what could we, the people who suffered from the supposedly socialist system, say about this whole thing? well, first of all we had loads of fun. there were mojitos, cuba libres and cigars. a lot of salsa dancing to good beats provided by dj su comandante. to be totally honest, it was the first time i danced with my own mother!!
but coming back to the revolution. when everybody, including my mom who really got into the spirit, was shouting "viva fidel! viva la revolucion!" i remained silent. yes, i am a skeptic toward the cuban revolution, because it really is fidelian revolution. a revolution of a person, not of the people. having said this, i have a lot of respect for castro's ideas and achievements, but i believe that the society has not grown up to them yet. will they ever? that's a completely different issue.
but the enthusiasm and atmosphere cuba and the cubans seem to have are quite remarkable. i need to point to one comment which my mom made: "the polish people, and people of eastern europe never had enthusiasm for socialism or communism for that matter. soviet union for us was exactly what the u.s.a. was for cuba. political orientation did not matter. people used to go to work, vote, demonstrate etc., because they were threatened by secret police and the whole network of spies. in cuba the enthusiasm seems genuine".
but to me, regardless of the intentions behind both political extremes use exactly the same methods of maintain power: physical force. sad, but true. besides, people in general are not mature enough to see the middle point. they keep stubbornly believing that the only alternative to communism is capitalism and the only alternative to capitalism is communism. both statements are terribly false! when the world will start looking up to the scandinavian social democracy? when the world will learn from the scandinavian people how to govern justly and peacefully? good question.
below some pictures from the new year's eve:
