From: Fred B. Moseley (fmoseley@MTHOLYOKE.EDU)
Date: Sat May 17 2003 - 18:32:29 EDT
On Fri, 16 May 2003 dashyaf@EASYNET.CO.UK wrote: > > It is even more imperative that we defend Cuba when we live in imperialist > countries benefiting from the brutal exploitation of the vast majority of > humanity. The people who need to get real are those who have not understood > what is at stake for humanity at the present time. Should the remarkable > health care system, the education system and the overall social gains of > the Cuban revolution be put at stake because 'liberals' in the imperialist > countries cannot grasp that the livelihood of 11 million Cuban people is > threatened by the most brutal and powerful imperialist power the world has > seen. Do you want the kind of developments that hit the Nicaraguans, the > Haitians, the Colombians to happen in Cuba? Do you want another Iraq, > Yugoslavia etc? Imperialism in crisis is brutal and barbaric - it has to > be fought and destroyed and the Cubans had every right to take the > measures they did to defend their revolution, to defend socialism, to > defend the Cuban people. What the Cubans have achieved despite the US > blockade shows what is possible for the vast majority of humanity, without > neo-liberalism, without capitalism. That is why imperialism has to destroy > Cuba, before the example of Cuba is taken up elsewhere. I agree with David on this very important point. The Cubans have achieved a lot - especially high-quality education and health care for all. But the main thing that impressed me the most in Cuba was the sense of dignity and accomplishment and purpose and hope of ordinary Cubans, even the poorest. This extraordinary accomplishment is the result of the education and health care they receive and also their popular participation in decisions at the local level. The comparison with poor neighborhoods in the rest of Latin America, and indeed in the US and the rest of the world, is quite striking. And, as David points out, they have accomplished this in spite of the decades-long economic aggression against Cuba by the US. I think our main responsibility - those of us in the US - with regard to Cuba at the present time is to STOP THE US ECONOMIC AGGRESSION AGAINST CUBA, and of course to fight against a military invasion if that materializes. I am convinced that if the blockade were lifted, and especially if US tourists were allowed to travel freely to Cuba, the Cuban economy would improve dramatically. This would demonstrate even more clearly what is possible for the rest of humanity. And I also think that the greater economic prosperity would also make possible a movement toward more free and democratic political structures at the national level. Our main task right now is not to criticize Cuba for its lack of democracy at the national level (there will be time for this important topic later), but rather to defend Cuba, and the gains its people have made, against US aggression. I intend to work hard on this task, and I urge others to do so as well. Comradely, Fred
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