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The unhappiness of the intellectuals
In 1960, the famous French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, accompanied by Simone de Beauvoir, arrived in Cuba at the invitation of Carlos Franqui, director of the newspaper Revolución. The philosopher would be dazzled by what was happening in Cuba, as can well be deduced from the essay that he immediately wrote in a kind of mystical trance: Hurricane over sugar.
However, despite this shock, he kept a critical distance when in one of the meetings he had with the artists of the moment, he said: “Do not forget that intellectuals are never happy anywhere. Cuba is their paradise, but I wish them to stay that way, to continue being so.”
In reality, there are intellectuals who do feel happy with what happens around them. One sees this when what the political avant-garde of the day proposes and it totally coincides with what these intellectuals assume should be the order to the world to which they aspire.
But history has shown that no political power can guarantee a society where all the rights and expectations of individuals are fully satisfied. Therefore, as long as this totality of rights continues to be something to be conquered gradually, there will be unhappy intellectuals who will appreciate that its total conquest is their duty. And they will never stop claiming it while strongly criticizing whatever hinders obtaining it integrally. It is not the praise of the intellectuals for what exists, but the claims of what is lacking, which gives hope to those who have no hope.
When someone lives happy and proud of having rights that others lack, then we would no longer be talking about rights, but about privileges. And just what makes the critical intellectual unhappy are unjustified privileges.
