It’s anyone’s guess whether or when the ideas, suggestions, and proddings in
But in the meantime, Juventud Rebelde continues to make for interesting reading.
Yesterday’s paper ran a column by one Jose Alejandro Rodríguez calling for open criticism of socialism’s failings. He cited a “sick obsession” with protecting the image of the country or a ministry or an enterprise, at the expense of honest diagnoses that could make things better. He noted that “corruption” used to be a “bad word,” but now the Cuban government has established a special agency to stamp it out. He ridiculed the idea that honest internal criticism gives “weapons to the enemy.” Silence and conformity, he said, are “the most dangerous missile” that could be given to those who want to “dismantle the work of 50 years.” EFE story here.
Then there was this August 15 article on rice production in Vertientes,
Then there was this long August 22 piece that reads like a call to end excessive centralization. It opens with an anecdote about a local initiative where officials in Jatibonico, Sancti Spiritus, rescued a locomotive headed for the boneyard and used it to established passenger service for seven communities. But this type of effort is exceptional, the article says, because most localities wait for “decisions, solutions, and even initiatives” to come from above “in the same way in which manna was send to the Israelites in Biblical times.”
The article goes on to cite academics, officials, and farmers who have ideas about local initiatives. “Why do cooperatives have to be only in agriculture,” one asks, giving as an example an illegal car body painting enterprise whose four workers should be able to form a cooperative and pay taxes. Another notes that enterprises, stovepiped into different ministries, can’t offer services to each other even though there would be benefits for society and for the economy’s efficicency. And a farm cooperative president says that the agriculture bureaucracy is excessive; there’s “a lot of personnel that doesn’t produce any development and doesn’t decide much either.”
22 comments:
always felt Juventud was the only publication to read, and now it seems the govt is giving it more leeway. Hope this will lead to more open discussion from other media of the limitations the society faces and to suggestions of improvements. there has always been extensive backroom discussion to the failures and policy changes needed, now maybe Raul is looking to bring it out more in the open for honest discussion. The point that criticism does not give feed to the enemy is vital. (Unlike the current media discussion in the USA where suggestions of an honest investigation of the torture and murder of innocents in Afghan and Iraq are met with complete stonewalling, or 'we can't investigate because it gives comfort and aid to the terrorists" Interesting in context as to who has a free press or not.
It does not bode well for more openness in Cuba when the capitalist press is so eager to amplify and distort any negative story they can find. For example, the toilet paper story, which was re-produced almost 600 times according to Google. Nevermind that the only piece I saw that tried to do some actual reporting on the issue could not locate one Cuban who had actually been unable to find TP... Point is that Cuba can more easily begin to act like a normal country when it is treated like one.
Back in the late 1980s William Safire in his Sunday NY Times column retold a story that made the rounds in the late Soviet Union during the glasnost period. First come the peresdyska (the retelling), then the perestroika (the restructuring), and finally the perestrelka (the re-shooting).
This JR column and the other one in Granma today may be the beginning of an honest reassesment of strengths and weaknesses of the Cuban system by the Cuban political elite in Cuba. But the fact is that in the past holding the political leadership accountable for results, and taking initiatives in Cuba typically result in a one-way ticket to oblivion at best and to prison or exile at worst. The Cuban political elite chose to be how they are not because of any external stimuli but out of a conscious desire to be how they are. If they change, it might bring better living conditions to many inside of Cuba but it might also result in a loss of political power and control by the elites.
Vecino de NF
It is time to start warming up more cells in Villa Marista.
When journalists for serious and respectable journals such as Granma and JR start regurgitating the same yanqui-paid LIES generated by those so-called "independent journalists," it is time for the REAL revolutionaries to take action. Lefty, can I borrow your thumbscrews?
Stirring the Pot?
There was a story that made the rounds in Cuba in the 1960s about Fidel Castro visiting the Mental Health Hospital in Mazorra. When he arrived there, he found one of the residents mixing up some indeterminate matter in a big barrel. He asked what was the inmate doing, and the inmate said that he was building socialism. Fidel Castro told him that was not necessary as Cuba was ready to leapfrog the intermediate phase of socialism, and that he should be building communism, the goal of all true Marxists. The Mazorra resident obediently followed the Comandante's wishes by calling for his buddy to bring him more crap.
So let's keep stirring the pot!
Vecino de NF
"It’s anyone’s guess whether or when the ideas, suggestions, and proddings in Cuba’s communist youth newspaper will make their way into the government’s policy machinery."
hmmmm....never?
chingon
throughout the revolution there has always been discussion on how to improve, from the early days to the rectification. the cubanologists always try and promote the fantasy that difference of opinion within the socialist context is either politically dangerous or simply non-existent. as always, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. and as always, when something goes against their preconceived ideas or propaganda efforts it is a threat and is instantly framed in the most negative terms possible. completely unhelpful dialogue, which is what they hope to achieve
mitio
I am sick of those who continue to
call todays government in Cuba
revolutionaries. They are disgraceful! God Bless the Children of Cuba, the ones whose parents stayed and struggled with this most oppressive regime. Great article.
Also, I might add- the talks to resume mail to and fro the USA to Cuba can only benefit Freedom.
One last comment- the CONCERT, THAT SO MANY ARE CRITICAL OF IS A GREAT EVENT! REMEMBER, THE ROLLING STONES CHANGED THE WORLD WITH THEIR
EYE OPENING.....
Mitio is right. Just because the Revolution strives for unity does not mean there is no room for disagreements. On the contrary.
That the press is becoming more openly critical is something that the political leadership called for. Sound critical "ideas, suggestions and proddiing" have already made their way into the Government's policy machinery.
Raul has been as open as any political leader about the need for more criticism, particularly in the press. He also opened a formal forum for just such debates - and has encouraged it at all levels. Several hundred thousand people participated. Their ideas and criticisms were recorded and compiled to the appropriate decision makers.
The problems in agriculture have been explicitly related to excessive centralization, lack of capacity (inputs) and transportation. These are not new issues for Cuban decision makers. Many reforms in these regard have already taken place (as Phil knows).
De-centralization has already taken place in agriculture, land-use planning and construction. Inputs and capacities have been opened up, allowing farmers to buy anything to help themselves. Cooperatives are promoted a central part of the current agricultural reforms, and officials have already hinted of their use in other industries.
So I am confused. What of those messages exactly has not found their way to the Government?
Leftside: "Just because the Revolution strives for unity does not mean there is no room for disagreements. On the contrary."
Exactly right, Leftside! Why, oh why, can't those biased "human rights" groups like "Amnesty Intenational" and "Reporters Without Borders" celebtrate, as you wisely do, the immense freedom and diversity encouraged and nourished by the Revolutionary Authorities over the past 50 years? The next thing you know, those "human rights" terrorists will begin their tired old refrain that the Cuban utopia is somehow modeled on the former Soviet Union. (As if there was anything to criticize there, too!)
I am not aware of any public comment by Fidel Castro that did not blame Cuba's economic problems either partially or totally on the US embargo (bloqueo). This has been repeated over and over again by every member of the Cuban government since the embargo was put in place. That the JR article excludes that as a plausible explanation for every shortcoming is what makes the article interesting. (BTW many comments on this blog has been made supporting Fidel Castro's historical stance as a way of justifying lifting the embargo.) It is like all of a sudden someone in Havana read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and was struck by Casius' admonition to Brutus: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." (Julius Caesar I, ii, 140-141).
To argue that there has always been discussion within the Cuban government deflects the issue of whether there are real re-evaluations of ideological positions in Cuba in a public manner that has not happened before. It is advisable to view the video that Yoani posted on some comments by the former minister of Higher Education in which he is quoted as saying that is more important ideological obedience than scientific inquiry. (I'll grant you that we haven't seen the whole video so his quote may be out of context but it is still bone chilling watching). The video shows the official mindset regarding free and open discussion. Loyalty to the leadership has ALWAYS trumped any other rationale in Cuba.
BTW I pointed out the significance of both the JR article and another Granma article on a response to the last Richardson's post before The Cuban Triangle added this post.
Vecino de NF
I am not aware of any public comment by Fidel Castro that did not blame Cuba's economic problems either partially or totally on the US embargo (bloqueo).
Fidel's words are often full of self-examination and criticism. I guess you have not read "My Life" where he is very reflective about many episodes? Just to pick the most recent and significant words spoken directly to the Cuban people (before leaving office), he said that "if socialism were to collapse one day, the blame would lie with no one but ourselves."
I pointed out the significance of both the JR article and another Granma article on a response to the last Richardson's post before The Cuban Triangle added this post.
I don't think these articles were that noteworthy. They are following a longer trend of criticism in the Cuban press that goes back a few years now.
That said, Raul is much more explicitly pro-criticism, whereas Fidel valued public unity more.
Leftside,
Could you please point to an instance where Fidel Castro did not blame the US either partially or fully for any Cuban economic failure?
As far as criticism goes, we must keep in mind both JR and Granma are official newspapers of the Communist Youth Union, and the Cuban Communist Party, and therefore are both subject to party discipline and democratic centralism which in the case of Cuba translates to obedience to Fidel Castro (FC). Can you cite a single publication where the "self-examination and criticism" shown by FC in My Life was shown by any current member of the Cuban government other than FC?
Vecino de NF
Another harsh article in Granma yesterday apparently (I can't find it online), blasting "shoddines," "slackers," and "bad management" - making clear none of these things has anything to do with socialism.
Leftside,
The article can be found here http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2009/08/31/nacional/artic01.html. (This was the other article that I mentioned in my comment yesterday.) Not a single blame of the old bad USA in it either.
Vecino de NF
On Planet Leftside, "shoddines," "slackers," and "bad management" have nothing to do with socialism.
The best part of the JR article are the comments by the readers. There are echoes of all the independent Cuban bloggers in those comments.
Vecino de NF
Vecino, here is a quote from Cuba's FM Bruno Rodriguez in China today:
"It is true that there are (economic) problems and distortions mainly due to external circumstances and also to economic errors."
Lefside,
My point exactly. Bruno Rodriguez can not bring himself to walk away from the "MAINLY due to external circumstances" line. That's what makes the JR article so interesting. The comments are even more interesting considering that they can not be submitted anonymously (email required). The JR article feels like those commentaries that would appear from time to time in China bulleting boards and that were orchestrated by one or another party faction. Isn't JR like all other Cuban publications under the ministerial control of Ramiro Valdez? Something to ponder.
Vecino de NF
vecino regardless of fidels comments on the embargo, the american policies have always had an impact on cuban national strategies. anyone who tries to diminish that is not commenting truthfully about cuba's past 50 years.
revolutionary ideology is nothing new, after the american revolution look at what the loyalists faced. it was just as extreme (and included just as much land expropriation, forced immigration, and harsh punishment.) cubas stance is even more radical because of american hostility.
now that raul is taking a less ideological tact does not mean the embargo is still not having a negative affect.
and discussion has always taken place within the successes and failures of the revolution; but you imply that it has not meant structural changes.
neither has any discussion of american social/political/economic failures. it is always put in context with strict parameters of what is acceptable or not. look at the dialogue re health care that's taking place now and you can understand how restrictive that is, even moreso than what often takes place in cuba. and this comes from the worlds most open society, so called.
cuba has consistently recognized errors and tried to correct them within their socialist society. should there be anything other expected from that?
Anonymous September 4, 2009 7:22 AM,
"...after the american revolution look at what the loyalists faced. it was just as extreme (and included just as much land expropriation, forced immigration, and harsh punishment.)"
The migrations of American loyalists to Canada and elsewhere after the American Revolution were largely due to local conditions not national policy. Please offer some documentary evidence that the Continental Congress nationalized private property or jailed loyalists after the Battle of Yorktown! Having said that, running people out of town on a rail or tar and feathering them was sort of a local passion in the first hundred years of US history.
"...it has not meant structural changes.
neither has any discussion of american social/political/economic failures."
Once again it should be pointed out that the US history has been one of steady change toward a more inclusive society. To say otherwise is to ignore the abolition of slavery, women suffrage, Prohibition and its repeal, Social Security and Medicare, and the Civil Rights legislation since Brown v Board of Education. To ignore that would go against the obvious fact that there is an African-American President. Having said that American society never stands still. There are moves and countermoves but over its history the US society has moved in the direction of being more socially organized and inclusive.
"...cuba has consistently recognized errors and tried to correct them within their socialist society."
The biggest error that the Cuban Revolution has committed is to declare an us vs. them mentality for Cubans based on ideology. The leadership roles of Fidel Castro and now Raul Castro has never been challenged even in the face of obvious and glaring errors (the 10M ton sugar harvest for Fidel, and the failed oversight of Gen.Ochoa by Raul come to mind). Fidel Castro's pronouncements are taken as articles of faith although they are softened over time by the gentle erosion of reality, and practical living. Highly recommended readings are the excerpts from Juan Juan Almeida's book on Penultimos Días.
Maybe you are right and the JR columnist was wrong in ignoring the effect of the embargo on Cuba's internal economic workings. But then there is a very interesting article in today's Granma explaining the chaotic situation in the accounts of national enterprises. Both and similar articles are pointing to the fact that many in Cuba are waking up to the fact that the embargo is there but that the Cuban government has failed in creating an economic growth model, and that fixing the internal Cuban problems are within their power.
Vecino de NF
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