Untitled - Convivencia

least for having a participation in thegovernment of the public thing. Cuba, themere colony beyond the sea was starting toperceive its own identity. The homogeneousand amorphous thing was turningheterogeneous… Of course, the ideal nation,the one sometimes defined by writers, neverappears in history… the seed stayed in thefurrow. The structure of the colonial societymade its fabric more and more diverse. Theneed for reforms increased”.We can state that what was happening duringthe transition from the colony to the republicin the 19th century is similar to what ishappening in Cuba today. The differentiationof the fabric in civil society is a sign ofprogress and reinforces the need for reforms.Some protagonists for the present and thefuture in CubaNone of these schools for thought and social,economic, political, cultural, religious, civicprojects and programs could exist, grow andcreate, reflect and propose if they hadn’t intheir heart and in the head of their diversestructures, a growing number of leaders,actors, organizers, who are all protagonists ofthe Cuba which is brewing with urgent needfor pacific changes.This is not either the space to make a list ofpersons of both sexes, young and adult,historic and emergent, political and civicactivists, bloggers and independentjournalists, academicians editors of religiousor socio cultural magazines, jurists andfarmers, artists and writers, graffiti artists andmusicians, defenders of human rights andgenre equality and defenders of sexpreferences. All of them are part of thepresent protagonists of the future in Cuba andthey can’t be ignored or disqualified becausesuch thing would inflict an important damageto the Nation’s soul since their work andprojects speak for them. And they exist andgrow in conditions that cannot even becompared to democratic societies. Cuba is nota normal country due to the asymmetric andreversed relation between government andcitizens.In order to know the names of very wellknown persons inside and outside Cuba andthe names of other little-known persons but ashard-working and sacrificed as the formerones, we can look up in two investigationworks which list names and projects. Theseworks are: “Organizaciones de la SociedadCivil Cubana no Reconocidas Legalmente”Alberto F. Alvarez García, sponsored by theFundación Canadiense par alas Américas(FOCAL), 2004 and “Quién es quién en laPolítica Cubana” 2005 coordinated by J. A.Aleaga Pesant.These and many other protagonists not citedin these investigation works who are even lessrecognized are today and could be consideredtomorrow to be “our guides”, in the middle ofthe “drowsiness of the spirit”; the ones who“interrupted the monotonous enjoyment andsent signals in the night”.Some like Márquez Sterling consider thatCuba has always been “a people sufferingfrom a messianic obsession”. This cannot leadus to satanize, discredit or disregarding therole of leaders as social actors. It’s justnecessary to discern very carefully, accordingto their work, the way they lead and theircapacity to work in a team, if they areauthoritarian or democratic leaders and thus,try to promote the civic education of the firstones and give citizen support to the latter.Martí is one of the models of inclusive anddemocratic leader; he managed the widest andmost plural call in our history including thevery “good Spaniards”. His words invite usvehemently today:“With the pain of the whole Fatherland wesuffer and for the good of the wholeFatherland we build and we don’t wantrevolutions of exclusions or opposite sides…we neither get worked up nor get scared. Weneither compel nor exclude. What is thegreatest freedom for but to use it in favour ofthe ones who have less freedom than us? Whatis faith for but to inflame the ones who don’thave faith…? It’s true that only the republicansouls know how to discern and obey the firstsigns of the rising peoples… and this is whatwe do here and we carve out a future herewithout showing off; a future with space forall of us”.Ediciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 2012119