Cubans raising pigs and chickens at home to get meat
Keeping animals in urban flats as a symptom of state collapse and shortage. We look at the debate over whether cities will return to self-sufficiency.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Raising animals in flats as a symptom of collapse
When the state loses its ability to enforce the rules, urban survival reverts to its most basic instincts: raising livestock in apartments. The case of a woman in Cuba who keeps a pig on a third floor is not just an anecdote about shortage, but a mirror of a society where the collapse of public services and the disappearance of government inspections are forcing citizens to turn their homes into subsistence farms.
The disappearance of state control as a crisis gauge
The forum debate centres on a troubling reading: the absence of Cuba's Antivectorial Campaign (a state hygiene and pest-control programme), which would have fined this practice just two years ago, is the definitive symptom of a state that can no longer pay its officials. Users analyse how the lack of energy and resources is creating a de facto legal vacuum. The theory gaining ground is that, in the face of extreme misery, urban coexistence laws become unenforceable, forcing a return to self-sufficiency that many compare with post-war Spain.
Will modern cities see the return of communal courtyards with livestock?
The discussion heats up when this reality is contrasted with today's urban planning. While some see animal husbandry as a necessary return to self-reliance, others point to the hygiene problems of modern flats compared with the old corralas (traditional shared courtyards). The open question is whether this phenomenon is an isolated case of a failed system or the prelude to a decade in which shortage will force us to normalise what today seems unthinkable.
Related forum debates
When the state loses its ability to enforce the rules, urban survival reverts to its most basic instincts: raising livestock in apartments. The case of a woman in Cuba who keeps a pig on a third floor is not just an anecdote about shortage, but a mirror of a society where the collapse of public services and the disappearance of government inspections are forcing citizens to turn their homes into subsistence farms.
The disappearance of state control as a crisis gauge
The forum debate centres on a troubling reading: the absence of Cuba's Antivectorial Campaign (a state hygiene and pest-control programme), which would have fined this practice just two years ago, is the definitive symptom of a state that can no longer pay its officials. Users analyse how the lack of energy and resources is creating a de facto legal vacuum. The theory gaining ground is that, in the face of extreme misery, urban coexistence laws become unenforceable, forcing a return to self-sufficiency that many compare with post-war Spain.
Will modern cities see the return of communal courtyards with livestock?
The discussion heats up when this reality is contrasted with today's urban planning. While some see animal husbandry as a necessary return to self-reliance, others point to the hygiene problems of modern flats compared with the old corralas (traditional shared courtyards). The open question is whether this phenomenon is an isolated case of a failed system or the prelude to a decade in which shortage will force us to normalise what today seems unthinkable.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (11 replies).
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