January 06, 2009

The humble

By Yoani Sanchez

senora_centro_habana.gif

I had not yet been born in April 1961, when the socialist character of the Cuban process was declared. “This is the socialist revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble…” Fidel Castro announced near the foreboding gates of the Colon Cemetery. Many who listened to him, jubilant and optimistic, assumed that the first revolutionary objective would be to stop having humble people. With this illusion, they went out to champion a future without poverty.

Observing the present audience for what was announced nearly fifty years ago, I wonder when prosperity will stop being seen as counterrevolutionary. Will wanting to live in a house where the wind doesn’t tear the roof off stop being, some day, a petty bourgeois weakness? All the material shortages that I observe beg the question of the common sense of this colossal upheaval in the history of the country, only to stop having the rich, at the expense of having so many poor.

If, at the very least, we were more free. If all these materials needs were not also expressed in a long chain that makes every citizen a servant of the State. If the condition of the humble was a choice, voluntarily assumed and practiced, in particular, by those who govern us. But no. The renewed exaltation of humility launched by Raúl Castro this January first confirms for us what we learned in decades of economic crisis: poverty is the road that leads to obedience.

This was originally written and published in Spanish by Yoani Sanchez and translated and posted in her English version blog. Since the castro regime continues to curtail her internet access and continues to block access to her blog and other internet sites in and out of Cuba, we are posting Yoani's work in its entirety in solidarity and to help promote and distribute same.

Yoani and her blog - Generation Y - have been nominated in the Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog in this year's Weblog Awards. You can vote for her right here.

Posted by Val Prieto at January 6, 2009 09:29 AM

Comments

Everything Yoani knows she learned from Canadian tourists and Spanish corporations. That's why we need to lift the embargo. To "educate" these poor people that don't know freedom means traveling to other countries and exploiting their people while closing a blind eye to their living conditions and the repression they live under.

/sarcasm

Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 6, 2009 09:56 AM

That Pepsi sign is a good metaphor for what Cuba has become as a result of the "glorious" revolution: a sad, faded, decaying ruin; a painful memory of better days; a ruthlessly broken promise. A once thriving country, poised to become what Singapore and Hong Kong later became, if not more, reduced to a rusting junk heap. Gracias, fidel.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 6, 2009 01:25 PM


You have reached an old version of a post at BabaluBlog.com, probably because a search engine referred you or you followed an old link. If you'd like to view this post at its new home you can do so by clicking here and searching for the post on our new site. Tip: Take note of the date of this post and use our calendar feature to find it in its new home.