A donkey only steps on ice once!

The title is a literal translation of a Slovenian saying, while its English equivalent would be “once bitten, twice shy” or “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. But why did the Slovenian people choose a donkey, a resident of the Mediterranean where water doesn’t freeze over all that often? What kind of ice is it supposed to step on, then? If the reason was its proverbial “stupidity”, there must be some other animals that could outdo the donkey in that respect? But let’s set this aside for a moment and head over to Cuba, from where I returned a few days ago.

 

I’ve visited it three times so far, the first time in 1994 when I documented one of the most interesting stories of my photography career. I dived and photographed divers and archaeologists who, under the direct supervision of El Comandante Fidel Castro, were looking for (and discovered!) the fabled treasures of the many Spanish galleys that had sunk in the area between the 16th and the 18th century. Cuba is also where I “officially” said goodbye to my analogue photography career and produced the last photo-reportage on black-and-white film. On the most recent trip I led a group of photographers and photo enthusiasts for the prestigious Nordic photo agency Better Moments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, Cuba has changed significantly during these almost 25 years. Especially when the firm hand of Fidel was replaced by the slightly softer hand of his brother Raul. However, according to the latest reports, he will resign on 19 April this year and is supposed to be succeeded by Miguel Diaz-Canel, a hard-line communist himself. But nobody knows where the Cuban ship will steer, especially now that the “unstable” Trump has made sure that US-Cuba relations have cooled. But that is actually not that important, the changes happening in Cuba are gigantic nonetheless.

 

It’s been said for some time now that it’s best to go to Cuba as soon as possible, because the days of the last oasis of communism are numbered and if we want to experience it as it was in the best days of Fidel’s leadership, there’s no time to lose. But what does that mean? That Westerners who have everything in abundance could gloat at long queues for bread and other basic necessities in empty shops as they used to, one last time? That they could eat lobsters to their heart’s desire for a Euro or two, drive around in magnificent classic American cars and take young and exquisitely beautiful women to their beds and then get rid of them by buying them a cocktail and a cheap T-shirt? No, I simply don’t want this kind of nostalgia for a menagerie of trampled human rights. I wish something else entirely for the Cubans! But the almighty capitalism is quietly making its way to Cuba and, if I may be so bold as to paraphrase Karl Marx, currently the opium of the Cuban people is not religion but Capitalism (intentionally written with a capital letter!).

 

 

 

But there is only one thing about all this that saddens me ... There is absolutely no indication that Cuba could, despite decades of economic standstill, skip a few periods of industrial and post-industrial revolution, which ecologically devastated the majority of our planet together with many personal values, and enter the new digital/information age peacefully and without difficulty while preserving its natural beauty and treasures. But, it seems there is no other way. It can be sensed that the Cubans are already repeating the mistakes of the forthcoming turbocapitalism that the West is well aware of due to its experience yet it's much too late to rectify most of them. Considering all this, I can easily add a second part to the well-known Slovenian saying: “A donkey only steps on ice once, but a human every single time!”