And so we are, in two different sides

And so we are, in two different sides
Fecha de publicación: 
2 February 2021
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A Facebook friend of mine warned me about the danger of taking sides, of being inflexible and it left me thinking that, in fact, taking sides does harm. But, what is the proposal? Who should be the first ones to break ranks?

On the other side, and going back to Martí, we are actually taking sides: “those who love and create” and “those who hate and destroy” then, I ask myself again, since when do we go in two factions? I do not feel I am part of one side. I am in the side of a people that have already stated, crystal-clear, in every way: elections, legislation, popular feeling…Who are the ones trying hard to organize and finance the side opposed to the vast majority? Do you really believe it is natural the emergence of this side, which verges on vandalism?

But in the most literal interpretation, and after checking out RAE’s entries, I realize that in fact, I back some factions: if embracing the Constitution of the Republic, approved in 2019, amid the longest economic and trade war ever suffered by any people, indicates I am taking sides, then yes, I am guilty. If regulations issued by the Cuba’s Defense Councils and sanitary authorities to contain the Covid-19 outbreak is one of RAE's entries for taking sides, then I am certainly in as well.

And as for the definition of taking sides as political party or faction, in the light of José Martí’s quote, I am pretty clear of my side: I am in the side of those working hard to save Cuba from the pandemic, the aggressions of the empire, which has belittled us from the times of Martí himself. I am in the side of my baby boy’s teachers, or the professors of the music academy of my daughter, of the doctors trying to repair the coronary artery of my uncle for free. I am in the side of the Finlay and CIGB’s scientists working in the four only vaccine candidate in Latin America. I am in the side of the Ministry of Culture that protects jobless artists in these difficult times…I would never be on the other side.

Even though I may disagree in some aspects, my name would be never on the other list, much less along with people wishing misery, economic suffocation and even military actions against my homeland. I would never be on the side of those walking through Havana while taking handouts from the very same government Martí warned us about, the same government he tried to prevent from extending its hold over the peoples in America. So, yes, we are in two different sides.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff

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