Learnings that open paths and show different views.
By Damayanti Matos Abreu
Translated by: Cindy García, Maxine Nwigwe, and Devon Severson
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist.
Key Words: Learnings, changes, conceptions, Cuba, discrimination, participation, racism, learning, unlearning, teaching, knowledge, transformation, exchange.
Summary
Objective: To expose the impact of the Red Barrial Afrodescendientes’ (RBA) work on changing the conceptions of racist expressions and behaviors in people from the neighborhoods where it has carried out its work and in others who have been in one way or another in contact, as well as the observation of discrimination of any kind in the current Cuban context and the dissimilar ways of confronting them.
Material and Methods: Brief summary of the Learnings obtained from the participatory systematization process carried out on the work of the RBA in Havana in its first 5 years of work based on the methodology of popular education.
Results: Quotes extracted from document review. Participant observation in public places. In-depth interviews that have been facilitated by the RBA work team. Focus group interviews. Initial workshop. Validation workshop. The author’s impression of the lessons learned by the people who have interacted with the RBA and the coordination team.
Conclusions: The participants in the systematization reported learnings evidenced in the changes in conceptions and behaviors about racial and gender discrimination. During the systematization process, the RBA’s commitment to its communities and to society in general was reaffirmed to continue and perfect its work, taking the message of awareness to the family and whatever other space it finds itself in.
Introduction
Teaching to learn and learning by teaching can result in being an extremely difficult task because, in the vast majority of cases, our life experience as students was developed following the traditional procedures for the transmission of knowledge that we are now trying to transform. Therefore, the only way that we can travel along these paths and observe in a different way is through reflecting, investigating other experiences, experimenting with new processes, and evaluating their validity.
The three coordinators of the RBA in its beginnings, popular educators, facilitated the spaces for workshops and participatory diagnoses, with the support of activists with an anti-racist commitment, convinced of the urgency of transforming the social imaginaries that reproduce racial discrimination and inequalities due to skin color. They were further motivated when one of the women participated in the constitution of the Capítulo Cubano de la Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente en América Latina y El Caribe (ARAAC). This led to the creation of the Red Barrial Afrodescendiente (RBA) in 2012 with the aim of revealing and confronting racism, racial discrimination and opposing and facing any form of discrimination.
The article presents a synthesis of the Learnings selected in the systematization process lived by the RBA in its first five years of uninterrupted work. This will allow readers to discover the commitment, diligence, and courage of its founders and all the people who joined them in the difficult task of raising anti-racist awareness and combating discrimination in all its manifestations.
Development
On November 30, 2012, three popular educators, through whose veins runs anti-racism born of family experiences and community life, summoned leaders of socially complex neighborhoods. They were spaces of deep Cuba, where every day they constructed a little piece of the homeland, and for that they were the protagonists of the birth of the RBA. These neighborhoods were: Balcón Arimao in La Lisa, La Ceiba and Buena Vista in Playa, Jesús María in Centro Habana, Párraga in Arroyo Naranjo, Pogolotti, Los Ángeles, Zamora Coco Solo, and Santa Felicia in Marianao; as well as Alamar Playa in East Havana.
During its ride, the RBA spread to other neighborhoods of Havana, to the Ebenezer Church in the Marianao municipality, to the “Pedro Kourí” Institute of Tropical Medicine, and to the neighborhood of La Marina in Matanzas. In this way, by uniting wills, continuity is given to the sustained fight against racism, carried out in the context of each historical epoch. Like other groups with common objectives, the RBA gives a voice to Black people. Without detours, the RBA generates intense participatory debates about social and labor problems related to racial discrimination. These debates are accompanied by a democratic and inclusive process of empowerment of knowledge, during which the people in the neighborhood, in their authenticity, reveal the most varied and complex aspects of this social phenomenon, racial discrimination.
Its point of arrival is the transformation, not only in the thoughts and actions of each member, but of multiplying what has been learned within their family, friends, in work centers, the media, schools, public spaces and each community corner, where we aspire to equal rights, opportunities and options for all people.
Why systematize? The coordination team considered it appropriate to dedicate the fifth year of life to carrying out a systematization process, convinced that its realization favors a deeper understanding of the practice, in order to improve it, strengthen organizational capacities, update training and training needs, to enrich activities, to promote higher levels of exchange, to document the results for the future and to share learning with similar experiences.
In order to systematize,: For the appropriation of learning influenced by the RBA to substantiate its relevance in the current Cuban context.
Consistent with popular education, the systematization was a participatory process where each person contributes from their knowledge and perception of the RBA, to build a shared approach to the experience.
The categories of analysis selected were:
- Motivations: To attend activities and stay in the Network, fulfillment of expectations.
- Contents: Thematic knowledge acquired in the awareness-raising and training activities organized by the Network and from other workshops or events organized by other institutions where the Network has convened them. Most useful topics, the ones that have impacted the most in their lives and how they have been socialized or replicated.
- Learning: Changes in conceptions (ways of thinking) and in personal and family attitudes regarding racist expressions and behaviors. Demonstrations of abilities to observe discrimination of any kind.
- Methodology: Conception and practice of participation (definition of topics and activities, preparation and call for activities, the methods used during the development of the activities and the participants’ assessments of the methodology used.
- Relevance of the RBA: Policies and laws regarding the rights of Afro-descendants and the institutional and social views around the exercise of rights and their relationship with the work of the Network.
Material and Methods
Brief summary of the Learning category, obtained from the participatory systematization process carried out on the work of the RBA in Havana in its first five years of work, based on the methodology of popular education. Led by a work team and advised by two specialists in Gender and Raciality. Document Review. Participant observation in public places. In-depth interviews that have been facilitated by the RBA Work Team. Focus Group Interview. Initial workshop. Validation workshop.
Results
The process of sistematización realized shows Aprendizajes that will expose themselves as evidence:
- Six activities were selected as those with the largest impact for analysis in the process of Sistematización, for the theme and because their contents evoke emotions that resonate with the lives of the participants and the coordination team of the RBA. (Appendix #1)
- Fragments of genuine testimonies expressed by the participants in the exchanges, debates, and evaluations of the activities. Extracted from the testimonies of Appendix #1. (Appendix #2)
- Summary of the revision of Appendix #1 where dissimilar points of view in relation to learning are shown (interventions, evaluations, testimonies, sayings, and phrases that were the subject of debates in themselves). (Appendix #3)
- Synthesis of expressions referring to the learnings that derived themselves from the revision of the fourteen in-depth interviews of intellectuals, academics, and national and international scientists that had a relation with the RBA during that period and still maintain connections. (Textual words of the interviewers) (Appendix #4)
Author’s impression of the process experienced by the team that carried out the Sistematización and the participants.
This process of systematization has allowed us to look inside ourselves and realize how much we have learned and still need to learn about racial discrimination and racism, to determine that we were also racists once in our lives, whether in thought or attitude. To perceive now how it has become everyday for us to deepen our knowledge about it in a conversation with family, friends and co-workers, when we watch a soap opera, movie, anime or other types of programs, whether they are dance, singing, sports, cooking, etc. beauty, participation or other activity; in the visits we make to certain establishments where the population is assiduous, in short, our lives have changed to our appreciation for the better; because we knew of the existence of this scourge in our country despite all the efforts that have been made, but having that look, attitude and even the courage to rectify certain manifestations, phrases or comments of the people around us and transform them by making them see with a simple but profound explanation that they are manifestations of racial discrimination and against which we must fight, it has only been possible with the lessons learned on the road traveled with the network.
The work we have done at the RBA in this period has given us the opportunity to learn many new and interesting things, as well as to reinforce and enrich other knowledge.
Unlearning old and ingrained conceptions is a difficult process, and a fundamental step to learn, an essential condition for the transformation of ways of acting and thinking and being able to provoke changes in the environment. According to the participants in the RBA, the changes in conceptions and worldviews were gradually taking place in an arduous process, -that when dealing with a complex issue that causes resistance and pain- it results in it being sometimes difficult to distinguish how far progress has been made in the road traveled.
In the evaluations of the activities, as well as in the interviews carried out, changes in the way of thinking and acting of the members of the RBA are evidenced. Among the changes, the following stand out: In January 2013, when the training for leaders began, different manifestations were produced that revealed prejudices, fears and ignorance on the subject, collected in the reports of the activities carried out in that period, contrasting with the opinions expressed in the process of systematization where the transformations in thought and the invitation to socialize the subject and related phenomena are indisputable. The (Appendix #5) shows some of the expressions that did not immobilize the coordinators when they heard them in the beginning of the network.
We believe that we have largely fulfilled our main objective, as well as the specific ones, what we wanted and we proposed ourselves from the beginning in nine neighborhoods of the capital, the Ebenezer de Marianao church, the AFROCUBANAS group, the advocacy carried out in the neighborhood La Marina de Matanzas and in other spaces. We also have representation in all sectors of the health society, researchers, sociologists, psychologists, teachers, jurists, historians, retirees of their professions and trades, university students, associations of the elderly, University del Adulto Mayor, FMC, journalists, housewives, architects, cultural promoters and others. Perfect and enrich our knowledge with the advice and accompaniment of Daisy Rubiera Castillo and Carmen Nora Hernández, as well as the group Solidaridad y Reflexion Oscar Arnulfo Romero (OAR). The possibility of deepening and exchanging experiences and articulating with: Afrocubanas, UH, UNEAC, Instituto Cubano de Investigación Cultural Juan Marinello, el Archivo Nacional, la Editorial de la Mujer, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Instituto Superior de Arte, Fundación Nicolás Guillen,the projects, initiatives, or experiences that preceded us in this struggle, as well as those that are with us and the Centro de Investigaciones Psicológicas y Sociológicas, among others.
The incredible satisfaction of exchanging and learning about the subject at a national and international level by participating in events, meetings, debates, workshops, conferences, courses and others, whether received or taught directly from the voice of leaders and
Cuban, Latin American, Caribbean and other leaders of the world were sources of the identified learning. In this way, we think that we are paving the way for this tireless work and showing different views of the process and we are proud that this is the case.
We appreciate the opportunity of the invitation made to one of the members of our coordination team, this exchange with what happened in the Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente en su Capitulo Cubano (ARAAC), and that this wonderful idea has arisen from there. I believe that we are walking on the right path, with weaknesses, threats, strengths, and opportunities that provide us the context and the everyday-ness of life, but before which we have had the ability to grow.
Conclusions
The participants in the systematization reported learning evidenced in the changes in conceptions and behaviors about racial and gender discrimination. Their testimonies demonstrated congruence between the activities of the Network, individual experiences, the manifestations of the phenomenon in current Cuban society, and their links with the Academy and with activists from other regions, all of which substantiate the relevance of the Red Barrial Afrodescendiente in Havana. Their activism is particularly important when society finds itself immersed in fighting against the intensification of the brutal blockade imposed by the United States government. The beginning of the monetary and exchange rearrangement starting next year and the very strong confrontation with the Covid-19 Pandemic are battles in which we must continue to show all our learnings that open paths and show different views of struggle and new transformations of the project of justice and social equity that we aspire to.
Finally, during the systematization process, the RBA’s commitment to its communities and to society in general was reaffirmed to continue and perfect its work, multiplying the voices as activists of the Afro-descendant community, taking the message of awareness to the family and in any space where they are.
Bibliography and Sources Consulted
Reports written in digital and printed format of the six activities selected as having the greatest impact in the period under analysis, which respond to awareness-raising and training objectives.
- Almeida Junco, Yulexis. ¿Qué es la discriminación racial? 2013.
- RBA Coordination Team. Evaluation and systematization of the experience. October 18, 2013.RBA Coordination Team. Evaluation and systematization of the experience. October 18, 2013.
- Rubiera Castillo, Daisy. Mestizaje. 2013.
- Meeting of exchange between neighborhood projects, whose objectives include processes, issues, or actions against racial discrimination. August 15, 2014.
- Taller de Derechos y Discriminaciones en la Sociedad Cubana 1492 – 2014. September 15 to 19, 2014.
- Conference for the XX years of the group, Obsesión. Taller: Activismo, Arte y Trabajo Académico. June 24 to 26, 2016.
- The observation of the 14 in-depth interviews conducted with intellectuals, academics, and scientists who had a relationship with the RBA inside and outside of Cuba. (Digital and printed format)
Appendices
Appendix 1
Six selected activities that had the biggest impact for the analysis of the Sistematización, because of the themes and because their contents evoke emotions by resonating with the lives of the participants and the RBA Coordination Team.
| No. | Activity Undertaken | Coordination of the Activity | Responsible for Executing the Activity | Day of the Execution of the Activity |
| 1 | What is racial discrimination? | RBA | Yulexis Almeida Junco | February 22, 2013 |
| 2 | Mestizaje | RBA | Daisy Rubiera Castillo | June 14, 2013 |
| 3 | Evaluation and Systematization of the Experience | RBA | RBA Coordination Team | October 10, 2013 |
| 4 | Meeting of exchange between neighborhood projects, whose objectives include processes, issues or actions against racial discrimination | RBA | RBA Coordination Team | August 15th, 2014 |
| 5 | Taller de Derechos y Discriminaciones en la Sociedad Cubana 1492 – 2014 | RBA | RBA Coordination Team | September 15th-19th, 2019 |
| 6 | Conference for the XX years of the group, Obsesión. Taller: Activismo, Arte y Trabajo Académico | RBA | RBA Coordination Team | June 24th-26th, 2014 |
Appendix 2
Fragments of genuine testimonies expressed by the participants in the exchanges, debates and evaluations of the activities
(extracted from the memories in Appendix # 1).
What is Racial Discrimination? Yulexis Almeida Junco, February 22, 2013
… So in Cuba we sometimes say, no, in Cuba there is no racism, in Cuba what there is… Lags from the past…
… In Cuba there is no racism, what there is are prejudices. However what she says today is still a problem in the Cuban family, it is still a problem that a White girl takes a Black boyfriend home or vice versa, that it is still a problem for our society and even when it is not seen as a problem it reflects a problem, because wherever a White girl or a White boy says I like such Black kid, the expression is, “look at that, he likes Black girls!” And it draws attention precisely because there is a racist foundation behind it, if the White boy or the White girl likes another White kid like them, there is no problem, there are no problems, no one says, “you must be funny, you like White girls!” When does it attract attention? When you like a Black boy or a Black girl. And in the other way, if the Black girl likes a White boy, we say, “she’s not stupid! She’s going to get ahead…” No one is a slave today, however Black is still associated with the values that slavery imparted. Notice that sometimes when Black people are being told to do a lot of things, what do they say? Wait, I’m Black but I’m not a slave …
… The usefulness of knowing about racial discrimination in history, mestizaje, stereotypes, prejudices and the way in which they are related, the emergence of races and the variability of science with respect to these issues…
… I want them not to reflect internally. I want them to do so externally, so that they stop me and I will also stop to listen to what they have to say, we are going to have a dialogue, more than a lecture I think this space yells at us: that a lecture no, because here there are many things that you have to say, that you have to ask, that you have to reflect on and I am also on the same page, so zero lecture. We are going to have a morning conversation that is interesting and full of learning… (Initial words of Yulexis Almeida Junco before the start of the activity)
…Well, starting with education, you are educating Black people like you are inferior and that Black transmits to your son, you are inferior, the problem my son is that you cannot go to that school because you are Black, that school is not for you, you can’t … the Black, the Black and the Black, how many Blacks went to the Moncada? How many were part of the centennial generation group? That is not spontaneous either, and I am talking about it because I know those who were, but they were not the majority, of course not, it is logical that they were not, nor how many Black people were commanders? Nor, it is logical that they were not, but by now, how many Black people were engineers? We can start changing things …
… Let’s talk about a topic that is interesting, but more than interesting it is vital for our lives, because it has to do with our own existence, it has to do with our family, it has to do with us, it has to do with the way we educate our sons and our daughters, it has to do with the way we interact in schools, in the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the winery, it is something that is constantly incorporated into our experiences. So having here women, women who have generally been given the task of educating, the fundamental role in the education of the family, that while we do not change things and achieve greater equity and equality between men and women. Today women are the most responsible for the education of children, we have to make an advantage, and we can make the advantage from these capacities, these knowledge that we share and what makes us then try to transmit values, different teachings in all the contexts where we are; And we also take advantage of the fact that we have here men who are also part of that need to change and share roles and they are also educators, we are increasingly finding more men who have to play a leading role in the education of the family because their wives also have leading roles in society and therefore you have to keep moving that… (Quotes from Yulexis Almeida Junco in the exchange with participants)
… You said the school, but if we look at the case of women, for example, women enter public schools at the time of the twentieth century. So we are not going to talk about how Black people are going to insert themselves, we are speaking en masse, not like some cases that the telenovelas show us … How long then did it take to enter public schools. And also that the issue of education is central to development, if you are on the fringes of education you are not a barbarian, they have made it barbaric… (Quotes from Yulexis Almeida Junco in the exchange with participants)
… I learned the origin of racism, to have a greater love for humanity, greater self-esteem…
… That wherever I am inside or outside of Cuba I can contribute so that people value themselves more and raise their self-esteem and sow the seed to build a society where truly fair equality prevails…
Mestizaje. Daisy Rubiera Castillo. June 14, 2013.
…I feel committed to having these learnings in my range of action both at home and where I work…
…I plan to have a small family reunion, because at home even though we are not many, we are from different generations and I think it is good for them to know about what we do in the network, and the importance that this has…
…I would like that many more people had the opportunity to hear about this topic, to know how discrimination is from the beginning even in religions as well…
…I feel that it comes with many doubts and concerns, but I leave full of the learnings and riches that I can include in the proposals of new community projects and to multiply the knowledge acquired in those that already exist…
…We as coordinators are here today, as participants as well, acquiring and enriching knowledge in order to be able to multiply it to all the people that bring themselves near in the network in our spaces of exchange. To know with your own voices that you desire to multiply the acquired learning today here in your homes, schools, projects, centers of work, and spaces we meet every day that satisfy us a lot…
Evaluation and Systematization of the Experience. Coordination Team of the RBA. October 18th, 2013.
… There is a youth on the street, who does not go to university, we must reach those…
…We have done a lot. If we walk step by step we will go further. There are people who want to know us and others who want to hassle us. There are people who do not want the racial topic to be talked about. There are people who do not like that one improves…
…Here we have young people, who do their part (referring to working with their friends). In the meantime, let’s work on increasing critical mass…
…The little space of power that I have, belongs to the TTIB. My advocacy is for the people below, the young man who was a recluse and works as a garbage collector. Young people that if they didn’t have the sanction that forces them to work, they would be sitting on the corner…
…I don’t think that we should necessarily compare ourselves with other groups and people. What has been done is good. Things have been accomplished. The network should focus on diagnosing its needs…
…The network affects many people, it has with whom to cooperate…
…We are at the moment we set ourselves, in the objectives…
…The TTIBs have the possibility of reaching the churches of the neighborhood, they are organizations that bring together many people and they find themselves growing…
…They have used all of the tools of the Casas Comunitarias… They have been able to respond to the specific needs of the communities. They have managed to find other network. There is a better opening…
…The Red de Educación Popular has been a strength in what we do. We have followed the Educación Popular method. If we hadn’t used it, we might not have gotten to where we are…
…If I were to do that again, I would not do it exactly the same. If it would have the same name (referring to the name of the RBA.) If I had had time I would have called more young people. We are a project, 3 coordinators and 800 people participating (national expression)…
…I believe that, if a lot had been thought at the time of the formation of the network, it would not have been done…
A meeting of exchange between neighborhood projects, that among their objectives, there are processes, issues, or actions against racial discrimination. August 15, 2014
…In the creation of the RBA, the testimony that Irma gave was very strong and what she has expressed to us today is the most reliable example of how women have developed, in the empowerment of their realities, to this woman who we have here today talking in this way is an example of how it has grown, of how much we have learned…
…In all projects we see how things are done but it is necessary to link, articulate, get to know each other, rescue the historical memory, it is necessary to teach what we do…
…The first articulation must be between ourselves…
…It is necessary to see the institutional, the intellectual, and the neighborhood, how do we articulate ourselves? In reality we have many stories to tell, to try to invite people with names and surnames, (referring to people recognized publicly that are connoisseurs and scholars of the topics), and in that way we will attract opinion leaders, who are nourished with what we think, so that they listen to the opinion of others and in other settings, and reach the institutions, it is necessary to know the grassroots…
…In our experience with the Network, the auditoriums are overflowing. If we had done it arbitrarily, we would not have achieved it…
…It is necessary in order to fight against racism and discrimination to utilize all of the strategies…
…It can not be too radical, if we want to achieve something it is with patience, measure and take advantage of the opportunities that offer us context…
…One of the principal issues is division, each one pulls to their side, and this prevents growth…
…You must have a complete articulation with the government, if it does not respond to the grassroots, it has nothing to do with continuing to work; the grassroots looks for different alternatives, reinforcing relationships with the factors and elements of society…
…This situation can be summed up in a few words, “Here we are…”
…The cordiality and solidarity among the participants…
…Plurality and organization…
…Exhibition of diverse ideas without sterile confrontations…
…The casual nature of the event…
… This union was very profitable and I paint it very beautifully because always for me the White and the Black are children of God, and so we are brothers…
…Respectful environment…
…Positive mindsets predominated…
…Fellowship among all of us who participate…
…The wide and sincere participation of all…
…Collective learning…
…Exchange between experiences…
…The knowledges about Afrodescendencia from the group of coordinators…
…The interventions of Tato were always purposeful…
…To be able to verify our joint progress as a network…
…Possibility of hearing the aspirations of many other people about a common idea…
…Actions to be taken…
…The communication…
…The dynamics…
…What neighborhoods do against discrimination…
…Transparency of ideas…
…The love of our Afrodescendencia…
…Support for the RBA…
…The ratification of the importance of the RBA from its work in the community. CONGRATULATIONS…
…The discipline and enthusiasm of the participants…
…I acquired a lot of important knowledge and very good orientations…
…I liked all the steps that followed…
…In this workshop of Afro-descendants, I liked the form of projection of the participants and the unity…
…What has been seen about discrimination from the RBA…
…Another utility that these meetings leave us is the possibility of learning about some projects related to the subject… within their objectives and actions they address various ways of working against racial discrimination…
…To contribute to the development of a racial consciousness in the new generations…
…Rescue the biblical figure of African origin, and the Afro-Cuban presence in the Protestant churches…
…From the point of view of art, we deepen our African roots and make them known through our work in the neighborhood, as well as in exchanges with other projects in the community…
…Approaching the new generation through workshops given in the community house…
…Increase the coordination of the RBA…
…Incorporate the elderly into handicraft activities as a means of using free time and in turn socialization among age groups, enriching ourselves with the experiences that each of us can contribute…
Workshop on Rights and Discrimination in Cuban Society 1492-2014.
Raising Awareness to Barriers of Discrimination. Moment III: Experiences and Reflections on Discrimination.*
September 15-19, 2014.
…That Black women have no conditions to dance ballet…
…Almost all criminal acts are carried out by Black people…
…In Cuba racial discrimination and discrimination of all kinds was eliminated with the triumph of the Revolution…
…Although I don’t always believe it, they repeat to me that because I am White, all doors open to me…
…To call a person by their color is something that has been instilled in us since we were children…
…We have not invited someone to the workshop because of their way of expressing themselves, since it can bring us problems…
…Racist family that created a racist conscience that at some point was my way of being, and for having a different religious faith from my family…
…I have suffered discrimination for having parents of different colors and I have felt myself the object of ridicule by people…
…Discriminated against for being Black, a woman, and for thinking…
…Discriminated against for having natural hair…
…Discriminated against for being a woman, Black, and for confronting discriminatory injustices…
…Discriminated against for being a woman, practicing sports, being a leader and daring…
…Discriminated against for being the daughter of mixed-race parents, for being intelligent, and for being ill…
…Discriminated against for being Black, a woman, intelligent, being religious, and not being intellectual…
…Discriminated against for caring for the elderly and being a mother, for being married to a mestizo…
…Discriminated against for being Black and heterosexual…
…Discriminated against for being Cuban…
…Discriminated against for not being White and for being true to my ideas and religion…
…Discriminated against for being Black and poor and for having a partner of another color…
*Editors’ Note: Phrases that you have been told about being discriminated against. The activity with the above responses took place in Moment III of the program.
Event on the XX years of the Group Obsesión. Workshop: Activism, Art, and Academic Work.*
July 24-26, 2016
…Diagnose and explore the necessities of the community
…Visit and analyze the context…
…The community is born from unity and moves to the local, but it is bigger than the local…
…The activist also has a process of knowledge, and ultimately, is a better human…
…Horizontality. Created participation. Opening dialogues and constructive debates. Interactivity…
…I love this way of working…
…The respectful dialogue, the diversity of opinions, the unity of ideas marked by diversity, getting to know each other…
…How to share everything, the inclusion of everyone…
…To listen…
…Schedule, organization, people…
…I learned a lot…
…The debate over the theme of activism, of the action for rights…
…How to link academic work, art, and activism…
…To see how what we have done today can serve me with my teaching job…
…I link activism/Educación Popular/Love…
…Ways of working…
…Good debate…
…To rediscover culture…
…Tools…
…To know the Academic-Activism link. Hip hop-Integration-Community/…
…I want to know much more from you and your work…
*Editors’ Note: To contextualize further, this event took place with several days of activities of the rap group Obsesión. The activities elaborated on rap songs that confronted racism.
Appendix #3
Summary of Appendix #1 where dissimilar points of view in relation to learning are shown (interventions, evaluations, testimonies, sayings, and phrases that were the subject of debates in them.)
It can be appreciated in a general way that for specialists the true learning is not to come to the grassroots where not all are academics and give a lecture, but rather it is more enriching to take advantage of the dialogue and exchange of knowledge with the participants and people who live together in the communities.
Another of the lessons learned is the recognition of the cohesion achieved through the way of executing the work in the RBA with intellectuals, specialists, academics, researchers, participants, members of the network, neighborhood projects, communities, and other people who work and have written about the issues that are addressed in the meetings at the national and international level.
They link the theme of gender, emphasizing the great responsibility that has been attributed to women for a long time, with the importance of education in the transmission of values, customs, and good practices, among other different ways of teaching.
How we have to continue working so that this thought is transformed and there is equality between men and women, as well as the interaction that must exist between the family, which is the fundamental cell of society, and the schools, workplaces, and the neighborhood.
Participation and exchange in the spaces provided by the Network show changes in the way of thinking and acting of the members, as well as the participants and specialists. They have gained and/or strengthened their racial awareness that exists in our population, of which at some point we were participants to pronounce or listen to them and not refute them, the way in which they intend to justify their eradication and the various alternatives to confront them.
Appendix #4
Synthesis of the expressions regarding the learning, derived from the review of the fourteen in-depth interviews carried out with national and international intellectuals, academics, and scientists who had a relationship with the RBA during this period and still maintain ties.
(The thoughts below are of those interviewed)
…Make the RBA visible as an organization…
…Articulation with the grassroots – horizontal dialogue with the communities for collective construction of the projects…
…Contribution to the doctoral theses of Daniel Brasil and Bárbara Olivera…
…It allows us to understand the roots and magnitude of the racial problem in Cuba, makes it visible when dealing with it, allows us not to distort it by wanting to change reality from ourselves, and defines that it is not a problem for Black people but for everyone…
…The leadership of women is recognized, at the community level…
…Teaching the history, society, and politics of Cuba, the Caribbean, and the African diaspora is very important…
…The contribution to my historical thesis of the role that the community should have as a decisive space to assume social inequalities related to raciality…
…The RBA confirms the need to pay more attention to community spaces, to break the myth of the community as a space that is not prepared to take on theoretical challenges…
…The social impact on groups that are disconnected from social conflicts and their immediate challenges…
…I have come closer to the current situation, from its protagonists (men, women, and young people) of the neighborhood reality…
…The transformation of your participants, based on learning…
…Attention to community problems, from the debate in the workshops…
…Expressions in jokes with racist content..
…Transform the ways people act and think…
…Verify the importance and strength of collective construction from popular education…
…To develop a racial awareness and identity not only in the participants, but also in their family and work environments in which they would socialize what they had learned…
…The empowerment of knowledge that was achieved there was seen as democratic, encompassing, inclusive, that allowed us to distinguish diversity, in addition, that all of the participants in these activities discovered their potential, and joined the fight against racial discrimination in all its manifestations…
…My advice to the work of the RBA allowed me to join social activism, in addition to becoming a better person…
…It has made possible the exchange of knowledge and entered a space for reflection and debate on the basis of respect for the criteria of others…
…It has provided cognitive tools to address the issue…
…It has provided me with examples of good practices, and it is a unique space that I have been able to find to learn more about the neighborhoods and communities of Havana, about the particularities of racist behaviors and how to confront them from community contexts…
…The topics analyzed in the RBA have been the result of the proposals of those of us who are part of the network, we need to learn to transform…
…The topic of Public Policies, the Cuban economy and its challenges, is very useful in forming racial awareness and creating capacities to act more effectively in the fight against racism…
…The capacity for collective mobilization has been one of the central utilities of the RBA…
…I perceive changes in my way of thinking and acting from participating in the RBA, first of all I believe that I have gained in racial awareness, in understanding the problem, sensitivity, and above all in the ability to act against racism. We have to unite more and act differently, be creative when faced with a problem as complex as the one at hand…
…We have taken the message of the RBA from theory and practice to the academic, political and family arena…
…In this regard, the links established with CIPS and CLACSO stand out. Today one of the coordinators of the RBA is a member of the Cátedra de Estudios Afrodescendientes and of the GT CLASCO. This is an unprecedented step, since these have always been spaces reserved for researchers, such an exchange will make substantial changes in the Academies and vice versa.
Appendix #5
Some of the expressions that the coordinators did not immobilize when they heard them at the beginning of the network; and the current consensus of the same by the work team that carried out the process of sistematización.
| Expressions that were told to the coordinators at the beginning of the RBA | Current consensus of expressions by the work team that carried out the process of Sistematización |
| …That topic is candela!…
…Why don’t they talk about something else?… …That issue is about subversion, that is a political-ideological problem… …To talk about that issue is to make a counter-revolution… …Do not come to talk about this in this institution… …For that you have to be very smart… …Society is not ready for that… …There are ears that have to be prepared to hear something like this… …Here we are all equal… …Racism in Cuba? Yes, the Revolution ended that!… …Black racism is worse than White racism… |
…It is necessary to support the economic development of Black populations, without that we will not advance…
…You cannot be too radical, if we want to achieve something it is with patience, measure and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the context… …It is important to know about racial discrimination in history, mestizaje, stereotypes, prejudices, and the way in which they are related, the emergence of races and the variability of science with respect to these issues… …With the Revolution, many measures have been taken and many things have been done, but there is still an abyss between the political and social proposal of our system and the reality in the country, much remains to be done… …Racism does not have a color, it is the problem of everyone… |