Carnival Cruise Lines, A Paradigm of our Times

Carnival Cruise Lines, A Paradigm of our Times
YOANI SÁNCHEZ , Havana | Julio 09, 2015

There are several ways to react when faced with another person's
affluence. One of them is the one taught to us by the Castro regime from
the time we were little, and that is based on anger and stigmatizing the
prosperous. A Robin Hood-like intransigence, the point of which is to
snatch from the other person the "excess" or whatever he "has too much
of." This animosity toward anyone who makes progress, accumulates
property, or enjoys certain material comforts, has ended up becoming an
inseparable component of our idiosyncrasy, although the times seem to be
changing.

"I am never going to go on a cruise, but the more they come… the more we
gain," a retired man said yesterday, chewing tobacco and wearing a shirt
so worn out his skin showed through. The official news just announced
that the US company Carnival Cruise Lines received authorization from
Washington to travel to Cuba, and the gentleman was expressing his own
opinion about the luxuries enjoyed by others. This symbol of a
capitalism of pleasures, fun and wastefulness is about to dock in Havana
and it is noteworthy that officialdom will receive it not with shouts or
slogans, but rather will welcome it.

Cubans don't appear scandalized when we talk about these floating
behemoths that will arrive with sumptuousness and money, a lot of money.
Rather, people calculate the benefit involved when the giant of the seas
touches land and a flood of tourists descend with bulging wallets and
excessive sunscreen. Restaurant owners near the Port of Havana are
rubbing their hands and tchotchke sellers are hoping to improve their sales.

Others, like the gentleman with the worn out shirt and the chewing
tobacco, will probably not benefit at all from Carnival Cruise Line's
arrival. However, unlike in the past when he had spit with anger at
these "exploitative bourgeois who come to leave us their trash," now he
seems disposed to cope with such an exhibition of ostentation and
glamor. Asked about his tolerance for others' luxuries, the old man
explained that, "There are people here who live like that, so grandly,
but they're up there," as he pointed a finger skyward to indicate the
nomenklatura. "Here the difference is that we will see them coming by
sea and they won't be hiding what they have," he said.

To preserve the succulent assets associated with power, the government
itself is changing its discourse regarding the wealth of others, and
trying to attract those, "rich people, bourgeois, empowered," whom they
renounced and fought for decades. However, in order to reap the benefits
of luxury tourism, they are sending a contradictory message to their
citizens who grew up under calls for egalitarianism and austerity.
Carnival Cruise Lines is the last fig leaf that has been removed and it
lays bare their shameless fascination with money, their own and others'.

Source: Carnival Cruise Lines, A Paradigm of our Times -
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