We are 1.7 million

We are 1.7 million / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez
Posted on April 21, 2015

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 21 April 2015 — Years of masks,
whispers and fears have made Cubans find delving into political issues
as difficult as delving into enigmatic, dark abyss. The few surveys and
inquiries conducted independently in recent decades have encountered a
suspicion that leads us to question: Why are you asking me that? What
will you do with the information?

However, there are times when our actions are the most conclusive and
direct of responses. As in the elections held last Sunday for the
Municipal Assemblies of People's Power, where more than 1.7 million
people didn't vote, annulled their ballot, or left it blank, or even
voted for one of the only two opposition candidates.

With as 88.3% participation, any foreign observer would think that we
take the district elections very seriously. Amid voter apathy of so many
democratic countries, the participation of Cuban voters could be
misinterpreted as a sign of civility, but in fact it is evidence of the
tight controls under which we have lived for over half a century. Going
to the polls does not signal assent or support.

To not vote or abstain has for too long signified a act that marks us as
disaffected or counterrevolutionaries, in a country where ideological
fidelity opens doors, guarantees futures and results in privileges. On
the other hand, the act of selecting our representatives has been taken
over by automatic behavior, aware of our limited power to influence the
solution of local and national problems.

The district delegate becomes a sort of scapegoat, a target of the
complaints and demands, but one whose management capabilities are
limited and lacking in autonomy. How many years have to told this
people's representative, in successive "accountability meetings," about
the poor quality of the bread, the deterioration of the streets?
Without, in the three decades of their existence, these figures managing
to improve anything.

Hence the phrase, "everything, if nothing is going to change," repeated
by millions of voters, who also counsel their friends, "Go to vote so
they don't single you out." A combination of disbelief and faking it,
skepticism and fear, has been the principle force for "going through the
motions" of marking a ballot, folding it and placing it in a ballot box
as closely watched as it is ineffective. A reflexive gesture, some
unavoidable paperwork that many try to get done with as quickly as
possible, with neither hope nor confidence.

To the more than 1.7 million Cubans who this weekend showed their
disinterest or disagreement with the elections, the same number or twice
as many individuals who think the same might join them, but they are
afraid of standing out. For every person who doesn't enter the polling
station, scribbles on the ballot, or just writes nothing on it, should
be added many more who wanted to but didn't dare to be so bold. The
voting booth might have hidden cameras – they think fearfully – or the
ballot could be marked to detect disobedience, they tell themselves.

The president of the National Electoral Commission, Alina Balseiro, said
the nearly six percentage point drop in attendance compared to the last
municipal elections was due to the absence of the "hundreds of thousands
of Cubans" who are traveling abroad. The official has to know that this
explosion of travel is also a way to vote against a system that hampers
their personal and professional development within national borders.

It is worth emphasizing that the brave who chose not to give in to their
fears are more than double the number of those who are active in the
Communist Party. The courage it takes for the former far exceeds the
effort to pay the annual dues of an organization that has hijacked the
name of the country and boasts of representing the soul of all its
citizens. In the ranks of those who refused to validate their vote is,
therefore, greater willpower and honesty.

This Sunday, we sent a loud and clear message. Without our agreement,
without spaces for us in the national mass media, and even in the face
of possible punishments, 1.7 million Cubans stepped from the shadows of
faking it to the harsh sun of assuming our positions publicly. A force
for change that the government fears and that the dissent should channel.

Source: We are 1.7 million / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez | Translating Cuba
- http://translatingcuba.com/we-are-1-7-million-14ymedio-yoani-sanchez/