Umsebenzi Online, Volume 15, No. 07, 18 February 2016
In this Issue:
* Unsubstantiated sweeping untruths: Response to Keith Bryer's
propaganda about Cuba
* Vietnam advances on its achievement of Millennium Development Goals
Red Alert
Unsubstantiated sweeping untruths: Response to Keith Bryer's propaganda
about Cuba
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
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UMSEBENZI ONLINE IS THE VOICE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WORKING CLASS
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