Freedom, a Forbidden Word
HAVANA TIMES – Whenever I come across a phrase painted on a wall, a fence, a barrier… like Viva Fidel, Hasta la victoria siempre, or Viva el Partido Comunista de Cuba, I can’t help but smile.
It was on one of those occasions when I was visiting the town of Gibara and came across one of these slogans painted in bright colors. I said to the person who was with me, “Gibara is really communist.” And I received the response: “It used to say Abajo Fidel (Down with Fidel), but the security forces came, erased it, and wrote what you see now.”
It was then that I became a bit more aware that, as in every place and human dynamic, things are not always exactly what they seem to be. If one knows a little about history, perhaps they can understand better; if not, we risk building a mistaken view of what we are perceiving.
But this time, as I was visiting a friend’s house in Holguín, my eyes stumbled upon a yellow stain trying to hide a word, which is an idea, and which can also be understood as an aspiration, a dream, an ideal…
I approached because it was right in front of my friend’s house, and it seemed to me that the word was Libertad (Freedom). My friend opened the door, and I asked if she had noticed it and if she knew anything about it. She told me she hadn’t seen it.
I went inside her house, we talked, and I left.
Two days later, she came to my house and told me that yes, it was a proclamation asking for the freedom of a political prisoner. Soon after, she reminded me about the incident and said, “Yes, someone was asking for the freedom of some political prisoner.”
Interesting, I replied. Not because the posters and those manifestations are new —because they’re not. Although, of course, they’ve been trying to hide them all along. It’s interesting because in a country where we are reduced to thinking about how to get food or how to escape the country itself, this event holds meaning.
I believe that as long as we maintain a critical outlook, a value, even if minimal, to express what we think, and don’t let ourselves be completely annihilated by horrible circumstances, then there is hope. And this remains good news for everyone.
I don’t know if “ freedom “ is a forbidden word as perhaps an abstract concept that is not even known for the majority of Cubans today.
When was the last time true freedom was permitted to be practiced in Cuba? Prior to 1959, during the reign of the Batista regime – the puppet political government of the United States- for the vast majority Cubans freedom was nonexistent. How could a population have freedom and express freedom when the rulers kept the population purposely ignorant.
The majority of the Cuban population was intentionally kept uneducated and impoverished. True freedom cannot exist nor be expressed under those un democratic conditions.
So, along comes the 1959 Revolution with the Castros and Che Guevara. They revolutionize politically the entire country promising a communist utopia which to this day has never materialized. Freedom was corrupted. Those Cubans who embraced the Revolution could espouse “freedom” as long as their freedoms aligned with the Revolutionary ideals. Of course, that is not freedom. That is a bastardized notion of freedom.
Those who made any attempt to truly express their freedom outside the Revolutionary ideals were, and to this day very evident, severely punished. No Cuban would want to be caught even writing “Libertad – Freedom “ on a stone wall for fear of the negative repercussions. Cuban grandparents and parents today have never known true freedoms. Parents who have never experienced freedom certainly cannot educate their children about a foreign concept.
Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and on and on, are concepts utterly foreign for a multitude of generations. Cuban youth today living on the island see freedom and perhaps imagine freedom only from social media on their phones, certainly not in practical terms.
In a Cuba today, true Freedom – Libertad is not only a forbidden concept but an ideal absolutely foreign and, unfortunately, for the majority of patriotic Cubans best when the word is not seen or discussed.
When you write something, particularly online or in social media circles one needs to walk on glass it seems. Facebook for example is threatened to throw me off again for being critical of Israeli actions in Gaza and my apparent personal attack upon Israeli President Netanyahu, their Commander in Chief.
Is social media a place to raise your opinions about daily life and even global happenings or is it a place where we must wear rose colored glasses ,while watching what we say and how we say it? there seems to be a global awareness of the influence of social media’s owners upon how their organizations manage and rule online participation. If you support someone like Trump go ahead and scream bloody murder, but if you support an alternative better watch out folks. The online coppers are looking straight at you.
Special well organized lobbyist and social groups have taken the act of victimhood to a whole new level. Say your critical of the gay life style, black gangster culture or the Roman Catholic Church. Speak up and face the consequences it seems. I was critical of the Catholic Churches treatment of the Aboriginal Peoples, mentioning some of the Churches leadership and bam off of Facebook was I. Special interest groups have professionalized their ability to turn some ones criticism into racist or hurtful/hateful speech. Saying Israeli responses to the Hamas attack is wrongly carried out is considered hateful and wrongful minded. If your a religious person who believes the gay lifestyle is biblically wrong and you say so your considered hurtful, homophobic and close minded. We hear the word “hateful or mean spirited” a lot, but words like “democratic or truthful” within public venues not so much.
The democratic principals of free speech have been attacked within our schools of higher learning, both social and print media and even in the offices of our leaders who tell us what we can say, think and do. Are we a democracy folks? Can our institution survive the publics criticism? Social media has become a institution within our society. It has been managed by its owners just like a weapon, weaponized against those who disagree with the 1% who control our economy and political institutions. Free speech cannot survive the Artificial Intelligence Revolution. All our devices are and soon will be managed and policed by A.I. programs. We may never be able to speak our or express our opinions for fear of breaking some law initiated by the authorities to protect others.
Perhaps expressing the truth as we see it maybe the only way beyond the up and coming totalitarianism of political high tech. Going to court with the ability to prove your point maybe the only avenue left to a free person.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
[email protected]
I don’t know if “ freedom “ is a forbidden word as perhaps an abstract concept that is not even known for the majority of Cubans today.
When was the last time true freedom was permitted to be practiced in Cuba? Prior to 1959, during the reign of the Batista regime – the puppet political government of the United States – for the vast majority of Cubans freedom was nonexistent. How could a population have freedom and express freedom when the rulers kept the population purposely ignorant.
The majority of the Cuban population was intentionally kept uneducated and impoverished. True freedom cannot exist nor be expressed under those un-democratic conditions.
So, along comes the 1959 Revolution with the Castros and Che Guevara. They revolutionize politically the entire country promising a communist utopia which to this day has never materialized. Freedom was corrupted. Those Cubans who embraced the Revolution could espouse “freedom” as long as their freedoms aligned with the Revolutionary ideals. Of course, that is not freedom. That is a bastardized notion of freedom.
Those who made any attempt to truly express their freedom outside the Revolutionary ideals were, and to this day very evident, severely punished. No Cuban would want to be caught even writing “Libertad – Freedom “ on a stone wall for fear of the negative repercussions. Cuban grandparents and parents today have never known true freedoms. Parents who have never experienced freedom certainly cannot educate their children about a foreign concept.
Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and on and on, are concepts utterly foreign for a multitude of generations. Cuban youth today living on the island see freedom and perhaps imagine freedom only from social media on their phones, certainly not in practical terms.
In a Cuba today, true Freedom – Libertad is not only a forbidden concept but an ideal absolutely foreign and, unfortunately, for the majority of patriotic Cubans best, for the word, not to be seen or discussed.