I may be sounding a little more left than usual today – but I’ve never understood how a political system can be feared. The ‘West’ has spent the better part of a century struggling with superpowers like China and Russia, based largely on their embrace of non-Democratic governance. In defence of American-style democracy, we have been taught that Socialism is bad – and Communism is downright evil. Applying elements of morality, of wrong and right to a system of organising society is illogical to say the least. What’s worse is that this poorly thought out premise has been used as a driver to key moments in history – directly during the Cold War and notably by proxy in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea and Cuba. While these failed projects are largely confined to dusty history books (certainly unread by the Bush-Cheney marauders), the Caribbean island of Cuba remains under siege.
Modern Cuban history is defined by the intervening hand of the United States. In 1952, the US backed the coup of military strongman Fulgencio. Batista summarily cancelled the scheduled elections (in which he was losing badly) and ruled over a “corrupt and oppressive” regime for the next 7 years. His ‘presidency’ was marked by close ties to the American Mafia (organised crime, gambling, brothels etc), the amassing of a personal fortune, and ongoing support of the US government. It should come as no surprise that he was ultimately overthrown by Cuban dissidents – including t-shirt adorning Che Guevara, and our old mate Fidel Castro. Fidel, as many of you will know, went on to rule Cuba for nigh on 50 years – surviving the botched (US-initiated) Bay of Pigs invasion back in 1961, the brink of nuclear war the year after, and numerous (would you believe 638?) CIA assignation attempts. He implemented a socialist state, based on Marxist-Leninist Communism – cancelling multi-party elections and giving the State control of property and infrastructure.
As a result, Cubans enjoy free life-time health care, education (and an accordingly high literacy rate), as well as heavily subsidised food, housing and utilities. In response, the US imposed a commercial, economic, and financial embargo of Cuba, which (remarkably) remains in place today. The embargo has since become a US law, with the stated goal of encouraging democratisation and improving human rights. Clearly, Communism is not all sunshine and lollipops (or we’d all be doing it) – Cubans queue for food staples and endure frequent shortages. Black market trading is rife, and fruit and vegetables are a newly acquired luxury. As a matter of their Dictatorship, rather than their Communism, they are also not allowed access to computers, are denied free speech, and dissidents are imprisoned, tortured, and occasionally summarily executed.
With that said, I maintain that Communism is nothing to fear in itself. Its spread cannot be contained militarily. Democracy – especially the corrupt, Capitalist style perpetuated by the US is not necessarily to be aspired to (I personally favour benevolent Monarchy, held to account by periodic revolution!). The Cuban Embargo is unjust, collectively punishing an innocent population. It isolates Cubans further, and (just like the Israeli blockade of Palestine) provides a go-to excuse for anti-US sentiment. Obama, disappointingly, has eased restrictions, but failed to lift the ban. As an ongoing symbol of US colonialism and Goliath-David bullying, I wish that he had the fortitude to push further. I’ll leave you with Jackson Browne’s thoughts on the matter – his song sparking my interest in the first place.
