Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Haitian Echoes: Transcendence and Threat to Cuban Culture
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Harris for president?
The truth is that Harrys survived the thick surveillance of the
Democratic Party, becoming the viable candidate; a skill that includes the use
of force, and above all knowing how to handle it to the right extent, with
damage control. Add to that the way she thrashed Biden in the presidential
debates, making herself taken into account; when he was an expert politician,
only ignored in his mediocrity by the corporate nature of his party.
That is important, Biden won the presidency because of the
support on Kamala Harrys, with the Operation Floyd; only for that reason could
he surpass Trump, by a narrow margin and without a real mandate, showing his
weakness. Harrys' presence in the vice presidency was muted, but that may
indicate more cunning than clumsiness; especially in a structure as iron as
that of the Democratic Party, which ignores political individuality.
Not much should be expected from a Harrys term though, it is
hard enough that she can set such a precedent; but even so she can give
surprises, with the astuteness with which she has been able to negotiate her
ascension to the top of the party. She capitalized on the support of a specific
sector, she did not dazzle humanity like the charismatic Obama; that gives her
the margin to work as a team, which she definitely knows how to handle; a
difficulty that Obama didn’t overcome, exposing himself to the pulse of Pelosi,
in the resentment he created with Hillary.
We have to see what she can do effectively, but she can
definitely do something, if she has come that far; that credit is in the mere
fact of having stoically gone through Biden's presidency, with all his white
man disdain. We will also have to see how she surfs the sea of international
politics, under the armamentist industry pressure; among the pending tests, she
has the left wing —which Biden was able to pulse back— shouting against Israel;
also the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Taiwan and the centrality of the
United States' leadership in NATO. But it is likely that the Party will exempt her
from this effort, with valuable, effective and always necessary advice; after
all, it is a joke to think that foreign policy is not the responsibility of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
As a prudence, I would recommend spending the vote on a lateral
movement like Cornel West, the liberal Trump; who it is not going anywhere, but
it is a reference, reminding the sector behind Harrys that the country is
bigger than the party. It's also a good maneuver, giving Harry time to
demonstrate, but also requiring her to do so; because the vote is not an act of
faith but of negotiation with its own power, and it is not necessary to give a
mandate until it shows its value.
Friday, July 19, 2024
About the return to the native land, from Cesaire to Depestre
Before
the Cuban process, and for whatever reasons, England led anti-slavery efforts
in the world; adding the payment for the manumission of slaves in their
territory, with a debt that only ended in the twentieth century. The rise of
the scientific-technical revolution can be argued, which required the
development, production and sale of machinery; more efficient, but requiring a
heavy investment, compared to the slave method, more onerous but already
established.
We
should remember that, at the height of the Enlightenment in France, it suffered
a depression in England; which reaching the closure of universities, sees its
elite emigrate to North America, refunding them in line with this process;
which does not include this abolitionist aspect, at least as a political
priority, but does include strong industrialization. But even in America, the
emergence of the Democratic Party does not occur as a harmonious an organized liberalism;
and the racist reticence of the first workers struggles in the United States,
is soon overcome by a more radical faction.
This
is what dilutes the phenomenon of Blackness —like the so-called Harlem
Renaissance— in its contradictions; given by its inevitable immaturity, as the
first stage of that development, in which it will acquire that maturity. That maturity
is what comes gradually, with the correction of precisely these problems and
contradictions; as the set in which this phenomenon will organize its own
hermeneutical spectrum, with its respective ontology.
That
ontology in turn, obeying the decline of that of the West, would be the one
that works regressively; as a recovery of the original reflexive functions,
prior to modern political determinism of Modern philosophy; which, arising from
the apotheosis in that sense of Christianity, would reach its own apotheosis in
the Enlightenment. Therefore, these are not illegitimate or incomprehensible
processes in any way, but only defective; which must be resolved in a constant
and inevitably critical correction due to its contradictory nature, like all
development.
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Carlos Martiel and the actuality of Slavery bondage
That
is important, because in this religious edge nature, art becomes a
pseudo-religious function; providing in this a hermeneutical structure
(ideology), for that political determination of society. In this sense, art
assumes the reflexive-discursive function of mystical traditions in religion;
with an emphasis on the discursive, channeling this ideological rather than
reflexive function, with its ethical referents; but also with reflective
scopes, in this mystical character that it provides in its spiritual
exaltation.
On
the face of it, that order is already inverted as part of this distortion of
society's determination; which is not resolved in culture itself —as an
existential praxis— but in politics, with this effect. That is why, as a
mystical sublimation of discourse, art no longer contradicts the institutional
function of discourse; contrary to the pre-modern tradition on which it is
based, and in which mysticism continually subverted this institutionality.
The
serious thing here is that the individual is the ontological basis of society,
resolved in its existential praxis; which —thus disappeared— causes the
stagnation of the whole structure, already doomed to an accelerated entropy. As
an example, see the case of performances in plastic art, with their openly
discursive projection; which, by recreating itself in the drama of an original
experience, prevents its overcoming as practical.
The
example would be in cases such as that of Carlos Martiel and his treatment of
racism, which is always political; as it does not refer to an existential
experience, but only recreates that of slavery in the black historical past.
Martiel, to explain the example, does not contextualize the phenomenon as
historical, but only morally; so that in the end it is decontextualized, in the
same Manichean tradition of moral institutionalism; which born in Christianity,
subverts its own anthropology as soteriological, with the political function of
ideology.
As
a result, to continue with the example, the black person will never be able to
overcome his past as a slave; as the modern Christian can never escape the supposed
but institutional blackmail of his liberation by Christ; which is supposed,
since in reality it would occur at the individual level, by their
consciousness, not institutionally. In this case, the black people is
affiliated as a principle to an ideology, which spreads its protective mantle
over him; that is to say, he loses the power of his own political expression,
which is individual as practical and existential.
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Negros cubanos del exilio
Eso es entonces apenas natural, ya que los intereses no
existen en abstracto sino en esa consistencia de lo personal; pero como una
relación peligrosa, en que el peso del egoísmo y la mezquindad arrastra a la
inteligencia en su falta de alcance. Es por eso que este esfuerzo no debería
estar sesgado por esas limitaciones personales, no importa la premisa; y eso por
una cuestión incluso práctica y no moral, en tanto proyección personal, que
nunca generará la confianza que necesita.
La experiencia ha mostrado que como objeto común, la expresión
política ha de ser colegiada; asumiendo la reunión de todos los intereses, no
importa lo difícil que sea, y hasta las contradicciones que eso implica. En
definitiva, la contradicción es sólo el condicionamiento de toda proyección,
más allá de lo personal; que así deviene en práctica, en vez de sublimarse en
el idealismo, cuya falsa moral la hace inconsistente.
El mismo hecho de que alguien lo reconozca y no se atreva
a cruzar ese límite, sería la señal de peligro; que no reside en la
legitimidad, sino en la inconsistencia, terminando por socavar esa legitimidad.
¿En definitiva, si una proyección es tan personal, cómo puede ser legítima y
coherentemente política?; ese es el contrasentido que secuestró a la revolución
cubana, conduciéndola al desastre antropológico que es.
Eso es lo que, por ejemplo, permite la manipulación en
discursos que secuestran la fuerza colectiva; haciendo que los conflictos sean
insolubles, abstraídos a su legitimidad, tras el prestigio personal; que es en
definitiva aparente, ocultando sus falencias inevitables, y que no tendría que
ser tan importante. Lo práctico es entonces lo que permite la solución de los
problemas, explotando todas sus aristas; pero para lo que tiene que ir más allá
de lo personal, desconfiando de ese genio sublime que no puede negociar.
O quizás no, sino que ese puede ser precisamente el
propósito, en un esfuerzo solapado por ese ascendiente; que con su fe en lo
político marca al liberalismo desde su nacimiento, con la Modernidad. También quizás,
esto provenga de que esos líderes no son genuinamente negros, sino sólo por
defecto; porque los blancos les recuerdan que no son blancos, siendo negros por
resentimiento y no por valores positivos. Esto explicaría esa dependencia del liberalismo
blanco, que a cambio los usa como moneda de cambio; pero debilitándolos tanto
que no pueden intentar ningún esfuerzo efectiva, dado que su consistencia es
ideológica y no existencial.
Eso explicaría la incapacidad anterior para actuar en una
mediación efectiva ante la fuerza política de los afroamericanos; a los que no se
puede presentar una alternativa suficiente, en esa inconsistencia, que nos sume
en su misma ambigüedad. Para eso necesitaríamos una proyección que comprenda
incluso nuestro conservadurismo, que es pragmático y no moral; e incluso la
verdadera hondura en una nueva profundidad ontológica, en vez de repetir
lugares comunes con la mera esperanza de —por fin— hacer filosofía.