Cuban artist Yordi El Joker recites a list that perfectly sums up everything Cuba’s socialist revolution has given the Cuban people, and none of it is good. I translated his list below the video.
The Cuban Revolution is big and generous
The Cuban Revolution showed us how to read and write
and then told us what we had to write and what we weren’t allowed to read,
creating the worst type of illiterate that exists: the one who thinks he knows it all
and doesn’t need to listen to anyone
The Cuban Revolution turned military barracks into schools
and the country into a military barracks
The Revolution brought electricity to the most remote areas
and then brought blackouts to the entire country
The Revolution ended the neighborhood brothels
and turned the country into a brothel
The Revolution gave us free healthcare,
so the illnesses they cause us from the constant stress, lack of hygiene, and malnutrition can be treated
If you protest, they’ll crack your skull and the stiches will be free
The Revolution guarantees us a decent job,
with a salary that guarantees us a indecent life
The Revolution eliminated the exploitation of man by man
and established the exploitation of man by the state
The Revolution eliminated the bourgeoisie
and established a monarchy
The Revolution exchanged the dead on the streets
for the dead in the sea
It broke bread, and made the fish disappear
It told us that one does not beg for freedom, and dressed us as beggars
It turned informants into heroes
The Cuban Revolution told us the family was not important
That whoever left Cuba would never again see its skies
We don’t want them, we don’t need them
And now they tell us it’s imperialism that wants to divide families
The Cuban Revolution banned Celia Cruz, Willy Chirino, Los Aldeanos . . . (you animals!)
Camilo Cesto, The Beatles, Roberto Carlos, Julio Iglesias . . .
And then they tell us that art is art, and politics is politics
and that artists have no business getting involved in politics
The Revolution executed a hero of the revolution,
Arnaldo Ochoa, for narcotics trafficking
And today they are best friends with Evo and Maduro
The Revolution created the New Man,
an prehistoric creature from whom you are more likely to hear an expletive than a greeting
(and a request for a cellphone plan recharge)
The Revolution eliminated the Three Wise Men
and gave us the military kings
The Revolution promised that the fruits of the system would be for our children,
but many now have great-grandchildren and are still waiting for those fruits
The Revolution created an army that it called the people in uniform,
made up of men and women who put on a uniform and forget about the people
In the end, the Revolution has more positions than Kama Sutra,
and it prostitutes itself more than any whore
Diaz-Canel, you fucker
No matter what any one of “those people” says, no matter what evidence he or she presents, it is simply ignored, dismissed or denied by the usual suspects and their establishment, which is both vast and powerful. It has always been this way, so it’s completely “normal,” and deviating from that is “dubious.”
I love this street poet. How very true.