Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Innocent Little “Survey”

Innocent Little "Survey" / Miriam Celaya
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting

At a polling place: "See? no cheating… at least in the ballot box."

The results of the ballots –the so-called "elections"- in Cuba this past
October 21st were reported in the official media as a demonstration of
the people's loyalty to the Revolution, which is to say, an example of
allegiance to the government. Nothing new in that discourse. Every two
and a half years, there is a repetition of the choreography in which
government and "voters" play their role in the comedy, pretending to do
their part: the former, holding elections, the latter, making choices.

Although this time the process featured more apathy than usual on the
part of the voters, and the authorities were less irksome with
propaganda, and even stopped the usual practice of niggling voters by
sending Pioneers to insistently knock on doors of the most unlikely to
go out and cast their votes, attendance figures again placed above 90%,
as befits any self-respecting totalitarian regime. However, even if we
gave credence to the official data, the number of dissenters was clearly
endorsed at 1,161,431 Cubans of voting age who did not go to the polls,
invalidated their ballots, or left them blank, three sufficiently clear
ways to at least protest the lack of confidence in the system by a
significant number of the population.

At any rate, the fear of retaliation and the zombie effect continue to
be the norm in the population. A few days after the elections, I decided
to make inquiries among voters in some neighborhoods of three of the
more densely populated municipalities in the capital: Cerro, Diez de
Octubre, and Centro Habana. Knowing how impossible it would be to
organize a formal and complete survey, I thought it more expeditious to
assume the position of a fellow citizen innocently seeking information
needed for a personal matter, and to improvise, according to the
situation. My objective was to confirm what we all know, including
voters who vote in an effective manner, that is, those individuals whose
ballots are valid upon scrutiny, because they vote for only one of the
candidates for delegate districts, they do so automatically. Even so,
most of those who consider themselves party to the system ignore even
the most basic information of their "elected".

Thus, I showed up randomly in 46 different blocks of said
municipalities, sometimes knocking on doors where an always rickety sign
declared it to be the headquarters for the CDR; others, I would turn to
any civilian strolling around the area or simply taking in the sights on
his doorstep. In total, my questions were very basic, and, as I said
before, I modified them whenever appropriate:

Do you know who the district delegate is, his name, address, how I
can get in touch with him and his schedule to meet with his constituents?
Did you vote for the elected delegate?
How do you get in touch with the delegate?

Only one housewife could give me a half-answer for the first question,
because the delegate lived in her building, though she didn't know where
or when he held office hours. The rest, people would tell me they did
vote –except in one case, when an individual answered, with some
suspicion, that he was away on that day, and he wasn't very
communicative- though nobody could tell me with any certainty the name
of their delegate, let alone his address or how to get in touch with
him. Only three individuals told me that the candidate they voted for
had been elected, but couldn't quite remember his information (last
names, address, etc.) "I think his name was Juan Luis or something like
that", "I think he lives in the green building around the corner" were
some of the most accurate information I found. Other descriptions were
even ambiguous: "He is military, bald-headed", "Yes, of course, he's a
mulatto who hobbles a bit when he walks, but I don't remember his name
or where he lives." As can be seen, people have a high political sense
and a close bond with their representatives, as proclaimed in the
official media.

As far as my many relatives and friends, close or not-so-close, the
pattern was of similar behavior, though, of course, no one was reluctant
to answer. Only one person admits voting for a delegate (a valid
ballot), though he has no idea of his name or who the guy is. The rest
voided their ballot with "D" or crossed it out. A smaller group and I
did not go to the polls.

Certainly, my little "survey" is not worth any official purpose, but I
invite any Cuban to verify for himself the truth in what I say. One does
not have to be very sharp in his questionnaire. Any question about what
led an individual to vote for one or another of the candidates, or about
the nature of his expectations will immediately raise suspicions on the
part of the surveyed and will only produce evasive answers. We have had
over 5 decades of fear, and a lot of people still seem to sense a
guardian dog of the regime behind any other Cuban. But they will be able
to see without doubt that the official discourse stands on a scaffold so
fragile that it would not withstand even the simplest poll of any agency
qualified for such purposes.

Of course, a makeshift Cuban pollster would also run the risk of
approaching the wrong person. He could stumble onto the most zealous
"combatant" on the block, the one who sees "the enemy" behind the most
innocuous question, and then the person conducting the survey might
spend a night in a dungeon and get out after signing a "memorandum of
warning "as punishment. I must confess that I've been lucky, or maybe
the snitches and the Talibans are waning. I don't know. That would be
another kind of survey, that, I have to admit, I still don't dare to
perform.

Translated by Norma Whiting

November 5 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/innocent-little-survey-miriam-celaya/

No comments: