For the Cuban artist Israel Rojas there are worse situations than that of the musician Maykel Castillo Osorbo, that because he was in prison he could not receive his two awards at the Grammy gala for the song Homeland and Life. It is worse, says the lead singer of the duo Buena Fe, to position oneself in favor of the Government.
“Nowadays, being branded an official member, for some people, is a stigma. For some creators, and for a few intellectuals, it is like being branded the arm of the devil”, affirms in an interview made for a documentary and whose text was reproduced this Monday Cubadebate.
Israel Rojas, who in recent months has shown a strong defense of the regime, intervenes in the film The dictatorship of the algorithm, included in the homonymous book. Both are aimed at defending the arguments of the Cuban authorities, who insist on talking about an unconventional war that would be fought in cyberspace against their system, ignoring that they are also on that playing field.
The reason for Rojas’ participation in the analysis of the behavior of social networks in politics is not very clear, although his training in law and his “critical of reality” stance are cited.
The reason for Rojas’ participation in the analysis of the behavior of social networks in politics is not very clear, although his training in law and his position “critical of reality” but “committed to the project of the Revolution” are cited. as reasons to consider it an “important referent of opinion within the national political debate.”
Before getting into flour, Rojas pulls topics around social networks, such as those related to the alienation of the real world to which they can lead, the lack of privacy, the dangers of prioritizing the image that others have of one over the authentic .
After his dissertation, he begins to place his message on the alleged intimidation suffered by artists close to the Cuban regime in the face of the great privileges of those who are in the opposition.
“Today, being a positive headline in CiberCuba, in Cubanet, in Cubans around the World or any of those media, there are artists who consider it an achievement, which opens doors for you commercially, “says the author, who believes that some design their careers based on which media are going to talk about them.
Rojas goes further and considers himself directly affected. “I have died and been reborn several times in this process. It even affected me, it even depressed me. I felt very bad”
Rojas does not specify at any time if he speaks inside or outside of Cuba, since any artist critical of the regime is permanently exposed within the island to, in the best of cases, see his career hampered and be expelled from any of the organizations officers to which he belongs or company that has hired him. That is when he does not achieve public rejection, harassment by State Security or being accused of a crime that leads him to prison. The examples are innumerable.
The Buena Fe singer, on the other hand, assures that it is a risk to position oneself closely to power. “The same thing happens with talking about democracy in Cuba. If you refer to the Cuban government, to our reality, as a different democracy, a participatory democracy with other characteristics, you are dead. You have to say that it is a dictatorship,” he considers.
Rojas goes further and considers himself directly affected. “I have died and been reborn several times in this process. It even affected me, it even depressed me. I felt very bad. At first, when these media lynchings began, it did have an impact on my health, but fortunately, and With the help of my friends and family, I was able to get out of that, “adds the vocalist, who laments not only that those who think like him cannot say it, but that they are even forced to keep quiet so as not to get into trouble. .
“That they try to kill you in the media and temporarily does not mean that they can kill you (…) They kill you when you shut up, when they manage to transform you, when they manage to confuse you, when you learn the politically correct speech that they want to hear from you,” he insists.
The artist finally encourages “fighting” against those who seek to sow chaos, without alluding to what or to whom he is referring exactly, and putting the will to things to move forward
The artist also considers that, in the conditions of oppression that the pro-government artists live, it is not even possible to be critical of something that works badly in the country, because the opposition will take advantage of it to consider it an attack on the regime. “If you criticize the things that are wrong here –as a subject of the reality in which you affect, in which you want to live–, you are immediately used as a spokesperson to strengthen and reaffirm that line of division, that line of confusion. , to foment the opposition, the chaos, because the promotion is at this moment towards the chaos “.
Rojas, who published a song in March honoring Cuban vaccines Without it being known that he was lynched in any way for this reason, he believes that the country is changing and that it is doing so correctly, to the chagrin of the opposition.
“What is happening in these sectors is a tremendous despair, because nothing that is changing in this country is changing through the work and grace of its work; it is changing because the democratic structures of Cuba do, in democratic analyzes that have been fact, changes in legislation, changes in the Constitution, changes in business structures, “he insists. “They have been done in an official, governmental, correct, organic way, without trauma, without chaos, which is exactly what they don’t want.”
The artist finally encourages “to fight” against those who seek to sow chaos, without alluding to what or whom he is referring exactly, and to make things go forward. “This fight is not only winnable, but well organized is a walk through the Prado. Because it is the fight of intelligence and reasoning, and this is the country that has planted the most intelligence and reasoning in its people.”
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