IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 30

An Urgent Dialogue is
postponed
Marthadela Tamayo González
Project Nuevo País
Antilla, Holguin, Cuba

M

uch has been accomplished
since the World Conference
against
Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Durban, South Africa,
2001). Many states have enacted new
laws and established new institutions
for promoting and protecting human
rights, while civil society organizations
devoted to fight racism are more active
and visible. However, there are still
many pending issues. This was the
message delivered by the U.N. Secretary General Ban Kim Moon on the
International Day for Elimination of
Racial Discrimination. It was read by
Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, National
Coordinator of the Citizens Committee
for Racial Integration (CIR), on March
24, 2016, at the CIR headquarters in
order to open the journey of citizen
reflection against discrimination. Various papers were presented: The Experience in Workshops on African Descent
and Human Rights in Colombia, by
Oleydis Luis Machado (CIR); Human
Rights and Civil Society, by independent journalist Boris Gonzalez Arenas;
#Otro 18: inclusion of minorities, by
Manuel Cuesta Morúa. The seventh
issue of the magazine Identities and the
book A Nation for All: Race and Inequality in Cuba, by Alejandro de la

Fuente, were also presented. Madrazo
Luna explained the challenges of the
social project run by the CIR, especially
for empowering and educating the
communities through knowledge management. He made a reference to how
important was the visit to Cuba by
President Barack Obama for the cultural
identity and racial integration in Cuba,
because Obama symbolizes, despite the
really existing racism in the US, the
modernizing and integrating trends that
impose decency in the field of politics
and send the strong message that we are
definitely all the same. Beyond the
immediate political and historical meaning, the visit was a cultural symbol
telling us that The Others can stop being
mere exotic subordinates. It is still not
the case in Cuba, despite of being a
laboratory of multiple interbreeding.
Racism embraces us all and it is very
well accommodated in our social and
political imagination. There is neither a
political will of the authorities to encourage the debate in the public sphere
nor the minimal preventive rules from
the educational standpoint. Talking
about racism is not easy. It is one of the
most uncomfortable issues and a selfevident reality in everyday experience.
Anti-black racism is one of the most
visible legacies of slavery, but the civil

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