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Volume 15, No. 07, 18 February 2016 |
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Red Alert Develop clarity of task, unite the working class, our movement, and communities:Advance the second, more radical phase of our struggle!! |
By Cde Chris 'Che' Matlhako
Keith Bryer`s `The rise of a new Cuban bourgeoisie`, published by Sunday Independent/Business Report on 7 February 2016 makes a few telling remarks. It shows up to be a `piece` of demagogy and unsubstantiated sweeping untruths. His is a sweeping tirade against the Cuban revolution. The tirade is anti-communist. It does not have any regard to the facts, including the current process of the updating of the socialist project in Cuba. Instead of being informative, Bryer turned out as pure neoliberal demagoguery.
It is unforgivable not to analyse contemporary Cuban trajectory within the context of, and acknowledging the process of its updating of the socialist project because it has such far-reaching socio-economic implications. Literally a revolution in the revolution, the updating process seeks to correct decades` long weaknesses which have contributed to a slowdown in economic growth, growing foreign debt, inefficiencies and the problem of the black market.
Projects such as the `special economic zone` in Mariel provide the impetus Cuba requires to attract capital and technologies to invest in its socialist trajectory. Importantly, nearly eight million of the islands` 11 million population participated in a protracted process of articulating the reforms required to entrench the socialist trajectory, whilst at the same time bringing about the necessary changes to realise higher rates of growth and efficiencies all-round in the economy and production processes.
Having recently visited Cuba, that is December 2015, including the opportunity of exchanging with Cubans, both in the Cuban Communist Party (CPC) and elsewhere in society, the conclusions Bryer so nonchalantly arrives at were dispelled. Many an ordinary Cuban advocate the continuing of the socialist project coupled with reforms that would further ensure efficiencies to safeguard the quality of life - universal access to health and high life expectancy rate, high levels of education, access to housing etc. and the prosperous social-cultural life for all.
Cuba is again becoming a symbol and practical example of socialist construction in action across Latin America and beyond, despite the sabotage in the form of economic blockade imposed by the United States and other measures such as reactionary and counterrevolutionary propaganda which have come to be accepted by unsuspecting minds. It is dangerous to allow this to be regurgitated in South Africa especially without giving the other; that is the true side of the story an opportunity.
We should judge the Cuban socialist path on the goals which the revolution has set for itself. Bryer fails to appreciate the fact that despite the enormous pressures it has faced to abandon its communist vision following the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba`s faith in the socialist project has grown. Like Bryer, some seek to analyse its socialist experiment from the perspective of either its internal dynamics or international relations, instead of understanding the revolutionary processes that are part of a counter-current against neoliberal globalisation.
Now that neoliberalism is in crisis, Cuba`s promotion of socialist values is finding renewed relevance. For example, during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Cuba offered to assist in various ways the population of the affected areas in the United States because it has huge experience dealing with hurricane devastations and generally its emergency responses to such situations are excellent.
"The Cuban revolution continues to divide and confuse, not least because it is set against absolute measures of what a "true" socialist country should look like", argues Ronald Munck. "... instead (we should) assess Cuba at a key stage in its history from the point of view of its own standards and objectives", he continues.
United States-Cuba migration is far more complicated than what Bryer manufactures it out to be. Even before the triumph of the revolution in 1959, Cubans have emigrated and stayed in the US (United States) for various periods. This was the case during the US-backed dictatorships and Spanish colonialism in Cuba. As far back as the 1800s, Jose Marti, the Cuban patriot spent a considerable time in New York and began nurturing the revolutionary process of liberating Cuba from Spanish rule whilst in the US. Jose Marti`s 14 years in the US were a time of feverish activity. He was both a writer and politician and devoted his time and energy to these twin objectives. It is reported that his passing visit to New York in 1880 had helped establish his reputation among the Cuban exiles, especially, as he had been named provisional president of the Revolutionary Committee of Cubans in New York and upon his return in 1881 marked the beginning of a new era of revolutionary activity in the city.
The US-Cuba migration has a long history and should be understood in that context. There is a close geographical proximity between the US, the world`s largest economy, and Cuba, the small island that has been devastated by Spanish colonialism, US-backed dictatorships, imperialist exploitation including and extra-territorial economic blockade. The issue of Cuban emigration continued to be a sticky point in the post-1959 revolution era but the two countries continued to co-operate on the migration issues even thought there were no formal relations between them. To suggest that the migration issues only manifested with the demarcation of capitalist-socialist fissures is rather disingenuous and untruthful.
Cuba has been placed in a unique place in the US` immigration law and policy as a result of fraught political relations and geographic proximity. The current wave of Cuban migration began on a large-scale to the US in earnest after the overthrow of the Fulgencio Batista regime by Castro-led revolutionaries in 1959. In 1966 the US` Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act, which provided a pathway to permanent residence for Cubans who have been physically present in the US for at least one year. As part of a broader strategy to undermine the Cuban revolution, for over half a century following the Cuban revolution in 1959 the US adopted and intensified various measures, such as luring athletes and other prominent Cubans, medical and other professionals, to defect to the US.
Currently, Cubans who arrive in the US, even without proper authorisation, are granted entry and benefits from a fast-track process that allows them legal permanent resident status after one year in the country. This unique policy is based on the disguise that all Cuban emigrants are “political refugees in need of protection”. This may change as the thawing of relations between the US and Cuba continues apace with the process of “normalisation” of relations between the two countries gaining momentum.
Socialist Cuba and its example:
"What is happening in Latin America today" argues George Lambie in `The Cuban Revolution in the 21st Century`: "may be the embryo of that process, and might provide the Cuban Revolution with new opportunities not only to export its ideology and practices, but to secure its own survival and continuity". There is no doubt that Cuba has been able to present itself as a radical alternative in the development debate. It shows that the belief in modernisation theory that prevailed from the end of the World War Two until 1959, and which assumed the less-developed countries would go through stages of economic growth mirroring the experiences of industrialised countries, was deeply flawed.
Thus Bryer`s fundamental basis for social reconfiguration in Cuba is also deeply flawed for its preconceived frameworks. Since the triumph of the revolution, Cuba has been embarking on a process of breaking away from the combination of dependency on the production of primary goods, the lack of diversified export base, an unfair international trade regime, pre-capitalist class relations and roles, and foreign manipulation. All these and more combined to make pre-revolutionary Cuba a highly unequal society, satisfying a few.
Breaking away from this condition with the support of the Soviet bloc allowed Cuba to embark on an alternative strategy, one which promoted a synchronisation of economic and social development and emphasised equality. Indeed, by taking this course, Cuba fan against the grain of mainstream prescriptions. It advocated and supported revolutions. It promoted social progress equally with economic progress. Its aim, argues Lambie, which it partly achieved, was to shift the whole development debate from an East-West axis, based on competition between the superpowers - the US and the Soviet Union, to a North-South struggle between industrialised nations and the Third World.
With the rise of neoliberal globalisation, it was predicted that Cuba was hanging on a thread and on borrowed time. But, as the world focused on the Cuban revolution predicting its inevitable demise in the face of an all-powerful system of neoliberal globalisation, Cuba looked to what it sees as the failing New World Order, whose examples abound everywhere in society marked by the resurgence of right-wing demagogy, poverty, misery and precariousness, floods of migrations, wars of destruction, etc. This path has devastated Africa and Latin America and many parts of Asia while benefiting the West out of their imperialist exploitation and outright colonial oppression or neo-colonial manipulation. It is the system that does not address the problems of human needs, subsistence and dignity but has profit as its only, if not central, programme.
Through its example, Cuba is demonstrating without the validity of its trajectory and will continue to benefit the majority of humanity. Its internationalist missions have played such important roles in human development that various world institutions have lauded its unparalleled work. For Bryer and others, who are bonded by the bonkers of demagogy and a deep rooted anti-communist streak, they fail to appreciate the advances realised and are a danger to society.
Cuba fairs far better the United States in terms of education and has eliminated illiteracy. It has a very high life expectancy rate that is by far higher than many countries on earth. There are many advances that Cuba has achieved in terms of human development indices far above many countries despite the damaging draconian economic blockade imposed on it by the US international dictatorship. #USblockadeOnCubaMustfall!
* Chris `Che` Matlhako is SACP International Affairs Secretary
Vietnam advances on its achievement of Millennium Development Goals
By Vietnam Focus
Vietman Focus links conducted an interview in with Mrs Kgomotso Ruth Magau, the South African Ambassador to Vietnam. The interview was held during the occasion of the 12th National Congress of the Vietnam`s governing party, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in Hanoi, Vietnam. The congress was officially opened on 21 January 2016 and lasted till 28 January 2016. It was attended by 1, 510 delegates representing over 4.5 million CPV members from the 94.1 million strong Vietnamese population.
When Mrs Magau first took her job in Hanoi, the first thing she experienced is that she "found the Vietnamese people very friendly and welcoming". "Even though the majority of them in the city could not speak with me directly, their facial expressions were warmly welcoming", she said.
Mrs Magau found "the achievements of Vietnam in meeting the Millennium Development Goals worth noting". For her this "shows that the Vietnamese government is committed to making the lives of all the country`s citizens better".
Ambassador Magau believes that both "the ANC and the Communist Party of Vietnam as governing parties in South Africa and Vietnam respectively have the role to lead the development of the countries further and ensure that they mobilise the whole of their country`s populations to deliver a better life for all".
On relations between South Africa and Vietnam, the Ambassador had this to say: "Both countries have good political relations and there has been an exchange of high-level delegations. There is still a lot of room that could be explored as far as the scope of trade is concerned to close the deficit that exists between the two countries. There is a need to build up and make necessary follow-ups on issues raised during the exchanges that have taken place".
She wished the government of Vietnam following the congress a further advance on its achievement in the development of the country for the betterment of the livelihoods of all its people.
One of Mrs Magau`s annual programmes in Vietnam is to work with social partners, including the Vietnamese community to identify and raise resources for a charity under the theme: "Making every day a Nelson Mandela Day". This annual event is held on the 18 July to celebrate the Nelson Mandela International Day.
The General Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Comrade Blade Nzimande wished the congress on behalf of the SACP a success before its official opening. In the Party`s message of solidarity on the occasion of the 12th National Congress of the CPV, he urged Vietnam to work together with other countries and revolutionary forces pursuing the socialist path to develop a good example of international peace and co-operation rather than allow imperialist forces to sow conflict between them.
* Vietnam Focus was established to offer an insight on the development process in Vietnam
Umsebenzi Online is an online voice of the South African working class
