{"id":2029,"date":"2020-06-05T23:29:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T23:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=2029"},"modified":"2020-06-05T23:29:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T23:29:51","slug":"cultural-war-and-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cultural-war-and-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural war and pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has made more visible the clash between the neoliberal capitalist model, its dogmas, symbols and paradigms, and other alternatives for conceiving society, economy, politics and the very idea of progress and happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo-liberalism has always been legitimized through the cultural industry. The stereotype of a Yankee hero, able to emerge victorious from all enemy ambushes, annihilate them, take the spoils and the most beautiful girl, has been very useful<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Victor, who knows what he wants and will get it at all costs, surrounded by the corpses of Losers, is the \u201ccivilizing\u201d hero par excellence of the neoliberal fable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the opposite side are the Barbarians: treacherous, inferior, Arab, Russian, Latino, Asian and African-American creatures. Although sometimes the Victor is dark-skinned, since the industry needs to trap that segment of the population, as well. And one day the perfect pair of two inseparable heroes, one white and one black, emerged from their laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cultural machine\u2019s objective is to make sure that no one suspects there is another way to organize society and imagine our existence. Most of the victims believed the fable. If they survived in dilapidated housing, if they could not pay for their children\u2019s education or health care, they were to blame, as \u201cfailures,\u201d never the system. In the jungle the strong devour the small and the weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then the pandemic arrived, all the model\u2019s cruelty was exposed in an obscene, undeniable manner, and \u201cright-wing leaders\u201d like Trump and Bolsonaro are left in the lurch. They know only the morals of the jungle, they have no public health care system, and the pharmaceutical industry is designed to make money, not to deal with a health emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spectacle of thousands and thousands of sick people left unattended and thousands and thousands of deaths has touched many people. Confinement has also meant more time for sensitive people to think of others, of society, of the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, a message was released from Juliette Binoche, Barbra Streisand, Almod\u00f3var, Robert De Niro and other very media-savvy figures from the world of cinema and entertainment. They suggest re-evaluating the meaning of existence and the ecological catastrophe that is approaching. We must begin \u201cwith a profound re-thinking of our goals, values and economies.\u201d It is a matter of survival, they say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pursuit of consumerism and the obsession with productivity has led us to deny the very value of life \u2026 Pollution, climate change and the destruction of our other natural areas have brought the world to a breaking point. For these reasons, along with growing social inequalities, we believe that a \u2018return to normal\u2019 is unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Progressive International was also announced, including Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Arhundati Roy and other prestigious intellectuals and politicians, including former President Correa and Fernando Haddad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graziella Pogolotti defined the ideological platforms from which the demand for another world is launched, not only \u201cpossible\u201d, but essential: \u201cSome are of ecological origin, others have a more radical leftist trajectory.\u201d For Graziella, stopping the aggression against Cuba and Venezuela, canceling foreign debt, establishing a new international information order and fighting climate change must be part of the agenda. \u201cFidel,\u201d she reminds us, \u201cdedicated the battle of his last years to the threat of extinction of our species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo Boff sees the pandemic as a response from \u201cour Common House\u201d to attacks: \u201cThe modern myth that we are \u201cthe little god\u201d on Earth and that we can dispose of it as we please, because it is inert and without purpose, has been destroyed.\u201d We have treated it \u201cwith unprecedented fury,\u201d he states. Hence, the planet \u201chas struck back at us with a powerful weapon, the coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frei Betto refers to the impact of the virus on the financial market: \u201cShares on the world\u2019s stock markets lost 15.5 trillion dollars. Have the pockets of any of these speculators and mega-researchers been affected, (the most sensitive part of the human body) or poorer? And yet, before the pandemic, most of them refused to contribute to measures to combat hunger and global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the problem existed before COVID-19. It lies at the heart of the system, in the corporations and politicians who do its bidding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Ospina reflected on the lessons of humility left by the pandemic: \u201cAfter centuries of treasuring our knowledge, of valuing our talent, of venerating our audacity, of adoring our strength, the time comes when it is our turn to ponder our fragility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hollywood superheroes have never felt fragile. Of course, we\u2019ll have to see how the film ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Cubadebate<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pandemic has made more visible the clash between the neoliberal capitalist model, its dogmas, symbols and paradigms, and other alternatives for conceiving society, economy, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":2030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-cuba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1533,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/switzerland-and-cuba-hypocrisy-in-times-of-a-pandemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":0},"title":"Switzerland and Cuba: hypocrisy in times of a pandemic","author":"Editorial Team","date":"April 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It is regrettable that certain Swiss organizations do not even mention Cuba's solidarity work in the Corona crisis The Covid-19 pandemic shows us the complete failure of neoliberal politics worldwide: the tragic situation in Italy, Spain, France and the USA - most affected today - is mainly due to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Covid-19"","block_context":{"text":"Covid-19","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/covid-19\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cuba-Switzerland-hypocrisy.jpg?fit=612%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cuba-Switzerland-hypocrisy.jpg?fit=612%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Cuba-Switzerland-hypocrisy.jpg?fit=612%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/amid-coronavirus-pandemic-bolsonaros-brazil-begs-for-cuban-doctors-after-expelling-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":1},"title":"Amid coronavirus pandemic, Bolsonaro\u2019s Brazil begs for Cuban doctors \u2013 after expelling them","author":"Editorial Team","date":"March 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Brazil\u2019s far-right government requested the return of thousands of Cuban doctors to help fight the coronavirus. 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