Haroldo Reads Us!

Erasmo Calzadilla

Of all the people who write about Cuba today, one of those I most admire and follow is Haroldo Dilla.  I know of no other person (which doesn’t mean they don’t exist) who deals with our political reality with more wisdom and depth.

He also does this out of commitment and with a sparkling and interesting language accessible to many.

I usually read the articles of this fighter more than once to squeeze out and capture all of their meaning; this was especially the case with the one titled Post-revolutionary Boredom.  I’ve reviewed it from top to bottom and from the bottom up more than usual.  Why? – because Dilla mentioned us here at Havana Times.

The topic was the difference between the new generation of Cuban cyber-voices and those of his generation (who were not yet cyber-oriented in their heyday).  He views our approach as being more intimate, while theirs as more big-picture and dichotomist.

He also believes “It is one way that the true ‘new person’ of the revolution (agnostic, well-educated, hedonist) can get away from his/her disguise as a plebeian Guevarist stoic.”  He tends to view us as “hurdles to be overcome by history,” and is happy that we exist.

I don’t agree with everything (he continues to be a dichotomist), but I’m very glad Dilla reads us.  I wanted to avail myself of this chance to tell him that many of us from here inside follow him letter by letter.  The big-picture approach isn’t so bad, especially when one knows how to balance themselves like he does.  And many of us do have immanent perceptions of the world, but it’s because we have no alternative.

Referring to me in particular, Haroldo noted, “An impartial HT columnist [clearly he doesn’t know me] fired back in defense of an “opposition” blogger, but not for some reason related to the universal right to free expression, but with the same mundane logic he would use to stand up for any neighbor in the 10 de Octubre municipality of the capital.”  Dilla then uses this to support his assessment that Cuba is going through the syndrome of post-revolutionary boredom.

While I don’t know the mundane residents of the 10 de Octubre municipality, and though I wrote that in a fit of exasperation in an article (A Test for Dictatorship) that was “fired off” in support of Yoani, I did in fact lean implicitly on universally inspired feelings-arguments-values (justice, reason, the inalienable right of people to be respected, not defamed etc.).

The awards received by that “opposition” blogger and her association to the mass media and politicians that represent the “restless and brutal north” (an expression by Jose Marti referring to the US) don’t prove that she’s a mercenary, at least not from my point of view.  But this association must seem wonderful to those who attempt to demonize the dissidents.