[News] US militarizes response to Ebola crisis while Cuba pledges medical aid

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*US militarizes response to Ebola crisis while Cuba pledges medical aid*


        Abayomi Azikiwe


        2014-09-23


        http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92986
        <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92986>

A team of eight experts and journalists visiting the southern region of 
the West African state of Guinea were found dead in the town of 
Nzerekore on Sept. 20. Reports indicate that they were there to educate 
people about the nature of the disease for the purpose of its prevention.


Reports from Guinea say that the delegation had met with elders in the 
community but were later attacked by youths. Investigations into the 
details of the killings are ongoing.

There is tremendous mistrust surrounding the spread of the Ebola disease 
in some West African states where the epidemic has had an impact. 
Doctors Without Borders reported in April that their teams were forced 
to withdraw from Macenta in Guinea after being stoned by youth who said 
they were there to spread the disease.

Newspaper articles and rumors have circulated that the outbreak is a 
direct result of biological warfare being waged by imperialist countries 
against the African continent.

Although no one knows what the motivations were of those who carried out 
the killings in Guinea, obviously there are many people who mistrust the 
motivations of foreign aid workers responding to the crisis. Guinea is 
the first country that was identified in the latest spread of the 
disease which has periodically struck in Central and West Africa over 
the last three decades.

BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AND ECONOMIC UNDERDEVELOPMENT

The most widely discussed and controversial article related to the 
spread of the Ebola was published by the leading newspaper in Liberia, 
The Observer 
<http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/ebola-aids-manufactured-western-pharmaceuticals-us-dod>. 
Dr. Cyril Broderick, a former professor of plant pathology at the 
university there, asserted that the spread of the disease is a direct 
result of U.S. Department of Defense bio-warfare against Africa.

Broderick's article was published on Sept. 9 and stated that "Africa 
must not relegate the Continent to become the locality for disposal and 
the deposition of hazardous chemicals, dangerous drugs, and chemical or 
biological agents of emerging diseases. There is urgent need for 
affirmative action in protecting the less affluent of poorer countries, 
especially African citizens, whose countries are not as scientifically 
and industrially endowed as the United States and most Western 
countries, sources of most viral or bacterial GMOs that are 
strategically designed as biological weapons. It is most disturbing that 
the U. S. Government has been operating a viral hemorrhagic fever 
bioterrorism research laboratory in Sierra Leone."

This same author goes on to ask "Are there others? Wherever they exist, 
it is time to terminate them. If any other sites exist, it is advisable 
to follow the delayed but essential step: Sierra Leone closed the US 
bioweapons lab and stopped Tulane University for further testing." (Sept. 9)

Broderick has been attacked for publishing the article and according to 
Health Impact News "The western pro-pharma media has chided Dr. 
Broderick, saying that such an inflammatory piece of writing is 
'irresponsible' since so many Africans are already distrustful of 
western medicine. They see western medicine as the answer to Africa's 
deadly diseases such as Ebola, while Dr. Broderick sees it as the cause. 
Dr. Broderick states 'African people are not ignorant and gullible, as 
is being implicated.'" (healthimpactnews.com, Sept. 21)

Following the publication of this article, President Barack Obama 
announced on Sept. 16 that the U.S. would deploy 3,000 troops to the 
affected West African states as a means to combat the disease. Obama 
said in a press release that "The United States will leverage the unique 
capabilities of the U.S. military and broader uniformed services to help 
bring the epidemic under control. These efforts will entail command and 
control, logistics expertise, training, and engineering support." (White 
House press statement)

Washington is already heavily involved militarily in Africa. Several 
thousand Pentagon troops, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives 
and State Department functionaries are on the continent as part of the 
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). This intervention since 2008 has created 
more instability and underdevelopment in Africa as represented by the 
events in Egypt, Mali, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria where the 
ostensible partnerships aimed at curbing "terrorism" has prompted the 
intensification of conflict, dislocation and in the case of the Horn of 
Africa, famine.

Pentagon and CIA drone operations have carried out numerous targeted 
assassinations in Somalia. In Mali, a U.S.-trained military officer 
returned to this former French colony and staged a coup providing a 
rationale for internal destabilization as well as an ongoing occupation 
by Paris.

CUBA OFFERS MEDICAL SOLIDARITY

Meanwhile, the revolutionary nation of Cuba pledged to send medical 
personnel in the fight against the disease. Cuba has a profound history 
in providing unconditional solidarity with the African continent.

In an address on Sept. 18 before the United Nations Security Council 
emergency session on Ebola, Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Abelardo 
Moreno told the participants that "Cuba's response is part of our 
solidarity with Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Over 
the last 55 years we have collaborated in more than 158 countries, with 
the participation of 325,710 health workers. 76,744 collaborators have 
worked in 39 African countries. Today, in this sector, 4,048 Cubans are 
serving in 32 African nations; 2,269 of whom are doctors." (granma.cu, 
Sept. 19)

Moreno went on to report that "The medical brigades which will be sent 
to Africa to fight against Ebola form part of the "Henry Reeve 
International Contingent" - created in 2005 - composed of doctors 
specializing in combating disasters and large-scale epidemics. Cuba's 
response confirms the values of solidarity which have guided the Cuban 
Revolution: not to give what we can spare, but to share what we have."

This approach contrasts sharply with that of the White House and 
Pentagon. Cuba has built up considerable trust in Africa due to its 
consistent policy of international solidarity.

At least three countries which have reported Ebola cases are reporting 
improvements in fighting the disease and its proliferation. In Nigeria 
the Federal Government announced that schools would be re-opened on 
Sept. 22 despite opposition from the sections of the Nigerian Union of 
Teachers (NUT).

In Sierra Leone there was a state of emergency declared restricting 
movements for three days. The government announced on Sept. 22 that the 
situation was now under control. Similar announcements have been made in 
reference to developments in Senegal where at least one case has been 
reported.

Nonetheless, there have been nearly 3,000 deaths reported from the 
disease. In addition there are still numerous questions related to the 
conditions under which the disease is spread and the most effective 
means to treat and eradicate the epidemic. (WHO Update, Sept. 22)

This outbreak does draw attention to the need for genuine independence 
and development on the African continent. The training of medical 
personnel and scientific researchers would contribute immensely to 
preventing future healthcare crises.

Cuban revolutionary foreign policy provides an example of how 
underdeveloped states which have a legacy of slavery, colonialism and 
neo-colonialism can transform through a process of class struggle and 
self-reliance. With over five decades of hostility from the U.S., Cuba 
has been able to make significant contributions to African liberation 
whether in the fight against settler-colonialism in Southern Africa in 
years past or through the contemporary challenges related to the Ebola 
outbreak, the training of African medical personnel and other healthcare 
issues.

* Abayomi Azikiwe is Editor, Pan-African News Wire

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20140925/d9abe194/attachment.htm>