Viva la revolucion! Cuba's 50th anniversary.

Trolls aside, to me the most important part of the Revolution was the inspiration it has given to millions of the disposed and poor around the world.

As Ze correctly said, in Timor-Leste it is the Cuban Revolution that was the inspiration for their own empowerment.

CMOT - without the Cuban Revolution the amazing recent progress in Latin America would not be the same. Every leftist leader from Chavez, Lula, Correa to even Lula say this. Cuba broke the myth of empire and inspired the other colonies to do the same.

Not only did Cuba successfully resist the American empire it also defeated the apartheid regime on the battlefield of Angola at Cuito Cuanavale (called Africa`s Stalingrad). This victory was the final nail in the regime. 

In South Africa the first nation Mandela visited when freed was Cuba. His words during this visit are the finest summary of what Cuba's Revolution means to so many and why Cuba remains on the top of the neo-lib hit list:

 Speaking in Havana at the traditional July 26 celebration, the ANC
leader told thousands of cheering Cubans that their efforts,
culminating in the unprecedented defeat of South African regular troops
in Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, had marked a historic turning point for
southern Africa, constituting a victory for Africa as a whole.

“That
impressive defeat of the racist army ... gave Angola the possibility of
enjoying peace and consolidating its sovereignty”, he stated. It gave
the people of Namibia their independence, demoralised the white racist
regime of Pretoria and inspired the anti-apartheid forces inside South
Africa, he added.

“Without the defeat inflicted at Cuito Cuanavale our organisations never would have been legalised”, he asserted.

When
he concluded, Fidel Castro observed that Mandela's remarks constituted
“the greatest and most profound tribute ever paid to our
internationalist combatants”.

Despite the current conventional
wisdom, which seems to regard everything socialist and revolutionary as
an anachronism or a mistake, Mandela had only kind words for Cuba.

“The
Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of
Africa”, he began. “The Cuban internationalists have made a
contribution to African independence, freedom and justice, unparalleled
for its principled and selfless character.”

Mandela repeatedly
stressed the uniqueness of Cuba's no-strings-attached aid. “What other
country” he asked, “can show as much selflessness as Cuba has in its
relations with the African continent? How many countries in the world
have benefited from the assistance of Cuban health workers and
educators? What country has ever asked for Cuban assistance and been
denied it? How many countries threatened by imperialism or struggling
for their national liberation have been able to count on the help and
support of Cuba?”

From its earliest days the Cuban revolution
“has been a source of inspiration for all freedom loving people”, he
went on. “We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining
their independence and sovereignty in the face of a vicious imperialist
orchestrated campaign organised to destroy the impressive gains made in
the Cuban revolution.”

The African people, Mandela noted, have
become accustomed to being victims of other countries which “want to
take over our territory or subvert our sovereignty. In the history of
Africa”, he asserted, “there is no other case of a people that has
risen up in our defence.”

Africans have been especially moved
by the Cuban people's commitment to African liberation and to the
systematic elimination of racism worldwide, Mandela said. “But the most
important lesson that you have for us is that, no matter what the odds,
no matter under what difficulties you had to struggle against, there
can be no surrender. It's a case of freedom or death. I know that your
country is experiencing many difficulties now, but we have confidence
that the resiliency of [your people] will overcome these as they've
have helped other countries overcome theirs.”

“You are with us,“ he went on, “because both of our organisations, the Communist Party of Cuba and the ANC, are fighting for the oppressed masses, to ensure those who make the wealth enjoy its fruits ...

“We of the ANC
will always stand with the poor ... and we will ensure sooner rather
than later that they rule the land of their birth; that, in the words
of the Freedom Charter, the people shall govern. And when that moment
arrives, it will have been made possible not only by our own efforts,
but also by the solidarity, support and encouragement of the great
Cuban people.”

  http://www.greenleft.org.au/1991/23/833

--------------------------------------------

Hasta la victoria siempre

Unionist wrote:

Lovely little article on BBC:

[u][b][url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7786082.stm]Reliving  Cuba's Revolution[/url][/b][/u]

Love the refrigerator in that shack-I'm sure Fidel and the boys had power enough to keep their Cervezas cold 24/7 in preparation for the Big LIE/Push.

Kindrid wrote:

BTW, it is absurd to point the finger
at Costa Rica for corruption. Corruption is a fact of daily life in
Cuba. The non-elite Cubans do have to bribe in order to get medicine.
Cubans have to use the black market in order to get basic goods that
are widely available in any Latin American nation. Kickbacks have to
be paid to land lucrative jobs in the tourist industry. A common
practice for tourist industry employees is to skim off the stock of
supplies and resell the stolen supplies on the black market

That's quite true-spend some time in Cuba living away from tourist resorts-the kind that the Good Folks from The Soo frequent-and you see a very different kind of a place-one that's as rotten as any third world swamp you could name.

As to Costa Rica I lived there doing Birding Tours years ago and a paradise it ain't-everything is over priced and needs to be paid for, people are avaricious and much given to theft-and that's being polite about things.

 Of course they haven't had the best role models-the Yanquis and Canucks who dominate the tourist trade are some of the most nauseating characters ever to cheat an illiterate

Well, I'm sure it has a long way to go and I can't imagine that even Fidel would say otherwise. But I suspect he would mean something different than you do by 'democratic'? What, to your mind, would make Cuba 'democratic'?

p.s. I can't claim the personal experience of the birder. Clearly, he belongs to a different class than I do. 

Of course the U.S. hasn't helped the political situation by imposing a big geezely embargo... 

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 Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run -Sting, an englishman in new york

Quote:

Not only did Cuba successfully resist the American empire it also
defeated the apartheid regime on the battlefield of Angola at Cuito
Cuanavale (called Africa`s Stalingrad). This victory was the final
nail in the regime.

Another great lie of the regime. The battle of Cuito Cuanavele was
a complete  disaster for Cuban forces in Angola:

 FAPLA (People' Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola)/
Cuban vehicles and aircraft destroyed by SADF / UNITA forces:

Tanks – 94

Armored troop and combat vehicles – 94

BM-21 / BM-14 14 Multiple Rocket Launchers – 34

D-30 / M-46 field guns – 9

TMM mobile brigade- 7

Logistic vehicles – 389

MIG 21 / 23 aircraft – 9

Helicopters – 9

compared to

SADF equipment destroyed or captured by FAPLA / Cuban forces

Ratel infantry fighting vehicles – 5

Casspir infantry fighting vehicles – 3

Rinkhals transport vehicles -1

Mirage F-1 fighter aircraft – 2 (1 as a result of an accident)

Bosbok light reconnaissance aircraft – 1

Confirmed killed on the Cuban / Angolan side: 4,785

South Africa side: 31 from combat 6 from malaria.

Source “The Days of the Generals” by Hilton Hamann pg 97.

The plan was for Communist forces to wipe out the the UNITA
stronghold at Jamba. They did not succeed but took a terrible
beating. After the battle, UNITA was even stronger flushed with
captured Soviet Block weapons.

Years before the battle South Africa put a deal on the table for a withdrawal and
independence for Namibia in exchange for the withdrawal of all
foreign forces from Angola. Castro did not take the deal. He had
fantasies of marching to Pretoria. The result was the wars in Angola
and Namibia dragged on for years. Because of the Communist defeat at
Cuito Cuanavele the Cuban agreed to the deal that South Africa had
proposed years earlier. The Cubans withdrew from Angola and Namibia
became independent.

BTW, the ANC refuse to open up the files regarding the battle of
Cuito Cuanavele. Cubans that now live in freedom confirm and former Warsaw Pact
advisors confirm the South African victory.

The only thing Castro's African adventures did was scare White
South Africans in prolonging apartheid out of a real concern that
majority rule meant a Communist dictatorship. Castro's adventures
painted the whites in a corner. It is no coincidence that apartheid
ended after the fall of the Soviet Union and the fear of Communism
was lessened.

CMOT Dibbler wrote:

P.S. Putting up massive cities incredibly fast is a good thing? 

Maybe not. But China was a fourth world basket case in 1949. The west did not recognize a billion people living in mainland Asia as even Chinese. We did recognize the very murderous Chiang Kai-shek's Formosa though.

And Keynes is not so reviled in China. Today they pay cash on the barrelhead for homes and apartments in China. Personal savings rates are over 25%. Compare that with people in the western world losing their jobs and over-valued homes today as a result of an economic ideology that is failing for the second or third time without anyone pushing it over a cliff by either a cold war or economic warfare. It just doesnt work!

CMOT Dibbler wrote:

 

How much of that has to do with the embargo?

  No country is entirely rotten.  I'm sure that even in places like Congo There are locations and people that can re-affirm  a person's faith in humanity. 

Cubans vote in elections and any Cuban can run for election. Their voter participation rates in Cuba make it look like Canadians may have issues with our own democracy. And as far as the US is concerned, it's a plutocracy for a long time. All two presidential candidates in that country are pre-selected by billionaires and corporate interests. It's not a real democracy though they pretend it is. They have a cosmetic government and a permanent shadow government. And they've tended to interfere in Caribbean affairs and Latin America to extremes in general for many years. And that's the way it is today still.

 What Cubans will not allow are American educated and influenced politicians to run for election in Cuba. They refuse to allow IMF and western world to appoint a central banker to Cuba, who is not born in Cuba, and does not respect Cuban's sovereign interests. That's what's been happening though in other parts of the world - parts of the world where colonial style indebtedness to foreign bankers and rich people living in other countries  takes precedent over the social democratic interests of a nation.

The largest prison population on the island of Cuba is at Guantanamo.

The largest gulag population in the world belongs to the USA.

The largest threat to human rights and democracy on the island of Cuba is at Guantanamo.

And the Congo has 5.4 million fewer people since the late 1990's. That's a holocaust.

Big business interests and western world colonialism in Africa and around the capitalist thirdworld have been the kiss of death for millions of people in recent years.

And the western world waged war on Angola with the help of apartheid South Afreeka and other fascist regimes at the time. Cuban soliders were looked upon as heroes around the world for coming to the aid of desperately poor Angolans facing an onslaught by a vicious empire. Jonas Savimbi was the devil incarnate to many Angolans, but the west embraced him and gave him weapons and aid money. May his blood scream for all eternity. Today their most successful domestic industry in Angola is manufacture of artificial limbs

Actually UNITA enjoyed wide support among African nation at the
time of independence. The MPLA only took control of the capital
because they were given massive aid from Soviet Block nations. At the
time of independence, if fair elections occurred Savimbi would have
won. Savimbi took the help of South Africa only because UNITA would
have been wiped out without help form Pretoria.

And Canadian Gerald Bull was in there like a dirty shirt handing advanced cannon technology to the U.S.-backed mercenaries. It tipped the balance of the dirty war. Bull was a stooge for the CIA who would later sell large gun barrel and who knows what else to Crazy George I's and maggie's long-time pal in Baghdad. Fascists are a treacherous bunch of mass murdering bastards when you think about it.

So, the solution for getting rid of one dictator is to install a
greater dictator? Fidel's body count far exceeds Batista's Castro
promised free elections and a return to the liberal Constitution of
1940. 2 million Cubans did not flee their homes during the rule of Batista.

Cubans worked from sunup  to sundown in the cane fields. They did backbreaking work under the tropical sun for United Fruit and Bacardi and others while their sons and daughters sold their bodies to rich foreigners and mafia crooks. Cubans were fed up with the oppressive US-backed mafia regime in Havana and Batista's secret police.

Unlike American citizens, you are entirely free to travel to Cuba and see the results of the revolution first-hand. They have guided tours of the agricultural industries, education system, and social scene in Cuba. Cuba is not a closed society in the way that many US client states have become. There are no U.S.-backed right-wing death squads running around Cuba. And you can ask Cubans themselves what it was like before the revolution. They'll give you an earful

old_bolshie wrote:

Quote:

Cubans worked from sunup  to sundown in the cane fields. They did backbreaking work under the tropical sun......while their sons and daughters sold their bodies to rich foreigners

That's a pretty good description of much of rural Cuba today from what I've seen.

Prostitution is older than even you, Ol' bullshie. You'll find it in every major city in the world. Of course, that's something world travelers become aware of early on. Cuba's prostitutes are some of the most well educated working people in the world.

Quote:

Of course you have never seen any of Cuba have you?

So did you and ma 'n pa enjoy Orlando on spring break? Or did you do the cross country thing and hit all the high spots along the way to Anaheim? 

Any new fish recipes?

Visit the folks back in Northern Ontario recently?

[/quote] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v697/rabblerabble/1r9lpy.gif[/IMG]

Fidel wrote:

......Cuba's prostitutes are some of the most well educated working people in the world....

And how would you know that?

Maybe not. But China was a fourth world basket case in 1949. The west did not recognize a billion people living in mainland Asia as even Chinese. We did recognize the very murderous Chiang Kai-shek's Formosa though.

And Keynes is not so reviled in China. Today they pay cash on the barrelhead for homes and apartments in China. Personal savings rates are over 25%. Compare that with people in the western world losing their jobs and over-valued homes today as a result of an economic ideology that is failing for the second or third time without anyone pushing it over a cliff by either a cold war or economic warfare. It just doesnt work!

Your ability to churn out statistics and toe the party line is positivley Macnamaraesque.  

Who looks out for Chinese Workers, and if no one does, how can the Chinese system possibly be called Keynesean?   Does China have a social safety net as advanced as Cuba's? 

-------------------------

Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run -Sting, an englishman in new york

Cubans vote in elections and any Cuban can run for election. Their voter participation rates in Cuba make it look like Canadians may have issues with our own democracy. And as far as the US is concerned, it's a plutocracy for a long time. All two presidential candidates in that country are pre-selected by billionaires and corporate interests. It's not a real democracy though they pretend it is. They have a cosmetic government and a permanent shadow government. And they've tended to interfere in Caribbean affairs and Latin America to extremes in general for many years. And that's the way it is today still.

American democracy is fucked up, and if I were to live there, I would probably wind up living in a shoe box in the middle of sax fifth avenue, being looked after by a nurse who would only be qualified to spoon feed me gruel every three and a half days.  I will not move to the U.S.

That does not change the fact that Cuba needs a more representative form of government.  You say that Cubans can vote.  If the Cuban people want a leader who isn't a member of the communist party, can they get one?

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 Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run -Sting, an englishman in new york

Cubans can vote for any other Cuban to represent them in government.  

 Even if he or she isn't a member of The Party?

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Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run -Sting, an englishman in new york

CMOT Dibbler wrote:

Cubans can vote for any other Cuban to represent them in government.  

 Even if he or she isn't a member of The Party?

Are you able to run a serious campaign for election yourself without someone else's money backing you up? There are no such restrictions on democracy in Cuba. It is a representative democracy of Cubans for Cubans and by Cubans not US or other money interests. I think that's a lofty goal for even the US client states surrounding Cuba on all sides, especially Haiti just 55 miles away. The Americanos dont like it when the people rebel against their oppressive hand-picked stooges. They dont even like Aristide, and he's actually more legit in CIA-imposed exile than our own 22 percent stooges for big biz and banksters in Ottawa and Queen's Park in Toronto.

I've got my own personal shadow now. Thank you, Old Bolshoi. Even in retirement Fidel is still more relevant than cosmetic leaders of the vicious empire and its various colonial administrators, and some who fear showing up for work in Ottawa today even with a democracy gap weighing in their favour. But O'Bullsh, do you imagine other babblers might become jealous with this affectionate display for your's truly?  

Viva La Revolucion!

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v697/rabblerabble/1r9lpy.gif[/IMG]

The 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution is not only worth the Cuban people celebrating, but the world's people.

The Cuban revolution has given hope to people all over the world that it is indeed possible to defeat U.S. imperialism.

But there has been a tremendous cost paid by the Cuban people for their independence.  Serious difficulties lie ahead.

The "dual currency" system is creating some serious problems and some major inequalities.   Right now you are economically better off working in a tourist hotel then you are being a doctor, lawyer or engineer...and you are certainly better off than any worker in any other "non-tourist" industry.

Why?   Because in the tourist industry you have access to the "convertible peso" (CUC) through tips etc.   The CUC is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Salaries are paid in "non convertible pesos".   With non-convertible pesos there is very little that you can buy.  Cubans still have "ration books" for things that can be purchased at prices subsidized by the state.  But, the number of products available through the ration system has been shrinking in recent years.

Cubans earn anywhere between about 400-1000 non convertible pesos per month.

It is legal for Cubans to buy CUC's at an exchange rate of 24 non convertible pesos to the CUC...so that works out to a Cuban salary being 17-41 CUC's per month!

So a half decent bar of soap that costs lets say 1 CUC is costing an average Cuban worker about two days pay!   For someone at the higher end of the pay scale it's costing a little less than a day's pay.

A tourist worker might pick up 5 CUC's per day in tips.   So with let's say 20 working days in a month that means they are earning 100 CUC's per month in addition to their salary in non-convertible pesos.

So it's no problem at all for that tourist worker to buy that bar of soap!  It represents an hour or two's tips.

This "dual currency" system can create some incredible distortions in living standards. Its a breeding ground for resentments... and the black market.    This kind of situation if left to fester can ultimately work to undermine the revolution.

The Cuban government is going to have to find a way to resolve this problem.   It might be that they have to go to a "single currency" system or else simply increase the variety, quantity and quality of the products that Cubans can purchase with non-convertible pesos...or maybe some other solution.

Public transportation remains a problem.   Fortunately hitch hiking is perfectly legal in Cuba and in fact the Cuban government is actively organizing and encouraging this practice.

And before anyone else mentions it I will also say that one has to take into account Cuba's universal free healthcare, universal free education right up to the university level, universal free daycare, subsidized electricity and gas rates and very cheap rents.   I will also mention the state promoting sports and recreation along with cultural activities.

These are all things that historically have not existed in the rest of Latin America (although that's changing).

On the horizon, they're finding oil in Cuba.   The same geology that exists around the Gulf of Mexico...in both the U.S. and Mexico is also present off the shores of Cuba.   Ultimately, Cuba might end up becoming self-sufficient in oil...maybe even an exporter.

The other encouraging thing is that fifty years ago Cuba was surrounded by hostile U.S. client states.    Today, most Latin America governments are of various progressive stripes.   Cuba is now largely surrounded by friends instead of enemies.

Raul Castro tends not to "micro manage" government ministries the way that his brother Fidel did.   It's a different leadership style...more collective.

So a big "Viva la Revolucion Cubana" on January 1st!  But, there are some very serious issues ahead.

Cuban President Raul Castro called on Saturday for austerity measures
including fewer subsidies for workers and stricter management to pull
the country out of an economic morass aggravated this year by three
hurricanes and the global financial crisis....

Before his speech, the assembly voted to raise the age at which
workers can retire with a government pension by five years, to 65 for
men and 60 for women. Officials said the change was needed because
Cuba's population was aging rapidly due to a declining birth rate and
immigration.

Castro said Cuban managers need to demand more from their workers,
who receive free education and health care and subsidized food rations
but on average earn only $20 a month.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/globalNews/idUKN2727857920081229?sp=true

.

KenS wrote:

old_bolshie wrote:

Quote:

Cubans worked from sunup  to sundown in the cane fields. They did backbreaking work under the tropical sun......while their sons and daughters sold their bodies to rich foreigners

That's a pretty good description of much of rural Cuba today from what I've seen.

 

Of course you have never seen any of Cuba have you?

Well I've "seen" quite a bit of Cuba. And I didn't just watch- I've joined in quite a bit of that field work. Let alone after mechanization- when sugar cane harvesting was performed the same as in the rest of Latin America,  working conditions in Cuba were HUGELY better.

To a tourist like yourself people working out in the sun probably all looks the same. 

It isn't.

I very much doubt you were cutting Cane after it had been burnt, as to me I'm not a dumb cluck tourist I'm a traveller-not that you would know the difference.

 I could refer you to some nice Marxist writings about Cuban democracy, if you prefer.

 Go ahead, so long as it dosen't have any of that dicatorship of proletariate shit in it.  That bit of ideology  trapped the Russians in a very long, very cruel dictatorship.

I just thought that you chose that particular commentator becase you thought I was a devout Republican.

 I'm ashamed to say I haven't read the article.  I promise to do so at some point.  I apologize for reacting the way I did.

But please answer me this:  in all these discussions about Cuba have Babblers ever brought forward the writings of anti Castro leftists.  Because it strikes me that three main groups dominate the discourse on this issue: Cuban faschists( Fidel is Satan!  He's an atheistic, communistic monster who has done terrible things to our property, oops, I mean... to the Cuban people...yeah that's it! God save his most Catholic majesty Ferdinand the second of Spain!) right wing pundits( This is terrible!  Fidel violates human rights rights left and centre! He's the most brutal dictator in the world!  Next up is our favorite Jordanian strong man King Abdullah, to tell us why socialism is bad for the middle east!)and pro castro radicals, ( Cuba is the most tolerant democratic nation on earth, with the best darn government in all of Latin America! What's that you say, Castro violates civil rights!?  Well, let me tell you I went on the sunshine and lollypops super egalitarian solidarity tour of Cuba and I never once saw a poet being imprisoned.   Yes, mistakes have been made, but look at how bad things are in Colombia!  We can't talk about Cuban authoritarianism until we discuss the flaws of the Colombian government!) Where are the moderates in this debate?  Where are the socalistic Cuban intellectuals who disagree with all three groups?  Why does this issue always have to be discussed by outsiders?

I like the Bolivarian revolution.  Latin American leaders are instituting Fidelista policies in a reasonably democratic fashion. I'm just somewhat wary of the man   who created those policies in the first place.  Can I do that, or do I have to love the grandfather and his grandchildren both equally?                 

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Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run -Sting, an englishman in new york