Desafios de la problematica racial en Cuba

[Martina]

La aparición del libro Desafíos de la problemática racial en Cuba (Fundación Fernando Ortiz, 2007), del economista y politólogo, Esteban Morales Domínguez, constituye de por sí un hecho trascendente dentro del campo de las Ciencias Sociales cubanas de hoy. El retraso de un estudio que, además de la perspectiva histórica, incluyera un análisis de la cuestión de la raza en la Cuba revolucionaria, ha postergado un debate que se ha realizado mayormente fuera de la Isla o hacia el interior de nuestra sociedad civil. Esta aproximación científica contribuye a legitimar la importancia de asumir el tema racial dentro de las agendas investigativas institucionales y dentro del diseño y puesta en práctica de las políticas sociales y culturales en el país.

Vista como discriminación racial o racismo, la Revolución patentó desde el discurso legislativo la igualdad de oportunidades entre sus ciudadanas y ciudadanos sin importar el color de la piel. Sin embargo, la reducción al plano discursivo ha invisibilizado una problemática que atraviesa la conformación de la Nación, la identidad y la cultura cubanas.

Hablar de la raza es hablar de relaciones de poder. De ahí que a pesar de que nuevas posiciones nieguen la validez de la categoría raza desde una perspectiva biológica y la evidencien como una construcción cultural, siga teniendo una gran carga política que no se expresa desde el término color de la piel. Procesos de marginación/marginalidad, inequidad y desigualdad social, se develan dentro del estudio del tema racial.

El propio autor ha señalado en la introducción a su obra la ausencia de Estudios Raciales en Cuba. No obstante, pensar el tema racial en Cuba ha significado pensar en negros y mestizos, y se ha desestimado, sobre todo, el estudio de la blanquitud. Experiencias loables como el Proyecto “Color Cubano”, han estado centradas en el reconocimiento de las personas negras y su empoderamiento en la sociedad.

Uno de los principales desafíos del estudio de la problemática racial en nuestro país es, sin duda, la ordenación del instrumental metodológico que contribuya a su análisis científico, así como la profundización y crítica a una teoría que ha sido mayormente establecida por centros de poder blanco y que ha valorado al negro a partir de su condición negativa de “no-blanco”.

[Martina]

Racism - "Taboo, Complicated and Thorny" Issue

Patricia Grogg


HAVANA, Jan 7 (IPS) - The persistence of racism in Cuba is disturbing
to some of the island's thinkers, who are calling for a debate on the
problem in this country, where equal rights have not guaranteed equal
opportunities for all social groups.

The first documentary on racial discrimination in this Caribbean
island nation was filmed here in 2008, incorporating opinions from
well-known artists and intellectuals that go to the heart of the
controversy. "Raza" (Race), by young filmmaker Eric Corvalán, could
serve as a starting-point to launch the long-delayed debate.

"So far, racism has only been talked about in academia, among
intellectuals. I think there should be an open, public discussion,
even in parliament," the 36-year-old Corvalán told IPS.

"In 50 years (since the revolution), women's issues and homosexuality
have been debated: why hasn't racism?" asked the filmmaker. "It's a
revolutionary topic that concerns everyone, because there are black
women, black homosexuals and black men."

"I think silence is worse. The longer nothing is said, the more the
racism fermenting underground is rotting the entire nation,"
singer/songwriter Gerardo Alfonso says in the documentary.

According to Roberto Zurbano, head of the Casa de las Américas
publishing house, to carry on "hiding" the issue would lead black
people to think that "they belong to another country, and that there
are two Cuba's as there were in the 19th century, a black Cuba and a
white one." Another possible implication is that "the issue could
become a political football, outside and inside the country."

In the debate on race in Cuba, the media have drawn some of the
heaviest criticism for allegedly fomenting stereotypes that identify
black people and people of mixed ancestry with crime, or with very
specific activities like sports and music, while establishing the
idea of white "normality."

"The media must help to create a balanced portrait of black people,
which is lacking, so a racist stereotype is constructed by society,"
Corvalán said. "Why can't we make films starring blacks, whether as
lawyers, doctors or engineers?"

According to Irene Ester, who holds a degree in audiovisual
communications, television will never contribute to demythologising
race as long as it only emphasises the high proportion of black
people in prison, working as prostitutes, or unemployed, instead of
the "heroism" and special characteristics of black families.

There is also an absence of models in the education system,
especially in the teaching of national history. The first Africans
arrived in Cuba in the early 16th century, brought in as slaves by
the Spanish colonialists. Slavery was abolished in 1886.

"In primary education, skin colour is not mentioned," academic
Esteban Morales says in the film. "If we are still living in a
society where white people have the power, and we don't mention
colour in education, we are in practice educating children to be
white.

"Cuban history as we teach it is a disgrace, because it is
predominantly white history, and explaining the role of black people
and mulattos in building this society and its culture is not given
its due importance," says Morales, of the University of Havana's
Centre for the Study of the Hemisphere and the United States
(CEHSEU).

Blacks and people of mixed-race heritage officially make up 34.9
percent of Cuba's total population of 11.2 million, according to the
latest census, carried out in 2002.

However, most Cuban academics estimate that between 60 and 70 percent
of the population is black or "mulatto"

Article 42 of the Cuban constitution states that "discrimination
because of race, skin colour, sex, national origin, religious beliefs
and any other form of discrimination harmful to human dignity is
forbidden and punishable by law." In May 1961, the government
eliminated racial segregation by nationalising all clubs and
associations.

But equality before the law has not succeeded in closing the
socioeconomic gaps between different racial groups.

The Cuban cultural journal Temas published studies by the
governmental Anthropology Centre in 2006 that showed that on average,
the black population has worse housing, receives less money in
remittances from abroad and has less access to jobs in emerging
economic sectors like tourism, in which blacks represent barely five
percent of managers and professionals, than the white population.

"Equal rights does not mean social equality," Morales says. "We do
not have the same social standing, nor the same opportunities. This
is what has generally happened to non-white and black people in
Cuba."

"If, 50 years after the revolution, there are still visible signs of
racism in society, it means that equality of rights hasn't been
sufficient," says Alfonso.

The issue of racism remains "taboo, a complicated and thorny"
question, as Corvalán was told by some institutions where he showed
his documentary, made with support from the non-governmental Martin
Luther King Memorial Centre (CMMLK), the Higher Institute of Art
(ISA) and Delfín, an independent producer.

"We made a revolution in this country, which is what sets us apart
from other nations," Zurbano said. "It's a tremendous opportunity
that revolutionaries of any colour cannot let slip away, in the sense
that we can create a strategy, and it can evolve."

After the documentary's première at the recent Latin American Film
Festival in Havana, Corvalán was thanked by black and mixed-race
people, some of whom were surprised to see that a white person was
interested in racism.

"I don't think of myself as white or black or mixed-race, I'm just
Cuban," said Corvalán, who has French and Chilean ancestry. (END/2009)