IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 31

people living in the worst housing
conditions, as well as an underrepresentation in the higher education
graduates.
The propaganda media oversize the
African descent representation in the
bodies of the State, but it comes from a
scandal in Cuban sociology: the 2012
Census revealed the unlikely fact that
people of African descent constitute
only 9.3% of the population. Adding the
mestizos (26.7%), they will hardly
exceed half of the estimated white
population (64.1%).
As important as the representation —
equally valid in gender and minority
issues— is the empowerment of African
descent to take part in political life and
the problem of why the supposedly
greater representation of women and
African descent does not result in
policies favoring them.
The case of women is particularly
striking. Their representation in Cuba
shows, as in Mexico, impressive
numbers, but they do not translate into
empowerment for changing the phalluscentric structures in society and power.
These structures have been rather
strengthened.
A
most
visible
consequence is the feminization of
poverty, in which the black woman
carries the heaviest burden.
The debates in academic circles have
been dismantled. Spaces and projects
promoted by the civil society have lost
presence in areas of public visibility, for
instance:
The
Brotherhood
of
Negritude, dislodged from its venue at
the Community House of La Ceiba
(Marianao).
The logical consequence of conducting
discussions in chambers without impact
on the public sphere consists in
accumulating dense ideas and dead-end
arguments that only serve to the
political game of branding dissidences,
rehabilitations, correct policies and
symbolic figures by the cultural power.
The lack of public discussion about race
can be seen in contrast to the

discussions and public programs,
including on television and radio, about
topics such as AIDS, drug addiction,
violence against women and others.
However, there is not an only single
program on racial issues. Not even a
public agenda as advocacy strategy
because of the International Decade of
African Descent.
The CIR and other grassroots
organizations develop their work in
hostile scenarios. The State Security is
concerned with every action or
advocacy strategy. Police operations
prevent the attendance at workshops,
forums and press conferences. The
secret police dynamites the possible
communication of activists with the
academia and other official institutions,
as well as the visits of American
scholars or students and members of the
African Diaspora, who apply for
research licenses.
The
Cuba-USA
rapprochement
propitiates many manipulations and
sows political mistrust to unfortunately
prevent the articulation between diverse
anti-racist platforms. Thusly the
struggle and the debate in the public
sphere are delayed. The powers that be
even tried to impose the clearly bizarre
label “Afro- Cuban-Right” to the
opponents. It hasn’t had much luck so
far in the media, but it reflects the antihistorical manipulation of the racial
problems.
The discriminatory practices adopt
forms of censorship because of the
structural racism in force. The National
Council of Plastic Arts cancelled an
exhibition by the group Siclkemia,
curated by the artists Luis Lamothe
Durruty and Ulises Lamadrid. It was
scheduled with 25 artists of African
descent from the latest batch of Cuban
plastic art for October 9, 2012, at the
Center for Development of Visual Arts.
The artists tried to use the canvas and
the image to continue arousing
awareness and sensitivity about the
racial problems. Barriers, suspicions,

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