Fidel and Cuba

by Bernard D’Mello

EPW | Vol. 51, Issue No. 49, 03 Dec, 2016

Big media in the United States (US) gave ample coverage to a few hundred reactionary, right-wing Cuban exiles in the Little Havana quarter of Miami celebrating the passing away of Fidel Castro. The sombre mourning of a majority of the Cuban population not far from the US coast did not seem to matter. But what was utterly disgraceful was the Indian media’s copycat journalism, reproducing the dancing in the streets in the Little Havana quarter of Miami, but caring little in its coverage for the feelings and sentiments of the people in Cuba. Perhaps this too is understandable, for, in the minds of those schooled in the culture of imperialism, the Cuban exiles represent the “Dance of Democracy.” But, leaving aside big-media coverage, we need to talk of the life and legacy of Fidel Castro and the new Cuba he had a big hand in creating.

What should reparations for slavery entail?

by Ama Biney

Pambazuka News | 15 December, 2016

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s insulting dismissal of trans-Atlantic slavery and his opinion that Africans and people of African descent should “move on from this painful legacy, and continue to build for the future,” would never be audaciously uttered to Jewish people by this arrogant warmonger who bombed Libya and sought to bomb Syria, but the British House of Commons voted against such action. As the African American actor Danny Glover said, the Jamaican government should tell Britain to “keep your prison, give us schools, give us infrastructure, not prisons.” [1] In addition, the Jamaican government should ask Cameron to return all the professional Jamaicans who are teachers, lecturers, health workers, IT consultants, etc. to Jamaica – instead of the criminals. Moreover, Cameron should then pay the salaries of these Jamaican professionals whilst they develop the economy of Jamaica for the almost 400 years that slavery lasted. In short, we must confront the reality that one of the reasons why there is a brain drain in the Caribbean and Africa is the lack of decent and attractive salaries to retain African professionals. Britain can foot the bill to address this inequality that sprung from slavery and colonialism.

Standing strong as a rock

by #NoDAPL action

 Pambazuka News | 15 December, 2016

The power of mobilized, united people was proven once again on December 4, when the Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit necessary for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to be laid under the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s ancestral Missouri River. The Army announced that it would explore alternative routes.

Fidel Castro: Those who lead are human not gods

by Enrique Ojito

Granma | 16 December, 2016

Photo: Juventud Rebelde

Sculptor Enzo Gallo Chiapardi hurriedly crafted a bust of Fidel on the night before the Caravan of Liberty reached Havana, January 8, 1959, after triumphantly crossing the island following the Rebel Army’s victory. With the same speed, upon hearing the news of the sculpture erected near the Colombia military base, Fidel ordered that it be immediately removed, to the Italian artist’s dismay.

My friend Fidel

The Brazilian liberation theologist and author Frei Betto recalls his longstanding friendship with the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution

Granma | 14 December, 2016

I have lost a great friend. Our last meeting was on August 13, when he turned 90. He received me in his home, in Havana, and in the afternoon we went to the Karl Marx Theatre, where he was honored with a musical show. Despite his organism being weakened, he walked without support from the theatre entrance to his seat.

The encounter, two decades later

by Redacción Internacional 

Granma | 14 October, 2016

Fidel and Chávez in the University of Havana’s Aula Magna. Photo: Velázquez, Amhed

This December 14 marks 22 years since Hugo Chávez’s first visit to Cuba and his encounter with the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro; an event which went beyond a simple friendship between two men, to radically change the face of an entire continent.

Castro’s Message

A Frontier Comment | Vol. 49, No.23, Dec 11 – 17, 2016

Fidel Castro will be remem-  bered by many persons for many reasons for many years, but if one is to single out his one message that has very high relevance today then it is this—fighting imperialism is difficult but possible; it is a challenge so important that it needs to be taken up against all odds.

For nearly five decades Castro guided a small country in the immediate neighborhood of a very big and powerful country which happened to be the biggest imperialist power of these times and which was extremely hostile to the socialist revolution led by Castro in Cuba. The USA under a succession of Democratic and Republican Presidents remained steadfast in the objective of somehow harming the Castro led government in Cuba and toppling it if possible.

Castro and the Cuban Revolution

A Frontier Editorial | Vol. 49, No.23, Dec 11 – 17, 2016

Castro died on November 25, 2016, at the age of 90. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, popularly known as Fidel Castro—the legend of Cuban Revolution, stood as a globally recognised symbol of resistance to American hegemonism and free-market capitalism. He was a source of inspiration to left-wing Latin American allies whose movements against American domination and conspiracy he helped grow and develop in an unequal battle. It is no surprise that there are no statues of Fidel Castro in Cuba. No school, college, university, street, government building or city bears his name. He was against personality cult right from the beginning. Unlike the tradition in Russia, China, Vietnam and North Korea, communists in Cuba never tried to build personality cult around Castro. ‘There is no cult of personality around any living revolutionary’. So said Castro in 2003. ‘After all leaders are human beings, not gods’. That is how Castro looked at personality cult. Castro once told film-maker Oliver Stone that he, ‘never spent one second’ thinking about how he would be remembered by his countrymen and revolutionaries across the world, after his demise. But revolutionaries around the world will remember him for his correct handling of contradictions among enemies and people as well.