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Opposition and Displacement By Emilio Adolfo Rivero September, 2004 When, fifteen years ago, the collapse of the USSR began, Fidel Castro confronted the loss of Soviet subsidies that had totalled five billion dollars a year and, altogether, about one hundred billion dollars. At that time, Castro's political and propagandistic support from the Soviet behemoth also disappeared. This sudden weakness gave important chances to Castro's opposition, but the opposition did not use them. It's well to note that these chances still exist, along with new ones, and that a confluence of forces now allows for their use. For years, Castro's opposition has squandered talent and energy. Constant articles and broadcasts by professional interlopers have gone with activist declarations and pronouncements and regular visits to democratic countries. These trips have produced statements of respect for the rights of the opposition and encouragements to create a civil society beyond the government's oppressive reach. All of this is well known, and deserving of praise. Denunciations of the Castro state have almost never been accompanied by calls for its overthrow, and to judge by the silence around it, we can say that this idea has not had a real place in the minds of the activists. Rather, emphasis has been on "peaceful transition"--a concept like unilateral disarmament, in that it has persisted despite the fact that Castro, ineptly and despotically, today as yesterday, mortgages and ruins the country, persecutes, violates, imprisons and kills. And, rather notoriously, the idea of "peaceful transition" has been held up by governments that, while receiving and praising the dissidents, maintain friendly relations with Cuba's regime, giving it resources to maintain the very repression that they themselves denounce. Numerically, the opposition to Castro has, for more than twenty years, far outweighed the regime's supporters. By estimates, the regime has 250,000 adherents including the armed forces and security police, Communist Party, "rapid-action brigades" and members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. At the same time, simple membership in these organizations does not a Castro partisan make. In totalitarian societies, the need for survival drives people to wear masks. In order not to be, or to seem, weak and crippled, the opposition should insist on Castro's destruction. Cuba today is a country on fire; and Castro's opposition is practicing solidarity with those who suffer material losses, injuries or death. But rather than expressing solidarity, wouldn't it make more sense to snuff out fire so it does not spread and claim more victims? We must ask ourselves: Has the opposition to Castro been rational? And if not, then what irrationality has cancelled all its good efforts? The answer lies in a form of conduct called "displacement". People who study animal behavior--including that of the human animal--use this term for a reaction to danger in which, faced with the choice of fighting or running, one chooses a third way that dissipates tension and hostility and avoids the risk of death. To cite just a few examples: an angry cock, when he comes face to face with an adversary, will at times frenziedly scratch the ground rather than fight; seagulls protecting their territory will beat their wings and snatch whatever grass they can find; and the roebuck will vent his anger by violently rubbing his antlers against the bark of trees, rather than contest with another buck whom he perceives as a potential rival for his territory and romantic companion. Displacement, a trait present in our biped ancestor, continues in our everyday life. An unconscious, irrational impulse, it disorients the activist and separates him from his objective. Its presence has drained vital energy from the opposition to Castro's regime. Taking cognizance of this fact is the first step in overcoming it. A new opportunity is demanding to be recognized. The International Committee for Democracy in Cuba (CIDC) has just ended a meeting in Prague by issuing a statement that calls for a speedup of political changes leading to democratization. The committee's members are influential in world opinion. But of course the main actor must be the Cuban people. It would be a great help to keep the key objective--Castro's downfall--in everyone's mind. Other matters can be treated after the liberation. Right now, it's time for displacement to stop.
Translated from the original by David Landau. |
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