verstehen libre.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
signs
One of the things that interests me most about Cuba--and that I find interesting and worth paying attention to in any authoritarian regime--is the loyalty paradox. How do the subjects in such a regime meaningfully signal loyalty when they're required to demonstrate it constantly? What makes some demonstrations of loyalty more meaningful than others? And on the other side of the authoritarian equation, how do iron-fisted leaders ask for help when they're supposed to be all-knowing and all-powerful? These are a few of the questions that keep me up at night, seriously.
So, considering that, Fidel's 26 de Julio speech--the equivalent to the State of the Union address here--is reeeeeally interesting for a couple of reasons. For one thing, he gave the opening speech in Bayamo, not Havana, which is a city in Cuba's East that is legendary for being a pro-Castro stronghold and exists in popular Cuban imagination (and Fidel's increasingly-foggy memory) as the cradle of the revolution--Fidel and the boys crash-landed the Granma on the Eastern coast, and the mountains that they spent most of the revolution hiding in are also there. To this day, in fact, Castro himself represents the city of Santiago in Cuba's parliament. Which is a whole other problem, but too much to worry about today. It's also where he began his famous march into Havana, stopping in cities all along the island to woo the masses. In the past 15 years, Castro and company have flooded the East with extra money and other goodies to keep the population stable and maintain general goodwill. But even though he was among good friends in Bayamo this morning, Castro still said the following, which I think is kind of amazing:
Castro, who will be 80 on Aug 13, made fun of his long-time ideological nemesis the United States in a speech in which he said more Cubans are reaching 100 thanks to the social services of his Communist government.
"But, our little neighbours to the north should not fear, I am not planning to be in office at that age," the left-wing firebrand said.
Full story here. I've got a LOT to say about this but I'll wait for the rest of the speeches from the day to filter out. I will say that I think that comment is a Really Big Deal. I also want to point out that while Fidel was off hanging out with Hugo visiting Che's childhood home and bumming around Argentina, Raúl was back in Havana hanging out with Leonid Maltsev--the defense minister of Belarus. The plot thickens. And probably not in a good way, like a nice soup. More like a clogged artery. ¶ 10:38 AM
So, considering that, Fidel's 26 de Julio speech--the equivalent to the State of the Union address here--is reeeeeally interesting for a couple of reasons. For one thing, he gave the opening speech in Bayamo, not Havana, which is a city in Cuba's East that is legendary for being a pro-Castro stronghold and exists in popular Cuban imagination (and Fidel's increasingly-foggy memory) as the cradle of the revolution--Fidel and the boys crash-landed the Granma on the Eastern coast, and the mountains that they spent most of the revolution hiding in are also there. To this day, in fact, Castro himself represents the city of Santiago in Cuba's parliament. Which is a whole other problem, but too much to worry about today. It's also where he began his famous march into Havana, stopping in cities all along the island to woo the masses. In the past 15 years, Castro and company have flooded the East with extra money and other goodies to keep the population stable and maintain general goodwill. But even though he was among good friends in Bayamo this morning, Castro still said the following, which I think is kind of amazing:
Castro, who will be 80 on Aug 13, made fun of his long-time ideological nemesis the United States in a speech in which he said more Cubans are reaching 100 thanks to the social services of his Communist government.
"But, our little neighbours to the north should not fear, I am not planning to be in office at that age," the left-wing firebrand said.
Full story here. I've got a LOT to say about this but I'll wait for the rest of the speeches from the day to filter out. I will say that I think that comment is a Really Big Deal. I also want to point out that while Fidel was off hanging out with Hugo visiting Che's childhood home and bumming around Argentina, Raúl was back in Havana hanging out with Leonid Maltsev--the defense minister of Belarus. The plot thickens. And probably not in a good way, like a nice soup. More like a clogged artery. ¶ 10:38 AM
