IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 27

religious
expressions
are
being
reinforced. This cultural liberalization
has allowed to de-dramatize the
religious diversity and to sociologically
level the different religions.
In CIR, we think these changes are
remarkable, because they impact the
social
perception
and
create
indispensable premises for a quieter
discussion on the national cultural
imagination. However, the documentary
reference to our analytical approach: the
report of the Cuban State to the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD), dated on
August 10, 2016, reflects how the
government refuses to take the
necessary steps in the structural
directions for modernizing its views on
racial issues and allowing the public
display of the rich diversity and
plurality that is ahead of the narrow
state conceptions and policies.
The conceptual approach has not
changed. Yet the government does not
distinguish between racism and racial
discrimination. It continues to insist on
the notion that the action of civil society
is subsidiary with respect to the state
action. Such a pre-modern worldview
gives
priority
to
representative
institutions over the citizens in terms of
legitimation. The State still conceived
itself as the origin of the cultural
process and requires, as unity and
cohesion in society, being united around
the State in the way the latter designs
and determines.
What reveals the preliminary analysis
of this repo