SOME ELEMENTS FOR A CIVIL SOCIETY
REBUILDING PROJECT
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The recovering of civil society is an outstanding base
for safeguarding the democratic and participative future in our country.
It is important for the period of transition if we really want that
all Cubans have the opportunity to participate; it is important for
the change and the moral and material reconstruction of our nation.
It
is necessary for its integrity and its identity. The ones in power
are not to be the only ones who change and re-design the reconstruction
without criticism and without citizen participation. Civil society
is important in order to conceive a social and political democracy
really supported and lived in intermediate organizations of participation
and evaluation of the State management. It is important because it
can prevent that any group or party government or State structure
monopolize the right of the nation, of its social and cultural institutions,
of families and individuals.
Civil society in short, is important because through it, every person
is able to find a space for his personalization and socialization
in a climate of freedom, autonomy and personal and communitarian creativity.
It is our duty as Cuban Catholics, to denounce what opposes to the
full life of civil society and to offer our contribution for its project
and construction:
"The Church social Doctrine is not then a third proposal apart
from liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism...it is not an ideology
either...the teaching and the spreading of this Social Doctrine is
a part of the evangelizing mission of the church. The exercise of
that ministry of social evangelizing (which is part of the prophetic
mission of the church) belongs to the denouncing of the evils and
injustice. But it is convenient to point out that announcement is
always more important than denounce; and denounce cannot be made without
the announcement which gives the real consistence and force to the
highest motivation of the church". (John Paul II, Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis, 41)
Foundations of the Project. Its General Principles
The general principles for the design of a reconstruction project
of civil society in Cuba should be:
-The promotion of the dignity of the human person and the respect
for their rights.
-The recognition and the possibility of exercising civil and political
liberties.
- The implementation of a growing social justice and the search for
the common good.
- The recognition of cultural, political and socio-economic pluralism.
Based on these principles there are some goals that have to be achieved
and are relevant for the implementation of the project.
Priority Purposes
In the section: "Handicaps for a healthy civil society"
of this work, we have presented the limitations for the development
of an autonomous healthful civil society. It is an analysis based
on the socio-political context we Cubans are living. That's why we
believe it is necessary to settle some priority goals for the first
stage:
To Recognize the Rights of the Consciousness
We should give priority to the project of striving for consciousness,
recognition because of:
-the lack of freedom (limitations to be free and restrictions to civil
liberties.
-the death of personal and social subjectivity, because of the distortion
of reality,
State manipulation and lack of information in order to be committed
and to discern.
-the pressure upon the free exercise and practice of religious faith.
Indeed "In totalitarian and authoritarian regimes the principle
of the force over reason has been strengthened". Man has been
forced to endure an imposed concept on reality. This reality is not
attained by the effort of freedom. We have to reverse this situation
and recognize the full rights of human consciousness, which is only
linked to natural and revealed truth.
The acknowledgement of these rights are the primary foundations of
all political order which is authentically free". (John Paul
II, Centesimus Annus", 1991, 29; Cfr. Acta de Helsinki y Acuerdo
de Viena)
To Recognize the Right for Free Association
We must propose for our society the right for association due to:
-the interference of the State and the party in all social and mass
organizations
-the legal and constitutional impossibility of creating associations
which oppose the official socialist project or organizations which
aspire to have a certain economical autonomy and initiative.
-the fact that every group, association or institution which is created
is being spied by the Cuban Intelligence Department. These spying
activities reaches even families and persons (as our Bishops expressed
in their letter "Love Expects Everything")
The right for association has been claimed by the church since the
times of Leon XIII:
"It is nice to learn that there emerge associations every day...we
wish they to be more in number and efficacy. I've been pleased to
state here that the associations are very convenient and they have
all the rights possible". (León XIII "Rerum Novarum",
1891, 34)
It is not possible to build a civil society without the legal recognition
and the real space to organize all kinds of free associations provided
it contributes to the common good. It is necessary because the whole
body of civil society is created beginning with these associations.
These associations must enjoy full autonomy and develop themselves
in a climate of effective freedom in order to play their role in a
full way.
John XXIII also recognized the growing of intermediate organizations
and their benefits and advantages and their limitations too. He stated
in the "Mater is Magistra":
"One of the remarkable characteristics of our epoch is...the
progressive reproduction and the cohabitation relationships, with
the consistent appearance of many ways of life and associated activities...due
to this trend there have emerged everywhere a number of associations
and institutions for economical, social cultural recreational, sports,
professional and political goals...but simultaneously, there is more
regulation on social relationships...Some methods, indeed,
techniques and situations emerge which make very difficult to generate
personal thought... personal initiative, to accept personal responsibilities
properly and affirm and consolidate the full human spiritual wealth".
(John XXIII, "Mater et Magistra", 1961, 59-61).
The terms to evaluate if there are civil society autonomous organizations
in Cuba are: personal thought, initiative to act and develop human
spirit. We say very sadly
that almost all of our present associations are in want of these conditions.
Recognize the Right to Private Property
In the third place, there won't be an authentic civil society different
and apart from the government power as long as the State does not
recognize and open spaces for private property (personal, associated
or cooperative, etc.)
It won't be possible for any association to attain autonomy and freedom
of initiative if it is economically supported by the State and if
it cannot have an own financial independence and facilities of their
own.
For more than one century the Church Social Doctrine states that this
objective is indispensable for the maintenance of civil society:
"These advantages will not be attained unless private property
is not absorbed by the toughness of tributes and taxes. The right
to own private goods has not been given by law but by Nature and thus
the public authority cannot abolished this right. It can only moderate
its use and make it coincide with the common good". (León
XIII, "Rerum Novarum", 1891).
We Cubans must understand that it is harmful for a nation the selfish
possessions without any social use, but it is also harmful the total
elimination of possessions and the concentration of the means by the
State. We must be away from both extremes.
Internal Dynamics for the Project
The style and shape of one project depends a lot on its internal dynamics.
That is, the specific way of performing, of acting, of being implemented
and its relevant
characteristics. The legitimacy of a work depends on its ethical evaluation.
Thus, it is necessary not only to establish legitimate and high goals
but to determine the procedures and the dynamics that will be influencing
on it. In the case of civil society reconstruction in Cuba we must
not forget the following dynamics:
- the strive for justice and social peace.
-the balanced relationship between subsidy and solidarity.
-the relationships between State and market.
-the link between civil society and sustainable economy (this link
is directly proportional)
-the link between civil society and State of Rights.
Promotion of Justice and Peace
Some of the causes for any kind of violence: verbal, physical, psychological,
in groups and families are the following: continuous injustice; lack
of will to find out honorable solutions; lack of workable projects,
and stubbornness. That's why our
Homeland needs that we all are prepared to introduce, in the heart
of civil society, a
dynamics which combines the strive for justice and the patient and
enduring work for justice. This must be done for the change and after
the change:
" A pacific struggle which only uses the weapons of truth and
justice...the struggle which fights constantly for trying all kinds
of negotiation, of dialogue, of testimony, of truth, appealing to
the consciousness of the counterpart and trying to arise in him the
sense of human common dignity...through the non-violent commitment
of men who refuse to use force...they have been able to find many
times, effective ways of giving testimony about the truth. This attitude
has dismantled the counterpart because violence always needs to find
its sense through lying and falsity. It assumes the false attitude
of "defending a right" or "answering to an external
menace". I wish men can learn how to fight for justice without
being violent!" (John Paul II "Centesimus Annus", 1991,
23)
To face counter-revolutionary violence; to face an enemy attack; to
train persons for facing a foreign invasion; to turn the streets and
the universities into a battlefield: these are ways of social violence
under the mask of "defending a right" or "answering
an external enemy". However, this enemy (thank God) is willing
to have a civilized talk at State top levels. We sometimes wonder
if confrontation, segregation and intolerance are manifestations which
are practiced only inside the country. We believe that it is very
incoherent to be fighting among Cubans because of lack of domestic
space whereas the "home parents" "open the doors even
to the kitchen" to others who will share the "house"
and will run it. Some of those persons are even more reactionary than
the worst of Cubans. So if we use a coherent reasoning we can conclude
that the only sin seems to lie on being Cubans, who are not allowed
to organize themselves, and to be protagonists of a sane democratic
plurality. Any foreigner who arrives here to invest his money and
his technology is called " a friend". However we think this
is good. So another conclusion leads us to wonder if the condition
for diversity and plurality is maybe to have money.
If it is so, then this society needs even more urgently to be the
object of a reflective and serious, serene and bold work in order
to defend peace and citizen peace, because the scarcity has turned
the scale of values upside down and has placed capital on the top
position. This need is more urgent now that one project has been frustrated
and we want to build our future through other paths in order to prevent
another frustration. We don't want to repeat the frustration of 1898,
or the one in 1902, or in 1933, or 1961 or 1989... they are too many
frustrations already in less than one hundred years.
The Relationship Between Subsidy and Solidarity
The new paths we want to implement in Cuba should definitely abolish
burocracy and State totalitarism. There should be establish a civil
society in which subsidy and solidarity are the axle of the civic
structure of our nation.
Indeed, "There is a serious principle in philosophy which is
still in force and should not be changed at all: the individuals must
not be deprived from the goods they can produce through their industry
to give them to the communities. It is not fair either (and it dangers
the right order of things) to deprive small or inferior communities
from their goods and give them to a greater and "higher"
society, because all the actions carried out by society must pay attention
to the members of the social body, but they should be destroyed or
absorbed... Therefore it is convenient that the supreme State authority
allows inferior associations to solve minor matters...because through
the care to these matters the State would loose a lot of time and
it would be more difficult to fulfill the matters of its competence...So
the government leaders must bear in mind that if it respects this
principle of subsidy and if it rules vigorously, the authority will
be stronger and also the social efficacy
and thus the State and the nation will be happier and more prosperous".
(Pío XI "Cuadragesimo Anno", 1931, 79-80).
Those words said by Pio XI in 1931 have force in Cuba at present.
And at the same time we thank God for the explanations which come
from the Pontiff teachings we wonder how is it possible that our nation
has suffered the way it has, 60 years after those words of warning
were said. But we wonder even more why at present there is no understanding
of the real causes for social inefficacy, for the lack of civil
authority (which is now in the hands of the military as one way of
trying to solve the
administrative disorder); the causes for the deplorable state of the
nation which is going through its worst period in five centuries.
After all, we can't go to neo-liberalism and to the principle of "saving
yourself" far from "being". That's why we propose that
it is necessary to practice the necessary subsidy principle together
with an effective inter-personal solidarity and among associations,
from the State structures and among nations. Interdependence is at
present the only sane and efficient dynamics for any project of social
re-birth.
" In order to get to this goal, the State should participate
directly or indirectly...indirectly through the subsidy principle,
by creating the favorable conditions for free exercise of economical
activity, toward an abundant offer of opportunities of jobs and sources
of wealth...directly, through the principle of solidarity, by implementing
some limits to the autonomy of the parts which determine the working
conditions (this is necessary to defend the weakest). There should
be some minimum help for the worker who is unemployed". ( John
Paul II, Centesimus Annus", 1991, 15).
We should warn our nation-fellows about some aspects regarding the
effective solidarity for a period of transition from a centralized
and State economy to a market economy:
" Nowadays the individual often remains trapped between two poles:
the State and the market. Indeed, sometimes it seems that man is only
a producer and a consumer of goods, or it seems that he is an object
of the State administration, whereas tha ways of cohabitation among
men are forgotten. This cohabitation has an aim which is not the market
or the State. On the contrary, the State and the market should be
at the service of this aim. (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus",
1991, 49).
Self Management
Beginning with the reforms occurred at the end of the 19th century
and the beginning of the present century in the social environment,
solidarity has grown during the present century as it never did before:
"those very reforms were also the result of a free process of
self organization by society as the implementation of efficient instruments
of proper solidarity in order to hold an economical growing
more respectful for the human values...with a notable contribution
by Christians in the foundation of cooperatives of production, consuming
and credits. The results of promoting public teaching and professional
education, the experimentation of different ways of participation
in the lives of the enterprises in general in society". (John
Paul II, "Centesimus Annus", 1991, 16).
This means that another internal dynamics for the rebuilding of a
sane and efficient
civil society is the process of self-organization which allows the
members to be protagonists, from the moment of initial planning, the
project, and the organization of the structures. But the first stage
of this dynamics should lead of course to a cooperated management
of the aims and results of association.
This process which is the "effort of men to organize by themselves
the every day life, to be the owners of their own social self",
is called: self-management.
During the first Catholic Social Week (Havana, 1991) we presented
this social dynamics as "an opening to the possible", because
it does not destroy the social
body, but it attains a certain organization out of the body under
a new way. At that
time we used to say: the task would be to make the self-management
dynamics of participation to be accepted by the real historical movements.
This dynamics should become part of the methods of the intermediate
groups.
This is a slow, progressive and sometimes frustrating process if we
are not clear about this:
"Self-management is the last stage of a long period of thousand
years of authoritarism, subordination, coercion, histories made by
repressors who rationalized the coercion. I think that greatness obliges
us to be modest and take the specific steps, because if not, the steps
will seem very short to us if compared to the final goal". (Iguniz
J., Autogestión y Autogobierno, Pág. 11-14).
If, during the year 1991 we considered necessary to introduce this
concept in our social reflection, then today this is a dynamics we
should exercise as an inner force of this specific project of civil
society rebuilding. (Cfr. Memoir. pg. 108-110).
Civil Society and Sustainable Economy
After a lost decade and delusions about a "miraculous development",
nations talk today about a sort of development which is called: "sustainable",
that is, not subjected to periodical crisis, but sustained by the
very peoples according to their recourses and potentials. Not too
fast and not too slow. Not depending so much on the developed countries,
but establishing bonds of cooperation and integration which allows
to strengthen the achievements.
In order to guarantee an authentic sustainable economy we need a civil
society which contributes to development with undertaking spirit.
A development which is "supported inside".
"Development requires above all, an spirit of initiative by the
very countries which need this development. Each country is to perform
according to its own responsibilities, without expecting that everything
comes from the most developed countries and cooperating with the countries
that have the same goals.
-each country should find and take advantage of the space of its own
freedom.
-each country should be capable of generating initiatives which respond
to the requirements of society.
-each country should realize about the real needs, and also about
the duties and the
rights they have to face". (John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis",
44)
In Cuba, our space for freedom is blocked from inside. This is, as
we've stated, the worst of the blockades. Despite that Cubans are
undertaking persons, their initiatives don't find a space or support.
These initiatives are rather mistrusted and the ones involved in them
are considered "dangerous" or potential "criminals".
This has happened in the places where everything belonged to only
one owner. The resources that people need for their management are
to be asked to the owner and they have to depend on this owner, or
maybe they have to "get" this resource (this is a new "term"
used to indicate that one is robbery an owner who accumulates everything
only for himself ). The owner in Cuba is the State. If the State knows
about the real needs, we cannot even know, because in the first place,
we don't have enough information, and besides, we don't know if the
State (which is the only well informed) knows about the real needs
and it doesn't say. Maybe it does not know the whole truth and it
wants to know. Maybe it simple knows the truth and does not say anything
in order to keep a good image and not to contribute to its own discredit,
because the State is ultimately, the only responsible.
Because of the reasons formerly stated, we cannot have here in Cuba,
a sustainable development, even when the specialists try to "save
the financial status" of the economy and the people begins to
endure contributions and taxes; even when the possibilities for investments
increase, without a space of freedom for all Cubans, without private
initiative and with the regulation of social participation, without
recognizing the fact that the real cause for the economical problem
in Cuba is the economical system which is burocratic, obsolete, centralized
and exclusive. It turns the nation into cheap labor force at the service
of the totalitarian State and the foreign investors and the transnational.
As long as the Cuban economy is not de-centralized, freed from the
economical ties, autonomous from power and participative with the
protagonist of citizens and non-government associations, we won't
be able to get out of this crisis though we might sell the whole territory
and its resources looking for a desperate solution.
There will be two necessary urgent tasks:
First: It is important that the developing countries favor the self-affirmation
of all the citizens through the free access to a best culture and
free information. All that favors... the basic education, all that
deepens it...means a direct contribution to development". (John
Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis", 44).
Second: In order to walk toward true development, the very nations
are to define their priorities and look very well at their own needs
according to the specific conditions of their populations, their geographical
environments and their cultural traditions:
Some nations will have to increase their food production in order
to have always the necessary nourishment for life. In the present
world (says the "Sollicitudo Rei Socialis") there are some
nations particularly non-developed which have gained the aim of food
self-sufficiency and they have become food exporters. (John Paul II,
"Sollicitudo Rei Socialis", 44).
In spite of the several attempts made in Cuba in order to raise the
food production it has not been possible yet because after the triumph
of the Revolution there have been some events that have brought the
impoverishment of the soils and the lack of food products, even the
minimum necessary quantity. These events have been
the establishment of State agriculture, the lack of resources, the
direct interference of burocracy in agricultural cooperatives and
other similar variants. Unless agriculture goes back to the hands
of the small private farmer, in true and autonomous cooperatives without
the State direction, there won't be enough food production.
"Other nations need to reform some structures particularly their
political
institutions (says the Pope) in order to substitute corrupted or authoritarian
regimes for democratic ones with participation...because the "health"
of a political community (that is, the free responsibility and participation
of all citizens in public management, in the right security and the
promotion of human rights) is a necessary condition and a guarantee
for the overall development of all men". (John Paul II, Sollicitudo
rei Socialis", 44).
In our country, these reforms of political structures and institutions
in order to make them more democratic and participative, are one condition
for sustainable
development and an inseparable complement for the economic change.
One reform
requires the other. One change leads to the other. Because it is man
the same person who lives in the economical environments and in political
structures, and he cannot live together in a society which liberalizes
and reforms economy and at the same time tries to behold the obsolete
political structure of "proletarian dictatorship". Men cannot
do that without the risk of social schizophrenia, that is, the dichotomy
of attitudes and commitments, the false double principle of good and
bad.
The "two faces" which is the external expression of double
morality, is the solution that many persons find to their personal
problems. For example one Cuban who is the manager of one efficient
and modern joint-venture needs the service of a Cuban "socialist"
enterprise. Or at least he is sitting in from of the T.V. set in order
to watch very carefully (with a respectful "marketing" look)
one session of our National Assembly. Later he observes what the deputy
men say what they are expected to say, and the unanimous vocations.
This man could wonder if someone would joyfully accept that "product"
of our democracy. We understand then why there are so many questions
and so much silence.
Toward a State of Rights
The political reforms that we have to do (without hurry but without
pause) cannot lead to chaos and improvisation. They cannot go back
to the past ( that's our opinion), backward to the first Republic.
They cannot copy models from other countries of different locations
and different cultures and crisis.
I believe that it is convenient to go slowly in these changes and
as the Pope Paul II has recommended: "there have to be devised
ways of modern democracy, not only by giving each man the possibility
to inform and express himself, but to commit himself in a common responsibility.
Thus, the human groups are slowly transformed into communities of
participation and life...because in a world open to an uncertain future,
today's decisions determine tomorrow's life". (John Paul II,
centesimus Annus, 1991, 47).
In order to devise these new ways of democracy it is necessary to
accept the human heritage in this field and to know and respect the
norms that the
international community has adopted as a common inviolable patrimony.
We
should respect human dignity and not repeat foreign models. l
As part of that heritage and as a goal for a socio-political reform
we aspire to have a State of Rights:
"It is necessary a healthful State theory in order to assure
the normal development of human activities: the spiritual ones and
the material ones, the indispensable. That's why (since the times
of Leon XIII) the Pope presented the organization of
society structured in three powers: legislative, executive and judicial...that
order reflects a realist vision of man's social nature, which requires
a proper legislation to protect the freedom of all. Regarding this,
it is better that one power is balanced by other powers and other
spheres of competence, which keep it in the right limits. This is
the principle of the State of Rights, in which the law is sovereign
and not the arbitrary will of men". ( John Paul II, Centesimus
Annus", 1991, 44).
The global perspective of one nation that wants to rebuild its own
civil society and knows that it is necessary to reform the economical
and political structures, have to
bear in mind the Law, the triple and effective division of powers
and the necessary
protection of civil liberties and human rights. These are the principles
of the State of Rights according to the Church Social Doctrine. In
Cuba, it is a fundamental element for the civilized and pacific rebuilding
of our society: there cannot be a civil society if there is not a
State of Rights. And if there are remaining they are very much manipulated
by a Law which interferes in private lives: we can see that in the
Articles ( to 13 of the law of Associations of the December 27th 1985,
and the regulations in the articles from 27 to 30.
Protagonists of this Project
The rebuilding of civil society can only be efficiently done through
the active participation of:
-the person
-the family
-the very intermediate organizations, the church
-the State: the Government
The combination of these social subjects is the secret for the stability
of the civil body, its sustained advance and its style in democracy.
The healthy cooperation and the mutual control and regulation will
guarantee the proper combination. Rigid ness, stubbornness, violence
and double morality are the results of civil relationships imposed
by power.
Let's listen to the Concilium recommendations:
"It is necessary a positive juridical order which establishes
the proper division of institutional functions and political authority
as well as the independent efficient protection of the rights. That's
all that is necessary in order to obtain happy results in the every
day public life through citizen responsible cooperation. The rights
of persons, families and associations should be recognized, respected
and promoted and exercised as well as the civic rights of each one
of them". (Cfr. Pío XII, Radio Mensaje, 1 junio 1941).
"The rulers should watch over the development of familiar, social
and cultural associations, and the intermediate organizations. The
organizations must not be deprived from their legitimate and constructive
action. These must be rather promoted freely and in an strict way...the
citizens on their part, (individually and
collectively) should not grant the political authority an excessive
power and should not ask the State, in an untimely way, advantages
or excessive favors, because it could cause the lack of responsibility
in families, persons and social groups". (Constitución
Pastoral "Gaudium et Spes", Concilio Vaticano II, 1965,
75).
As to the State, its function is to protect the juridical order, social
discipline and to search for the common good, but without interference
in civil society business or manipulations of it:
"The State must protect these associations of united citizens
with full rights, but there must not be interference in the internal
structure and in their life customs. The vital movement is produced
by an internal principle and it is easily destroyed by external interference"
(Leon XIII, "Rerum Novarum", 1981, 38). "The family
has rights at least equal to civil society to choose and implement
the necessary means to protect itself and to keep its freedom...because
it is the family the one that really and logically emerges before
civil society. So the rights of the family are former and more natural".
(idem, 9)
The Church
In all environments where the church develops and works, it has a
very specific mission which should not be compared to political, party
tasks, or to the State functions and its structures.
"To promote the inviolable dignity of persons is the main and
unifying task by the church service. This is a mission the church
has to fulfill regarding human family". ( John Paul II, "Christifidelis
Laici", 37).
Many times, the diversity of charismas and functions that the Christian
community and specially laics do, don't let us to see clearly which
the central task and meaning are: the person and his dignity. It is,
we say again, "the cult to the full dignity of men". This
task coincides with Marti's mystics. That's why in Cuba the very roots
of our political culture have their origin in Christianity. By going
back to these roots of Cubanity the church has found the way to get
close to the Cuban man and people. The church found it specially during
the "Cuban Ecclesial Reflection, 1981-1986" in the Cuban
Ecclesial National Meeting, 1986" and afterwards. There is no
relevant contradiction between Varela's civic project and Marti's
regarding the concepts on man, and the social mission of Catholic
Church.
Moreover, we can joyfully say that, in spite of the distance which
existed in the late 19th century and the early 20th century between
Cubans and the church; nowadays at the end of the very century and
after witnessing the performance of "real socialism" regarding
purification, commitment and transparency, we can see that the Catholic
Church credibility in Cuba has grown up to high levels, so that many
citizens, even if they are not Catholics, express that the church
is maybe today and it has been for a long time, the only space for
freedom and persona list participation, the only communitarian voice
and the only organized and persevering
"breath" which feeds the "soul of the nation that was
crumbling all around the country".
The church in Cuba has prevented the subjectivity to become dried
out. It has prevented the national spirit to become dried out by the
effects of figures and doctrines from another century and another
continent. The church spoke sometimes, other times it kept silence,
but it was always there for us. Some times it
pushed and other times it prudently hindered; sometimes its work was
welcomed and other times it was condemned by insiders and by outsiders...
but we should thank God because the church has always made an effort
to lift the heart and the soul of the nation toward noble and everlasting
Cuban ideals. There is a Cuban poetess who has been an example of
these ideals. Her life and her verse were an expression of our Christian
existence in this green and long-suffering island. These ideals could
be the secret of our capacity for recovering that History has shown.
Here is some of her poetry:
"Only by sticking to the shadows,
by swallowing drop after drop the live juice of the shadows,
one can do and lift a noble and everlasting work.
The air is nice, the light is nice
but one cannot be a flower all the time...,
and if we don't use the soul as a root,
we'll dry out".
(Dulce María Loynaz, "Poems without a Name", III)
"Sólo clavándose en la sombra,
chupando gota a gota el jugo vivo de la sombra,
se logra hacer para arriba obra noble y perdurable.
Grato es el aire, grata es la luz
pero no se puede ser todo flor...,
y el que no ponga el alma de raíz,
se seca".
(Dulce María Loynaz, Poemas sin nombre III)
We strongly believe that these verses show and describe the life
of any Catholic person in Cuba during the three last decades of communism.
They explain how we have managed to cross, though very harmed and
lonely, the path of the Red Sea and the desert. During this Easter
of over 40 years, the church has always reminded us that "we
cannot live on bread alone" when the Pharaohs proposed to solve
our problems with the "pots of Egypt", which is a low and
dehumanizing price of a new and subtle slavery.
But the mission of the church has not been only to end the myths of
this world. Its mission has been to knock with its rod "the hard
rock of the monolithically heart of Mambré" in order to
get the "water" for all the people, sometimes with faith
and sometimes doubting.
When devising a project for rebuilding our civil society, we should
give thanks to the church, because it has fed the subjectivity of
the Cuban nation for 40 years.
Sometimes it has provided the gaunt "manna" through its
every-day and morning walking of its presence. Sometimes it has provided
the great banquet of quails through its reflections, messages and
Pastoral Letters. But it never accepted, in spite of scarcity, to
go back to a foreign country or to worship new and strange idols...
For a certain period of time, part of the people substituted God by
new idols. In spite of this, the church pointed out to the people
the mistakes, with motherly
mercy. The church also alerted about the falsehood of the new idols.
The history of the church in Cuba shows that its role has been relevant
for the remaining of civil society. And it is relevant. The church
will help groups and associations and it will be like a light in the
middle of the night, when the people walks through uncertainty, by
the "ashes" of the frustrated dream.
We believe that the mission of the church in Cuba's reconstruction
today is already on, and it is to illuminate the "dark night"
we are going through, by inspiring new dreams. Indeed new dreams and
not by reviving nightmares. Mr. Archbishop of Havana has stated in
his speech to the Holy Father in the visit Ad Limina: " the ashes
of dreams are not useful in building a promising future".
But now that we've got this share of credibility which has been earned
through the suffering of annihilation, and not through the "alliance
with the throne and the altar"(as Fr. Varela sates in his "Letters
to Elpidio"); now that we've got the light in the middle of the
dark, we should not loose perspective because we're living in a "national
blackout". We should not deceive ourselves. Our action should
not be
deceiving either.
The Dialogue: Attitude and Method
As it has been said in the "Cuban Ecclesial National Meeting",
1986 and it had formerly been said in "Love Expects Everything",
we wish to say now: dialogue and agreement is always the path of the
church and never division or confrontation. Thus we want to define
the kind of relationships that the church should continue to establish
with the whole Cuban society.
The Pope Paul VI said prophetic words in his first Encyclical: "The
relationships of the church with the world can be diverse".
Theoretically speaking the church can have three kinds of behavior:
- It could reduce to the minimum the relationships with the "profane"
part of society.
-It could uproot the evils of "profane" society by rejecting
them and promoting crusades against them.
- It could, on the contrary, get close to the profane society and
try to influence it or even to subdue it in a theocratic way.
However, we think that the relationship of the church with the world
can be better through a dialogue at an equal level as it is established
at present in the relationships between the sacred and the profane.
-due to the transforming dynamism of modern society
-due to the pluralism of its manifestations.
-and equally due to the maturity of men. Religious or non-religious
maturity educated by civil principles to think, speak, and deal with
the dignity of the
dialogue". (Paul VI, Ecclesiamm Suan", 1964, 72-75)
The only civilized solution to the present crisis in Cuba today, is
this attitude and method ( you can call it dialogue or agreement or
negotiation or dynamics of reflection). The other alternative: confrontation,
civil or military violence, or death, don't coincide with our Cuban
humanist tradition or with the character of our people or with the
dignity that our nation deserves. So we cannot count on it as an alternative.
Whoever it is the one who says that dialogue is not necessary (because
of stubbornness or lack of identification) it should not be accepted.
That's why the first mission and procedure the church must bring (and
the laics
together) to the present crossroad that Cubans are going through,
is the dialogue: this kind of social relationship (because we are
not talking of the dialogue at the top levels only). We should promote
the dialogue as a style and "art of communication". When
this communication is sincere "it shows a purpose of correction,
esteem, affection and kindness on the part of the one who establishes
the dialogue. It does not include prejudice or condemnation, offensive
and regular polemics or the useless conversation...It requires a certain
mood on the part of the ones who promote it toward the others. This
should be the mood of the ones who feel the apostolic mission within
them...the ones who constantly try to spread the message to the thought
of the others". (Paul VI "Ecclesiamm Suan", 1964, 75).
That is the mission of culture evangelizing. The one sponsored by
the Pope and the Santo Domingo Document and which is so urgent to
implement at the end of the second millennium of Christianity.
Characteristics of the Dialogue
It is necessary to insist until we create a culture of dialogue and
concert and the characteristics that this way of civic cohabitation
must have.
in the Pontiff document we are dealing with, we find four recommendations
which are great for the service of the church amidst the conflicts
of a changing society:
Clearness above all: The dialogue requires capacity for understanding.
It is the materialization of thought, an invitation to exercise the
ultimate capacities of men... "We must revise our language: if
understandable, popular or selective" (Paul VI "Ecclesiamm
Suan", 1945, 75).
Gentleness: The dialogue is not proud, it's not offensive. It has
inherent authority because of the truth it spreads, because of the
clearness, it tells because of the example it gives. It is not a command
or an imposition. It is pacific, prevents violence and it is patient
and generous" (Idem)
Trust: In the worth of words and in the willingness to accept it
on the part of the counterpart. It promotes confidence and friendship...
Pedagogical Prudence: it takes into account the psychological and
moral conditions of the one who listens (Mt. 7, 6). We have to bear
in mind if he is a child or illiterate, or disabled or distrustful,
or hostile; We've got to know the sensitivity of the counterpart and
we have to be nice to the other part. (Idem)
We have thought that in many occasions, the protagonists of a dialogue,
of civilized negotiations, have gone through different stages which
popular wisdom has classified like this:
Ingenuousness: When nobody believes the dialogue is possible. When
everybody claim it is very necessary and urgent. When nobody listens,
then the people react like this: What can we do about it?. Meanwhile,
the ones who have the duty of carrying out the dialogue try to "gain"
time. Everyone thinks he is right.
The false dialogue: when time is running out, the parts try to implement
"cosmetic"
solutions. The good-willed ones believe these solutions are enough
and they become really ingenuous. The ones who only try to "gain
time", establish dialogues which are monologues rather than dialogues.
The ones who are more logical begin to take real steps, still modest
but visionary about the future as they have time to prepare themselves.
The ones who don't know this and don't want to see the signs of times,
continue saying that these are false dialogues. Others demand concrete
results out of the dialogue.
The Temptation at the Top: This is the moment when the time arrives
and pressures are high and there are a few ways out. This is the moment
when agreement has been reached but the "how" remains uncertain.
Then the first temptation is to think that there will be a miracle
and that the thirst for justice will be quenched. The second temptation
is to believe that a dialogue "at the top" levels will solve
the problems. some prefer to begin the dialogue abroad. And in this
case the dialogue would only have the leaders as protagonists and
the masses will be manipulated.
Thus:
-The ingenuous will think that everything is solved.
-The simple ones will think that the "are the ones who know".
The ambitious ones will protest because they have not been consulted.
-The stubborn ones will say that there is no possible solution even
at the "top".
-The old and wise ones will say that "people should talk to understand
each other".
- The powerful will not make statements in order to favor the smoothness
of the dialogue, but in the end the results will be granted to the
people in order to get cooperation for the implementation of the agreements.
- We Christians will continue saying that the negotiated and pacific
solution is very good and that once it happens we should not waste
more time waiting for the end of history. Instead, we should offer
and implement our own service (without taking orders) as an autonomous
civil society with initiative. We should be protagonists of the dialogue
at our level, and according to our environments. Since the dialogue
started at the top it won't be able to go on if there is not a support
at the base level and thus, no "noble and everlasting work will
be lifted".
There will be yet some people in society who will say:
-That everything is lost.
-Others will say that it was a betrayal.
-Others will try to revive confrontation.
-Others will take advantage of the end of the story and they will
leave.
But we must bear in mind that in life "everything is not a flower".
We must not be disappointed; the last stage will come.
We all knew: It is peace and celebration now. Finally the results
are there. The ones who were naïve at the beginning, now feel
they have fulfilled their duty by keeping an unlimited hope. The ones
who started doubting now say that it was the way it had to be. The
ones that said it was a false dialogue now say that this dialogue
was
"improved". Others who never believed in dialogue look with
respect, they make silence and try to forget the past. The ones who
shed tears are happy now. The ones who asked for amnesty and pluralism
and a new Constitution as a condition for the dialogue will start
to implement the paths that have been attained through dialogue. Because
if amnesty to prisoners had been attained and if the exile could participate
or if there were pluralism inside the country, so it would not be
necessary to start the dialogue because everything would be fine...
Drawing of the Structure and Functioning of the Project
Now that we are ending our reflection on a project for rebuilding
civil society, we want to make a drawing of the structures of the
social framework and the goals of
each structure with its internal dynamics and functioning.
In the drawing of the next page we will be able to see that the realities
we should renew are the following:
-the persons or citizens who are the base and foundations of the nation:
here is the man who must live his own process of personalization.
-the families: first school of socialization and the smallest unit
of democracy in the heart of society.
-the intermediate organizations, cultural, scientific and technical,
sports or productive institutions. Also religious ones and cooperatives,
groups of friends, etc. All that form the social framework. To be
a space for socialization.
- the State: it should be an organization of political power. It should
serve the nation and keep the order. It will respect the rights of
persons and it will enforce such respect. It should search for the
common good.
As to the bonds:
- Among individual citizens and their families: the links are natural,
that is, by being relatives and by home cohabitation.
-Among citizens (their families and civil society): the bonds must
be through the exercise of freedom of association and respect to private
and cooperative property.
-Inside civil society and among state institutions: the bonds should
be under the dynamics of subsidy and solidarity.
As to the dynamics of internal functioning:
-Civic and political education of citizens. Exercise of criteria and
action as a result of a liberating consciousness.
-The families must educate persons. They should be a school for personalization
and socialization. Community for love and life.
-Civil society: pluralism in associations and their self-management.
-The State: Functioning as a State of Rights and promoting a sustainable
and human economy, ecologically conceived. Its internal dynamics in
the mutual control and limitation of the three powers and growing
and effective participation.
In a more participative and co-responsible participation.
Graphic representation of the project
(PDF)
Proposals to Implement
Out of the reflections from the Church social Doctrine we should conclude
and propose concrete actions. During the Catholic Social Weeks, those
proposals often
become concrete measures to be implemented in the right moment.
To the proposals of the Social Weeks we wish to add some others, which
come out of this reflection for civil society rebuilding:
For Men
-To create in each diocese one Civic and Religious Education Center
in order to educate man as a person and in order to study the Church
Social Doctrine. A permanent national coordination should be established
for these centers of social studies.
-To organize in each diocese, a Commission for Justice and Peace for
the defense and promotion of the Rights of the human person and to
establish bonds for dialogue and agreement for peace and national
reconciliation.
-To recommend CARITAS and other similar services paid by the church
to give priority to projects of human promotion and support possible
embryos of social autonomous groups.
-to coordinate, together with Latin American study centers, courses
of education and training for laics in the fields of economics, politics,
intermediate organizations, culture, etc.
For Families
To give a more relevant social dimension to the groups of families
in our communities.
-To promote family associations to help each other, different from
the parish groups of couples and families. The civil character of
them should allow the meeting and participation of families.
For the Civil society
-To promote informal spaces for participation and co-responsibility,
such as friends, literary or art gatherings, associations for mutual
help in the neighborhoods (neighbor communities), groups of professionals,
groups of workers, artisans, etc.
-To organize initial experiences in farmer cooperatives and private
workshops.
-to present some new non-government projects for organizations or
Church financing agencies, some intermediate groups, according to
the spaces that might appear.
- To establish a dialogue with study centers and universities, specialized
in topics related to civil society.
-To make sociological inquiries (like the Cuban Ecclesial Reflection,
1981-1986) and
surveys in order to support social projects and tasks.
-to establish a Civic Consultation Office in order to give advice
to the civil groups and associations and to exchange experiences with
them (either State or autonomous organizations).
-To carry out study sessions or Open Academies in order to reflect
on projects like this one. The debates would be held by good-willed
persons and social
organizations.
-revival of the Commissions for Culture in the Diocese, with the new
perspective of this project and in order to look for cultural spaces
which can enrich civil society.
- That the church publications deal more effectively with social topics,
so that the church message can be spread and can be part of the present
thought and of national life.
-The Social Pastoral Episcopal Commission should work, beginning with
our Cuban experience, taking into account the history of these commissions
in Latin America.
For the State
-To establish a permanent space (a university department) for the
study of civil society, in a reflexive and academic environment.
-To favor the creation of associations, informal groups, organizations
and institutions without the direct interference of the State, by
regulating its social projection for the common good and not through
ideological principles which are exclusive and restrictive.
-To include in the curriculums of primary school and high school the
subject "Moral and Civic", by making new programs and texts
which respond to that topic in an efficient way.
-To organize study encounters on democracy and participation with
other Cubans and sectors from our nation apart from leaders from the
State, the Party and mass organizations. And not only Cubans who live
abroad, that is, Cubans who live in Cuba are to organize these encounters
and participate in the Seminars or study sessions.
-Re-structure the institutions and powers from the State so that they
can be more democratic, participative and pluralist, thus opening
more spaces for the rebuilding of civil society.
