Inventory of Differences

Inventory of Differences
REINALDO ESCOBAR, Havana | Junio 26, 2015

To talk about a lack of unity within the Cuban opposition has already
become commonplace. Among the causes of these lamentable circumstances
are enumerated some peculiarities rooted in the greatest depths of our
history, whose paradigmatic example is warlordism.

However, there are also rational reasons because opponents gather in
separate airtight rooms. First of all, in political vocations. Liberals,
socialists, Christian democrats, anarchists, social democrats and other
less profiled denominations assume positions about certain topics that
can become irreconcilable.

The mere fact of recognizing these nuances sparks commentary from all
sides that the most important thing is to dislodge the tyrants from
power and that such minutiae can wait until democracy is achieved. But
it is not enough to make the immense sacrifice of overlooking future
programmatic differences. The spokes in the wheel, the weights, the
headwinds, the points of honor that hinder or prevent reaching agreement
usually arise from unexpected places.

Here are the most common obstacles to consensus:

The Cuba-US Dispute

Before December 17, 2014 the discussion centered on whether or not the
US economic restrictions toward the island should be maintained, what
some call "the blockade" and others "the embargo." The mere choice of
one of these words has prevented prestigious leaders from signing a
collective declarationen masse. On this plane we also find the issue of
Americans traveling to the island, the reopening of embassies and
eventual normalization.

Some are betting that the rigidity of the Cuban system cannot be
maintained in an environment of good economic and diplomatic relations
with the neighbor to the north. Others believe that the commercial
interests of the United States could take precedence over human rights
and in the end would award the Cuban Government the benefit of
undeserved legitimacy.

The recognition of the reforms made by the Government

Between those who think that, "As long as what has to change isn't
changed, nothing has changed here," and those who believe that "In this
house of cards the slightest movement could lead to the collapse," there
is a large gradation.

This has led some to consider self-employed people as accomplices to the
dictatorship, because with the payment of their taxes and their growing
habits of consumption they sustain the dictatorship. While others see
them as the most dynamic part of the population, who by empowering
themselves economically could point the way to political emancipation in
defense of the middle class.

The reluctance at every step of the reforms, adjustments, or whatever
they prefer to call them, awakes in some the suspicions that it is all
about an operation of recycling to maintain themselves in power – a
fraudulent Change – and in others hopes that behind every little change
there could be lurking a tropical Boris Yeltsin.

The attitude toward elections

Not going to vote, voiding or leaving the ballet blank and, more
recently, casting one's vote in favor of a lesser evil or for some
malcontent who has managed to get past the controls, are the different
attitudes with which some want to demonstrate their disagreement.

The Government's announcement that it will formulate a new Electoral Law
has given the issue new scope for disagreements, as there are those who
believe it makes sense to disseminate proposals that could open a space
to something like a multiparty system; on the other hand, those who see
in the new law another maneuver by the regime to buy time or who call
for an independent plebiscite.

In the event that the announced but not yet proclaimed legislation opens
the tiniest crack for the participation of the opponents, the divisions
would become more pronounced between those who accept involving
themselves in the hard-fought elections, and those who consider
participation in them as something that gives the game to the
dictatorship, and even as a betrayal.

In the street or indoors

Although a consensus is seen in the opposition for the renunciation of
violent methods, especially weapons or terrorism, there is a clear
difference between those who have chosen to express their differences by
going out into the streets, and those who express their critiques
through documents, programs or opinion columns. From both sides there
are sincere calls to weigh as valid the methods chosen by each grouping
or individual, but still, in isolation, expressions appear that label a
posture as uselessly provocative proposals of victims, and another as a
convenient methodology, free of risk and displaying little solidarity
with those who dare to receive beatings.

Terminology

I have left for the end an element that affects the text that I am
writing. The difference between use the labels Government or the
authorities, and others who use the terms regime, dictatorship or
tyranny, is perhaps one of the most frequent differences in the
opposition endeavor. Other incompatible binomials enter there, like the
already mentioned embargo-blockade, or election-voting reforms-cosmetic
changes, exile-diaspora, not to mention how difficult it is to classify
someone as an opponent, dissident, activist, or independent journalist.

To this is added the generational definitions, which mark a dividing
line between those who have spent "more than thirty years in the
opposition," and the recent arrivals; or the contrast between having
suffered a prison sentence versus having been detained for only a few hours.

We Cubans depend too much on orality, and are not willing to easily give
way before a semantic dilemma. Moreover, we all agree that it would be
easy for the other to accept our terminology.

Of course this is an incomplete inventory, I could have mentioned the
way in which the role of the churches is seen in the problematic Cuban
politics; the choice between remaining on the island and leaving for
exile; the relentless pursuit of "doing something" or the patient
resignation that time and biology will do its work; with or without
dialog with the Government; resisting arrest or letting them take you
prisoner; accepting financing from foreign organizations or rejecting it
on principle; attending a government-sponsored "Rendering of Accounts"
to channel complaints, or not attending to deny its legitimacy; going
abroad to participate in events or declining invitations to not miss
even a minute of the main struggle, and so on, until we run out of
imagination in choosing the very colors of our arrogant identity.

Source: Inventory of Differences -
http://www.14ymedio.com/englishedition/Inventory-of-Differences-Cuba-Opposition_0_1807019297.html