It has been possible because the citizens themselves supported the regime’s arbitrary policies
14ymedio, Karel J. Leyva, Montreal, 4 August 2024 — Domination manifests itself when an agent – whether a person, an institution or the State – has the ability to arbitrarily intervene in the decisions and actions of another, without taking into account their interests and without the latter being able to question or counteract said intervention. Power is considered arbitrary when it acts according to the capricious will or idiosyncratic judgment of those who exercise it.
Domination refers not only to active intervention but also to the mere possibility of such intervention. A commonly cited case to illustrate the subtle forms of domination is the dynamic between a master and a slave. Domination exists both when a master constantly intervenes to regulate every aspect of his slave’s life, and when he is benevolent towards the latter, allowing him to do as he pleases. The underlying idea is that, even when the master acts benevolently, the mere possibility of depriving the slave at any time of the benefits he bestows upon him, qualifies the relationship as one of domination.
Let us consider the Cuban context. In theory, an outside observer might think that citizens of Cuba have the freedom to leave and enter their own country (leaving aside the insurmountable inequalities between them; even overlooking the fact that such “freedom” depends largely on how much one is willing to sacrifice, from the most intimate and sacred properties and ties, to one’s own life in many cases). However, the stark reality is that the Cuban government maintains intact the ability to put an end to this supposed freedom. When it prevents a dissident from leaving the country, or when it capriciously forces him into exile, it is exercising domination. Even when it does not intervene, it finds itself in the same position as the benevolent master, who allows the slave to come and go, as long as the master pleases.
Domination refers not only to active intervention but also to the mere possibility of such intervention.
From the beginning, the Cuban revolutionary project was designed as a project of domination. The policies that led to the nationalization of companies and private property are an integral part of this project. The arbitrary intervention of the state in private property and its absolute control over the economy soon resulted in dispossessing citizens of their economic autonomy. Cubans were left submissive, dependent on the arbitrary decisions of the Government regarding the production, distribution and consumption of goods.
Those who have dared to challenge the power of the state have faced imprisonment, exile, or social isolation. The fact that the revolutionary regime establishes that only what the Government approves can be publicly expressed, that the citizen’s fate is determined by his degree of submission, and that any defiance is cruelly punished, is the very manifestation of domination.
From the beginning, the Cuban revolutionary project was designed as a project of domination.
Domination in Cuba has also been possible thanks to the participation of the citizens themselves. If, initially, many supported the regime’s arbitrary policies by accepting in return the promise of a radiant future, soon the support turned into action. Encouraged and supported by the Government, many denounced, attacked, intimidated and stigmatized those who dared to raise their voices against the dictatorship. It was not enough for them that a military state monopolized violence, the control over weapons, ideas, communication, food or transport; they also joined its plans and gave away the powerful weapon of social approval. And, no matter where communism takes root, it always reconfigures social norms, subordinating them to the capricious will of the tyrant.
The whole history of the “revolution” is one of domination. Is that not the case of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), based on the immoral premise of surveillance, denunciation and stigmatization? Was that not the case of the exit permits (white cards), arbitrarily approved for decades? And what about laws that criminalize freedom of expression and association under the premise of protecting the security of the State? Is there anything more arbitrary than the recent threats to revoke the Cuban citizenship of whomever they consider? Is it not the case of all the public policies, applied no matter how much damage they cause to Cuban families? Doesn’t the lack of free and fair elections deprive citizens of a voice in the processes that regulate their lives? Doesn’t the absence of judicial autonomy and the repression of civil society consolidate the Communist regime’s structure of domination?
Encouraged and supported by the Government, many people denounced, attacked, intimidated and stigmatized those who dared to raise their voices against the dictatorship.
The Russian dissident Joseph Brodsky, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, used to say that, to be effective, the devil never presents himself as such. Like a good devil, the Cuban revolution has always presented itself as a project of social justice, one of “full equality and freedom.” But the so-called Cuban revolution is not, and never has been, about emancipation.
From ancient times when the concept of a republic was forged, the foundations were laid to unequivocally determine when we are in the presence of tyranny, even when the oppressor presents himself as an ally. As much as the regime dresses up as a republic, in communist Cuba the “revolution” is nothing more than a euphemism for domination.
Translated by LAR
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