It delights us to cure ourselves of that stage of life we call adolescence and, in particular, to become independent. Finding an answer to that question we have asked ourselves so often: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Able to leave home without explaining ourselves, being responsible for our own destiny, and, above all, not having to listen to any parental admonition: "As long as I am supporting you, you must do what I tell you."
Nations that develop under the guidance of a paternalistic state run the risk of leaving their people in a kind of stagnated adolescence. The case of Cuba is one of the paradigmatic examples. We live under the national authority of a government characterized by the continuity of the people in power, who have tried to subsidize a portion of our basic necessities. With great pride, the official media touts that medical care and all levels of education are free, as well as the existence of rationing which supposedly guarantees a basic market basket.
It is understood that public funds defray this maintenance, funds generated by workers who produce what they themselves cannot touch and who are not compensated for doing so. Obviously work is not stimulating and what is earned barely stretches to cover what is subsidized. Papa State does not allow the expression of divergent opinions, much less that people organize themselves around these ideas or reach economic independence; what is worse is that he demands infinite gratitude. Fortunately, as the familiar paternalistic model has taught us, everything tends to change with the passage of time. The children grow, turn into adults, and nothing can stop what the youngest will do with the keys to the house.
Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.
Follow Yoani Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yoanisanchez
First, on the topic of hiphop - that is not what to call it anymore. Artists are calling it rap music again. The reason is that hiphop has become overly political. I want to see a Cuban rap musician answer this hiphop artist and represent Fidel and Raul's point of view.
Also, I was rather displeased by the angry mob, and the harassment Yoani Sanchez and her husband suffered. The Castro government and their critics are both overly consumed by politics. The generation of the greatest Cuban musicians is getting old now. The new artists cannot be compared with the great musicians of the past.
The new hiphop artist cannot be compared to the old Jazz musicians. The difference is quality. Gonzalo Rubalcaba is young musician who still has the quality I expect from Cuban music. I don't want to hear some hastily produced Cuban political hiphop.
I think Cuba is lacking in cocaine and accoutrements of high class living. The only high-class thing they have left is their people and their music. Fidel and Raul need to repudiate their renunciation of enjoyment. They need to invite famous Cuban dissidents. They need the Cuban equivalents of détente, glasnost and perestroika.
Try toilet paper and aspirin...
"Fidel and Raul need to repudiate their renunciation of enjoyment. They need to invite famous Cuban dissidents. They need the Cuban equivalents of détente, glasnost and perestroika."
It would contradict the very basis of such a social order as it would lead to demands for a multi-party state and freedom of the press...
"I want to see a Cuban rap musician answer this hiphop artist and represent Fidel and Raul's point of view."
Typically government subsidized artists in dictatorships sing love ballads, not protest music like rap. If there is anything political in the music, it will relate to something foreign of which the artist has no personal experience or criteria, see eastern european music of 1945-1989.
Ultimately, freedom and independence is for those who know how to treat others condescendingly in return. Ego is the new coin of the realm.
Juan Formell, Omara Portuondo, and Amaury Perez vacation here regularly...
If you don't know who they are or why this is significant, you have no basis for posting absurd comments about how you'd be some kind of persecuted minority because you are from NY...
You'd probably wet your pants to find out how many people here are from NY or vote democrat. By the way, since you know so much about S.Fla. maybee you can explain to me how a city that is 66% Latin and supposedly rabidly anti democrat managed to go for Gore, Kerry, and Obama, not to mention Diaz and Martinez and Robaina...
I'm waiting, curiosity is killing me, please, enlighten me...
During college in a Foriegn Policy class, a woman from Hondouras I became friends with over many years, one morning, had a few things to say to a small seminar class. She said, "you American's with your t-shirts, haircuts, clothes, you think you are tough, think you are smart, let me tell you something, I go to school in your country because in my homeland I would be killed because of the activity of your gov't. It is your gov't in my country killing people. Why don't you do something about it."
People such as yourself are trully the ones who shape the future more so than even elected leaders. People living under conditions such as yours and doing what you do trully puts into perspective the difficulties faced by people living in countries who are too lazy to register vote let alone vote, write a letter, and/or do anything that does not advance their self interest.
I thank you, commend you, wish you safe Journeys, and peace.
The swedes have the highest level of personal liberty, but still take minimal care of everyone.
Casto's Cuba is bad because it so restricts liberty and expression.
Casto's Cuba is Good for taking basic care of it';s people.
Try to separate those concepts.