Untitled - Convivencia

THERE IS NO FULL CHANGEIF EVERYBODY IS NOT PART OF ITEditorial 2. Mar-Apr-2008. Convivencia Magazine. www.convivenciacuba.esSomething is moving in Cuba. Winds ofstructural changes have started to blow.Though, as it shows, this is only thebeginning of a new stage in our history. Thisperiod will be better if we try to carry it outas well as possible from the start because ifwe do so, mistakes can be prevented and thesinuosity inherent to change can bediminished. It seems that the Cuban people,with undoubtful patience and historicwisdom, offers the government anotheropportunity of time requested once morethrough five decades. We wish the new staffof the State speeded up and deepened thefundamental changes and went deep intothem without improvisations. Substantialchanges are the only responsible way outthat justifies the time that has been grantedand invested.Many of us are very worried about the natureof the changes: if they are cosmetic or reallystructural. Others are very concerned aboutthe meaning of the changes, where thechanges will lead us, if they will be a stepforward or a step backward to the past whichis impossible. Others are concerned aboutthe strategies and speed of the changes:how “to prepare” the people psychologicallyand politically, maintaining a tensionbetween graduality and urgency.Some persons don’t believe in the changes ifthe same faces remain; and there are alsothe ones who still cling to inmovilism or theones adjusted or the ones who are used tothe empty shriek of combat which is afasting of echo in the real life with noresonance in the vast majority of Cubanswho are about to be fed up with the aggresiveand decadent ways of saying, sitting at atable even shared by more calmed voices.Such ways of saying only show a deepweakness of reasons that cannot beconcealed. So different to other ways ofsaying: serene, open and above all, short.Exasperation doesn’t help anyone. And thoseways of saying and attitudes are not the onesthat Cuba needs.We believe that Cuba needs much serenitynow. Much meditation and study and patiencetogether with the wisdom which knows thatin times of changes any involuntary mistakecould suddenly turn into a cause of unusefulviolence. Exessive secrecy, mystery anddecisions behind the people’s back do nothelp either. A lot of transparency is needed, agreater consistency between words andaction and above all, it’s necessary torespond directly and quickly to the thegrowing expectations of Cubans.That is why we wish to focus our attention onone of the most forgotten aspects of allchanges. It’s certain that nature, meaning,strategy, ways of saying, quickness andserenity are essential but all of these aspectsand a every real transformation depend onone element which is often obviated or leftout: the protagonists of the changes.A too fast and suspiciously obvious answer tothe question: “Who will be the protagonists ofthe change?” comes to the minds of the mostshrewd ones: the government. We often hearthe ancient popular saying: Changes, veryEdiciones ConvivenciaPinar del Río. 20126