Blind Obedience Produces Indifference

Esteban Diaz

Several weeks ago, I met a young guy named Alejandro who gave new spark to my hope that Cuban youth are awakening from the lethargy that presently marks them.  He’s a 21 year-old who, despite all difficulties, is not this willing to resign himself to pessimism.

He commented to me that many of his friends have become politically indifferent given the reigning bureaucratic authoritarianism that doesn’t allow the deployment of young people’s revolutionary originality in all its forms.

Through his artistic group he’s trying to offer another option that revitalizes the revolution that now lies demoralized.  He has taken an important step for the youth, and I hope many others are added.

I want to make the point that in the Cuban press, the conduct of youth in Cuba has been touched upon on several occasions; but stress has always been placed on their disaffection, idleness, their disinterest in maintaining the social order, etc.  What is never mentioned are the conditionings that have led the Revolution to produce youth with these characteristics.

I hold that it is impossible to expect anything more than that without allowing them to emancipate themselves freely, especially if all they face are unexplained prohibitions – or at least none that are convincing.

Cuban youth are disconnected from the most burning problems of the country, but it’s not that they’re indifferent to these.  The fact is that they’re not taken into account; they’re treated like little children who will never comprehend the situation.

One is not born knowing; they learn along the road and develop further as they are offered constructive criticism that doesn’t exclude them.  At present, they are placated to such a point that they are not given the freedom to build themselves or their surroundings.

Without revolutionary youth, the Revolution has no future. The obedience of the blind will only produce indifference and pessimism in the face of any social crisis.