IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH

IDENTIDADES: The Democracy That’s On Its Way José Hugo Fernández W e have not yet taken enough time to consider the fact that the journal IDENTIDADES is currently functioning as a turning point because it delivers its totally antiracist and anti-discriminatory content to Cuban readers all over the island. It is a publication whose specialized profile, editorial stance, and professionally competent creators, is entirely ideated and written for everyday readers, for those social groups among which discrimination is not only fomented but also prospers. This is an important, unprecedented achievement for us, given the last fifty years of our history. It is also a political phenomenon, a sign that democratic breezes are blowing in the country, whether the government likes it or not: they are decontaminating the leaden, totalitarian atmosphere. Given this last detail, we should explore the reason IDENTIDADES has been so popularly received by folks throughout Cuba, from east to west. The journal’s pages are like a shout out about the democracy that is coming and has begun to show signs of its impending arrival. And this, despite it lack of clarity, or its delay, due to all forms of tricks or ruses. It is clear that these signs could not be more obvious in the context of this journal. It reveals something very basic to us, but that we have not spent sufficient time considering over many decades: that proposing to efficiently fight against different forms of discrimination without first having eliminated ideological prejudices and political structures that are themselves discriminatory is not possible or even serious. Despite any information to the contrary, the Cuban people hardly read periodicals of any sort. On the one hand, they have the “news” dailies, which have said the same thing, in the same way, forever. Commenting that they have become a substitute for toilet paper is quite common, and dubiously tasteful. However, the fact still remains that the vulgarity of this reality does not stem from the affirmation itself, or what it 152

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