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Posted on Tue, Sep. 24, 2002 in
The Miami Herald.
Vaclav Havel knows well the mechanism of oppression. He lived it as a
dissident and political prisoner under Soviet totalitarian rule, then led the
Velvet Revolution that liberated people from the mental and physical chains of a
police state.
That's why he came to Miami on his last U.S. trip as Czech Republic
president: To throw his considerable moral weight behind Cubans, here and on the
island, who seek freedom by nonviolent means. ''Every modern, freedom-loving
person feels, or at least ought to feel, a sense of solidarity both with those
who are prevented from living in their home country or freely visiting it,'' he
said yesterday, "as well as those forced to live in their country in a
constant state of fear.''
What relief, at last, to have someone of Havel's international acclaim
validate the position of Cuba's internal opposition and its exiles. Havel gets
it, as do other Czechs who suffered persecution under communism.
Americans fortunate enough never to have experienced totalitarian repression
may find it so foreign as to be unbelieveble. Yet it is the ''doublespeak''
depicted by George Orwell in 1984 and described by Havel in remarks at Florida
International University. The language of communism is designed to subjugate
people with lies.
Dogma is used to squash any deviation from the party line while justifying
any action -- no matter how barbaric or inhumane. As Havel said, 'A system of
persecutions, of bans, of informers, of compulsory elections, of spying on one's
neighbors, of censorship and, ultimately, of concentration camps is hidden
behind a veil of beautiful words that have utterly no shame in calling
enslavement a 'higher form of freedom.' ''
The great courage of Cuba's internal dissidents is to refuse to live the
lie. Instead, they give voice to truth at risk of pain to themselves and their
families. As FIU professor Marifeli Pérez-Stable pointed out, they, too,
are the first Cuban opposition to a dictatorship to renounce violence and "embrace
an ethics of human rights, which is the heart of democracy.''
Cuban Miami might learn more from island dissidents who already have
influenced us to become a more ''open and inclusive'' community, Pérez-Stable
said. Indeed, events for the Havel visit included exiles of varied opinions,
from former political prisoners to human-rights activists to members of rival
political groups.
But others worldwide also should learn from Havel's example. His nomination
of leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá for the Nobel Peace Prize is an
implicit condemnation of Cuba's repressive state.
Still, too many governments and leaders give Cuba's dictator a pass. That's
why continued moral condemnation is imperative. Not only does it bolster Cuba's
besieged dissidents, but it challenges the doublespeak and encourages others,
including Cuba's ruling elites, to defy the lies.
sbarciela@herald.com | 
