Is There a Cuban Model of Wellbeing?

Is There a Cuban Model of Wellbeing / Fernando Damaso
Posted on May 14, 2013

A careful read of the extensive article, "A look at the Cuban model of
wellbeing," published in the daily Granma on 13 May 2013, raised, for
me, some doubts and disagreements.

The cases with which the article begins are people of different ages
who, for one personal reason or others, have decided to return to live
in Cuba, representing an insignificant percent of the hundreds of
thousands who have not, and who prefer to continue developing their life
projects in line with other wellbeing models overseas, despite the
economic crisis, the violence, unemployment, social isolation,
rootlessness, the distance from their lived ones, the exclusion,
discrimination, lack of solidarity, etc.

On the basis of these atypical cases, the entire posterior argument is
structured, emphasizing the lack of a feeling of exclusion, the social
spaces, social solidarity and the collective creativity and intelligence.

To suggest that there is no feeling of exclusion because everyone in the
neighborhood knows everyone else, is an incredibly trivial argument, as
is defending the bad custom of sticking your nose in other people's
lives, which is the result of the widespread surveillance among
neighbors, leading to envy, gossip and the existence of mandatory
collective activities which, far from avoiding exclusion, directly
threaten the individuality of citizens, which should be respected.

In reality, seeing the same faces every day if pretty boring. The number
of Cubans who gather in a park or sit around a table playing dominoes in
a yard or even on a sidewalk is not an achievement, quite the contrary:
it shows the lack of social spaces where one can visit in a pleasant and
civilized way, the lack of recreation societies, clubs, fraternities,
schools, etc. Perhaps these Cubans, if they had the financial resources,
would prefer national or international tourism, or to go fishing in
their boats, to meet with their friends in a cafe or restaurant, etc.

To argue that raising the standard of living causes isolation is to
ignore the development of precisely the new information technologies
that allow one to connect to the entire world (which is not the case of
Cuba where Internet is banned) and to expand relationships beyond the
family, neighbors, the neighborhood, municipality, the province and even
the country. More than knowing one's next door neighbor and knowing all
about him, which constitutes an invasion of his privacy and has the
stink of too much politics, how one can know many different people with
distinct models of wellbeing and exchange opinions and experiences and
even compare them.

It is a mistake to confuse socializing with overcrowding. In our
neighborhoods, because of the housing shortage and the poor state of
most existing housing, several generations of the same family, and
sometimes several families, occupy the same space previously occupied by
a single family, undermining the personal life of their different
members, a situation that is repeated with the next door neighbors and
so on continuously.

The well-known "hot beds" — which is the same bed shared in turn by
different people — of Central Havana, are not examples of socialization,
but of extreme poverty.

The same thing happens with the crowds at bus stops, waiting for the bus
that never comes, and the lines for bread and other products.
Contributing their grains of sand to this "socialization" are the low
wages, the meager pensions and the widespread inefficiency.

To look for this "socialization" in organized societies where citizens
have economic independence is somewhat difficult, because they do not
depend on each other, much less on their neighbors. They each live their
life and make these individual lives form the life of the community.

Even more difficult is trying to find it in airports, subways and
concrete blocks. I'm almost convinced that many of the people forced the
shelters and hostels in Havana, would like not having to be face to face
with their relatives and neighbors every second of the day and night,
and would appreciate a few moments of solitude and tranquility.

The "us" that they are proposing to recover is not a sound proposal and
has already been used too much in this country as an excuse to have our
compatriots faced with the mistakes and deficiencies to set aside the
brave "I" both for good and bad.

Whether in the sharing of the bottle, or transport, or the collective
use of a private telephone, or in handing down school uniforms, or in
shared snacks or shared medicine, it is not solidarity that is
demonstrated, but only insufficiencies and shortages, unresolved for
over fifty years of failed social experiments.

To suggest, generically, that in Cuba we can talk and have multiple
social exchanges and we can afford a the luxury of a nice chat with many
people, because of our high culture and education, is more a joke than a
serious argument. Here, when talking or chatting citizens are careful
who their partners are and must measure their words, for fear that it
may cause them personal problems. Wielding the double standard (I think
one thing and I say another: the official line) makes conversations and
honest chats difficult.

To strengthen the Cuban model of wellbeing, they propose not to have
more but to be more, not to create more wealth, but more humanity, and
to live well rather than better. In addition to rejecting the just
natural desire of every human being to prosper, they suggest something a
little ethereal and confusing for the ordinary Cuban, because they say
absolutely nothing, seems more like the slogans of those who also say
absolutely nothing.

In addition, they propose to promote social solidarity and strengthen
community spaces. Again, more slogans.

If they actually want to achieve the wellbeing we do not have, do not
waste any more time trying to present our difficulties, weaknesses,
misfortunes and shortcomings as the original components of wellbeing.
They are actually the "anti-well-being" components of the Cuban model.
Wellbeing is only achieved by working and creating wealth, for which, in
our case, profound economic, political and social changes are essential.
There is no Cuban model of wellbeing, simply because the other model,
the political, economic and social, the so-called socialist model, is a
failure and has been incapable of achieving it.

14 May 2013

http://translatingcuba.com/is-there-a-cuban-model-of-wellbeing-fernando-damaso/