[News] 60 Years of Defending Cuba Against a Barbarous Empire

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/60-Years-of-Defending-Cuba-Against-a-Barbarous-Empire-20190101-0018.html 



  60 Years of Defending Cuba Against a Barbarous Empire

Arnold August - 1 January 2019
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Since Hiroshima, the United States, in its insatiable drive for world 
domination, has killed more than 20 million people in 37 nations.

When Fidel Castro triumphantly announced the people’s victory on January 
1, 1959, it had been barely 15 years since the United States had 
savagely bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This atrocity marked the passage 
of the baton of barbarism from the inhumanity of World War II to the 
United States.

Since the devastating atomic bombing, it has been documented that the 
United States, in its insatiable drive for world domination, has killed 
more than 20 million people in 37 nations. Innumerable murderous 
invasions have taken place around the world, such as in Korea, Vietnam 
and the Playa Girón military intervention that was defeated by Cuba in 
less than 72 hours. All of this constitutes an uncivilized foreign 
policy reminiscent of WWII cruelty. What would have happened to Cuba and 
Latin America had the Revolution led by Fidel Castro not defeated the 
U.S. incursion?

As Washington continuously beefs up its economic and military imperial 
overreach, its ongoing international gunboat diplomacy is now backed up 
by more than 800 military bases (from giant ‘Little Americas’ to small 
radar stations) virtually all over the world, including Guantánamo. All 
of this foreign policy and more, such as the increasing use of the 
Internet as the new road to regime change (e.g. in Cuba, especially 
since 2014), constitute the daily staple of arrogant threats, murderous 
aggression and cynical interference by the United States.

All of this happens every day on many occasions through allied states, 
such as Israel’s ongoing slow genocide against the Palestinian people. 
The post-WWII violation of other countries’ sovereignty and 
international law occurs with virtually no international protection. The 
blockade against Cuba is a case in point of international impunity. The 
peoples of the world, such as the Cubans, can rely only on their own 
forces and support from the peoples and progressive nations in the world 
struggling to maintain a multi-polar world to resist U.S. domination.

The Cuban Revolution has been curbing the United States for 60 of the 75 
years since the inauguration of the ‘new face’ of the post-WWII barbaric 
epoch. This period, based on inhumanity to the extreme, shifted from 
Europe and East Asia to the United States, only 90 miles from Cuba’s 
shores. Think of this geopolitical and historical reality as people in 
every corner of the planet reflect today upon the historic significance 
of the 60th anniversary.

*The Genocidal Blockade*

One can say that the Cuban Revolution has withstood the Empire almost 
throughout the latter’s entire post-WWII lifespan as the successor of 
the unparalleled cruelty witnessed in WWII, which has always been on 
Cuba’s doorstep in one form or another. This worldwide and historic 
post-WWII order incorporates an added consequence as far as Latin 
America and the Caribbean are concerned. This additional feature stems 
from the U.S. nightmare consisting of the constantly looming and 
ever-threatening Latin American revolt against colonialism and 
imperialism since the time of Bolívar and Martí in the 19th century.

The United States has thus added a specific cruel club against Cuba – 
also targeting its inspirational influence not only in the whole region 
south of the Rio Grande but in the belly of the beast itself, as Martí 
called the United States, where he lived and worked. This additional 
diabolical U.S. measure, imposed just one year after the 1959 triumph, 
can only be called genocide. Genocide? It is the U.S. blockade itself 
which defines it as such, while of course not using the word ‘genocide.’ 
The blockade, striving to involve all nations, has as its explicit 1960 
goal to force the Cuban people into submission through ‘economic 
dissatisfaction and hardship.’

The effects of the ruthless blockade, especially since the implosion of 
its allies (the Soviet bloc) close to 30 years ago (almost half the life 
of the Revolution), have been devastating. Notwithstanding the problems 
stemming from Cuba’s own shortcomings, every day in the life of the 
Cuban family or individuals is affected by the blockade as the main 
obstacle to its normal economic development.

Transportation is one daily reminder of the blockade. The procurement 
and preparation of food constitutes another for the vast majority of 
Cuban people. Drastic limits to housing renovations that often include 
frustrating outdated plumbing and electricity is yet another expression 
of the U.S. siege of Cuba. Health services are deprived of close-by U.S. 
pharmaceuticals and hospital equipment. Even education, which can be 
seen as a ‘non-material’ service, is affected, for example, by the need 
to import paper for classroom materials, such as books, from far-off lands.

Yet the overwhelming majority of Cubans have not surrendered – and are 
not surrendering – to the United States, according to Washington’s 
script. The 60-year-old Cuban Revolution stands as firm as it was in its 
very infancy in the period 1959–61.
Venezuela in US Crosshairs

However, one has to appreciate, on this historic day for the world of 
January 1, 2019, that no aggressive U.S. policy against the Cuban 
Revolution is ever discarded. After the fall of the Soviet bloc and the 
simultaneously planned tightening of the U.S. blockade, which also made 
it extraterritorial in the wake of this setback in Europe, the United 
States went for the jugular in the 1990s. Soon after, and with the hope 
of defeating Cuba once and for all, the United States set Cuba’s closest 
and most significant ally, Venezuela, in its crosshairs. The Bolivarian 
Revolution led by Hugo Chávez emerged as the first major reversal of the 
1989–91 setback in Latin America, and indeed the world.

Moreover, it happened in what the United States considers its 
“backyard.” When socialism and revolution were supposed to be outdated 
phenomena of the past, in December 1998, Chávez completed the first step 
of the long struggle of the resilient Venezuela toward revolution. It 
was, one could say metaphorically, that 1998–99 comprised Venezuela’s 
‘January 1, 1959.’ The United States never accepted the new Bolivarian 
Revolution in Caracas, as it never swallowed the bitter pill of the 
Cuban Revolution. This was the case even more so, given that Venezuela 
immediately after 1989 became a close political and economic ally of 
Cuba based on mutual benefit.

As the ultimate cynical policy, while making overtures to Cuba for 
one-and-a-half years before being made public in December 2014, the same 
Washington declared Venezuela a ‘threat to U.S. security’ only three 
months later, in March 2015. This contemptuous Machiavellian policy, so 
characteristic of ruthlessness for centuries, led to imposing sanctions 
on Cuba’s ally that were designed to cripple it and, of course, as a 
hoped-for by-product, to squeeze Cuba into submission. This 2015 U.S. 
Venezuela policy also paved the way for the current U.S. approach of 
possible military intervention to put an end to the Latin American 
nightmare come true in the form of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Yet Cuba has been – and is still – heroically resisting, even under 
these new unfavourable conditions, as it also goes about forming new 
economic and trade relations with other countries. Cuba refuses to kneel 
before the most powerful nation on earth, a stance it has maintained for 
60 years. It is a universally recognized fact that Cuba, Fidel Castro, 
his legacy and followers today have stood up to the United States in 
defence of Cuban sovereignty. Love it or hate it, there is no escaping 
this historical fact.

The revolutionary Cuban people have earned their well-derived reputation 
through blood, sweat and tears and thus deserve the full support of all 
justice-loving people around the world. Cuba is lacking many goods and 
material benefits. However, the vast majority of Cuban people, both 
individually and collectively, benefit from the hard-fought-for blessing 
of something that we in capitalist countries do not have: dignity. 
Honour cannot flourish in the capitalist and imperialist West that 
carries out war, aggression and interference in the name of human rights 
and democracy denied its very own countries. Dignity in the capitalist 
West is built only from the bottom up in defiance of capital and the 
Empire, whose wars of aggression bring shame and dishonour to the 
peoples of the assailing nations.

As a result of maintaining its sovereignty at all costs, Cuba can work 
out its plans for the political, economic, social, cultural and other 
realms based on its own needs and criteria. Over the period of six 
decades, through the twists and turns, deceptions and successes since 
1959, this is what Cuba has been doing. Moreover, on every major step of 
policy change, it does so with the full participation of the people. 
Despite the stereotype that is projected in the West, there is no 
country in the world that compares with Cuba when it comes to being 
characterized by debate.

*The Political Culture of Debate*

This political culture of debate is so entrenched in society that it is 
an inseparable part of the political landscape. Cubans are clearly used 
to openly discussing and debating politics. It is a way of life on the 
island. This tradition goes back to the second half of the mid-19th 
century, when under Spanish occupation, Cubans discussed and voted for 
members of four constituent assemblies, which in turn debated, discussed 
and approved as many constitutions. This took place over 150 years ago 
while, at the time, the main detractor of Cuba’s current constitutional 
reform – the United States – still had an 18th-century constitution 
worked out behind closed doors by a handful of slave owners and a 
wealthy few.

When the Revolution won out on January 1 sixty years ago, Fidel appeared 
on the balcony of the city hall in Santiago de Cuba to address the crowd 
in an interactive way. In fact, from that day on, Fidel contributed to 
the resurrection of the political culture of debate, which had been kept 
largely in the background by U.S. colonial domination, apart from some 
short periods, for example, the revolutionary upsurge in the 1930s and 
the approval of the 1940 constitution.

The political culture of debate, as mutually fostered since 1959 by the 
new leadership and the humble in favour of the latter, is best captured 
by Che Guevara: “At the great public mass meetings one can observe 
something like a dialogue of two tuning forks whose vibrations interact, 
producing new sounds.” Furthermore, highlighting how the people 
participated in decision making, Guevara remembers: “Fidel and the mass 
begin to vibrate together in a dialogue of growing intensity until they 
reach the climax in an abrupt conclusion.” He concedes that “for someone 
not living the experience,” it is a “difficult thing to understand,” 
referring to the “close dialectical unity between the individual and the 
mass in which both are interrelated.” Faithful to his appreciation of 
the individual’s role, Guevara concludes: “The mass, as an aggregate of 
individuals, interacts with its leaders.”

The latest example of this political culture of debate, perhaps one of 
the most historic since 1959 (even though one would never know it by 
relying on the corporate press in the West), just took place. 
Discussions were carried out from August 13 to November 15, 2018 to 
review the Draft to renew the 1976 Cuban Constitution. In all places of 
work, educational institutions and neighbourhoods, major changes were 
suggested. One of the most significant by many Cuban accounts is the 
issue of the term ‘communism.’ It was originally contained in the 1976 
Magna Carta as the goal of the Revolutionary process but was deleted in 
the Draft. It came back as a result of the public discussion as a 
colourful expression of Cuba’s political culture of debate, which is so 
ingrained that no force can smother it. The battle of ideas was waged 
mainly by revolutionary bloggers and writers.

To sum up the changes, the 1976 Constitution was worded: “…the 
construction of socialism and the progress toward a communist society.” 
The 2018 Draft submitted to the people for debate and input was worded: 
“…toward the construction of socialism.” The final December 2018 revised 
version, which took into account the debate and will be submitted to the 
citizens in a referendum to be held on February 24, 2019, is worded: 
“…toward the construction of socialism and communism.”

*Participatory Democracy Toward Protagonist Democracy?*

This latest change in article 5 is no small matter. When the news broke 
last July 2018 that the Draft eliminated the word ‘communism,’ the 
international press in the West yelled victory: ‘Cuba gives up 
communism!’ However, the idiosyncrasy of Cuba’s political culture of 
debate put a damper on the euphoria and, at the same time, blew to bits 
the ongoing media terrorism, namely that ‘communism is imposed from 
above.’ As a poetic twist of fate, it came from the grass roots. While 
the debates were organized at the base and provided the opportunity for 
every citizen to contribute and argue for their respective views, one 
had to be very pro-active to raise the ‘communism’ controversy.

The Draft was, after all, proposed by the entire leadership and the 
Cuban Parliament. Thus, this latest experience in Cuban democracy went 
beyond participatory democracy toward protagonist democracy, which, in 
my view, is a qualitatively higher form of participatory democracy. It 
is not the first time in Cuba’s unique experience in consultation that 
radical changes came from the grass roots. However, this one on 
‘communism,’ watched by the whole world, is in a class of its own, Thus, 
on the eve of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Cuban 
Revolution, this is a very fitting tribute to the Revolution and its 
architect, Fidel.

Now that the Cuban Revolution has recharged its battery with Fidel’s 
legacy of debate and exchange, it is ready to confront all current 
attempts by the barbarism of the North and their allies to divide the 
people and the leadership of Councils of State and Ministers, and to 
denigrate President Miguel Díaz-Canel. This desperate attempt to 
sabotage the movement for renewal based on principles will be responded 
by a resounding ‘Yes’ in the February 24 referendum and a vote of 
confidence for the new Cuban leadership under Díaz-Canel. No force on 
Earth can smother the Cuban political culture of debate. It can defeat 
any disinformation and divisiveness by the U.S.-led campaign.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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