So, Cuba.
I’m thinking about how everything is energy, how like attracts like, how what we focus on grows. I’m thinking about the folly, anymore — as we usher in an entirely new consciousness — of anything America does in the realm of foreign policy that reeks of the same old, same old. To wit, President Biden’s response last week to protests in Cuba: "We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba's authoritarian regime," he said in a statement.
Suh. Nooze.
This is about creating an infinitely more serious, robust, and effective part of our government, housed within our State Department, that — by design and intention — truly, actively, cultivates freedom for humans worldwide and everyone knows about it.
Jen Psaki, his press secretary, added from her podium the next day: “Our approach continues to be governed by two principles: first, support for democracy and human rights…” Uh huh. National security adviser, Jake Sullivan, offered his off-the-shelf bromide via tweet: "The U.S. supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba, and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters who are exercising their universal rights.” Of course it does/we do. And, of course, “Cuba” could have been Hong Kong or Haiti or Gaza or Afghanistan or China or anywhere — including broad swaths of America — because, you guessed it, conscious politics practitioner, this isn’t about Cuba. It’s not about any singular, particular place where, at any given moment, America’s and/or the world’s attention is focused upon a specific group of people crying out for a level of freedom from a place where freedoms are otherwise suppressed — in varying degrees — by governments, as a matter of policy. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
Indeed, no, it’s not about just Cuba. I, for one, am old enough to have heard hundreds of statements just like those above from too many American administration officials for more than a few decades, but to what end? Like a soundly-sleeping dog who bolts into a five-alarm tizzy when there’s a knock on the door only to return to deep slumber a few minutes later as though no knock ever happened, I live in between these episodes with no sense at all of what any of the official rhetoric ever actually means. Anyone? Are we talking thoughts and prayers here or are there actual efforts? And if there are, why don’t I/we know about them in the same ways we know about the protests and our official responses?
This is about an infinitely smarter investment of American time, energy, and attention. It is about never hearing anything remotely like this from the briefing room of any White House ever again: [The U.S. is] "assessing how we can be helpful directly to the people of Cuba.” Assessing?! We should know! We should be experts. So this is about creating an infinitely more serious, robust, and effective part of our government, housed within our State Department, that — by design and intention — truly, actively, cultivates freedom for humans worldwide and everyone knows about it.
First, America should create, maintain, and provide a global, online clearinghouse for all things freedom — a vast library of knowledge, interconnecting human resources worldwide along the way. Where is freedom ringing clear? Where is it being suppressed and worse? What people and organizations are on the ground in that place doing their work to promote freedom? What resources are needed and how can civilians anywhere direct personal resources to where they are needed? I choose to believe that much of this is happening anyway — it must be, right? So this is very much about building upon that but also integrating it into the fabric of our society, and making it public 24/7. Second, when we go from slumber to tizzy, I want to know from the president’s briefing room exactly what we know about the “state of freedom” in that particular part of the world. I want to know what America is intending, specifically, to do to “support” and encourage freedom/democracy/human rights/dignity in all our names. And I want to know what individuals can do. Third, what remains to be learned? What don’t we know, as a country, about that particular “hotspot” and its relationship to freedom. Assess that. Sure. Yes, please.
America cannot credibly assume this project until it decides to get its own freedom house in order — a gargantuan opportunity underway as we speak. May we rise to the challenge.
Or something like this? I hope so. Because it really is folly in 2021 to otherwise be so unimaginative, so staid, so anemic in our American responses to the cause of freedom for humans worldwide. It’s folly in the way it’s folly to drive a beaten down jalopy that’s awful, bad, and terrible and may or may not even get us where we’re going while, parked right next to it, is a brand new [insert new car of choice here]. We have the keys. The title is in our name, in the glove box. It’s fully insured and all gassed up. But we choose the jalopy instead.
When our president — barely six months into his first term — talks eloquently about the need to “prove democracy works,” the elephant in the room is that, yes, without a doubt, America cannot credibly assume this project until it decides to get its own freedom house in order — a gargantuan opportunity underway as we speak. May we rise to the challenge.
If we do, may we Americans be much more fluent in the overlapping causes of freedom/democracy/human rights/dignity worldwide, on a daily basis. May we be clear about what “support” our country is providing to cultivate freedom whenever it does so. May we experience ourselves as deeply connected to a global network of freedom allies wherever they are. May we know exactly how we, as citizens, can help, should we ever feel so inspired, in any of these circumstances. May we know what it is like to see the cause of more freedom for more humans more of the time growing and deepening because we keep it alive as a project between five-alarm tizzies. May we feel renewed pride in being seen as a beacon of freedom from anywhere on the planet.
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