MIAMI MIRROR – TRUE REFLECTIONS

The Clay Hotel

HABLA LIBREMENTE POR CUBA

Every Word Must Be Permitted Within the Revolution

October 1, 2004 (Reposted April 11, 2014)

By David Arthur WaltersMIAMI MIRROR

MIAMI BEACH—The mosquitoes were vicious inside my hotel room at Al Capone’s old gambling hangout, the Clay Hotel on Espanola Way in South Beach. I managed to swat a dozen of them up against the pastel green wall, leaving large splotches of red blood thereon, each blotch taking on a different meaning for those interested in psychoanalysis or postmodern art. The maid was displeased by the blotting, and ordered me to keep my window closed.

"No abra la ventana!"

She was from Cuba, she said, and she wanted to return to Cuba now that her children were grown and out of school.

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MIAMI MIRROR – TRUE REFLECTIONS

“Maid work is hard work,” she groaned, “hard on the back, the legs, and the feet.”

She said the seven-dollars-an-hour, and ten-something on Saturday, barely paid her rent and food bills.

“Americans are all about money, and if you are poor, work hard, and get sick, get laid off, you are ruined, you are thrown out on the street, but not in Cuba.”

Castro had made some good reforms, she said, but she dared not praise them in America, not around Miami Cubans, anyway. When I asked her why not, she gave me reason to worry lest I offend Cubans. Wherefore I asked a Cuban intellectual, who happens to despise Castro yet does his best to give both sides of the story, if there were some guideline that I could safely follow to avoid offending Cubans.

"Just be yourself and speak freely," he answered without hesitation.

I took his advice, and received a lot of flak including a few death threats from right-wing exiles. Still, I enjoy speaking freely. In fact, there is nothing I hate more than being told to shut up. I will listen to negative criticism, including criticism that I talk too much—the intellectual life for me is one continuous page without paragraphs, and I forget that people have other things to do. But I do not like to be shushed.

A Black Panther once told me that my attitude is a "white thing," and that "white men do not like to be shushed." Well, whatever! Maybe he was right: white men do not like to be shushed; I am white; therefore I do not like to be shushed. So I just cannot help speaking my mind. Still, I often have wished that I had kept my mouth shut, so I am finally learning to be more "politically correct" and polite in my speech. Sometimes I inquire in advance as to what is considered discourteous and impolitic.

If I get a chance to speak freely with Mr. Castro, I shall politely suggest that he have his government relax the severe restrictions on speech that I have read about in the U.S. newspapers. The restrictions might have been necessary to protect the Revolution in the early stages, but they are, at least in my opinion, presently obsolete and, most importantly, counter-revolutionary.

Indeed, if I were dictator of Cuba, I would encourage speech and other expressions which criticize certain faults perceived in my person and my government, provided that the criticism is followed by constructive suggestions for alternative forms of behavior and action; those suggestions would be, in turn, subject to criticism, all of which might not be published for lack of space, as mentioned below.

Of course speech that advocates my assassination and the violent overthrow of my government would be capital offense, for who wants to be beheaded? That is, those who criticize me and my Cuba must do so constructively, supporting the existence of me and my Cuba, if they want to speak freely indefinitely, for anything else would be destructive criticism.

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MIAMI MIRROR – TRUE REFLECTIONS

And there is more: I would put my pistol on the conference table, and say, “God may be dead, but I live, and as long as I live everything is permitted within the Revolution.”

My Spanish is pathetic, so please excuse me for calling my free speech program, Habla Libremente por Cuba.

Mind you, as you may have all ready surmised, my program would not embrace free speech without critical consequences. Even “constructive criticism" is subject to valid criticism, and criticism may have to be censored for lack of space for it.

For instance, if constructive criticism were required of art critics, each critic would have to paint a better painting than the one criticized, and then place it next to the painting criticized for comparison. Obviously such a program would require the provision of a great deal of space for critics to hang their paintings besides each painting criticized. Moreover, virtually endless shelf space would be required for literary critics to place their critical works beside the fiction and nonfiction of other authors.

Cuba obviously does not have the capital to support gallery and shelf space for all criticism regardless of its quality, wherefore there must be some censorship lest Cuba go bankrupt building art galleries and libraries filled for the most part with people's trash. Likewise, Cuba does not have the wherewithal and will to supply a central server adequate for the storage and dissemination of all the criticism of the Castro regime.

Nevertheless, with Habla Libremente, there shall be a viable, low-cost alternative to institutional censorship. Each individual may censor his or her own criticism and publish it on the Free Cuba Open Publishing Network providing it is constructive criticism. Virtual Libraries will be set up in warehouses throughout Cuba. A sufficient number of computer monitors will be provided so that all people who are willing may publish, read and criticize the constructive criticism posted. The Revolution will provide free coffee, cigars, and empanadas to all comers. Regular contests will be held with prizes for Best Constructive Criticism. Of course Fidel Castro will be barred from participating in the contests because his posts might crowd out the other entries.

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1 October 2004Miami Beach

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