GRANMA INTERNATIONAL 1998. ELECTRONIC EDITION.
Havana, Cuba
MAY DAY IN CUBA
The dissatisfied also march
• Millions of Cubans parade through the main squares and on the
main avenues throughout the country, confirming the unity around Fidel and the Party as
the only way to preserve the nation's independence, overcome the U.S. economic siege and
improve the people's lives
BY ALDO MADRUGA (Granma International staff writer)
THERE are moments in Cuba that are so special and so charged with
significance and symbolism that all the senses are insufficient to take them in. The truth
overflows the squares and streets, full of colors and banners, into millions of throats
which out of personal conviction intone and repeat the same aspirations, anthems, songs
and slogans throughout the length and breadth of our country, as they did on this May Day.
Without an understanding of certain codes of ethics which form part of
Cuban life, and the way Cubans see the world and themselves with such certainty, it would
be easy to oversimplify a reality which is really quite rich and complex in its universal
projection.
I realized this when an Argentine visitor, after watching the May Day
parade in José Martí Revolution Square, expressed out loud in surprise, "There is
no doubt that Cubans live badly, but they are satisfied with what they have and how they
live."
I didn't have the time to explain to him that he was mistaken, that the
millions of workers and citizens who marched all over the nation are not satisfied with
today's world, but they fully enjoy the fact that they can march through those squares and
streets without fear of being clubbed by police, hit by a rubber bullet, or fired on by
anti-riot water cannon.
And it hurts to know that this South American could return to his
country without having a clear idea that none of the protagonists of the impressive parade
resign themselves to not having the quantity and variety of food that they would like, or
the cooking fuel they need, but that on the other hand when they wake up in the morning
they can feel secure in the fact that their children will always have teachers, classrooms
and textbooks, none of which costs them a cent.
But if this foreigner asked, some Cuban might tell him that no one here
gets used to the power cuts, the overcrowded and infrequent buses, shoes that have been
resewn, glued and otherwise repaired thousands of times - although they also have the
incomparable peace of mind of knowing that they will always have a doctor a few meters
away, as well as polyclinics, hospitals and ambulances, all free of charge.
Yes, the Latin American will ask, and he will be told that we don't like
to wear patched or faded clothing, and we don't feel good about not always having
something to offer a visitor in our homes, or about eating a meal without protein, or
about sometimes taking a bath without soap - but that it's comforting to know that no
relative or friend will become a disappeared person or be tortured and that, despite
today's difficult economic situation, there are no children abandoned to their fate in our
streets.
It would be a shame if the visitor could leave our country without
realizing that the people who got up early to get to Revolution Square and waved
enthusiastically did not do so because they are satisfied with poverty, but because they
are totally convinced that the only way to eradicate that poverty without sacrificing the
freedom, independence and justice we enjoy is to unite more closely day by day around the
ideas of Fidel and the Party.
Cubans are among the least satisfied on earth with poverty, and not only
their own, but also the brutal poverty suffered by the majority of the planet's
inhabitants, whose main causes stem from the unjust laws which rule the world in which we
live. |
