Fidel: "The Cuban model doesn't work for us anymore"

by Joel Wendland

Inspired by a new article at People's World on Fidel Castro's first major public appearance in about four years, I am now catching up on my reading of Jeffrey Goldberg's recent trip to Cuba where he met with former President Fidel Castro over a three day period. In addition to talking about Middle East politics and anti-Semitism, Castro expressed to Goldberg some regrets about his role in the Cuban missile crisis.

Here is some of Goldberg's account:

There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I'll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).

Goldberg then turned to the question of socialism in Cuba:

Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn't say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat - it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.

Fidel's response:

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he said.

Goldberg did a double take:

This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"?

I asked Julia to interpret this stunning statement for me. She said, "He wasn't rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under 'the Cuban model' the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country."

Julia pointed out that one effect of such a sentiment might be to create space for his brother, Raul, who is now president, to enact the necessary reforms in the face of what will surely be push-back from orthodox communists within the Party and the bureaucracy. Raul Castro is already loosening the state's hold on the economy. He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government's hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy. We'll regret this, of course, when Cubans partner with Europeans and Brazilians to buy up all the best hotels).

And then they all went to see the dolphins at Havana's aquarium.

Fidel discusses anti-Semitism and nukes

This new post by The Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg about his recent conversation with former Cuban President Fidel Castro is very interesting. Here are the first couple of paragraphs:

A couple of weeks ago, while I was on vacation, my cell phone rang; it was Jorge Bolanos, the head of the Cuban Interest Section (we of course don't have diplomatic relations with Cuba) in Washington. "I have a message for you from Fidel," he said. This made me sit up straight. "He has read your Atlantic article about Iran and Israel. He invites you to Havana on Sunday to discuss the article." I am always eager, of course, to interact with readers of The Atlantic, so I called a friend at the Council on Foreign Relations, Julia Sweig, who is a preeminent expert on Cuba and Latin America: "Road trip," I said.

I quickly departed the People's Republic of Martha's Vineyard for Fidel's more tropical socialist island paradise. Despite the self-defeating American ban on travel to Cuba, both Julia and I, as journalists and researchers, qualified for a State Department exemption. The charter flight from Miami was bursting with Cuban-Americans carrying flat-screen televisions and computers for their technologically-bereft families. Fifty minutes after take-off, we arrived at the mostly-empty Jose Marti International Airport. Fidel's people met us on the tarmac (despite giving up his formal role as commandante en jefe after falling ill several years ago, Fidel still has many people). We were soon deposited at a "protocol house" in a government compound whose architecture reminded me of the gated communities of Boca Raton. The only other guest in this vast enclosure was the president of Guinea-Bissau.

On anti-Semitism, Goldberg recorded Castro's thoughts this way:

Castro's message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was not so abstract, however. Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the "unique" history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.

He began this discussion by describing his own, first encounters with anti-Semitism, as a small boy. "I remember when I was a boy - a long time ago - when I was five or six years old and I lived in the countryside," he said, "and I remember Good Friday. What was the atmosphere a child breathed? 'Be quiet, God is dead.' God died every year between Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, and it made a profound impression on everyone. What happened? They would say, `The Jews killed God.' They blamed the Jews for killing God! Do you realize this?"

He went on, "Well, I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds. These birds had big noses. I don't even know why they were called that. That's what I remember. This is how ignorant the entire population was."

He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. "This went on for maybe two thousand years," he said. "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything." The Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God. In my judgment here's what happened to them: Reverse selection. What's reverse selection? Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then to the pogroms. One might have assumed that they would have disappeared; I think their culture and religion kept them together as a nation." He continued: "The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust." I asked him if he would tell Ahmadinejad what he was telling me. "I am saying this so you can communicate it," he answered.

Read Goldberg's piece here

Lift Travel Ban on Cuba

From CPUSA.org

The Communist Party joins the many nonprofit organizations, churches and advocacy groups and people everywhere that call for an end to the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba.

The travel ban is a violation of the U.S. people’s right to travel and to see Cuba for themselves. We believe that lifting the ban will encourage friendship between the U.S. and Cuban peoples. It is a matter of basic rights.

Ending the travel ban is a demand that all people can agree on regardless of their political views, be they Left, Right or Center. We also believe it is an important first step toward ending the illegal and unprecedented nearly 50-year blockade of Cuba, which deprives the Cuban people of essential goods, trade and economic opportunities and deprives U.S. farmers, businesses and people of needed trade.

Now is our chance!

New legislation — the Peterson-Moran bill — has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to restore the right of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba. Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS) have introduced HR 4645, and at least 50 of their House colleagues are cosponsoring.

We call on everyone to call their congressional representatives to congratulate and support those who are on broad and encourage those who are not to sponsor he bill today.

You can easily send your message to Congress by using the online action tools at the Latin American Working Group.

For more on the bill, read the article on HR 4645 in the People's World.

US open to broader talks with Cuba

Philip J. Crowley

Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

August 3, 2009

QUESTION: Yeah, going back to Latin America, do you have any comment on the statements by Raul Castro this weekend this weekend about negotiating with the United States and that he’s open to negotiating with the United States, but not much change? Have you anything on this?

MR. CROWLEY: Obviously, we have had some limited dialogue with Cuba in recent weeks on more technical subjects, obviously, restarting the migration talks. We have been willing to discuss other issues such as mail service. I think we’re taking this in a step-by-step. I think we are willing to have a broader dialogue with Cuba. Clearly, Cuba has to take certain actions before we think that would be viable.

Building Bridges with Cuba

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Political Affairs #102 - Building Bridges with Cuba

On this episode, we talk with Elena Mora and John Bachtell, both members of the National Board of the Communist Party and who traveled this month to Cuba for meetings with the Communist Party there and with leaders of various Cuban social and cultural institutions.

OAS revokes Cuba expulsion after 47 years

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — The Organization of American States voted Wednesday to revoke the 1962 measure suspending communist Cuba, overturning a landmark of the Cold War in the hemisphere.

"The Cold War has ended this day in San Pedro Sula," said Honduran President Manuel Zelaya immediately following the announcement. "We begin a new era of fraternity and tolerance."

The action doesn't mean Cuba will return to the 34-member body that helps coordinate policies and mediates disputes throughout the Americas.

Cuban officials have repeatedly insisted they have no interest in returning to an organization they consider a tool of the United States.

If Cuba changes its mind, the agreement calls for "a process of dialogue" in line with the OAS' "practices, proposals and principles" — a veiled allusion to agreements on human rights and democracy.

"This is a moment of rejoicing for all of Latin America," Ecuador's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi told reporters after the session.

The decision was taken by consensus, meaning the United States accepted it, though Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had lobbied personally for requiring Cuba to make democratic reforms and improve respect for human rights.

Read more...

Cuba and US to open new talks?

Cuba Offers Additional Direct Talks with U.S.
By MARK LANDLER and BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: May 31, 2009

WASHINGTON — Cuba has notified the United States that it is willing to resume talks on migration issues and to negotiate direct postal services between the countries, a senior American official said on Sunday.

Cuba also agreed to cooperate with the United States on counterterrorism, drug interdiction and disaster relief efforts.

The decisions, conveyed Saturday in diplomatic notes, represent another step in the unlocking of relations between Cuba and the United States under the Obama administration, after a half-century of chilly ties and an economic embargo that many in the hemisphere, and in Europe, say has outlived its usefulness.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday left for El Salvador and then a meeting on Tuesday in Honduras of the Organization of American States. Members of the group want the United States to mark an even clearer break with the past by moving to readmit Cuba. The organization expelled Cuba in 1962, citing what it said was Cuba’s disruptive alliance with “the Communist bloc.”

Read more...

US to re-open talks with Cuba on migration policy

AFP story re-posted from Rawstory.com:

The United States, in another move aimed at thawing relations with Cuba, has offered to resume migration talks with the communist-ruled island almost six years after they were suspended.

"We intend to use the renewal of talks to reaffirm both sides' commitment to face legal and orderly migration," a State Department official told AFP on Friday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said Washington hoped the talks would "improve operational relations with Cuba on migration issues."

The United States and Cuba had carried out discussions on the issue every two years until they were suspended in 2003 by former president George W. Bush.

Read the whole story here...

WIDF's United Nations Session Speaks Reality: "No Sugar Coating"

WIDF's United Nations Session Speaks Reality: "No Sugar Coating"

by Mike Tolochko

Amuge Rebecca Otengo, a leading member of the Ugandan Parliament, is attending the United National Commission on the Status of Women. She has attended general, main sessions and also participated in a seminar just before the Women's International Democratic Federation [WIDF] special seminar. She was about to leave the room, but something told her to stay. After attending the session she said: "They didn't sugar coat the reality, in this session." That was her comment about the session. She lead off her remarks with solidarity for Palestinian women and support for the Cuban 5's demand for justice.

This special seminar was held in Conference Room C in the Afternoon of March 9. The Annual Commission on the Status of Women was entering its second week.

Vinie Burrows, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations from the WIDF chaired the session. Ms Burrows is a world renounced actor and political activist.

She welcomed everyone with a brief description of the WIDF's beginnings. "The WIDF is as old as the UN itself." Its headquarters are in Brasil and has affiliate locations on all continents around the world.

Ms Burrows announced that Marcia de Campos the President of the World International Democratic Federation, was in Conference Room 2 delivering her prepared remarks to a main session of the CSW. She will return after her remarks are delivered.

The next speaker was Skevi Koukouma. She is a member of the Greek Parliament and a leader of AKEL, the Progressive Party of the Working People and a member of the WIDF Steering Committee, was the next speaker. Ms Koukouma reported on the current situation in Cyprus. She said that there are 200,000 refugees from the turbulence over the past years, ever since the invasion of the Turkish government in 1974 of Cyprus. Cyprus is 37% Turkish. She reported that a special United Nations Committee assigned to uncover grave cites has found many dead people. Through the use of DNA, the families of both Turkish and Cypriots were able to identify their family members who died. There are tireless efforts to being unity to the island. Recently, Turkish and Cypriot women met at point just in front of the Turkish army and tied a ribbon in solidarity for peace. It is for these reasons that Cypriots have a special relationship to the Palestinian people. She also voiced complete support for justice for the Cuban 5.

This ribbon ceremony was meant to symbolize the unification of the island. She said that they need the full support of the United Nations and the full international community to expel from the Island all occupiers.

The next speaker was Maritzel Gonzalez from the Republic of Cuba. Ms. Gonzalez described that Cuban Federation of Woman which has a membership of 4 million women. The full island population is 11 million with half the population being women. The minimum age to join the Federation is 14 years old. She described the work of the Cuban Federation of Women in the field of social work. There are now 71,000 social workers in Cuba. They deal with the rights of women and follow up when the rights of women are being denied.

They investigate and correct acts of violence against women and similar family issues.

The Federation just ended its 8th Congress this past week.

She reported that 43.32% of the Cuban parliament is women.

Of special attention is the freeing of the Cuban 5 and the rights of the families of the Cuban 5 to visit them in the U.S. prisons.

Professor Delia de Dios from the University of Mexico. Dr. De Dios is a professor of sociology. She is the general secretary of the trade union of university women. She talked about the ever-increasing number of women being employed in Mexico. And, while that is good news, the jobs that they are being employed in are low paying jobs and are in the so-called "informal market." In fact, the number of women working in Mexico has increased from 13.6% in 1950 to over 42% in 2001.

Vinie Burrows announced that Emily Naffa a member of the WIDF steering committee from Jordan had to return home. Ms Burrows reported that over 4 million Iraqi's are refugees from Iraq living in Jordan.

Dr. Frank Goldsmith was then asked to deliver comments. He reported that Lorena Jaime, the special representative from the World Federation of Trade Union, was asked to deliver comments to the main assembly last Wednesday. Dr. Goldsmith is the permanent representative for the WFTU at the UN. Ms Jaime was unable, then to deliver, her report since the time ran out at the end of the session. Dr. Goldsmith then read her comments. He added that the WFTU was contacted again, but very late and a far too short notice to again deliver WFTU remarks on Monday morning. [For her statement see the previous PA Blog.]

Ms Burrows then ask for those attending the session to give comments. It was then that Amuge Rebecca Otengo gave her impassioned comments about the importance of this session.

She said that the crisis in Northern Uganda is reaching very bad proportions. She reported that the children are being taken from their families and being turned into fighters. And, when they return, that is all they know. It is a very dangerous situation. Ms Otengo said that this was the best session at the whole two-week session.

Maria Fernanda Carvalho Francisco from Angola then spoke. She said that after 40years of war there is finally peace for 5 years. She voiced complete solidarity with the Palestinians and for the Cuban 5.

Joanne Robinson from Peace Action International said that the importance of reconciliation on the African continent is crucial.

A representative from the country of Cameroon spoke. She voice solidarity with the Cuba and Palestine. She spoke in French and fortunately there was a French speaker in the session that could translate.

Finally, a representative from Nigeria spoke about the Niger Delta and the problems in that region. She works at Delta University as a linguist. A problem in the Niger beach is the growing number of Europeans immigrating there.

By this time, Marcia Campos returned after delivering her remarks to the full governing body in Conference Room 2. She said that the main economic demand must be to nationalize the banks and keep them nationalized. She voiced solidarity with the continent of Africa and called for the dumping of the debt. She ended her comments at the Commission: "We will fight so that the states are mobilized to guarantee the maintenance of jobs and we women will continue to show the way through and out of this crisis for the good of all human beings and the development of our countries. It is appropriate for the United Nations to supervise these measures and to demand that Member states do not allow the onus of this economic crisis to fall on the shoulders of workers with special attention to women workers so that there is guaranteed jobs and protected wages."

Meritzel Gonzalez from Cuba asked to speak. She thanked everyone for their support and she gave back solidarity with everyone's struggles.

Vinie Burrows closed that session by thanking everyone for attending

Note:
Photos Identification

Skevi Koukouma
Vinie Burrows
Delia de Dios
Maritzel Gonzalez
Amuge Rebecca Otengo
Maria Fernanda Carvalho Francisco

EU Preparing to Lift Sanctions against Cuba

From Reuters:

BRUSSELS - European Union states are nearing agreement on ending sanctions on Cuba in defiance of U.S. calls for continued pressure for democratic reform on the communist island, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Closed-door talks on the move are continuing as EU leaders host U.S. President George W. Bush for a farewell summit in Slovenia. EU foreign ministers could endorse the step at a meeting in Luxembourg next Monday, the envoys said.

EU negotiators cited changes in Cuba in the last year as a rationale for moving forward.

What is interesting about this is that these talks are taking place while George W. Bush is in Europe. It signals his weakness as a world leader and international rejection of his policy toward Cuba.

How to travel to Cuba

Originally posted here

GAO Report: Bush Obsessed More with Cuba than with Terrorism

The New York Times is again behind the curve. Today it reported on a GAO study that found the Bush administration to be so obsessed with Cuba that it "may be distracting some American government agencies from higher-priority missions like fighting terrorism and combating narcotics trafficking."

The article goes on further to note that the GAO report asks "Treasury Department to scrutinize the priorities of its Office of Foreign Assets Control," which is supposed to enforce trade sanctions, especially by tracking the assets of terrorist groups. Over the past few years, the Times reports, of "the office opened 10,823 investigations into possible violations involving Cuba and just 6,791 investigations on all other cases."

In other words, the US systematically harasses and investigates the 37,000 Americans who go to Cuba annually but who have nothing to do with terrorism, but still can't tell you where Osama bin Laden is. Recall their investigation into Michael Moore's trip to Cuba to make his film Sicko.

Little, old Cuba. 11 million people. No longer a platform for Soviet missiles. Just a country that wants to be free from US influence and seeks expanded trade and business with farmers and other business persons in the US and other countries. Cuba is struggling to build a democratic society based on socialist principles rather than capitalism. But this is not the US government's business. Cuba poses no threat. It is time to lift the embargo and respect the fundamental human right of the freedom of travel.

But the point is that Political Affairs reported on the Bush obsession with Cuba a while back. This is not a new story.

Bush Denounces the "Ruling Class" of Cuba!

By Norman Markowitz

George Bush has just made a speech denouncing socialist Cuba as a "dying order," a "totalitarian" house of horrors, and looking forward to the coming "victory" of the "democratic movement," the dissidents of today, who should remember whom their friends were (namely the old Bay of Pigs crowd in Washington). Bush also called for an "international fund" to help Cuba establish a "free market society" aka a capitalist economy which will be at the beginning subsidized by foreign investors the way that Pinochet's brutal fascist regime, which overthrow the socialist government of Salvador Allende (which by no means had at the time of the counter-revolution built a socialist society, as Cuba has today).

The UN General Assembly is going to vote soon on Cuba's resolution to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba, which has existed since 1960. The resolution has been passed with large majorities in recent years and the U.S. government has ignored it in a cavalier fashion. The Bush comments today are clear evidence that his administration is launching a preemptive strike against the resolution, which will no doubt pass with a substantial majority again.

Americans of all political persuasions willing to listen should know something about the history of Cuban-American relations. Cuba was a slave colony of the Spanish empire which some from slavery elements dreamed of annexing to the U.S. before the Civil War. The U.S. intervened in Cuba's war of independence against the Spanish Empire ostensibly to liberate Cuba ("Cuba libre" was the cry, and it lived on so to speak in the mixed drink of rum and coca cola by the same name). But the U.S. kept its army of occupation in Cuba until the Cubans wrote into their constitution a clause giving the U.S. the right to intervene in order to preserve Cuban independence(which meant the U.S. could intervene as it saw fit) U.S. governments then served U.S. companies in turning the island into a semi-colony and supporting brutal dictatorial regimes for the next sixty years.

When Fidel Castro refused to knuckle under to the Eisenhower administration in 1960, took the revolution in a socialist direction, and turned to the Soviet Union for assistance, the embargo was enacted followed by the failed CIA organized Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which almost led to a nuclear World War III between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, there were no invasions of Cuba, but CIA directed attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and acts of sabotage against the Cuban economy continued for many years (one is not certain that they have completely ended today).

Cuba has survived. It has established in the context of a state of siege a society that is qualitative more advanced than the one that the revolution inherited in 1959. Its achievements, given the social circumstances that it has faced, are well beyond what any nation in Latin America has achieved (and in terms of equal rights and equal treatment in regard to education and health care, along with other basic human needs, beyond what the U.S. has in reality achieved for all of its people).For thirty years the rationale for the embargo against Cuba was its relationship with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union ceased to exist nearly sixteen years ago, yet the embargo if anything becomes more repressive. Since U.S. capitalist domination of Cuba began nearly two decades before the Russian revolution and essentially ended thanks to Soviet aid to the Cuban revolution, there is no reason to continue this blockade, except hatred by the U.S. ruling class both of any state that dares to establish socialism and also, in Cuba's case, a former de facto colony that dared take back its sugar plantations, mills, and casinos from their U.S. owners.

"For Cuba's ruling class," Bush said, "its grip on power is more important than the welfare of its people." If ever there was an example of Freud's principle of projection, that is, ascribing to someone you see as an enemy what you yourself are either doing or want to do and then using that as a rationale for your aggressive thoughts or actions, that statement certainly is it. "Life will not improve for the Cubans under their current system of government,"Bush went on to say (another example of projection). But life would certainly not improve for the majority of Cubans if the austere and egalitarian socialism that they have created would be replaced by a restoration of capitalism, one in which the the casinos and the bordellos of Havana would live again, sharp class divisions would become apparent through the society, and a new Cuban class of compradors serving the interests of the U.S. and other foreign investors would spring up as the majority of Cubans looked on, unwelcome "visitors" in their own country. This is Bush's prescription for "Cuban freedom" aka counter revolution.

Taking Freud's principle of projection and throwing it back at Bush, one might say that "For the U.S. ruling class, its grip on power is more important than the welfare of its people." One might might also say that "life will not improve for the Americans under the current corrupt political system, where corporations and the rich spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy politicians and the Republican Party undermines basic democratic rights at home and advances militarism and war abroad."

Ending the blockade against Cuba should be a matter of conscience for Americans, given what successive U.S. government have done to Cuba and its people starting long before the Cuban revolution. It would also gain respect for the U.S. in the United Nations and in the larger world community, a respect that the Bush administration has done more to undermine than any administration in modern U.S. history.

Angola: The History the New York Times Simply Omits

by Norman Markowitz

Reporter Sharon LaFraniere filed a story in the Sunday New York Times titled "As Angola Rebuilds, Most Find their Poverty Persists," which really outraged me and should outrage any American with any knowledge of recent African history. The story, which deals also with local elections, mentioned Angola's high growth rate as reported by the IMF based on its oil revenues, the continued poverty of its people, quoting one source that 2/3 of its population subsists on two dollars a day, the loans the the MPLA government has taken from China in exchange for oil in order to rebuild the country's infrastructure, devastated in wars that began with independence in 1975 and essentially ended, with a few interruptions in the early 21st century. The article mentions charges of corruption against the MPLA leadership, while stating that the government has made gains in rebuilding the infrastructure of the country (it doesn't say with the loans from China) since the last war against UNITA, the so-called Union for the Total Liberation of Angola ended in 2004.

You can guess why I am outraged. The article doesn't mention the CIA attempt to keep the MPLA from coming to power after the Portuguese withdraw in 1975 (when it had a both a Marxist orientation and strong socialist leanings and clearly was the group that was committed to unifying the country, as against the followers of the Northern based nationalist, Holden Roberto, brother-in-law of the corrupt tyrant of the Congo, Joseph Mobutu, and the Southern based political adventurer and UNITA leader, Jonas Savimbi, who eventually joined forces with the South African Apartheid regime and the CIA after posing as a revolutionary in order to try to curry favor with China and the Soviet Union. U.S. covert actions in 1975, through both Mobutu and the South Africans, aimed to catch the MPLA in a vise and through force and violence have them take over the government from the departing Portuguese. Only Cuban aid permitted the MPLA government to survive although there was widespread devastation.

Eventually, Savimbi became the center of the CIA and South African directed "Low intensity war" against Angola, with Reagan's Undersecretary for African Affairs, Chester Crocker (who has resurfaced today as a figure in the Iraq occupation) serving as the architect and champion of an appeasement policy toward South Africa, which he called "constructive engagement" and which aided and abetted South African attacks on Angola and other African "front line states" supporting the ANC in its war against the racist dictatorship in Pretoria. In 1987, a UNICEF report noted that "8.5 million Angolans and Mozambicans (another former Portuguese colony with the socialist oriented government under attack)--roughly half the rural population of the two countries have been displaced or are internal refugees in their own countries." And that was by no means the end, the Bush administration followed Reagan in supporting Savimbi's murderous UNITA forces, although the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the destruction of the USSR made Savimbi a liability, even though he and his followers, with nearly two decades of U.S. support, continued to sow death and destruction in Angola, which the MPLA government, even though its socialist commitments are not what they were thirty years ago seeks to repair.

How can you write a story about Angola, its suffering and poverty, and omit this history, as if it never happened, as if the devastation which haunts the country was a product of internal questions and factions? How can you cite Chinese loans with a sense of suspicion and ignore totally what the U.S. ruling class did to the people of Angola for the greater part of two decades and its complete refusal to make any positive contribution to Angola's reconstruction, except to support the activities of its oil companies, who at present keep a very low profile as they seek to maintain business like relations with the MPLA government?

Maybe Lafraniere doesn't know any better. Maybe in her world, Cuba is a dictatorship representing tyranny and poverty and the U.S. is a benevolent champion of freedom and democracy, a friend to the people of Africa. Maybe in her world, Jonas Savimbi was really a Soviet agent, and Chester Crocker a friend of Nelson Mandela. In any case, progressive Americans must remember the crimes that the U.S. government and ruling class committed against Angola and seriously work for the the reconstruction of the country, joining with China and others to fight the poverty of its people.

SICKO: Thoughts on a brilliant film

Phil E. Benjamin

The massive street demonstration highlighting the left wing union, CGT and banners of the FCP [the French Communist Party], were intended, I think, By Michael Moore, to illustrate the importance of mass struggle to get and maintain important people's needs; and, to also show the broad support that France's social welfare system enjoys. That he chose to highlight the CGT was no accident.

To be sure, the CGT and FCP are numerically smaller than their former strength, especially dating back to the conclusion of WWII when these forces were credited with being the backbone of the resistance to the Nazi occupation; and, then the architects of a New France. But, nonetheless, they are still key to social and economic conditions in France. They still seem to enjoy the inner support of French morality and sanity. Moore certainly was impressed.

Unfortunately, this spirit doesn't translate for left victories at the ballot box. That is the subject of another Blog.

The working classes of France will need to gird themselves as the new Sarkozy government as well as all of the Neo-Liberal European Union will try to dismantle the French and other social welfare systems. These forces will hate SICKO, in keeping with their financiers, i.e., the insurance carriers, drug companies and other parts of the Medical Industrial Complex, who are all set to help privatize and gain enormous profit these great publicly controlled health systems.

Michael Moore alluded to these factors, i.e., post WWII crises, in discussing the establishment of the British National Health Service. His interviews with everyday UK physicians and their living standards, was priceless. USA physicians have been sold a bill-of-goods that they cannot have their cake and eat it to, i.e., fancy cars and nice living. Well, they can. They just have the greed that too many physicians and hospital administrators have grown accustomed to.

He could have added, that at practically the same moment in his infamous 1947 Fulton, Missouri, "Iron Curtain Speech" right wing British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was proclaiming the great virtue the new National Health Service, "socialized medicine" he attacked the countries that also had the same system, i.e., the victorious and former war partner Soviet Union and their allies in Eastern Europe. That speech ignited the Cold War following the great and united defeat of Fascism and Nazism. The health care aspects of that speech were silenced in the USA since the right wing was gathering itself to impose the ultra-right, red baiting McCarthy period on the USA. And, notably, in the USA to do its part, the American Medical Association was leading the charge against national health care by red baiting any national health program as the same "socialized medicine" red communist plot. Moore did use of artistic methods to illustrate to viewers these issues.

Overall, Moore's treatment of these ideological issues was brilliant. Few if any USA documentarians have drawn the parallels that he has done. Moore involved the left I a way that brings bring to the left, not scare and repel them.

To this day, it is the policy of "Social Solidarity" that continues to govern the social welfare policies of the three countries Moore beamed on: Canada, UK and France.

His inclusion of the Republic of Cuba, well, Moore showed his truly revolutionary, liberal perspective by doing that.

Moore's skillful and simple statements coming from his interviewees, that in those countries what happens to your fellow neighbor is your business. Collective, not individual thinking is needed for health care and other social policies.

The power of labor in France, diminished in official numbers given their method of actual dues collection, in the streets and also in maintaining their own foothold in the French national system, i.e., their Mutuelles Societies. The Mutuelles are governed largely by labor. There probably wasn't time to get into these details, but they deserve discussing.

And through the Mutuelles, labor exerts significant influence on the federal health system.

France is a public/private system. Sounds like something the Bushites would love. Even Karen Ignani, the former labor policy maker and now the often-televised mouthpiece for the private insurance carriers, might love even it. [Recently, Ignani was asked on TV to comment on SICKO, and ready for the opportunity, she attempted to cut it down, but failed on all counts. She made a fool of herself.]

But, in the French system, the private side is labor and employers. No insurance, drug or other profiteering companies. The Bushites and Ignani won't like that.

The basic federal system pays for 75% of the system and the other part by the Mutuelles. All are financed by employer and people taxes. But, in the French system, the Mutuelles, which are tied to particular industries, are able to fashion a benefit system and health care service structure that fits the demographic and needs of their members.

Well over half of the French hospitals are public; and, form the bases of hospitals care. The principles of health care that are enforced in the public hospitals are used in all hospitals in France. Fifty percent of the other hospitals are run by the Mutuelles. The others are usually specialty hospitals run by individual physicians. The actual treatment and employment policies in these hospitals are largely the same.

The governing principles are that nobody pays for care at the time to care giving. And it is totally universal. They recently enacted a law, the CME, to cover everyone including those unemployed. Unemployment is a problem in France, for a couple of decades, so this was a major step. As the film said, all part time workers are recipients of universal, free health care.

The humanity of the Canadian, UK and French health systems comes through. The economics, i.e., that these countries pay for their systems without a burden to everyday people, is also very clear. Nobody could be found who complained about the tax system that gives these kinds of benefits.

Sicko is an amazing film. It is on the same level as the Moore's first film where he put General Motors CEO Roger Smith in his place; his second where he memorialized the lives of dead youth through a stunning anti-weapon film; and his Fahrenheit 451 film where he skewered Bush and the Republicans.

That these films also made significant money at the box office is a testament to Moore's genius. We wait for other films to keep out spirits up toward the upcoming struggles.

The obvious unanswered question, the one question that health activists are leaving SICKO on their minds: Will SICKO make a difference in the health policy debates, with elected politicians in Congress and in the news and information media?

You could ask the same question of Fahrenheit 451. Did this stop the War; End the War? Did Columbine get guns off the streets? Did General Motors start treating its employees and the community better?

Clearly, none of these movies accomplished the ends being raised, but, each gathered more activists to the struggle.

It would be easy to surmise that the art and creative world leads the struggles for peace and social justice. There is no question that they play an important role. But, in the main, the creative and performing world is a reflection of struggle. That is the key to Moore's success.

But, Moore just doesn't describe what is happening; he also illustrates his ideas on what should happen next. His prescription isn't complete, not by a long shot. He makes no pretense at being a prognosticator of the future. But, by being an honest, creative filmmaker he is head shoulder over his peers. His honest regard to Cuba; the "Social Solidarity" of some European countries, including Canada; his continuing anti-war theme; his focus on activists labor groups such as the CGT of France; but, most importantly, his connection of USA people in dire need and getting each of them help. That is what makes Moore special.

There is a Poet Laureate designation for poets who truly reflect our country's best; Michael Moore deserves such a filmmaker designation. He is truly a step above.

Comment

What I found so amazing about this film is that Moore smashes the myth of the US as number one - for health care, mortality rates, working conditions etc.. This is going to have quite an impact on many Americans who have been lied to all their lives. And he takes on the biggest lie of all - Cuba and socialism.

Linda Lubin