Some Thoughts on How Cuba Can Undo the Disaster

Some Thoughts on How Cuba Can Undo the Disaster

April 4, 2014

Verónica Vega



HAVANA TIMES — The title of my post alludes to the question with which

blogger Yoani Sanchez closes Devaluación ("Devaluation"), an article

addressing the question of how the marked and profound damage the

revolution has caused Cuban society could be fixed today.



It is not my intention to be polemical, but I believe some of the

undeniable causes behind this damage are the ideological

institutionalization of disrespectful behavior, the country's

"meritocracy" and the deliberate propagation of vulgarity and ignorance

as a means of political manipulation. Now that we've acknowledged the

injury, however, the crucial question isn't so much who is to blame as

how we can go about fixing the immense damage caused.



More than once, I've heard the rather categorical assertion that Cuba's

gradual moral regeneration will only begin with the complete extinction

of today's generations. This perspective, which precludes any

possibility of taking part in the country's rebirth directly, is so

disheartening one loses all interest in expressing an opinion on the

subject. So I began to reflect on what we could do if a legitimate will

to change things existed (not only among the people, of course, but also

within the government). These are the points I came up with:



- Wages on a par with current prices. When citizens begin to see that

they can live (not merely survive) without the need to misappropriate

State goods, hustle or directly resort to crime, they will gradually

regain their sense of the ethical and begin to appreciate the value of

honesty once again.



- Workers ought to be assessed on the basis of their skills and

performance and not their political loyalty. This will restore the

natural order of things and make workers feel motivated. It will help in

the development of different projects and do away with mediocrity, an

ill that is ubiquitous on the island.



- The degrading background checks based on assessments conducted by

members of Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) or the

Cuban Communist Party (PCC), used to decide whether a citizen should be

given a certain job, travel or anything, must be eliminated.



- All acts of retaliation against citizens must be banned immediately.



- All individuals who discriminate against others on the basis of race,

gender or opinions must be punished with the full force of the law

currently in effect (or new laws that sanction such practices must be

created and approved).



- Titles such as "Mr.", "Mrs." and "Ms." must be officially restored.



- All citizens must be treated with respect in all of the country's

institutions and by public officials and police officers.



- Teachers and professors must behave respectfully and use appropriate

language in front of students. Classroom inspections must not be

announced beforehand. The truth must be made public in the hallways,

classrooms and slogans of these learning institutions.



- State establishments where young people gather to listen to reggaeton

music must begin to offer other dance music alternatives.



- Streets must be cleaned and those who litter roads by throwing garbage

from windows or balconies must be fined.



- Laws that restrict noise levels, domestic violence, sexual harassment

and animal abuse must be passed and enforced. Non-smoking areas must be

enforced through the application of fines.



And the list goes on and on.



Many will say it is easy to dream of such things, but I believe that

expressing the truth this way can undermine institutionalized lies and

the bad habits people have adopted because of a lack of options, fear or

apathy.



Recently, during a CDR meeting, a neighbor of mine encouraged others to

attend meetings more regularly in order to trace strategies that could

benefit everyone (such as payments to individuals tasked with operating

the building's water pump and with mowing the lawn, for instance). He

insisted that he wasn't calling for meetings of a political nature, that

he wasn't interested in anyone's politics (if they had any) – that he

simply wanted to address issues that affect all of the tenants.



Reality is much more compelling than mental constructions. At this

point, having clearly seen and experienced the country's moral and

economic collapse, people are hungry, if not for truth, at least for

progress.



Source: Some Thoughts on How Cuba Can Undo the Disaster - Havana

Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102789