Future Dilemmas

Future Dilemmas / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on October 14, 2015

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 13 October 2015 – Some 40 Cubans met last
weekend in Miami to talk about the future of the country. The economy,
work, property, and social security were the topics on the agenda in
this edition of the "Meeting of Ideas," which arose under the
Coexistence Project in Pinar del Rio and which found another space of
influence, this time with the participation of Cubans from the diaspora
in Miami.

But beyond the data of a press release, it's worth taking the time to
stop, or rather to make a pilgrimage, to submerge ourselves in the wells
of thought where the most complex problems our national reality are
addressed. Two streams converge there, one from the liberal side,
arguing, almost insisting, on the reasons for the market and freedom,
and the other more concerned about social aspects, putting the
protection of the disadvantaged first. I said they converged, not
fought, because far above political passion or philosophical viewpoints,
was Cuba, like a mother crying in pain for help for her children.

And although emotion and reason don't usually mix in academic
environments, everyone there was both reasonable and emotional. Some
thought about the Cuba they lost, others about the one they never
managed to achieve. From the nostalgia and frustration emerged the best
threads of this fabric.

What country can we build? That is a question that can only be fully
answered when – in one way or another – the illusion in which we live
comes to an end. But the prophetic exercise is essential if we do not
want to arrive at "the day after" with our saddlebags empty of projects.

On more than one occasion, while a precise issue was discussed, such as
the critical problem of confiscated properties or the presumed
overwhelming entry of foreign companies, or the need to raise the
birthrate, both viewpoints promoted their different takes on the issues.

While some warned that the nation cannot be mortgaged to satisfy the
claims for compensation, others prioritized full respect for property
under the rules of a State of Law. Where some proposed protectionist
measures to avoid strangling the initiative of small native
entrepreneurs, others expounded that the solution is to stimulate the
entrepreneurs and not to regulate their competition. Where some demanded
subsidies for women who have more children, others aspired to a
prosperity that favored growing families.

The proposals of both sides were duly noted and even balanced, avoiding
rivalry, but without looking for a consensus, because this meeting of
ideas was intended to develop an inventory of proposals, without
pretensions of pleasing an eventual electorate, without partisanship or
populism.

There are still many issues pending: education, healthcare, legal
matters, culture, science and technology, among others. If the spirit of
the previous meetings is maintained, both on and off the island, this
nation-beyond-borders where Cubans live and dream will have taken an
enormously important step. Ideas, solutions, issues for future
discussions will have been compiled. The dilemmas that we do not have
today, but that we will inevitably have tomorrow, when there is the
freedom to have dilemmas.

Source: Future Dilemmas / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar | Translating Cuba
- http://translatingcuba.com/future-dilemmas-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/