The Cuban Government’s Defensive Intolerance

The slander campaign against the San Isidro Movement

By Benjamin Noria

HAVANA TIMES – Somebody here in Cuba says the San Isidro Movement doesn’t have a clear cut ideology. I wonder: do the Communists themselves have a clear-cut ideology? Communism means trend towards the general, equality.

That is to say if somebody has a pair of shoes, for example, that another person can’t; if somebody holds a position in government, with a car and benefits, then another person can’t; or lastly, if somebody can buy at a store, and another can’t, then there is inequality.

Socialism also means collective ownership of means of production. Karl Marx proposed that the State would disappear in the transition from Socialism to Communism. The government would be a dictatorship of the proletariat.

But the State doesn’t disappear in Cuba, it is becoming ever more present. At this very moment, as I write, there are MININT and FAR forces deployed on the street to intimidate the general population. The Cuban State controls everything. The Cuban government has distorted Marx’s theory and resemanticized his conceptual universe to suit their own tastes. The people don’t hold power. It just isn’t true. The proletariat doesn’t own Cuba.

The San Isidro Movement is proof that Communism failed in Cuba

The San Isidro Movement might not have been the best start, but it’s still a start; and it will go down in History. It will never be forgotten now. We need opposition to Cuba’s totalitarian government. If it weren’t for actions such as this Movement, the Cuban government would stick military tanks out on the street and it would be fine. The government is killing the Cuban people by making them starve, while their privileged fill their bellies and have everything they want.

Cuba has needed a change for a long time now. Lots of old people are leading this country and don’t want to leave their positions. The San Isidro Movement is proof that Communism failed in Cuba. It’s clear that the definition of Communism is that some fanatics take power and stay there. People have lost faith in Marxist doctrine because of these dictators. Cubans no longer believe in the government that governs them.

The defensive intolerance they use in the news against the San Isidro Movement, on Cuban TV, is nothing more than an expression of Cuban leaders’ fear of losing power, their comforts and luxurious way of living. They use sarcasm and irony to refer to this brave Movement that has stood up to the almighty State.

Very few have had the courage to stand up to the dictatorship, after 1959. But violence isn’t the answer. Ideas are the strategy forward. Intelligence needs to prevail to refute, convince and win. We can’t put ourselves on the same level as the government. What do insults matter? We just need to believe in change.

Read more from Benjarim Noria here.