Cuba and the Scars of Fidelismo

Cuba and the Scars of Fidelismo
March 4, 2015
Veronica Vega

HAVANA TIMES — Watching a film whose plot unfolds in Nazi Germany, I
noticed how similar all autocracies are, how they are all grounded in a
(distorted) sense of the good and, in order to establish themselves,
manipulate the common substance of human dreams (the aspirations for
justice and equality), setting in motion the most basic of egotistical
drives (the self-preservation instinct, physical needs, the longing for
comfort, vanity, and other proclivities).

I also noticed how we all share the impulse to correct others but
dislike being corrected and how, while things are going well for us, it
is very easy to assume that the underprivileged are guilty of their own
misfortunes.

I must admit I continue to be surprised by how some Cubans are able to
see the inhumanity inherent to fascism with absolute clarity, while at
the same time defending Fidelismo (which is what actually developed in
Cuba under the false name of "socialism") with sincere devotion.

They refuse to accept the fact that they are defending a system whose
aim was never the freedom of Cubans but the control of their will, the
annulment of the individual rather than their empowerment. I know many
will not agree with me, but even the first, altruistic gestures,
unfurled with a great song and dance, contained high doses of hysteria,
manipulation and extortion. They were performances of goodness, staged
by a revolution that would demand unquestioning servility in return.

Ignorance, lack of objectivity and judgment, a blinkered mindset,
skepticism and even the fear of what's different, all of them engendered
by a one-idea system, isolation, the absence of other references,
political stigmatization and its tangible consequences, are the remnants
of a phenomenon we witnessed here and actively participated in for more
than half a century. Like actors under a massive spell, we have slowly
awakened each one of us at our own, individual pace.

Despite the decadence that surrounds us, the anxiety of our daily
struggle for survival, the lack of proportion between wages and prices,
television programs that always shy away from the tough reality Cubans
face and the evident failure of this long experiment (to which some have
already devoted their entire lives), I can understand how, out of shame
or sheer obtuseness, there are still those who adhere to what they
defended for many years.

What I find incoherent and ultimately frightening is that people who
dissent from the position of a Left that claims to be truly committed to
the common good and to democracy, a Left that has turned the demands of
some marginalized minorities into a personal cause, should react with
verbal violence and use insulting language to respond to anyone who,
faced with a given aspect of reality (political and not) thinks
differently than they do.

That is when I start to question what concept of humanity these
activists have, and whether they translate their defense of some
minorities into the right to discriminate against other minorities (and
even majorities). That is when I see the shadow of the authoritarianism
that has been hammered into us, its counterpart, and I wonder what would
become of Cuba if, by a twist of fate, they ever had access to power.

It would basically amount to replacing one tyrant with another. I've
seen it in articles and comments published in Havana Times: remarks that
resemble vomit more than arguments, and it is terrifying that so many
years of political fanaticism, intolerance and injustice could become
the cause of more disguised injustice.

It has been said that one only gets to know someone well when one fights
against them, for it is only in the midst of conflict, fueled by the
longing to be understood or to prevail, of conciliating or subjugating,
the true nature of people is revealed.

Just as respecting other people's rights is a means to ensure peace and
those rights include the ability to express differing opinions, the
respect with which such differences are expressed and considered reveals
the intentions of those who debate them. It determines the possibilities
of arriving at a consensus and guarantees that new proposals serve to
establish a truly plural society.

Respect is the main premise we need in order not to reproduce a version
of the Fidelismo that has torn Cuba apart and from which we are now only
beginning to recover.

Source: Cuba and the Scars of Fidelismo - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=109751