Wednesday, October 26, 2022

"From 11 July 2021 to Hurricaine Ian in 2022: The Transformation of Mass Protests in Cuba and its Consequences"; Remarks Delivered Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs Speaker Series 25 October 2022

 

 



I was grateful when the student editors of the Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs extended an invitation to speak as part of their Fall Speaker Series. For my remarks I chose the topic of law, lawfulness, and direct mass participation in political orders, focusing on the example of Cuba, which I titled From 11 July 2021 to Hurricane Ian in 2022: The Transformation of Mass Protests in Cuba and its Consequences.

The topic is worthy of sustained examination beyond the usual discourse that is often seduced by the interests of great powers to use these as an instrument for the projection of power abroad, or as a discourse of insurrection, lies, hooliganism, and disorder when manifested internally. Cuba provides an excellent example in two respects. First it suggests the way that states can institutionalize and to some extent naturalize even a spontaneous explosion of popular expression. Second, it also suggests the ways in which such explosions, when ignored or suppressed, can produce instability, not for the nation, but for the operation of an inattentive state apparatus. There are lessons here for all states, including the great powers.

The abstract adds a little detail:

Abstract: On 11 July 2021 mass protests erupted across the country in ways that had not been seen since the success of what became the Marxist-Leninist revolution of 1 January 1959. The protests represented an important challenge to the inertia that had characterized Cuban Marxist Leninism since the start of the 21st century. It was forcefully suppressed. At the end of September 2022 Hurricane Ian plunged much of Cuba into darkness as the national electrical supply was compromised. Days later, without power restoration, mass protests erupted all over Cuba. This time the police and security services did not respond in the same way. While internet services were cut for a while, Luis Antonio Torres, the head of the Communist Party in Cuba was widely quoted as saying ""I believe that protesting is a right, but only when those responsible are not doing their jobs,” though he noted these protests might not rise to that level. This presentation considers the ramifications of potentially radical transformation protest Cuba. It weaves together a number of critical stands that now produce an effort to accept and internalize at least a limited role for popular protests, while suppressing the rest. To that end the presentation will consider interlinkages between the move to popular consultation and referendum in Cuba, the 11 July protests, and the reshaping of the cultures of protests in 2022. The implications of these changes remain contested—for the United States and the Cuban diaspora the changes point to the eventual triumph of some form of liberal democracy in Cuba; for the Cuban establishment, the changes point to a much needed reform of the political system.
The PowerPoint that accompanied the remarks follow and may also be accessed here.

 

 



























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