An Open Letter from a Son of Cuba
Posted on VidaAfroLatina.com on October 22, 2008


Salvador, Bahia
BRAZIL

October 22, 2008

A Letter to my Friends:

This letter is to my personal friends around the world; to those who, in one capacity or another, have known me for the past 20 to 40 years - who know exactly what I stand for and also what I oppose, in terms of my principles and political options. It concerns the fate of "Pichón," my book of memoirs, a work I labored over, off and on, for 25 years, writing in many lands where I took up residence with my family, living in the conditions of exile of which you are well aware.   

"Pichón" is scheduled to be published in the United States and Canada on November 1, 2008. However, let me alert you now to the fact that it will not be stocked by any of the major bookstore chains that dominate book distribution. So do not expect to find "Pichón" anywhere on its publication date, except online on amazon.com. This is related to the way the global economy functions, which results in corporate decisions made according to what is judged commercially profitable, at the expense of socially relevant information. And "Pichón" is, precisely, about the latter.

The current climate in the book trade places unprecedented control in the hands of a few conglomerates and multinational corporations, while the number of independents able to hold their own constantly dwindles. It is a totally unfavorable atmosphere for books such as "Pichón." I believe that "Pichón" falls into the category of books that deal with serious social and historical issues concerned with the way society works and how the current world order can adversely affect the lives of individuals, and ultimately the lives of millions of people.

The monopolistic control of the book production and distribution industries means there is ever less diversity in bookstore stock, with a greater amount of the inventory being controlled by fewer, large publishing houses. The smaller independent book producers are being disadvantaged out of existence. The logic that allows this to happen is simple: booksellers expect big discounts, and publishers may have to pay up to tens of thousands of dollars per title for their books to be displayed in prominent positions in the shops. Inevitably, therefore, the concentration is on the acknowledged safe money-spinners, and practically no Black authors are deemed to fall into this category.

Consequently, there is a limited selection of books by Black authors available in-store. Most of those that do make it are likely to be shelved in separate "Black-interest" sections and not alongside general-interest (i.e. non-Black) works where authors are arranged simply by name alphabetically from A to Z. What the general public rarely knows is that those “Black books” that do manage to be admitted into the stores are typically subjected thereafter to a cataloging and “viewing” strategy that renders them invisible. It is an open secret that the space allocated to Black writing is often in a corner or at the back, next to or behind women's studies.

In other words, the treatment of “Black books” mirrors the parameters of exclusion, ghettoization and marginalization characteristic of the world economy at large. Book producers, distributors and sellers routinely make assumptions that works produced by “minority authors” on “minority issues” won't be bought, that the “mainstream” readership is not interested in them. Similarly, some people assume that minorities won't come out to vote in huge numbers. The film industry long operated using that same fallacy, until Melvin Van Peebles shattered its biased logic with his acclaimed, self-funded film, "Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song." Remember? Our maverick, Spike Lee, followed suit, breaking records at the box-office with his low-budget first feature "She’s Gotta Have It." Remember?

Although the so-called mainstream industry continues to act on the warped proposition that books or films by Blacks and other “minority” groups are relevant solely to Blacks, and automatically have limited marketability, I am convinced that "Pichón," which destroys long-standing myths and opens the door to understanding one of the great political phenomena of the 20th century, is relevant to all.

The corporate decisions that keep such a book out of sight are a consequence of the sort of globalization whereby mergers, acquisitions and consolidations wipe out autonomous small and medium-sized book concerns. That process, which began in the 1980s, leaves the fate of books at the mercy of gargantuan, monopolistic mega-multinationals. It is they who now determine on our behalf what is bought or read. 

You will understand why I, as an individual, seize this one viable option to exercise my right to be heard and reach out to the wide audience that deserves an opportunity to know of "Pichón": I send this appeal to you, asking for your support through an alternative network that relies on online purchase.  The Internet can be a miraculous, democratizing tool; it lets the voices of the otherwise powerless be heard uncensored, without bureaucratic impediment. I need the help of my friends, and the friends of my friends, to create an informal peer-to-peer, grassroots-up promotional campaign. Only in this way can "Pichón" be lifted out of anonymity so that the issues it addresses have a chance to receive the public airing they merit.

I have always been an outsider.  I have always fought against the odds. My political views have not been mainstream, nor have they coincided with the interests of any establishment. I am used to being alone in the trenches. But this time I need you with me, to help rescue from marginality this untold but true story of Black Cuba under the Revolution. We can achieve this through word-of-mouth, email, blogs, YouTube,  chat rooms - the online terrain where the battle against censorship, corporate or otherwise, can be won.

Three days before Americans cast the most historic vote of their lives, in the presidential election of November 4, 2008, I ask you to cast another kind of vote, on behalf of the right of independent Black Cuban voices to be heard. Go online on November 1, the publication day of "Pichón," to amazon.com. By helping the book’s emergence from invisibility, you participate in a democratization process in Cuba that we must hope will lead, at long last, to the full empowerment of its majority population. 

My humble wish for "Pichón" is that it informs and contributes towards a new path in Cuban relations, and points to some possible new ways of doing business with the world. Cast a vote for the democratic and peaceful transformation of Cuba!

Please vote for Pichón on November 1, 2008!

With love and much gratitude, on behalf of a better world for us all,
Carlos Moore

Carlos Moore, a Cuban anthropologist and political scientist who resides in Brazil, has been a vocal critic of the Cuban regime's racial policies for over four decades. A former professor at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, he is the author of “Castro, the Blacks and Africa, ” and “ This Bitch of a Life,” the biography of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti. Dr. Moore can be reached at carlosmoore61@yahoo.com.

For more information, visit his official website: www.drcarlosmoore.com.