly.
It was not my intention you asked me about if 500 was a lot and it is not I do realize how much is a lot depends on the person but you know many people the immense majority in this country can afford to buy a 500 dollar computer.
Cubano, people do make choices in their live
some make the easy choice of not going to school and getting and education. Education is the ticket out of poverty. If you do get an education in a field that is in demand you will be able to get good money for your services. That is capitalism for you. Demand and offer.
You do have to recognize to that there is many Lazy people that wants to live of everyone else’s back and I do not think is fair to us that work neither fair to them.
They need to get off the things they are smoking and work like the rest of us do. It is really sad that many young people in Cuba do choose to do prostitution. The government does not seem to be doing enough to solve the problem in any case I think Fidel is acting more as a Pimp given advertising to Cuban gineteras as the most highly educated in the world.
Cubano because I think about all of them in Cuba is that I am here. Exposing the fallacy of a regime that is actually more exploitative as a society than capitalism is. To make it even worst they do have the ideological filter that Yoani talks about.
So let me ask you this. Since you seem to be so critical of what we have here, what is it that you think will be a better solution?
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 18:56
Julio.
If you worry about cuba and our people, you sould think about all of them, and I got the feeling in this last message you are showing off, sorry you do that.
Cause the minimum salary in this country does not even hit the 20.000 a year. Do not take me wrong I am happy for you. I am just thinking about the ones in need here too as well as my hermanos de la isla.
This is not personal, but we are trying to reach a higher and more just society, so I do not think that calling people you do not know and practice prostitution as a mean of work “whores” and people that might have been left behind on this unequal world “lazy” without knowing their personal stories is kind of unpolite and it’s not helping on the struggle of building a higher civilization with equality and justice for all. I have heard that from the ones that have everything on their hands easy, and want to evade responsabilities on behave of the ones that are not so fortunate.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:51
Cubano
I do not know how much money you make but here the average salary in the area I live is about 60 to 70 thousand dollars a year so yes
500 dollars is nothing.
While in Cuba you can witness the Castro selling obsolete Chinese made computers for prices of 2000 CUC that means more than 2000 dollars!
to people that make less than 20 dollars a month.
That is call abuse!
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:48
No cubano the only thing you have to do in Cuba was not study hard
Did you ever had to close your mouth about the wrong things because you knew that if you talk you will end up without the education?
That education was never free my parents with the low salaries they were paid, paid handsomely for it. We were four and from us I was the only one for whatever reason to finish with a University degree.
No cubano neither the education or the health in Cuba are free we all paid for it with the very low salaries.
I am not for wars, either. I think if we expend the money we expend on wars in doing programs to help this countries we will be all better of.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:42
Julio my friend you talk about 500 dollars like is nothing?
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:39
I was not talking about Cuba, and I worked at a restaurant, being a Chemist and Industrial Technologist, next to me at that restaurant are americans Accountants, Phd on history, Medical Assistants and I can go on…
And I lived 29 years in Cuba, and the only thing I had to do to get to any level of education it was to study hard..firstable I am not defending the cuban goverment…but besides the money they pocketed as you say, they give education, (I had it), and health care for free, I was treated for years for long problems since childhood…I can not deny it, I appreciated it and am thankful for those things.
Here they pocket your money too, private sector and state, and they do not even have the decency to give those priorities for free to their own citizens.But they can use that money to keep wars that kill thousands of human beings.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:22
Cubano, for example in Costa Rica there is a big Intel plant to produce computers. It is the biggest employer or one of the biggest employers in Costa Rica. Needless to say that it pays the best salaries too.
Compare that to Cuba?
Where the government takes the hard currency this workers would have been paid and pockets it. And pays them in worthless Cuban pesos. What would you call that?
Does not the regime sells Nickel and any resource they can get their hands on?
They are as exploitative as any other, or maybe should I say more so than any other.
“Very low cost? where do you buy your stuff?”
for sure I do not buy them in Cuba where people pay exorbitant prices for obsolete technology all thanks to the monopoly the Cuban regime has. Without any competition and controling everything that enter the country thru the customs service they have full control of what enters the country and they are able to set the prices they want on the products.
A computer used to cost here in the US about 3000 dollars and more
Now for less than 500 you can get very good computers useful for most people.
If you have inform your self you will also know about the one laptop per child program where laptop computers where produce at a very very low cost the original estimate was about 100 dollars they had to increase a bit because they did not get the volume of orders they were expecting.
Those are solutions to help those in poor countries. That is the right approach we should take in helping others out of poverty.
“You make it sound always so easy all this wonderful choices of education, I know some are there,but they are not accessible,(lot of times in hiding)and they will only take so many students a year”
this is also true for Cuba not every graduate of high school would go to graduate from college and not every one that entered college was able to graduate. Many left for different reasons. Some becuase they did not have the will to study some because they were too lazy and some because they did not have the brains and many other reasons. So, yes higher education is not for everyone. Someone still have to clean the streets and drive a taxi but that will be someone without education or a bare minimal education. But Cubano as you know you can see brain surgeons driving a taxi and nuclear scientist as bell boys in a hotel.
Even worst. Whores with law and medicine degrees ! Do you think that state of affairs is correct?
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 17:02
Julio.
So this is called progress? And it has to come at such a high cost,without going into the fact that many of the parts are built in very poor countries, paying many times only cents to the workers,(and that’s not Cuba) to be sold for hundreds of dollars. I am not talking about luxuries, like all this unnecessary iPod’s, or a new cellphone a month, I am talking about very much needed softwares to study, not supply by schools, but ask to have, and I did have to buy a computer in order to go to tech school, cause the told flat out they would not accept our work by hand.
Very low cost? where do you buy your stuff?
And let’s look at the fact that we all are living on the Planet Earth, goods are build and produce from earth resources. Who gave anyone those resources for themselves when we are all the same? only power, represion and many times crime througout human evolution has given some the “right” to own parts of the earth. And by now that we have evolved enough, I think it is a dignifying responsability and obligation for those that are allowed to “own” what really belongs to all(private or state) to guaranteed and give all human being basic necesities.
You make it sound always so easy all this wonderful choices of education, I know some are there,but they are not accessible,(lot of times in hiding)and they will only take so many students a year, but go deeper and talk to the children in this country that has not seen any other choice(youngsters do not always know how to analize all the consecuences of their acts) than to go to the army, I have talked to many of them, and it is very sad.
The past is the past and it’s there to learn from it and make things better, not to keep deeping into it to justify what it’s happening wrong now in this the so called free world we are living in. Angola happened long ago,(very wrong, war is a terrible thing), Irak and Afghanistan are happening now!! and it’s not precisely the comunists doing it.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 16:40
I mean to put this link for the attorney
http://vocescubanas.com/desdel.....e-laritza/
Cubans are opening their mouth for so long close by a regime that did not care for them. That only asked for sacrifices and more sacrifices for the future generations.
People in Cuba are waking up to the reality. And the clock is ticking really fast.
All of these blogs with their words in harmony are like bells toll. The bells are tolling for the Cuban regime.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 16:34
Guys this blog
is also awesome is written by a young cuban attorney
http://vocescubanas.com/desdelahabana/
it is also been translated into English
here
http://leyesdelaritzaen.wordpress.com/
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 16:28
Cubano
“in order to take peoples money and get so rich” you make it look like its highway robbery! :-)
Nobody pushes me to have the latest computer or even to have a computer.
I want to have a computer. I do not really need to have a computer. Is a choice I make.
I could as easily get access to the internet on my local library.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 16:03
Cubano
“As an student, I had to buy their technologies and software in order to go on with my learning, sometimes every couple of years you are oblige to buy new technologies cause they make little changes in software and make them unavailable for the system you already bought, (no mercy you had to do it), dirty business, many of us do not have the money and we are in school, there you go and get in more debt.”
Is called progress!
See we are progressing we are advancing but go back to Cuba I am sure you know how the things works over there.
They used to use tractors now they are back to using animals for farming.
so they are doing the opposite to progress.
You do not have to have the latest computer I usually use update a computer maybe every 3 years or 4, and the cost have been drastically reduce.
Do you know a cell phone like the iPhone has more computing power than supercomputers 10 years ago.
Do you know that a computer today a Quad Processor has more computer power than a Cray YMP supercomputer!
We have gotten all that and at a very very low cost.
Think of it as a democratization of technology.
There will be a time when we will be able to print things we want ourselves at home like in “star trek ” replicators.
Go to a museum like the Smithsonian institution and you will see the progress in machinery from the steam engine forward.
Yes we go step by step advancing into things that are better. That is the way it is.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 15:51
Liam,
I am not for totally unregulated free market there needs to be government policing of corporations. If they had follow the laws we would not have gotten in the mess we did. Some people have always try to make the system work for them to make themselves rich easily and that’s what some people did and created the mess on the market for all of us.
But one needs to be careful about placing too many rules because them the system becomes so clog with rules that is impossible for business to proliferate and produce.
Unfortunately for communism it demonstrated that is unable to produce at any level. Not even survival level. That is something Capitalism excels at.
Think that when Marx wrote the things he wrote we are talking about the Industrial revolution in England where people used to work very long hours and had little or no protection. It is not the case any more.
On the other hand go to countries like China and even Cuba where the workers have no protection against this companies doing business there.
The people become more like slaves that are rented to capitalist the world over to be exploited.
What I do hate is to see people believe that what little there is in Cuba is socialism.
I have argue before that there are two systems that more closely resemble the system in Cuba.
One is monopolistic capitalism of state. With the state been the sole proprietor of everything.
and the other is Slavery. Think about the meager salaries they pay this people.
less than 20 dollars a month and they been ask to sacrifice more by this fat cats that know nothing about sacrifice.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 15:19
Julio,if the unregulated free market had worked then we would not be in the world economic crisis now.It needs regulation by strong government.The ’sub-prime’ scandal in the ISA put many many people out of their homes and destitute. It is to Obamas credit that the government intervened so strongly despite the hysteria of the free market neo-cons. Also,if he can go some way to solving the scandal of 50 million anerican citizens who have no health cover, then he will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents.
Europe has turned its back on the neo-con model and so have the emerging market economies of Brazil as well.It is not the model for a new Cuba either.
On Cubans in Angola,my old cuban friends who served there are proud of what they did to fight against the racist apartheid regime. Nelson Mandela is forever thanking those cubans who fought there and helped to bring a quicker end to apartheid.
Cubano. Very interesting commentary. Thank you.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 14:55
Cubano
I do not think is cliche and yet he is not the only one doing it. Some of the super rich do contribute to this causes and movie stars too. For example Barbara Streisand
and Angelina Jolie.
The thing is we need to find a way to get the millions left behind to bootstrap them out of misery. Not the other way around. The communist only know how to make of everyone a beggar. That is not what we should be doing. We should find ways like the affords made by Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank to help the poor get out of poverty.
Yes capitalism and market economies are not for the lazy. For those I do not know how to solve it. I sure do not want them to be maintained with the money I pay on my taxes.
As for “I work with a young girl, 20 years old, she went to the army desperate to get an education she could afford”
That you know is propaganda!
In this country there is many many ways to get money for education without having to go to the army. The government has many programs to loan money to the poor for education. Check it out on the web.
Fidel Castro, did not give younger children than her a choice. He sent them to wars in Africa and other places. And not even in exchange for education. That lady you are referring to she had other choices. Cubans under Castro do not get to choose.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 14:53
It seems like nothing is free in life … serving in the army has its risks.
Since life is not perfect either … I belive then that’s when parents or good friends or other should lend their love & advise when a choice like that is to be made.
Yes, education is not free for the likes of many yet it is available for all.
I agree is sad for that girl you work with Conc, more than sad it is the idea that the politicians of this world turn the service of our countries into a parody in which the mentioning of the “needs” of the country masks the greed of the few, for power, for money or who knows for what.
Yes is sad … having to make choices like that, is sad to die for country not knowing if we truly die for a good cause or for what?
On the other hand … as of little perveived value as it may be: I give yer the only thing I have to give … my gratitude for her sacrifice, for her service with my deepest sorrow for her scars …
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 14:52
Julio.
You wrote..”Thanks to them we have technologies like the ones we have today with supercomputers at home and all the other technologies. Incidentally none of this technologies were produce in a communist country. There is no incentive since the state becomes the sole proprietor of everything.
How many kids today are so incredible intelligent as to master technologies? People like Gates were at the right time on the right place, and have the wits and greed to create hardcore monopolies with their knowledge in order to take peoples money and get so rich.
As an student, I had to buy their technologies and software in order to go on with my learning, sometimes every couple of years you are oblige to buy new technologies cause they make little changes in software and make them unavailable for the system you already bought, (no mercy you had to do it), dirty business, many of us do not have the money and we are in school, there you go and get in more debt.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 14:36
Andy very well said in comment 175, that’s what I am hoping for Cuba…
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 14:29
Julio it is such a cliche always the Gates and so examples..people that are allow to make billions taking the chunk from all of us and having some charities to show they care!!!! but not trying to use their power to really change the roots of the problem…cause millions indeed get left behind, and the system is still the same…
and it’s all around you if you want to really see it..
I work with a young girl, 20 years old, she went to the army desperate to get an education she could afford(like many other youngster in this country struggling to get an education) she was sent to war, got badly injured, physically and mentally, she had to see dear friends blown by a bomb next to herself, she is marked for life, and still haven’t been able to get the education she was searching for..
Pretty sad when youth have to even risk their lives to study, cause their choices are running out, and she came back, (others do not have the same fate)..No wonder one of the adverts in the army that you can see even on the train you ride to school and work it’s about getting a good and free education in the army…
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:57
Guys Regina’s blog is now in English!
We are still adding post but her post are brilliant!
go an enjoy and please also post there.
http://lamalaletraen.wordpress.com/
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:51
Andy I am not proposing anarchy either even our country (US) has rules to protect the little people against the mega corporation that if you think hard about them they are very very similar to what Fidel Castro got going in Cuba.
Things like price fixing etc
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:41
Unregulated markets are a disaster. Intellectually brilliant and powerful people find ways to play the game and literally make billions selling smoke and mirrors. Billions of dollars (yen, pounds, euros, etc.) that are skimmed off the top of everything. They add NO value (they would dispute that)… it’s a private “tax”. And no amount of “giving back” through charitable good works can make up for the theft.
I say this as an ‘unrepentant’ capitalist — seriously. I think people will do best when working in their own self interest. But there have to be controls… rules of the game.
Otherwise… we’ll go back to what is effectively a feudal system.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:39
Well to me that is the formula that Cuba needs to generate wealth. Once Cuba is a first world country like Sweden , Norway, Denmark.They can start regulating and move to a more “socialistic” agenda like those countries if they want. BTW they are ahead of the game if you think about it .They already have free health care, free education.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:33
Liam, maybe economically we need to go back and forth between full market economy and a little bit of government control when things go sour. But having market economy without government intervention has a lot of benefits. For once companies can move faster than government bureaucrats.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:21
http://translate.google.com/tr.....&hl=en
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:18
Yes,concubino,Nelson Mandela is a hero of mine and his experience and advice had a huge influence on the irish peace process.
Liam
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:18
… even if “fidelism” (I like how it sounds) is only a cult?
The power to carry ideals with the image of a person is only superficial.
Yes, it seems a lot of people is enamored w/che guevara yet when these people grows up (if they do) they begin to see the cracks in korda’s picture.
There are many sites that expose the reality of that butcher, yes as many as the ones that contribute to the “hero image” but … remeber that even che is just a creation from fidel’s public relations machine.
No fidel, no heroic revolutionary images.
The definition of revolutionary has changed, there is a part of this world that can “think” revolution from their confortable arm chairs, not willing to go any further than that.
The ones who have suffred & still suffer the consecuences of “the revolutionaries” ideals and goals, are the ones that can convincingly tell the truth about it.
There are no more stronger facts than hunger, prisions, limited individual freedoms, labor camps and all the “punishments” combined because of the lack of support for the “revolution” by the people sugjugated by it.
I am sure there are lots of people who do not belive the conditions existing in Cuba … yet for being a “socialist paradise” I don’t see the multitudes of people clamoring to emigrate to Cuba.
I don’t see all the economic heavens and all the oportunities created by the great educational system.
When an engineer has scrape for food & basic substenance … whe people has a rationing card … instead of being permited to produce, whe their individuality & creative talent is stifled … is that the “socialist heaven” other countries wan to live by?
Yes, Venezuela, Bolivia and some central american countries as well … their leaders want it but: does the people want it?
So far our friend from Venezuela has followed fidel’s plan … all the reveses are cause the lack of rain, foreign interferance & mostly because the USA … familiar?
fidelism is just a cukt … people, simple people like me can see thru it … we may be oppressed for a while, some of us are (by the Grace of God) fortunate to be able to escape … most don’t yet … we fight, we go on, we survive and is not because of a cult, it is because of a dream, a hope and faith in the future …
Our future!
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:17
Concubino. An interesting article but i do not agree with it all.
Being in business myself,it is crystal clear that the world economic crisis has mortally wounded the completely unregulated free market model.
The ‘Keynesian’economic model is back in favour. A mixed economy of private enterprise AND government intervention and direction. Look at the stimulus package in the USA. Look at France,Germany,UK. All taking control of key areas of their economies and bringing in much tighter regulations on the banks. The neo-con/neo-liberal approach to a totally free UNREGULATED market is dead.
I strongly believe that it would be a disaster for Cuba. The shock therapy was tried by Yeltsin in Russia and was a miserable failure.
However, thanks for a new link. My Spanish (cuban spanish!)is ok.
Liam
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:11
This my opinion about Nelson Mandela.
He will go in history as one of the greatest freedom fighters known to man kind.
A man who keep his word, a man who let go power when he can easily could stay there forever like his neighbor Robert Mugabe is doing..
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:05
Andy , Liam, Albert(I think you are fluent in Spanish)
Use google translate for this one
If you kindly let me know what you think about it..
http://www.neoliberalismo.com/riqueza-libertad.htm
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 13:03
Ordinary people want a good life and justice.
I am not surprised that Evo Morales has just been re-elected in a landslide victory in Bolivia.
He has kept his promises and used the wealth of the nation to benefit the poor,the deprived and has included the indigenous people in the life of Bolivia.He has done this in a democratic way and put his proposals to the people for their acceptence or rejection.He has also increased his vote based on his track record in power.
Again,love him or loathe him,he has passed the democratic test.Like Obama he has his mandate for the next 4 years.
I hope that the future in Cuba will be for the interests of the cuban people and not just the US corporations.
Liam
PS;- Concubino,remember,for many years leaders in the west including the USA called Nelson Mandela a’terrorist’. But the reality of politics forced them to recognise him as the leader of the South African People. He became a ‘freedom fighter’.Politicians will make deals in their own national interest. You know that if Raul and Obama reach that point then they will negotiate. In North Korea the US government negotiates with the Korean government over nucleur capacity but publicly refuses to talk with Cuba. Where is the logic? It perpetuates the stalemate position inside Cuba.I enjoy your contributions on this site.
Andy;yes i think that the article i flagged raises issues that cannot be ignored in any transition.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 12:21
Concub … Liam … Julio …
The sad reality is that Because of all the suffering people feels justified in exacting revange.
Wishful thinking may persuade some of “back door” deals, many things are possible.
For the people in the land, the aldeanos … that does not matter.
However:
what I see thru this blog is a group of people with very diverse opinions but with one uniting goal … freedom for Cuba.
I remember a while back wondering (and mentioning) what could be done … ?
And I’ve seen the efforts, the help and the willingness of the same people that disagree …
This to me is the “back door”, this is to me the future …
Let anyone care, Cuban or not … it always goes down to the basic premise … “the people”
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 12:08
I highly recommend the article that Liam links to in comment 194. I just scanned it (and saved it to read again later)… but two of the critical factors it notes that play into Cuba’s future that we haven’t talked much about here are:
1 - With the collapse of the Soviet Union…. “who cares”. The US was terrified there would be Russian missiles - again - on Cuba soil, pointed north. Now, Cuba is clutching at deals with with Russia and China trying to keep a connection to the US’s former big enemies. But the regime isn’t gaining much traction with that.
2 - What the US DOES still care about is the spreading “Fidelism” in Latin America.
But it’s not so stupid (one hopes) as to think this can be counteracted with a heavy boot on a post-Fidel Cuba. On the contrary, helping to turn the island from a socialist paradise to a capitalist one, full of happy “rich” people is the best advertisement there could be for the Do-It-Our-Way way of life.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 12:02
Ok Liam(197)
These are just cosmetic gestures for the public opinion
New York Philarmonic orchestra played in Pyongyang in February 2008
The Castros like Kim il Jung never negotiate in good faith
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 11:25
Love, mother, to the motherland,
It isn’t ridiculous to love to our soil
Or the grass they walk on our plants
But invincible hatred who oppresses it
It is the eternal grudge who attacked it.
Jose Marti(Abdala)
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 11:17
Hi Concubino,
I was not disagreeing with your #180.
I think there are ‘back door’ talks taking place between the Cuban and USA, but in public Raul and the US keep their hard line.
If you are in Cuba you will know about the changes at the USA ‘american interests section’(Embassy) on the Malecon. It was no coincidence that the day Obama was elected the neon news screens on the embassy wall stopped and soon after the cuban government removed all the large flags outside and took down the posters opposite the embassy which had been critical of the USA. Later any news on the screen was just general CNN en espanol with no attacks on the cuban government.
Coincidence? I do not think so.
I remember when the conservative prime minister, John Major, in Britain was challenged about rumours of contacts with the IRA. He said ‘it would turn his stomach’and denied it all. In reality as we now know the contacts existed and were the basis for the later peace settlement.
In Ireland and South Africa all the key talks were held away from the public eye and only later revealed.
Liam
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 08:49
Liam
I’m just quoting you:
“But secretly, behind the scenes they had begun negotiations and these started under Thatcher”.
You just validate comment #180.
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 07:57
Talking about videos, here is on of the best, unfortunately the lyrics is in Spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHoKatqK6E
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 04:29
Hi Andy. #175
You may find this article interesting:- http://www.isreview.org/issues/48/cuba.shtml
Liam
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 04:26
Concubino (#180).
The concessions from both sides in Ireland came at the negotiating table ,not before. The British were saying ‘we will never talk to terrorists’ and the IRA were saying they would not give one up’one bullet’. (Just like now with Cuba and the US. Both sides putting down pre-conditions to talks.)But secretly, behind the scenes they had begun negotiations and these started under Thatcher. She let Bobby Sands die but this only prolonged the war and he became a nationalist hero with many more young men joining the IRA because of her actions.Eventually it was a ‘conservative’ government that started negotiations and later a’labour’ government under Tony Blair which signed the peace deal.
Today you have the First Minister of Northern Ireland called Peter Robinson (from the protestant/loyalist community) working with his previous sworn enemy, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness (from the catholic/nationalist community and he was one of the senior IRA commanders in the war).You have power sharing,a fresh start and an end of the violence. A new community and country are being built,with many difficulties and disagreements on policy, by former enemies whio were totally opposed to each other in a war where nearly 4000 were killed,and tens of tousands injured, in a very small population.
The ‘armchair generals’on both sides who wanted to contiunue the war and not compromise were massively rejected when the peace settlement was put to all the people in a referendum.
Liam
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 02:03
I’ve just seen a german mini-series Wir sind das volk (We are the people) about the last months of east-german republic which lead to the fall of the famous Berlin-wall. It’s amazing how unbloody that revolution was. In the beginning there was a demo that gathered 500 people. The last demo gathered 170000 people! The rest is as they say history.
Finally I want to share a rock song from my younger days. I hope they don’t block it out in your place lol. Hope you like it.;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efp6Q-X6Tyc
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 00:16
SEE HERE AS WELL HOW MANY CUBANS DID CHE KILLED:
http://cuba-represionycensura.blogspot.com/
Diciembre 7th, 2009 at 00:14
ATENCION CHILE, VEAN COMO EL ASPIRANTE A LA PRSIDENCIA TIENE FUERTES VINCULOS CON CASTRO Y CONTROLA SUS NEGOCIOS EN CHILE
http://cuba-represionycensura.blogspot.com/
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 22:21
Julio, Andy
Los aldeanos are the “voice” of the real the people in Cuba.Sometimes we don’t get what wish for.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:56
Concubino
Watch this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....eature=fvw
They are using Up they make it about cuba
very funny! :-)
For those that do not speak spanish The old man is trying to scape the Cuban tyranny with the house raise by balloons. The dialog is funny!
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:23
Concubino, unfortunately there is a lot of rancor and bad blood accumulated over 50 years of tyranny so it is possible that there will be some sort of blood bath. I hope it does not get bloody. There is ways to punish these people without blood spilling.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:16
Julio:
Listen carefully to Lucha tu Yuca Taino of Rymundo fernadez.I have listened to that song many times. In that song el cacique( the tribe’s chief) is Fidel.
The last line goes like this “lucha tu yuca taino que el cacique tiene el power absoluto”..
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:15
Cubano — woops… reading in reverse order… well that makes even more sense!
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:14
Julio — AHHHHH… that little word “for” … it explains everything! THANK YOU!
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 21:03
Julio: if you listen carefully to the Aldeanos song there is line where el B said “cuando el burro se caiga le vamos a caer a palos”
Basically they are saying when the Havana Regimen goes down they will look for retribution..
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 20:54
Concubino the Castros will not be there forever.
The biological solution will appear sooner or later for one of them.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 20:52
Andy Lucha tu yuca
Yuca is a casabe the original indians in Cuba used to eat.
So lucha tu yuca is like
“fight for your food”
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 20:45
Here we are talking about moving on, reconciliation, forgiveness and so forth .The examples being used are Ireland and South Africa. Great.
In Ireland the deal was made once the IRA renounced to violence first. Great Britain was not willing to go to the negotiating table if the IRA didn’t make the commitment to renounce to terrorism. The Iron Lady let Bobby Sands die in a hunger strike. A crime is crime it is not political she would said
In South Africa Nelson Mandela and the ANC made the commitment to renounce violence in exchange he will get the end of Apartheid. A deal between Nelson Mandela and Fredrik de Klerk was made. Nelson Mandela keep his word .The rest is history.
In conflict both parts have to make consecions.Otherwise there is no deal.
My point is how anybody can make a deal with the Castros when they are not willing to make any concesions.They don’t show any desire. The political prisoners are still there, more than 200 of them. Abel Prieto the Minister of Culture said that “to dissent is to be a traitor”. In others words they are not willing to allow any opposition. When somebody mentions the words Opposition political party .The Castros said Cuba is one Party country only (the communist party).
They demand the end of the Embargo; they demand the immediate liberation of the 5 spies.The Emabargo does not work.We all know that, but that is not the point
In the name of Cuba “sovereignty “they want everything in exchange for nothing
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 20:42
The aldeanos are in Cuba
Lucha tu Yuca Taino in that song means “Fight for your Freedom”. The Taino is the Cuban People
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 20:22
Ok would someone PLEASE explain to me what “lucha tu yuca” means!!!!!!!
Fight your yuca????
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 19:54
This one is fun from Frank Delgado!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRRQoYYXa4w
do you like it?
The lyric is about Harry Potter compare to a cuban youth.
A parody.
critical of the regime!
When I use to live in Cuba this kind of songs were never done needless to say that I am sure this was never played in National TV in Cuba.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 19:51
I like the Aldeanos too Concubino!!
Are they singing from Cuba or are they outside of Cuba?
Have you seen lucha tu yuca?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjs1F8R1V_U
I downloaded from youtube many of this videos and have them on my iPhone. Love them!
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 19:18
Cubano — You raise important issues. And I want to touch briefly on “Liberation Theology” and Concubino’s video. I do NOT want to get into the religious wars (whatever they may be) on this forum… it’s not the place.
But I do want to say, I grew up knowing a famous “liberation theologist” well (though of course I understood none of that at the time, I was a child) — he was a kind man and a pacifist and did not believe in murderous revolutions… he truly believed in trying to do what he thought Jesus was about… helping others.
I only watched the one video (it was part of a series), but I feared it was going the way of “the poor will always be with us, alas, it’s our job to feed their souls and maybe open a soup kitchen”.
But, I think we can go further than that. And I think there is a HUGE difference between democratic socialism and authoritarian socialism. The democratic socialist countries that we know today, have capitalist economies and high levels of personal freedoms. As a society, they agree to pool their wealth (through taxes and other means) to provide basic life services for everyone, such as education, health care, old age pensions and so on.
I don’t think we need “brutal” capitalism to achieve a good standard of living — but I do think that people like to feel some freedom in their economic life as well as their personal, civic and religious life.
What Cubans choose for themselves, I leave to Cubans… but I don’t think they have to go from one extreme to the other.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 19:06
Julio:I like your links .The one of OLPL is well done.Actually I like him better in English than Spanish. The youtube video is really good.If you like contestary rap check this out it is worth just for the lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFhxp-MN538
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:55
I do agree with Liam that there have to be some sort of national reconciliation in Cuba after the Castro or we will be in and endless cycle of violence.
We should learn of the good examples in this matter.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:53
Cubano
This statement “The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, with the rich not per se giving too much back, just happy on keeping the things the way they are, the poor poorer and uneducated.” is propaganda.
I can give you as example someone who is consider one of the richest man alive in the world. Bill Gates.
Do you know what he does with his money?
Spend it in Education and vaccination for many poor countries. Check out the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
The thing is that they are not the only ones doing this. There is many of this people doing it. Is it enough rich people doing it? maybe not. But you have to admit that your statement above is not correct.
Every communist society does not seem to be able to create and manage wealth.
Only individual greed is capable of doing so.
This people do pay taxes on their wealth. Do they pay enough maybe.
Thanks to them we have technologies like the ones we have today with supercomputers at home and all the other technologies. Incidentally none of this technologies were produce in a communist country. There is no incentive since the state becomes the sole proprietor of everything.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:52
Liam #156
What you describe is amazing, or to use your well placed word earlier, Astonishing!
When you see the people who killed your family members – walking freely on the streets of Dublin or Belfast or wherever - how do you react? What do you do? Do you cross over to the other side of the street to avoid them? I am sorry for asking such personal questions, but I have difficulty with this. Thank you for telling us about these details of reconciliation and what is required to exact a peace.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:44
John Two
They way I believe they do it is
Let’s say you put some money for them
someone in Spain withdraw the money in Euros
the Euros are sent to Cuba by some other mean either by a traveler taking them or some money transfer place. I do not think Paypal has any agreement with the Cuban government directly due to the restrictions to make businesses with the Cuban government.
As soon as the money gets to Cuba since they can only pay with CUC they will have to change the real currency (Euros) for the CUC and then is when the Cuban goverment takes its 20 percent cut.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:25
Hank, in-kind means a donation of goods or services, rather than money. Maybe it’s a Canadian term.
Julio, I’d still like to get some clarification about whether the regime gets a cut of any donations using Pay Pal? I recognize they get a cut of the online cards that need to be purchased in tourist hotels.
I use Pay Pal in other contexts. How would the Castro regime even be aware such confidential, electronic transactions are taking place between two parties with Pay Pal accounts? Perhaps our friendly English Translator can find an answer.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:23
I am reading all this comments and appreciate a high level of intelligence, social and political knowledge, that’s great.
But how without a somewhat socialist approach are we going to create a transition in Cuba that will really include and respect everyone. I have been a little bit around the world, ” traveling the one thing I cherish from the so called free world”, and it’s possible to me mainly cause I have a passport from a rich country, cause our south-american brothers and sisters are not so free to enter about any country without tons of investigations and visa procedures, they are guilty of being poor, so much for the free world.
I see all over a world of little change, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, with the rich not per se giving too much back, just happy on keeping the things the way they are, the poor poorer and uneducated.
What kind of free world will be our future if we even denied our fellow human beings of decent healthcare and education. I might be a leftist and maybe naive, but come on a lot of intelligent talk but we still left human beings die everyday while the rich keeps getting richer and richer.
Is this progress and freedom? Work for a corporation like I do and feel the dictator on your back everyday of your life, and we have to take it in order to survive, talk to your less fortunate friend in exile and feel their pain, most of them are offer a week vacation payed “a year” and no health benefits…freedom?
A lot of my best friends from childhood in Cuba have been living for years like that..
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:00
Down with the castros enough of this faulty revolucion a move from inside of cuba must happen this b.s.is way to old, we need less talking and moore doing.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 18:00
See this if you speak Spanish is a funny song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_egHn-NCR0
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 17:38
GREAT ARTICLE ON CUBA’S BLOGGERS!! INCLUDING OUR “FLACA”!!
“But for a Cuban blogger to get to the mythical Ithaca that is the Internet, they must first navigate an odyssey of obstacles. First, there is the scandalous cost of connecting, which in just a couple of hours can swallow an average monthly salary ($15 to $20 U.S.). Then there are the Paleolithic browsing speeds (usually less than 50 Kbps). And finally, of course, there is the ministry-level apartheid that prohibits Cuban nationals from opening a web account with ETECSA, the national telephone company—whereas any foreign resident can do so with a simple bureaucratic application accompanied by hard currency.”
“In spite of this panoptic attempt to control a medium as emancipating as the web, Cuba has one of the most popular blogs in the world: Yoani Sánchez’s Generacion Y. Sánchez is a 34-year-old philologist who doesn’t write for a newspaper or have access to too many interactive tools, but she’s at the cutting edge of Cuba’s digital revolution. (The name of her blog stems from the curious predilection of Cubans in the ’70s and ’80s to name their children with Russian sounding names.) Like a lot of sites from the Island, including many official ones, Sánchez uses a foreign-based server to guarantee the integrity and security of her material.”
http://inthesetimes.com/articl.....a_blogging
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 16:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj81NtBDETI
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 15:55
The ladies in white also have a site
http://www.damasdeblanco.com/
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 15:47
Not sure if you guys notice
here is his blog
http://rudaricci.blogspot.com/
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:43
Thanks all.
Liam
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:41
By the way — it is Frei Betto who is attacking Yoani… not the person who posted this lengthy comment. Put it in google translator and it comes out pretty clearly… but beware… google translator FREQUENTLY leaves out the words “no” and “not” — completely changing the meaning of the sentence, of course.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:37
Frei Betto is a Catholic priest who had long and “intimate” conversations with Fidel and published the dictator’s deep and moving thoughts. Fidel and religion. It boggles the mind how Catholic priests can cozy up to totalitarian murders who enslave nations, but there you have it. I know you’ll want to be running right out and buying a copy — NOT. Now the good Frei is probably helping Lula figure out how to enslave the Brazilians.
From Amazon:
Fidel and Religion: Castro Talks on Revolution and Religion with Frei Betto
Frei Betto is a Brazilian priest, who worked with the internationally renowned Brazilian educator, Paolo Freire, and later organized Christian base communities. Recently he has been a adviser to the Lula government in Brazil on social policy. He is a widely acclaimed liberation theologist and a prominent spokesperson at the World Social Forum on globalization issues.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:29
Liam
The article ahout Frei Betto is basically attacking Yoani.
Liam just a healthy advice: The commentators of this section are very well informed people….Half true are complete lies.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:13
Hi everyone.
Has anyone got an english translation of #153 and an english version of what Frei Betto wrote?
Thanks
Liam
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 14:10
Hi Hank! In reply to #119,yes it was extremely difficult. I never thought i would see it happen or that i would agree with it.
However,in the end that is the reality of change. There has to be compromise and discussion. Both took place in Ireland and South Africa.
The hardest part was that the peace settlement released all the prisoners from both sides in the irish conflict (’catholic/nationalist’ and ‘protestant/loyalist’ paramilitaries).Men who had been sentenced to life for murders on both sides were released,some after only serving months of their sentences. The killers of my family members were released.
However,this had to be done to break the 800 years of hatred that would have continued for another century. The peace settlement has its flaws but the killing and suffering has stopped and people from both sides engage in purely political struggle AND without excluding any political tendency. That is the model for a successful transition in Cuba. The ‘armchair generals’ calling for exclusion,reprisals etc in Cuba offer a dead end of further conflict.
In South Africa,Nelson Mandela could have called for revenge and bloody reprisal but instead he called for dialogue and reconciliation. He sat down and talked with his enemies.
It hurt at the time but i have no regrets about supporting the peace process and transition in Ireland.
Liam.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 13:55
This is the movie from Chaplin I was talking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kid_(1921_film)
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 13:54
I know John Two but I am not about to lie about who will end up with the money.
Maybe that is the reason why the Castros after all want them to have access to the expensive internet.
It is reminiscent a little of “the kid” a movie by Charles Chaplin where he goes on partnership with a little kid that break glasses on windows with stones while the tramp appears casually to fix them. :-)
In this case there is no such partnership but they sure are making money in this.
So basically the Castros are selling out to undermine their own absolute power! :-)
They will do anything to be in power just at least one more year!
See my friend that is why I have been telling that everything in the Castro regime points to the way Mafia behave!
For them to get the money probably someone has to send it by the normal means to Cuba and have you ask yourself why they need this dual currency?
Well here is the thing when they have to pay for the card they have to pay in CUC (The hard currency) but they only get CUC if you first give them hard currency like dollars or euros or Canadian dollars so that is the moment when they take their 20 percent.
I tell you my friend that is why they do not want to get out of this dual currency, It is an exploitation business for them! the other choice will be for them to place a 20 percent tax on every transaction. But naturally that will be harder to control for them and will be much later in time that this other transactions they do now.
In the end you are still helping them (the bloggers ) and Cubans in general because even though the money will end up most likely on Castro’s pocket we get to see first hand the system as describe by the people that live in it! This is a rare point of view that the regime is trying desperately to discourage.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 13:39
OS ERROS DE FREI BETTO
Rudá Ricci
Doutor em ciências sociais, diretor geral do Instituto Cultiva, do Fórum Brasil do Orçamento. E-mail: ruda@inet.com.br . Blog: rudaricci.blogspot.com
Frei Betto acaba de escrever um artigo em que ataca a jovem cubana Yoani Sánchez. Betto procura desqualificar as crÃticas de Yoani ao regime castrista. CrÃticas que expõe em um mero blog, Generación Y (http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/), que o leitor brasileiro pode provar um aperitivo com a coletânea de postagens que recentemente a Editora Contexto publicou em livro (“De Cuba, com carinhoâ€).
Principal argumento de Betto: ela morou na SuÃça e implorou para voltar para Cuba. Argumento secundário: ela não posta em seu blog fotos de pobres e mendigos porque não há pobres e mendigos em Cuba. Como não tem outro recurso além do blog, Yoani não tem como se defender.
DaÃ, fiquei intrigado até a medula. Não é estranho que uma blogueira cause tanto transtorno nos governantes de um paÃs? Eu mesmo sou crÃtico a vários governos e nunca fui tolhido. Até Fidel chegou a citar Yoani no prólogo do livro “Fidel, Bolivia y algo másâ€, no mesmo tom adotado por Betto. E o blog de Yoani tem apenas dois anos de existência! Não seria sinal de problemas polÃticos sérios na Ilha?
Desta dúvida emergiram outras.
Não é estranho que um escritor brasileiro fique tão preocupado com uma blogueira que apenas posta notas na internet? Não haveria correspondência com o que o próprio Frei Betto disse, uma vez, sobre o governo Lula (que seria governo, mas não poder)? Yoani teria, enfim, mais poder que o governo cubano?
Ou, ainda: o que Frei Betto queria dizer quando afirma que Yoani implorou para retornar à Ilha? Que é uma espiã? Que é incompetente? Que deveria ter ficado na Europa? Conheço a Europa e não gostaria de viver no Velho Mundo. Eles não têm nosso humor e se levam muito à sério.
Obviamente que quem tem um mÃnimo de militância polÃtica sabe que a crÃtica de Betto não é apenas dirigida à Yoani. É dirigida à toda dúvida e crÃtica ao regime castrista. Nasce do medo à pluralidade na esquerda.
Então, gostaria de fazer o inverso e abrir o debate com Betto. Entre duas pessoas de esquerda que acreditam em projetos opostos. Mas quero abrir este debate publicamente por motivos que exponho abaixo:
1) Minha motivação é abrir um franco debate, pela esquerda, sem medo de ser feliz. Durante a abertura polÃtica, evitamos abrir publicamente nossas diferenças, que remontam à s estruturas clandestinas e concepções vanguardistas dos anos 70, temendo que pudéssemos gerar alguma perseguição. Atacávamos quase que clandestinamente. Contudo, estamos mantendo por muito tempo o grande público neste silêncio que o rodeia, o que não parece ser nada transparente ou mesmo alimentar empoderamento. Este silêncio está se revelando nefasto para a democracia do paÃs e principalmente para as organizações sociais de base que estão mergulhadas num profundo rebaixamento polÃtico e intelectual. Nada que se relacione com a fulanização do artigo de César Benjamin. Também não se vincula a nenhuma disputa entre partidos (não sou mais filiado a qualquer partido). Trata-se de debate polÃtico entre esquerdas e não de moralismos e ataques pessoais;
2) A teoria etapista ainda viceja entre as esquerdas de alto coturno. O problema com esta velha e carcomida teoria é que o futuro é patrimônio de quem opera a evolução das etapas. O etapismo desconsidera os desejos individuais e o diálogo entre diferentes porque define, escatologicamente, o que deveremos ser. O etapismo não dialoga com a franca e aberta
participação no controle das polÃticas e ações públicas porque se entrelaça com a tutela. Assim, o etapismo forja cidadãos de naturezas distintas: aquele que sabe o que deve ser o futuro (e não fala com transparência porque mede cada passo a ser matematicamente calculado) e aquele que terá seu futuro já prescrito revelado na hora certa, pelo primeiro cidadão. Parece algo nascido da compaixão pelos incautos. Mas é apenas arrogância polÃtica, elitismo, vanguardismo;
3) Nos anos 80, Frei Betto criou um conceito rebaixado e estranho de “movimento popular”, que agregaria gregos e troianos. Não, se fossem só gregos e troianos não haveria problema. Ele agregou, num mesmo saco, movimentos sociais, entidades populares, partidos e sindicatos. Dizia que eram “ferramentas” da luta dos povos oprimidos. Como poesia, este conceito é até sedutor. Mas politicamente é um profundo equÃvoco. E perigoso.
Explico: este conceito é o que criou o caldo de cultura para a partidarização de sindicatos e movimentos sociais brasileiros, ao longo dos anos 80 e nos 90. Porque se todos são instrumentos, e se na teoria marxista o partido é a expressão maior da organização dos que desejam a transformação (o restante estaria no plano da luta econômica, do
interesse), obviamente que a noção de autonomia, fundamento da origem do PT, teria que desaparecer. Ora, este é o cerne da mudança do PT dos anos 80 para o dos anos 90 e atual. Porque a sociedade pode pensar que sempre foi o mesmo, com discurso oportunista no inÃcio. Mas não foi. Houve uma disputa surda que mudou o rumo original. Foi o renascer do etapismo num partido hegemônico da esquerda brasileira, tal como figurou quando o Partidão era hegemônico entre as esquerdas tupiniquins;
4) Grande parte das lideranças sociais e sindicais do paÃs tem origem nas organizações da igreja católica filiadas à Teologia da Libertação, que bebeu nos ensaios de Frei Betto. Hoje, o fruto colhido é a profunda partidarização e imenso desprezo das cúpulas pelo debate franco com a base social. À base caberia o didatismo e a paixão, já que os “de baixo” não teriam condições de compreender as manobras necessárias que envolvem os “de cima”. Uma espécie de leninismo revisitado onde não apenas a teoria viria de fora, da cúpula, mas tudo o mais que necessita ser prescrito. Aliás, os discursos são rebaixados. Recentemente, participei de uma mesa de debates com um dirigente da CUT que me deixou estarrecido. Ao apresentar esta crÃtica de como as centrais sindicais brasileiras são, todas, expressões de partidos, o dirigente da CUT afirmou que foi por conta dos outros partidos, porque a CUT sempre desejou tê-los unidos na central. Não é verdade. Basta analisarmos o que ocorreu no 4o congresso da CUT. Mas muitos sindicalistas sentados na platéia da escola sindical 7 de Outubro desconheciam os meandros das disputas de cúpula. O dirigente da CUT me travou, porque me colocou a responsabilidade de desvendar e desmistificar a história da CUT. Eu fiquei preso ao dilema de ser a Cassandra de lideranças sindicais honestas que me ouviam. Preferi me calar. E errei, percebo, agora;
5) Enfim, Frei Betto tem direito de defender o regime castrista. Um regime centralizador, autoritário, que não respeita a pluralidade, que até então não respeitava a sexualidade de quem não era a imagem e semelhança da virilidade guerrilheira (e que agora começa a mudar com a firme posição de Mariela Castro em defesa da pluralidade). Um regime militarizado, assim como o chavista. Mas Betto deve confessar a todos este desejo de paÃs. Sem apelar para argumentos aparentemente ingênuos de que em Cuba não há fome e todos estudam. Primeiro, isto não é verdade. Basta andar poucos quarteirões pelas ruas das cidades cubanas para ser atropelado por olhos esbugalhados que desejam algum gênero de primeira necessidade do estrangeiro. Segundo, o ser humano não vive apenas de comida. Vive de diversão e arte. E muito mais. Rebaixar a vida humana à condição de animal quase irracional não é projeto de esquerda. E nunca foi. Talvez, num momento de transição. Mas já se passaram décadas e tudo continua no mesmo lugar. Terceiro, porque Betto deve cuidar para não ser “diretor da consciência alheia†(este termo tão caro à Foucault), uma tentação ao acrescentar ao seu nome um tÃtulo que remete à religião. Se deseja discutir um projeto polÃtico deve ter o cuidado de evitar esta tentação e colocar-se no mesmo andar que os que são mortais abrindo argumentos racionais;
6) Assim, as diferenças entre projetos de esquerda em nosso paÃs devem ser escancaradas. Devemos parar com esta pasteurização que desconsidera a inteligência da base social e de tantos militantes sinceros das lutas pelos direitos sociais. Esta infantilização do discurso, que encobre erros históricos que se acumulam e que deságuam, de tempos em tempos, na perplexidade sincera frente à escândalos e posturas sem nexo histórico, deveria acabar de imediato. Porque vivemos, hoje, lacunas na história tortuosa de várias organizações populares do paÃs. Uma central que cria estruturas paralelas à oficial (os vários departamentos da CUT) e que centrava toda sua energia na organização no local de trabalho e que, de um dia para o outro, decide voltar-se para a conquista da estrutura oficial, ingressar em câmaras setoriais e esquecer a organização de base. Um partido que se organizava pela base, em núcleos e que adotava uma metodologia participativa para elaborar programas de governo e que, de um dia para o outro, contrata empresas de marketing para definir cores de gravatas e de livros-programas, se enredando em acordos pelo paÃs afora que não são discutidos pelos militantes. Um governo que se inicia por audiências públicas discutindo o seu Plano Plurianual e adota equipes educacionais e comitês gestores (o controle social) do seu programa mais propalado, o Fome Zero, e que, de um dia para o outro, abandona audiências públicas e qualquer mecanismo de controle social. O que pensaram as quebradeiras de coco de babaçu e os militantes do semi-árido (a ASA) quando viram o programa de Lula e a transposição do São Francisco? Ficaram indignados, mas não entendiam onde se processara a mudança na cúpula.
Por este motivo, Frei Betto errou e continua errando. Porque sabe de suas responsabilidades. E se deseja ao Brasil o controle sobre blogueiros no velho estilo castrista, é preciso que diga com todas as letras. Para que num futuro – que temo que se realize tal como os etapistas racionais planejam à portas fechadas – não sejamos surpreendidos e nem nos vejamos na extrema ignorância que nos levará a perguntar em que momento o destino tramou esta tragédia para os pobres mortais.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 13:22
John Two,
What is an “in-kind” donation? Can you please explain what this is?
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 13:16
Julio, you’re not doing anything to bolster the confidence of those of us who would like to make monetary or in-kind donations to the independent Cuban bloggers.
I’m sure you’re right about a share of the purchase of online cards at hotels going to the Castro regime, but what’s the alternative? They can’t very well use the computers at the US Interests section or they’d be accused of being foreign agents.
But, are you sure that these transactions would fit into the same category as other remittances from abroad?
Pay Pal charges a small percentage to cover its costs, but donations aren’t generally subject to tax, and they’re paid from after tax income in any case. I notice the Pay Pal server through which the donation is made is located in Spain, which of course avoids any US embargo problems.
Unless I receive further enlightenment in the next few days, I’ll likely go ahead and make a donation using the online Pay Pal form and see what happens. I can only assume the How to Help button wouldn’t be there unless it provides some benefit to the bloggers.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 11:26
I forgot to tell you that when they are really tight with their money like now then since they own the bank they can also freeze the accounts of the mix enterprises in Cuba!
So they get 100 % in that case
Perfect capitalist !
Cuba as you see is their personal farm.
Diciembre 6th, 2009 at 09:36
John Two
The Castro brothers have their mitts on every transaction in Cuba.
Think this, The money we send them they take a 20 percent cut right from the beginning
then once they buy the card to buy for internet since the Castros are 51 percent owners of all the hotels in Cuba they get another 51 percent and then think that the prices they pay for internet are exorbitantly higher than what we pay here for a similar service!
See, What the Castros got there is Monopoly over everything not just freedom.
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 23:23
John Two
They are not dumb thats for sure… Some of these kids are truly amazing. Their knowldege of computers and technology are second to no one.I guarantee you that. Check Potro salvaje link.Your jaw will drop.So there is another one that we agree on(comment #143)
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 23:00
On a second thought
Cheo: bad taste , dorky
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:59
Thanks, concubino!
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:56
“Meterle el pie”:Intimidate, bullying, impose my will
Cheo:out of fashion , out of style , not trendy
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:56
“Meterle el pie”:Intimidate, bullying, impose my will
Cheo:ouy of fashion , out of style , not trendy
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:52
English Translator #138, thank you.
Have to admit, until now I haven’t had lots of warm fuzzy feelings about Pay Pal. But if they get can forward donations to buy online time for independent Cuban bloggers without the Castro brothers getting their mitts on any of it, more power to them.
I’m not surprised that you got a fast answer. Our Cuban friends may blog blind, but they’re definitely not dumb. And to paraphrase Yoani, restricting internet access is oh so 1990s.
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:47
Wow!, you’re a Dudette!? That is awesome! Thanks YFET, you do a great job!
Diciembre 5th, 2009 at 22:37
Concubino how will you translate chea?
I translated that as “old fashion” what do you think?
and
“meterle el pie” ?