IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 3 ENGLISH | Page 81

holistic view of their work, how to run a campaign if they want to reach people with their message of emancipation, social criticism, or their
noisy racket. Before we definitely leave, would
like to go out and expand our project, publicize it
abroad, and come with resources. We aspire to
not lose contact with key people, because you
know that people leave and things begin to fall
apart. What we want is difficult, yes, but it is also
hard here, anyway.
Mirita: We are also leaving to keep doing this,
but I, personally, am leaving because my work
and my message no longer have a place in this
country. I am tired of running to that mental block
there is in spaces everywhere here. The United
States is not the ideal country, nor does it have the
ideal society; it is just a place with more opportunities. Resources are not going to rain on us, but
they are accessible. I am tired of working so hard
and there being moments in which we don’t even
have anything to eat. People misinterpret these
kinds of projects; they have no idea about all the
sacrifice they involve.
Fito: Look, right now we’re working on our own;
we don’t know if we can get the next issue of the
magazine out, if we’ll be able to have the concert
next week. Everything we support is for the short
term and very uncertain. If we had economic stability, we would not do just one concert tomor-

row, but a whole festival that would include everything: rappers, plastic artists, etc. I see that the
country is moving, that there are people leaving,
but people fill their spaces, people who are ready
to work, who don’t need to learn anything. These
are people with the same energy and drive we
used to have. And the fact we are leaving doesn’t
mean that we’re just going to live the American
dream. I, myself, aspire to find a lifestyle that is
not determined by the obstacles the world puts in
your way, because the way we live our lives at
this very moment, there is never enough for anything. At least, that’s the case for what I think you
come into this world for: preparing the landscape
for those who are here now, and improve it for
those who are coming after.
Notes:
1-An independent producer that created the Rotilla Alternative Music Festival. In 2010, it was
censored and copied by the Ministry of Culture.
Currenlty, Matraka holds the competitive rap
“Puños Arriba” [Raised Fists] festival, where the
best underground recordings are adknowledged
with awards.
2-A network of alternative projects that began in
2007 and aspired to create strategies for dialoguing with Cuban institutions.

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