Sunset Park author Maritza Arrastia imagines a progressive future in Grito 2048

When Cuban-born Maritza Arrastia was 12 years old, she attended a political celebration marking the end of dictator Fulgencio Batista’s control of the island nation. She describes the day as “exhilarating” and says it was a “thrilling experience” to join thousands of others in cheering the defeat of the hated regime.

Grito 2048, Arrastia’s recently released futuristic novel, captures the joy she felt that day. This time, however, she imagines victories over oppression taking place in every corner of the world.

It’s a vividly drawn depiction of the emergence of a new, environmentally friendly and humane society. Moreover, after decades of organizing, the novel presents the majority of the world’s people coming together to oppose the greed that has long dominated capitalist, colonialist and imperialist governance. People, too, have changed, becoming “super cooperators” rather than competitors and pledging to value sustainability, peace and social justice.

At the center of the book is Marina, whose search for her missing 18-year-old son, Maceo, and husband, Ori, drives the story. Both have vanished and are believed to be either in hiding or languishing in jail because of their efforts to oppose the anti-ecological and money-worshipping politicians they plan to defeat.

As Marina’s search for her loved ones intensifies, the novel explores themes that include the sustaining power of female friendship, marital fidelity and what it means to be a good — or good enough — mother. Death, spirituality and the healing power of nature are also woven into the text. Likewise, Grito 2048 probes the balance between self-fulfillment and collective responsibility.

It’s an evocative, complex and potent mix.

Grito 2048 is Arrastia’s third book. Her first, EXILE, was published in 1991, and Tripartita, her second, coauthored with two others, was released in 1997. She spent more than a decade writing and revising her latest novel.

And while she says she has written consistently since moving to the United States with her family in 1961, her personal and professional life has taken numerous turns. First, there were issues of emigration and assimilation as she adjusted to a new home in New York City. Still, it was a heady time, and as a teenager, Arrastia got involved in the civil rights movement.

“A few years later, after college, I joined the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP),” she told the Post. The decision honored her mother’s Borinquen heritage, and Arrastia soon got a job as a reporter at Claridad, the PSP newspaper. “At some point during my time at Claridad, I went to Puerto Rico for a conference and met a foreign journalist who was scheduled to meet with the health minister. The meeting was about sterilization practices on the island, and I went along to translate for her. I ended up writing a long article about sterilization abuse and subsequently wrote a lot about this issue,” she says.

After having her first child in 1977, Arrastia left Claridad. She later worked at the North Star Fund, a progressive New York City foundation, and then became the publication director at the National Lawyers Guild. She remained at the Guild until the birth of her second child in 1981 and then took a job with the American Reading Council, where she developed curricula using the theories of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire.

She has been an educator ever since, and she has never stopped writing.

“In writing Grito, I wanted to capture the feeling I had during the triumph of the Cuban Revolution,” she says. “I imagined what it would be like if capitalism was defeated in every part of the world, something I know is currently a political fantasy.”

Nonetheless, she believes progressive social change is not just possible but inevitable.

“Look at the mutual aid networks that have developed during the last few years,” she says. “This is happening within capitalism.”

“History often surprises us,” she continues. “Few of us anticipated Occupy. That taught me that people’s power moves in mysterious ways. There are always things that are happening that we can’t see. I wanted Grito to remind readers that even when we’re discouraged or overwhelmed, we have the power to figure things out. We can remake the world.”